Monday 2 March
• The Volkswagen Group announces a 5% rise in sales revenues in the 2008 tax year and a 3% increase in operating profits, up to €6.3 billion. Chairman Martin Winterkorn said the group’s multi-brand strategy and low CO2 cars had helped sustain sales, although he admitted that 2009 would see a fall in demand and revenues (Volkswagen)
Friday 27 February
• Jaguar Land Rover announces a significant order for 13,000 cars from a Chinese business. It’s a morale boost for JLR which has been hit by a slump in demand with the global slowdown (BBC News)
• Opel this afternoon agreed to a restructuring plan designed to save as many jobs and factories as possible – but it needs a €3.3 billion lifeline from the state. GM Europe president Carl-Peter Forster said the idea was to spin off Opel into a separate unit linked to the GM US mothership but with a quarter of the equity owned by outside investors. More soon (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• GM is considering a sale of one German factory to Daimler. A decision could be made within weeks (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Liberty Electric Cars invests £30 million into a new EV project in Northumberland, creating up to 250 jobs; it hopes to build a plug-in electric Range Rover (Sky News)
• Nissan has pulled out of many international motor shows, including Frankfurt and Detroit. It is sticking with the likes of Geneva and Tokyo, the car maker confirmed (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• An unnamed bidder wants to buy stricken British van maker LDV and switch production abroad (Financial Times)
• GM reacts to yesterday’s disastrous results by slashing $800 million from its US marketing spend, including dealer incentives (Automotive News, subscription required)
• GM relied for too long on profits from China, Latin America and Eastern Europe to make up for its dismal US performance. Now the slowdown has gone global, the company is in crisis (Detroit News comment)
• How bad is it at GM? It lost $104 a day in the last quarter of 2008 (The Times)
• Ford says it has enough cash to survive 2009, even if US sales fall to 9 million vehicles for the year (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Digby Jones, the former head of the Confederation of British Industries, said the recession had exposed ‘fundamental weaknesses’ at LDV as he compared the stricken van maker to failed UK general store Woolworths (Birmingham Post)
Thursday 26 February
• General Motors announces a staggering full-year net loss of $30.9 billion in 2008. GM officials admit its auditors are studying whether there is ‘substantial doubt’ it can continue as a going concern (Financial Times)
• GM Europe was responsible for $1.6bn of the loss in 2008, suffering a sudden slowdown towards the end of the year (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Saab was forced to shut down production yesterday while it ironed out customs and supplier payments (Automotive News, subscription required)
Wednesday 25 February
• Ford chairman Bill Ford and chief exec Alan Mulally have agreed to cut their salaries by 30% this year (Financial Times)
• Could Mercedes buy struggling Opel/Vauxhall? One Detroit blogger thinks so (Detroit News)
• Three interested parties are expected to place formal bids for Volvo Cars by Easter. A Swedish newspaper claims two Chinese car makers – Dongfeng Motor Group and Chongqing Changan Automobile – and a European business (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Execs from Chrysler and GM are preparing to meet Obama’s new administration this week, as officials decide whether to grant billions more in aid or push the two troubled car makers into bankruptcy (Financial Times)
• Chrysler’s three top execs are actually meeting the Obama officials today. He is pleading for $5 billion in additional funding, on top of the $4bn they’ve already received (Detroit News)
• Japan’s car exports have crashed by nearly 70% this year (Autocar)
Tuesday 24 February
• The Swedish government is set to guarantee a loan for Volvo Cars, according to reports in Scando financial daily Dagens Industri. The car maker is set to ask the European Investment Bank for a 5 billion kronor loan ($573 million) (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Stricken UK van maker LDV has been told it won’t be helped out by the UK Government. It had requested £30 million in emergency loans (BBC News)
• It emerges that LDV, owned by Russian business Gaz, is the auto maker named last week by unions as being days from the brink. It employs 900 people in Birmingham, and some 6000 throughout the supplier network
