So the West is all but done for and all future big news will come from the Chinese and Korean automakers huh? Someone tell the supervisory board at VW which has just opened der korporate wallet very wide indeed.
No doubt the spreadsheet groupies in the financial capitals will be picking holes in Friday’s announcement, looking for previously revealed expenditure consolidated therein but the underlying message, even as industry execs at Frankfurt this week acknowledged the rise and threat of the Hyundai-Kia steamroller, was that ‘we have a big pile of cash and Germany is still a great place to build cars’. And so is China, where VW, with that Audi 100 assembly project, was one of the westerners in first properly and is now reaping the rewards – its JVs there are also spending their own money in the billions on new products and facilities.
Frankfurt you, and your feet, are probably tired of by now. We have plenty of coverage all the way up from our preview here. One press snapper claims his pedometer read 20,000 steps and 20km of worn-off shoe leather but my favorite story is what some people did with the name of VW’s new baby. Well, what did they expect? Did the English-speaking markets have any input?
Switching to an automaker about which the future looks less rosy, there were rumours of yet another loan for Saab and claims the Swedish government really isn’t much bothered.
There’s been a bit of niggle elsewhere, too. Suzuki and VW have been sniping at each other over an alliance apparently going nowhere, French metal workers have been making some noise in Paris and, today, production is off at Suzuki factories in India.
Have a nice weekend.
Graeme Roberts, Deputy Editor, just-auto.com
