Companies with Big Unions will be the first to be bailed out by Obama. With my money? Nahh. time for tax revolt.
Daimlers resigning like Busch?
Article from this week’s Barron’s on the auto industry. Frightening.
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB122488828292068361.html?mod=b_hpp_barrons_most_viewed_day
"Big falls in profits"? The horror of still making money but not enough.
Damn those CEO's and fund managers for not buying enough Mercedes cars.
Prahalad from the University of Michigan discusses his rule of three in business. In any market, there is room for 3 big players and a number of niche players. We saw that in the US, with Ford, GM and Chrysler surviving what was once an industry with over 100 players. As the market went global, we will see the same thing. Some big names are going to fall. The best management will win, the others will fall by the wayside or become niche players.
1) Their upcoming automotive product line (the new Fiesta, possibly the Ka, the next-generation Focus, the replacement for the US-market Fusion sedan, and the Kuga small SUV to replace the Escape) are coming from their highly-successful European division.
2) The Ford F-150 trucks are well-liked and could switch to large-scale implementation of diesel power over the next few years.
I ordered an air rifle from Feinwerkbau a while back.
They shut down their factory for a full month every year.
But then that was for Oktoberfest! ;^)
I didn’t see anything in the article, but any word if this will extend to their NAFTA Heavy-Duty truck production also?
I have a solution for the GM and Chrysler problem.
Cerberus wants to exit the auto business. GM is running out of cash. That’s why they want this deal.
What do with the product lineup? The only thing worth retaining from Chrysler is the Jeep and van lines. The truck line is going to be rebadged Nissans anyway. GM needs to get rid of everything except for the Chevrolet and Cadillac lines.
The U.S. government has a huge auto fleet. Buy up all the excess inventory at 25 cents on the dollar. Title the vehicles as government only; not to be resold to the general public. (They could never enter the general auto market.) Scrap the old fleet and send them to the recycle centers to be broken down and resold on the scrap metal market.
GM won’t lend money any longer. Ford will and has told their dealers they will go all the way to 600 on the credit ratings.
This saves GM. Chrysler goes away which it should anyway. Ford has an existing lineup of vehicles worth saving and enough cash and management know how to make it through with more products in the pipeline.
Two domestic auto manufacturers can make it assuming the unions come to their senses. The next contract on the table is a “take it or leave it “ proposition. They leave it then shutter the plant and let the inventory dry up which will drive up demand. Ford can do the same. I believe the union will capitulate. In 1948 the railroad unions tried to break the U.S. economy. Truman issued an executive order he would draft the employees into the military. The union caved. Time to play hard ball. The old gravy train just ran off the tracks.
I have read all these car threads and no one has mentioned a big factor.
There is an element that wants to end autos... period.
With a government bailout, the greens will be in position to dictate exactly what kind of cars are produced.
How anybody can read articles like this one and then maintain the ignorant belief that this is just a “normal correction” is beyond me.