• Daimler says it is open to offers for its 19.9% stake in Chrysler. Finance director Bodo Uebber said: ‘If an interesting offer were made to us, then we would not wait for our remaining stake to become valuable again. There is no right of first refusal for Cerberus’ (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Lawyers representing the US Treasury are preparing for possible bankruptcy protection for GM and Chrysler. It’s one of numerous scenarios being planned for (Financial Times)
• Investing in R&D is key to ensuring Jaguar Land Rover’s survival. Group engineering director Bob Joyce revealed that a system such as Land Rover’s Terrain Response cost £8.5 million to develop (Birmingham Post)
Monday 23 February
• VW starts its first short working week for 26 years. Seven plants in Germany have scaled back production today, affecting 61,000 workers (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• The German government today distanced itself from any cash rescue package for Opel. Economy minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said it could not be relied upon for aid. ‘The plan is up to the company. The state cannot take charge of this’ (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• GM execs were taken by surprise by Saab’s bankruptcy declaration on Friday. A GM spokeswoman confirms that it ‘had no advance word about the timing of the filing’ (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Saab will continue to trade normally, it claims, with GM and the Swedish government providing some support
• Saab’s reorganisation will be concluded in three months – at which time we’ll know if the company is viable, requires further investment or moves into liquidation (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• The Swedish restructuring will need approval from Saab’s creditors, who meet on 6 April. ‘Today is the beginning of a new chapter in Saab’s history,’ says Jan Ake Jonsson, Saab’s managing director. ‘Even though we have not been actively searching for new partners, we have had many knocking on our door showing interest in Saab’ (BBC News)
• Honda is to name Takanobu Ito, 55, as its new president and CEO. He will replace 64-year-old Takeo Fukui in June 2009. Ito is currently head of global automotive operations (Automotive News, subscription required)
• British van maker LDV is asking the UK Government for a £30 million emergency loan to fund a management buy-out. The company is threatened with closure owing to a collapse in van sales (Financial Times)
• The US president’s auto rescue task force are in deep water after it emerged that of the 18 members, only two own American cars (Detroit News)
Friday 20 February
• Saab starts bid for independence, as it files for ‘reorganisation’. It means GM’s outpost has technically declared itself bankrupt under Swedish law, but the reorganisation process will allow protection from creditors as it develops a plan for a streamlined, independent Saab to emerge. • Saab could be independent within six months
• Saab’s bankruptcy protection proceedings ‘could spark a domino effect in Europe’ (Financial Times)
• Unite union leader Tony Woodley opens a can of worms by claiming that a UK car plant that employs more than 6000 people may be forced to close within days. No names are named (BBC News)
• Apologies for slow coverage on Friday – our process in the office fell through as our news team were on the road!
Thursday 19 February
• Swedish government rules out a state takeover of Saab. Industry minister Maud Olofsson is ‘deeply disappointed’ that GM chief exec Rick Wagoner admits Saab could be forced to file for bankruptcy by the end of the month unless the Swedish governments steps in. ‘What GM says is that they wash their hands of Saab and drop it into the laps of Swedish taxpayers,’ Olofsson says (Automotive News, subscription required)
• General Motors says it is considering selling an equity stake in Opel and Vauxhall (Financial Times)
• Ford insists it has no intention of calling for loans. Blue Oval chief exec Alan Mulally says: ‘Nothing has changed about our plan. Our plan is not to access government money. Right now, with everything I see, we have sufficient liquidity to continue our transformation of Ford’ (Detroit News)
• GM disbands its sports car division as part of its cost-cutting. All staff at the High Performance Vehicle Operations in Detroit have been posted on to other projects (Automotive News, subscription required)
• A brace of new Alfa Romeo badges are revealed in Chrysler’s Viability Plan: the next-gen 147 will be called the Milano, while the 159 successor will be badged Giulia. The names were revealed in documents relating to Fiat-Chrysler proposed alliance (Autoblog)
Wednesday 18 February
• General Motors admits it is considering closing ‘several’ plants in Europe – especially in ‘high-cost locations’ – as part of its drive to save $1.2 billion in Europe (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• GM plans an enormous 47,000 further job cuts, Chrysler 3000 (BBC News)
