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AUTOS' COMMENTS - OPINIONS & STUDIES
* USA - Ford, Chrysler sales dip; GM gains; Toyota continues charge while Nissan, Honda turn lower
SAN FRANCISCO,CAL,USA -MarketWatch, by Shawn Langlois -Sep 1, 2006: -- As for the industry, vehicle sales fell 6.6% from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 16.1 million, the lowest since November, according to Autodata Corp... General Motors Corp., faced with another steep decline in demand for its gas-guzzling trucks, announced plans Friday to slash its fourth-quarter production, a move telegraphed to the market ahead of Friday's August auto sales data... GM, still in the No. 1 position, posted a 3.9% rise in August U.S light vehicle sales... GM's decision to cut the number of vehicles it builds in the last three months of the year is the latest chapter in a massive downsizing as Detroit struggles to tailor its cars and trucks to fit changing public demand. It did not tamper with production plans for the current quarter... Ford already announced cuts that will bring its production to levels not seen in decades and Chrysler DCX, recently said it's shutting down an assembly shift as part of its move to pare production... GM, said it sold 363,521 light vehicles last month, up from 349,806 a year earlier. Both car and truck sales rose 3.8%... GM's stock, pushed up 3.7% in afternoon trading to close at $30.27... Ford back to No. 2... Ford, feeling the sting of stiff competition, high gas prices and payback from a busy 2005 summer, said it sold 255,112 vehicles. That's down from 288,429 a year ago when employee prices were still available... Ford shares fell 1.2% to finish the day at $8.27... Chrysler slumps as Mercedes gains... German-American carmaker DaimlerChrysler posted a 3.2% decline in August U.S. sales to 199,767 vehicles, down from 206,352 a year ago... Chrysler said it will shutter an assembly shift, starting in January, at a plant that makes engines for pickups and sport utility vehicles. The company is also cutting production by about 10% in this quarter and by a smaller amount in the fourth quarter.... Toyota continues charge; Honda, Nissan slip... Toyota Motor posted a 17% surge in sales to 240,178 cars and trucks, up from 205,362 a year ago. Car sales led the way with a 19.9% rise while trucks, a segment that has seen steep declines form its U.S. competitors, saw sales gain 12.8%... Separately, Honda said total sales fell 3.2% in August, dropping to 151,253 units from 156,173 in the same month last year... Nissan posted a 2.7% decline in sales to 89,848 cars and trucks, down from 92,365 a year ago... SUV plunge hits Germans... German sports-car makers also endured a tough selling month, due mainly to big hits on the truck side, with double digit declines from both Porsche Cars North America and BMW Group... Incentives drop... Incentive spending dropped off heavily in August, down 15% from last month and down 9% from a year ago when employee pricing was still on the table for car shoppers, according to Edmunds.com... Chrysler, which is the only one of the Big Three to revive the employee pricing promotion this summer, has been aggressive with its incentive spending this year. It's spending actually increased for the month while both General Motors and Ford backed away from the incentives compared to last month...
* USA - BILL FORD'S NEW VISION - CEO tells workers sweeping 3-point plan will revive carmaker
DEARBORN,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Bryce G. Hoffman -Sept 02, 2006: -- In a heartfelt memo to employees, Ford Motor Co. Chairman Bill Ford Jr. said Friday the automaker can only survive if it makes fundamental changes in the way it does business... In the memo, Bill Ford acknowledged the concerns many employees have and offered a hopeful vision for a stronger Ford in the future... The key, he said, is implementing a three-point strategy for addressing Ford's problems: fix Ford's North American business, leverage its global assets and bolster the leadership team, including recruits "from outside when we need additional skills."... The memo offers new clues to how the automaker is approaching its upcoming restructuring, expected to be announced later this month...
* USA - Hybrids draw growing interest - New J.D. Power study shows more consumers want to buy the gas-electric vehicles to save cash.
Detroit,Mich,USA -The Detroit News, by Brett Clanton 1 Sept 2006: -- Hybrids. They're not just for tree-huggers anymore... With gas prices soaring, more than half of Americans now say they would consider a gasoline-electric hybrid for their next vehicle purchase, a new survey released Thursday finds... Interest is also rising in other fuel-saving alternatives to traditional gas-powered cars and trucks, including diesels and "flex-fuel" models that run on gas or an ethanol-based fuel blend known as E85... Yet U.S. car buyers may have unrealistic expectations about how much fuel -- and money -- they'll actually save by going green with one of many emerging, non-gas options... Among those considering a hybrid, for instance, the belief is there will be a 28 mpg fuel economy improvement over a gas vehicle. In reality, the improvement is closer to 9 mpg, according to J.D. Power and Associates' 2006 Alternative Powertrain Study...
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