Posted on 12/03/2007 4:58:33 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
With the dollar as weak as ever, European companies are trying to avoid disaster. Factories in North American are becoming more attractive, and over the weekend, both Airbus and VW hinted they might take the plunge.
The euro's seemingly inexorable drive toward the $1.50 mark may have slowed down for now, but companies in Europe seem to have sped up their search for strategies in dealing with the newly weak dollar. European jet-maker Airbus and auto manufacturer Volkswagen both have decided on a solution: The two companies are actively looking into building factories in the United States.
According to a report in the Monday edition of the Munich daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, Airbus is looking into building a final assembly plant in Mobile, Alabama. The prerequisite for such a move, the paper reports, is a contract for 180 refueling aircraft the United States Air Force has tendered. Airbus is competing against Boeing for the sale, and a final decision won't be made until the beginning of next year. Airbus is targeting the relatively poor state of Alabama in an effort to win political support for its bid.
Were it to win the contract, Airbus would modify the passenger jet A330 to meet the US military's requirements. The factory would also be able to produce the civilian version of the plane, resulting in massive exchange-rate savings to Airbus. Because the plane-maker sells its products in dollars, a $0.10 change in the exchange rate cuts a 1 billion (nearly $1.5 billion) hole in the Airbus bottom line (more...). Furthermore, the company's Power 8 savings program, announced earlier this year, is based on an exchange rate of $1.35 to the euro.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Damn insourcing at work again.
Right On, at least the Vdub Part,LOL!
Not outsourcing to China? I wonder why.....
No dangerous lead............in bullets.........
It doesn’t make much sense. Airbus has always been a government subsidized dog of an airplane, whose only real purpose is to provide more jobs and more national pride for the European consortium who make it.
What purpose would it serve if they made them here? Would they still plan to subsidize them to give Americans jobs? Or do they plan to fly in thousands of African Muslims like Tyson, to work on the cheap?
We want VW diesels HERE! None of your Microsoft Sync crap either. And no power steering.
.
V10 diesel Phaeton please
VW and Airbus?
Would that be “the people’s airplane”?
A flying beetle?
Would that be a cockroach?
If the dollar keeps dropping, we'll be cheaper than Mexicans.
After the euroweenies stabbed us in the back at the start of the war on terror, I don’t feel any burning urge to buy a German car or fly on an Airbus.
It didn't work out too well when VW tried it the first time. Perhaps they'll do a better job picking a location next time.
The fairy tale of Airbus beeing a socialistic plane factory only exists on freep.
They get some of their doe from the states - therefore they got to be nice to those who give them doe. No difference between boeing and airbus here - only this time VW and aibus will be getting some doe from an american state while Boeing got it from the japs for getting the key parts made of CFC from them.
Dollar high = consume in US production abroad
Euro high = consume in the EU production abroad
It’s a cycle.
Certainly it’s your free choice to punish yourself.
Volkswagen microairbus...nickname: locust
Here is the shareholding breakdown for Airbus:
As of 3 July 2007 41.63% of EADS stock is publicly traded on six European stock exchanges, while the remaining 58.37% is owned by a “Contractural Partnership”. The latter is owned by SOGEADE (27.38%), Daimler AG (22.41%), SEPI (5.46%) and Dubai Holding (3.12%).[19] SOGEADE is owned by the French State and Lagardère, while SEPI is a Spanish state holding company. France also owns 0.06% of publicly traded stock.
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