• Decision on Saab ‘could be taken this month’
• GM CEO Rick Wagoner confirms Opel is talking to the German government for aid. But he admits no buyers have approached GM to buy Opel/Vauxhall
• Wagoner predicts Saab will be spun off into an independent business from 1 January 2010. ‘Somebody needs to come in and take over the business in the near term’
• GM surprises many by asking for a further $16.6 billion in federal aid to help it survive. It submitted its plan to the Treasury department on Tuesday as part of its restructuring submission required before it can qualify for state help. Without the new cash injection, it could run out of cash some time in March. GM today receives the last instalment of a previously approved $13.4bn loan, and the new requests would help it repay revolving lines of credit falling due. GM said it would start to repay loans in 2012 (Automotive News, subscription required)
• There has been no immediate news on GM’s plans for its Saturn, Saab and Hummer brands. Each is under review, pending closure or sale
• Chrysler asks federal government for an additional $2 billion and spells out how it will turn around its ailing business. Chrysler announces plan to cut fixed costs by a further $700m, slash 100,000 more production capacity, discontinue three more model lines and sell $300m more in assets. All part of wide-ranging presentation to Congress. It also spells out how the proposed alliance with Fiat is central to its turnaround plan (Automotive News, subscription required)
• GM argues that even the new, swollen bail-out proposal would be cheaper than letting its business slide into bankruptcy (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Some good news in Detroit: the Big Three have reached ‘tentative agreements’ with the Big Three over cost-cutting concessions to their 2007 national labour deals. However, talks continue as they negotiate on retiree health care funding (Detroit News)
• GM is seeking a further $6bn in financial support from overseas governments – in Germany, the UK, Sweden, Canada and Thailand. GM revealed its plan to trim $1.2bn in savings from its European operations; one scenario would see its cut four of its nine Euro factories, putting Ellesmere Port in the UK at risk (Wall Street Journal)
• Chrysler boss Bob Nardelli explains his turnaround plan to senior Chrysler managers yesterday in the video below
• Check out the Big Three’s previous video spelling out why a bail-out is preferable to bankruptcy in our player below
Tuesday 17 February
• UK engineering firm GKN, which supplies automotive parts to Ford and Land Rover, confirms it is cutting 564 jobs (BBC News)
• Merc’s parent company Daimler posts a worse-than-expected loss in the fourth quarter of 2008 – dipping €1.95 billion into the red before interest and tax. Analysts had expected a smaller loss, sending shares spiralling down as much as 7% before rallying (Financial Times, subscription required)
• GM is preparing to present its aggressive restructuring plans to Congress today on the 17 Feb deadline (Financial Times, subscription required)
• GM will outline how it can save a further $1bn from factory closures and lay-offs (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Chrysler and GM are expected to tell the US government they need more than the proposed $17.4bn bail-out originally planned. GM is likely to announce further plans for its at-risk brands Saab, Saturn and Hummer, plus more staff cutbacks (The Times)
• GM has received $9.4bn in loans, Chrysler $4bn – Obama officials suggest that GM will receive an additional $4bn today, as it confirms plans to close nine more plants by 2012 – including four in Europe (Detroit News)
• Braking specialist Brembo is temporarily laying off 1800 workers because of the downturn (Autoblog)
Monday 16 February
• VW boss Martin Winterkorn attacks France’s measures to prop up its domestic industry. ‘No one would be helped — not workers, companies or customers — if the protectionism of France’s agriculture policies is now transferred to the car sector’ (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Shares in BMW rose 2% today on news in a German newspaper that Munich plots to work closely with Daimler (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Audi declares itself western Europe’s number one premium brand, after January’s sales of 45,124 vehicles pipped BMW and Mercedes. Audi’s market share stood at 5.1% in January 2009, up from 3.9% a year ago (Audi)
• But Audi subsidiary Lamborghini is struggling with the economic slowdown; it is halting production for a fortnight this spring (Autocar)
