How Much Deeper and How Much More will GM and Ford Have to Cut to Right Size?
July 29, 2008
GM cuts truck shifts to meet lower output target | www.reuters.com
GM, and Ford, are the victims of too much focus on the American market, for far too long, at the expense of the world market. GM, and Ford, must continue to shift away from, and write down production and assets focused on truck and SUV production. How much will GM and Ford have to give up, to survive?
July 21, 2008
Toyota to make Prius, not SUV, at new US Plant | www.reuters.com
Toyota's announcement that the new Mississippi facility will produce the Prius is a smaret decision to increase capacity for a marketable product, with variant potential for the future. Toyota's temporary suspension of production in Indiana and Texas to reconfigure the plants for greater product flexibility is a model already proven to be a smart capital investment strategy by Nissan and BMW. Toyota is also indicating with this article a philosophy for world cars, as demonstrated by Prius production for other markets.
June 30, 2008
AUTO-PARTS FIRMS FACE TROUBLE AS CAR MAKERS RETOOL PRODUCTION | www.aemag.com
With the downturn in US sales volumes and a rapid switch from SUV and light truck to smaller, more fuel efficient cars the Big Three are taking some of the Tier One suppliers down with them. Those that are diversifed in terms of product, geography, and model mix are the most well positioned to ride out the storm. Johnson Controls is one of those companies positioned well to maintain and to grow in the current, difficult market.
June 26, 2008
Deepening gloom at General Motors | money.cnn.com
Where are the leaders on a daily basis. This company needs some real "hands on" leadership to survive.
Ibiquity Has Significant Potential That Will Be Realized Through HD Radio
June 9, 2008
Pumping Up the Volume: HD Radio Touts Price Cuts | www.investors.com
The new price point for HD receivers will mean signicantly more volume of units in automotive OEM applications, potentially surpassing one million units installed in OEM applications by early 2009. Unlike Sirius and XM, Ibiqiuty's HD radio is finding an audience in Asia and in Europe. Ibiquity is entering into unique partnerships with Apple and Navteq, that will enhance the functionality of HD radio.
Volkswagen Announcement in July Will Be a Bright Spot in an Otherwise Gloomy Automotive Mont
June 9, 2008
Decision on VW plant still on track for July announcement | www.chicagotribune.com
Volkswagen recognizes they have to produce in the US to growth the US market share. The same formula has worked for the other German, Japanese, and Korean transplants. Expect the factory to be flexible enough to produce both Volkswagen and Audi products, since they share platform and powertrain components. Also, expect the factory to be positioned as an export center for VW and Audi products produced with US components with a US dollar basis.
June 2, 2008
Source: GM plans more restructuring | www.autonews.com
How long will the “do nothing” board at GM allow Waggoner and his team to continue their destruction of the company? How many restructuring scenarios will they be allowed before their board realizes that the plans presented are not working? When will the top folks be held accountable? Will they wait until the company is unsalvageable and all the top guys have ridden into the sunset with huge retirement packages? They have had so many “fix it” restructuring plans that they are probably to the state of recycling some of the old ones to buy more time.
The North American Automotive Industry Is Not a Dot.com Bubble; There is a Growth Strategy
May 22, 2008
Car Makers' Boom Years Now Look Like a Bubble | online.wsj.com
Autmotive OEM's have saturated the US market, and now must ride out the economic downturn. The astute OEM's are right-sizing for the US market,and the wisest among them are using US capacity to support the explosive growth of sales in China, Russia, India, and Brasil. What should emerge are more OEM US manufacturing operations that are supporting world car platforms. US factories could become significant exporters of certain models.
Freescale Is On A Roll In Multiple Automotive Markets and Applications
May 16, 2008
Freescale, Chery Team Up to Develop Automotive Electronics Technology in China | techon.nikkeibp.co.jp
The alliance of Freescale and Chery to develop MCU and chipset technology means tremendous potential for Freescale growth in Asia. Freescale's recent acquisition of SigmaTel could give Freescale an avenue to grow share of automotive multimedia and infotainment chipset applications. Freescale is well positioned to continue to be the dominant semiconductor supplier to the worldwide automotive market, driven by continued strong demand for chipsets for new applications, resulting in greater numbers of chipsets per vehicle, and strong vehicle unit sales in Asia and in Eastern Europe.
Chryslers Strategies for the Future.
May 12, 2008
LaSorda: Chrysler Wants Small Cars "As Fast As We Can" | www.autonews.com
Chrysler is pursuing two strategies to improve the fuel economy of its product offerings: focusing it limited resources on developing a flexible mid-sized platform capable of producing a large variety of vehicles and working with other manufacturers to badge engineer smaller sized automobiles. While these are smart strategies near term, there are risks to the company longer term.
Apple brings textbooks to iPad -- Finally
January 20, 2012
PayPal loses a key player in mobile device payments to Yahoo
January 10, 2012
More details and insights about the planned Sears Holdings store closings
January 4, 2012
Three things you should know about Sears store closings
December 29, 2011
Thoughts on GM Volt's recent "rapid thermal expansion" incident
December 6, 2011