In 2005 the FM noted that CMH had been a licence to print money in the two years since October 2003, but we also asked how long new car sales could keep growing. That era seems a lot more distant than three years ago, with interest rates having risen to punitive levels and the credit-starved consumer buying fewer new cars - or deferring buying any car at all. This must be the end of the good times for CMH for the time being.