• Spain announces a €4 billion aid package for its auto industry – making it the second biggest European deal after France’s (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Renault denies it is retreating from the large car market (see Friday’s Crunchwatch). The Espace will be replaced (although it is delayed) and the company is considering developing the Ondelios concept to replace its defunct Vel Satis (Renault)
• Mini is to axe 850 jobs from its main Oxford factory from 4500 staff. The cuts affect all agency workers who manned the plant at weekends, and 150 people at the nearby Swindon site. Oxford will now work for only five days a week, instead of the current seven (BBC News)
• US president Barack Obama will launch a government task force for restructuring the struggling auto industry instead of naming a ‘car czar with sweeping powers. Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner will oversee auto bailout loans, alongside White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers (Financial Times, subscription required)
Friday 13 February
• Toyota is chopping production days, freezing wages, eliminating or reducing employees’ bonuses, and cutting executive pay to control its costs in the US (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Chrysler and Nissan have ‘paused’ a project to share a North American-built small car and pick-up until they can reduce costs (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Renault is preparing to retreat from the large car market – meaning there will be no replacement Laguna, Vel Satis and Espace (Autocar)
Thursday 12 February
• Citroen has hired Mercedes’ global sales director Jean-Marc Gales, 46, as its new boss. He replaces Gilles Michel, who left in December to work for the French government (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Renault’s car building arm reported an operating loss of €275 million (£248m) last year. The company’s revenues rose in the first two quarters of 2008, but crashed by 30% last autumn. The company blamed the collapse in global demand, but admitted that rising raw material prices cost it €271m (Renault)
• Peugeot-Citroen chief exec Christian Streiff refuses to comment on reports that PSA is talking with BMW about a wide-ranging alliance. But he admits the group is actively seeking partners. ‘We are looking for companies that are complementary in products or in geography. We do not want a lot of restructuring to do’ (Financial Times)
• Streiff warns that Europe’s second biggest car maker could resort to compulsory redundancies outside France to meet cost-cutting targets. PSA yesterday announced a net loss of €343 million ($441m) (Financial Times)
• Reuters reports that GM is in talks with China’s SAIC to sell a share of its stake in their joint venture to raise emergency funds. They currently have a 50:50 joint venture building and selling Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet models in China (Automotive News, subscription required)
• GM plans retirement incentives to 22,000 UAW members as part of its turnaround strategy being presented in Washington next week (Wall Street Journal)
• Chrysler says it is ready for Tuesday’s 17 February deadline to present the US government with a viable business plan. Development chief Frank Klegon said: ‘We are wrapping up the viability package right now, putting the finishing touches on it… it has to be submitted two days ahead of that’ (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Falling oil prices and the world recession are threatening the nascent biofuels industry – with excess capacity and US bioethanol plants closing every week (New York Times)
Wednesday 11 February
• It’s not all doom and gloom. Ferrari has announced a record year – selling 2% more cars in 2008, at 6587 globally (a quarter of them in the US). Profits jumped 27% to €339 million ($441m), with a 17.6% return on sales. But even chairman Luca di Montezemolo admits that 2009 will be harder (Autoblog)
• PSA Peugeot-Citroen made a net loss of €343 million ($443m) in 2008. CEO Christian Streiff predicts another loss in 2009, but a return to the black in 2010 (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• The countdown is on until 17 February deadline for GM and Chrysler to submit their cost-cutting plans to the Senate (Detroit Free Press)
• Former Merc and VW group product specialist Wolfgang Bernhard will return to Daimler to head up its van division (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Bentley wants to reduce employees’ pay by 10% for the rest of the year, as well as cut 220 more jobs – slimming down its workforce from 3800 to 3600 in response to slumping demand for its cars (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Cutbacks in Crewe run to the top of the business – chief exec Franz-Josef Paefgen will also take a 10% pay cut (The Times)
