THE WEEK THAT WAS: Results, results and more results
Author: just-auto.com editorial team | 1 August 2008
Heigh-ho, its second quarter results season - or fiscal first quarter if the company in question is based in Japan or India.
We've had quite a few this week already but none were likely to surpass GM's $US15.5bn loss announced on Friday ahead of stock markets opening in the US. After the quarter they just had, what with the American Axle strike, local plant union disputes, the costs of sacking thousands of hourly workers as plants close, truck capacity cuts, and costs associated with Delphi, the huge loss had been signalled and wasn't entirely a surprise. Even rising star GM Europe was hit by falling sales in key western markets and its profits fell.
On t'other hand, results were written in black ink at Suzuki, Japanese supplier Denso, and once-struggling Mitsubishi, among other automakers and suppliers, but there are strong signs no-one is immune from at least some downturn in this global economy.
Here in the UK, we learned that Chrysler's highly mobile chief is off back to VW where he began his auto career, and that VW has tipped Ford out of third place for global sales. And the Russians started volume production of a previous-generation Chrysler.
Honda's fuel- and space-efficient Jazz (Fit in some markets) is very much a car of the times - sips fuel, emits low CO2. We finally learned the European specifications this week - different engines and gearboxes from the versions already on sale in Europe and Asia to meet our increasingly stringent emissions laws and to position the car in more favourable CO2 output-based tax brackets in markets like the UK and Germany. These days, so much more than the price needs to be right.
Enjoy your weekend,
Graeme Roberts
Deputy Editor
just-auto.com
Sectors: Financial, Vehicle manufacturers
Companies: GM, VW, Chrysler, Delphi, Suzuki, Denso, Mitsubishi, Ford, Honda
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The Week That WasDeputy/news editor Graeme Roberts' Friday wrap on the important automotive news from the week just ending.
There are currently 3 comments on this article
I agree, there is no easy way out this time. But there is an excellent occasion to start on the right foot, take a huge jump (leapfrog the competition) and start to think about real efficiency in transportation. That could be done immediately, no technological breakthroughs are needed. America needs to restore its industrial base. Automotive industry is the best way of achieving that. It is most diversified industry. If automotive industry is sick [some said], the country is sick. And we can see that in US.
Financial services [most of them] are the swindles, as we can see it now. Hedge funds, which command 75% of liquidity, are the bets that could be compared to charging the huge fee for purchase of the lottery tickets before the results are known. Creating wealth means producing something from raw material which is useful and needed on the market. Financial manipulations produce huge bonuses for Wall Street with disastrous results to investors and general economy.
Mark Kmicikiewicz said at 4:29 am, August 4, 2008
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