Heigh-ho, its second quarter results season – or fiscal first quarter if the company in question is based in Japan or India.
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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