Tuesday 10 February
• Another bad day for GM – this afternoon the ailing auto giant confirmed that by the end of 2009 it would slash 10,000 jobs across the world, dropping its salaried headcount down to 63,000. The job cuts are part of the restructuring plan it submitted to Congress in December 2008. The move will also see the majority of US salaries drop by up to 10% according to position and location
• Hot on the heels of its announcement to shed 20,000 jobs worldwide, Nissan has stated that it will be seeking additional funding from the American government to allow it to push ahead with its electric vehicle development programme. According to Automotive News Nissan has not revealed the actual amount of aid sought, but is still confident that, with the assistance, it will achieve its goal of bringing a fully electric car to market by the end of 2010
• The French government is primed to bail out PSA/Peugeot-Citroen and Renault with a £6.1 billion injection. The deal will see the manufacturers continue production in France and weather the current economic crisis. According to Automotive News, PSA will utilise the low-interest loans to push through its eco-cars: stop-start systems, hybrid powertrains, plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric cars
• Ed Balls, erstwhile economic advisor to the UK’s prime minister and current schools secretary, has called the current worldwide recession ‘the most serious for over 100 years.’ Speaking at Labour’s Yorkshire conference, he called the current situation ‘more serious than that of the 1930s, with seismic events that are going to change the political landscape’
Monday 9 February 2009
• In response to nose-diving sales Nissan has announced that it will slash its worldwide workforce by 8.5% – a massive 20,000 jobs – that will bring its headcount down to 215,000 over the next 12 months. The news came as the company said it expected to make a £2 billion loss for its current financial year and will, as a result, be suspending its 2008-2012 mid-term business plan, Nissan GT 2012. It also plans to reduce labour costs this financial year by 20%, to £5.15billion
Friday 6 February 2009
• Toyota warns of even bigger losses ahead – just six weeks after announcing its first-ever operating loss. It said today that its expected loss for the financial year to March would be three times bigger than expected, predicting an operating loss of $5 billion. It also predicts a net loss, blaming the surging value of the yen (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Toyota boss Katsuaki Watanabe says the current downturn was of a magnitude that comes only ‘once in a hundred years’ (BBC News)
• Jaguar Land Rover chief exec David Smith called for ‘immediate action by the Government’ at a dinner last night attended by business secretary Lord Mandelson. ‘It would now be a tragedy were the aid package not to be delivered in time to avert the industrial consequences of another quarter like this one’. Sounds ominous… (Jaguar Land Rover)
• Chrysler co-president Jim Press urges dealers to start buying cars again to keep the business viable. ‘You can either help us or burn us all down,’ he warned (Automotive News, subscription required)
Thursday 5 February 2009
• Chinese maker Geely goes on the record to deny it has an interest in buying Volvo. A spokesman commented after a spate of media reports (Automotive News, subscription required)
• PSA is likely to delay its launch of plug-in diesel-electric hybrid cars ‘for a year or two’ to save money, says Ladimir Prince, manager of PSA’s hybrid innovations unit. But it is on target to launch a conventional hybrid in the 3008 crossover by 2011 (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Britain’s new-car registrations dived by 30.9% in January 2009 – the worst performance for that month since 1974. Ford chooses the same day to announce up to 850 job cuts in response to the ‘serious economic situation’ (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Ford’s cuts will affect 500 workers at the Southampton factory that assembles the Transit van. The successor to the Transit was due in 2011, but has now been postponed ‘indefinitely’ (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Brussels ponders a Europe-wide incentive scheme to encourage motorists to trade in older cars for a brand new one. The ‘fleet renewal’ scheme would mirror those in Spain and Germany (Justauto.com, subscription required)
• Citroen plans to expand its model range with a revived DS badge for upmarket cars (CAR Online)
• Could the collapsed US market be on the verge of recovery? Some commentators believe sales could recover sooner rather than later (Autoblog)
Wednesday 4 February 2009
