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AUTOS' COMMENTS & OPINIONS
* USA - Big Three carrying excessive inventory - Head of AutoNation claims fleet sales give automakers unreliable count of vehicle supply
Detroit,Mich,USA -Dow Jones Newswires/The Detroit News, by John D. Stoll -Oct 27, 2006: -- The head of the largest U.S. auto-dealer group said Thursday that U.S. automakers and sales analysts need to "move into the real world" and recalculate vehicle inventory estimates in a way that better reflects how deep a hole Detroit's Big Three are in.
AutoNation Inc. CEO Mike Jackson said the current practice of calculating days' supply of unsold vehicles is "outdated" and "dramatically understates" how much excess inventory is being carried by dealers selling vehicles from General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group... He said that automakers and certain analysts currently calculate days' supply based on both the pace of retail sales to actual consumers and fleet sales, such as deliveries to rental car firms and government agencies... Jackson said fleet sales should be removed and automakers should only calculate days' supply inventory based on retail demand. The Big Three rely on fleet sales for at least 25 percent of total light-vehicle sales...
* USA - Analysts: Big 3 will fall further - By 2009, foreign automakers will lead U.S. market share; experts say better products needed to survive
Dearborn,Mich,USA - The Detroit News, by Sharon Terlep -Oct 26, 2006: -- Fewer than half of all vehicles sold in the United States will be made by Detroit's Big Three by 2009, when foreign carmakers will outpace American companies in market share, a top industry analyst said Wednesday at a conference focused on carmakers' restructuring... Not only will the Big Three's market share erode, but by 2011 foreign automakers will build more cars in the United States than American manufacturers, said Sean McAlinden, chief economist and vice president of research for the Ann Arbor-based Center for Automotive Research... "They won't be the Big Three anymore, they'll be the Detroit Three," McAlinden said of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DailmerChrysler AG... "You've got to shrink to survive and shrink to be profitable in Detroit today"...
* USA - Efficient cars a tough sell with U.S. buyers
Boston,MAS,USA -Reuters/Automotive News -Oct 27, 2006: -- Designing a more fuel efficient car can be less of a challenge than selling one... But with the number of autos on the world's roads expected to triple over the next half-century and fuel prices expected to rise, automakers need to focus on both problems... That was the message from a panel of automotive experts at The World Oil Conference today... "Most people want horsepower. They don't want fuel economy," said Bill Reinert, national manager of advanced technology for the U.S. arm of Toyota Motor Corp...
* USA - Analysts sound note of caution on GM cash burn
Detroit,Mich,USA -Reuters/Automotive News -Oct 26, 2006: -- General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner has been riding high with Wall Street this year: GM stock is up almost 80 percent and talk of bankruptcy has receded after billions of dollars in cost cuts... But analysts caution that the automaker's recovery is still stalled by one important measure: cash burn...
* USA - Trying To Recapture The Magic
USA -Forbes, by Jerry Flint -24 Oct 2006: -- Chrysler puts out the word that it will post a $1.5 billion loss in the third quarter and a loss for the entire year. The biggest problem is a massive overhang of inventory, which could wreck the introduction of a flock of new Chrysler models. Chrysler was in a similar jam six years ago, and it ended with the removal of the American head of Chrysler and the arrival of Dieter Zetsche, now known as Dr. Z, from the German parent, to take command... Add it up, and Chrysler has a parking lot full of new models. We will not be able to measure success or failure of this strategy until the first half of next year at the earliest... This rollout of so many new models is one reason for the big loss predicted by the company for the third quarter. Another problem is the glut of unsold 2006 vehicles, making it difficult to sell 2007 models... Incentive offers are as high as $8,000 off the price of a 2006 Dodge Durango. When the downturn began early in the year, Chrysler did not cut production, but kept rolling out vehicles, stacking them in parking lots (which Detroit calls the “sales bank”). Chrysler tells me the sales bank--those excess inventories--will be gone by the end of the year... Chrysler has a tough job ahead of it, but do not count it out. The company rides like a roller coaster--but it rides...
posted by Unknown @ 10:30 AM
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