• Both Mazda and Mitsubishi have warned they will lose money in 2009. Mazda expects an operating loss of $279 million in the year ending 31 March, and plans to build 14% fewer cars than it had budgeted for. Mitsubishi forecasts a net loss of 60 billion yen (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Mitsubishi meanwhile today announced it would axe its participation in the Dakar Rally and all cross-country races (Mitsubishi)
• The Renault Nissan Alliance today reported sales of 6,090,304 vehicles in 2008. That’s a 1% drop in a global market that fell 5% (Renault Nissan)
• US sales figures are in for January 2009. Of the Big Three, Chrysler falls most (-55%), followed by GM (-49%) then Ford (-40%). By comparison, Japanese manufacturers suffered less: Honda (-28%), Nissan (30%) and Toyota (-32%) (Autoblog)
• The 37% slump in the US market means that GM sold more cars in China than in America last month (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Chrysler has three offers to buy the Viper sports car business, co-president Jim Press announced today. The Viper factory in Detroit employs 110 people and Chrysler is doing due diligence on the three bids (Automotive News, subscription required)
• New president Barack Obama is finalising his auto industry hit squad. Stephen Girsky, a senior auto analyst at private-equity firm Centerbridge Industrial Partners, is a leading candidate (Detroit News)
Tuesday 3 February 2009
• Fiat’s proposal to take a 35% stake in Chrysler could spark a new round of consolidation. French newspapers report that BMW have visited PSA Peugeot Citroen to discuss a possible alliance (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Ford and Vauxhall both raise UK prices despite the sales downturn. The jumps of around 5% are blamed on the weak pound, making UK sales less profitable (BBC News)
• Ford is contacting western, Chinese and other Asian car makers to drum up interest in Volvo; it’s being advised by JP Morgan and Citi. The Blue Oval paid $6.5 billion for the Swedish car maker in 1999
• GM and Chrysler are offering another round of early redundancies to their 89,000 hourly workers (Detroit News)
• Specialist sports car maker Saleen Inc has been sold to MJ Acquisitions; most staff have been laid off, but the new owner plans to rehire them and recommence production by late 2009 (Autoblog)
• Oil giant BP reports a sharp drop in final quarter profits in 2008, but still manages to post a significant 39% jump in annual profits – to a whopping $26 billion. Despite the rollercoaster ride enjoyed by oil prices (BBC News)
• Jaguar Land Rover sales have dropped by a third in the last quarter of 2008 – down from 76,000 in 2007 to 49,000 in last year’s final quarter (Autocar)
Monday 2 February 2009
• German component supplier Edscha has filed for bankruptcy. The company makes convertible roofs, hinges and control systems for most major marques, employing 6000 people at 29 factories worldwide (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Ssangyong today resumed production as parts supply returned to normal. Delivery stopped when it filed for bankruptcy protection in January (Justauto, subscription required)
• General Motors is at a loss with what to do with its weak brands, sources say. It has found no prospective buyers for Saab, Saturn or Hummer – and time is running out for the 17 February deadline to present its survival plan to the US Treasury (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Saab is planning to remodel itself as an independent company – or the automotive equivalent of cool computing giant Apple Inc (Autocar)
• Battery makers are among the businesses prospering in these hard times. Electronics specialists such as Toshiba and GS Yuasa are building new factories to meet the growing demand for high-tech batteries. Researchers at Fuji Keizai predict the lithium-ion battery market will more than double to $14 billion between 2007 and 2012 – and the overall battery market to grow by 37% (Financial Times, subscription required)
• Ford has cut its global warranty costs by $1.2 billion during the past two years. Since 2004, the per-vehicle warranty repair rate has halved on Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles, the firm says (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Confidence among British manufacturers slumps to its third-lowest ever reading (The Times)
• Ford has been running business models to see how it would cope if gas prices hit $12 a gallon – sparking its new electric car scheme (Detroit News)
• Nissan announces name of new Qazana concept crossover that will replace the Micra line at Sunderland UK plant, safeguarding 1100 jobs (CAR Online)
>> Click here for the January 2009 Crunch Watch feature
>> Click here for the December 2008 Crunch Watch feature
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