Will Daimler sell?

Today Automotive news and Reuters reports that Mercedes may put the Chrysler
Group on the block,
Is the Chrysler group for sale? During a presentation to
analysts and journalists today, DaimlerChrysler CFO Bodo Uebber refused to rule out the sale or spinoff of its unprofitable Chrysler group."We don't exclude anything here," including structural changes, Uebber said during his third-quarter earnings teleconference today. "We will do our analysis. Second, we will talk about measures. And third, we will draw our conclusions."Asked again whether DaimlerChrysler has put the Chrysler group up for sale, Uebber repeated the same answer without giving a yes or no. "I don't do any speculation," he said. Chrysler group losses dragged down DaimlerChrysler's third-quarter financial results. The Chrysler group lost $1.47 billion, down from a $393 million profit for the same period a year ago. The company predicts Chrysler will lose $1.2 billion in 2006. DaimlerChrysler posted quarterly net income of $680 million and projects a companywide operating-profit target of
$6.29 billion for the full year.The Chrysler group's loss overshadowed a rebound
at the Mercedes Car Group, whose quarterly operating profit rose to $1.24
billion.DaimlerChrysler has assigned a team of senior executives to study seven
major facets of the Chrysler group's business. The teams have been asked to
improve margins by $1,000 per vehicle. Officials declined to give a timetable
for the internal study.

How Ironic, when Mercedes Bought Chrysler all those years ago and all the outrage after what was supposed to be a merger of equals turned into an outright accusation of
A major American corporation by a foreign buyer such as the Daimler group, now eight years later it looks like the honeymoon is over and Daimler may want to go back
To being Daimler Benz, but who can blame them, Chrysler keeps losing money and the shareholders and board of directors may have run out of patience.
One interesting question is who would the potential suitor be, maybe Toyota? Or GM? Probably neither, there seems to be no reason for Toyota to look at Chrysler, Strategically
A Toyota/Chrysler match up wouldn’t yield anything of value and then again Toyota would inherit the retirement costs and Union contracts that they have avoided in their own
Factories. As for GM they’re really not in the position to make a major purchase like Chrysler,.. ditto Ford.
No, the only real suitor in the picture would seems to be Renault-Nissan, this could really play into Carlos Ghosn's hands, Ford and GM have from the beginning stressed that
They would go it alone with the exception of the possible merger rumor between the two companies some time ago.
No it looks like there’s only one enthusiastic buyer for Walter P Chryslers’ former company, and Renault- Nissan looks to be the most obvious fit.
The synergies here are obviously different than GM’s, and Nissan would have to take a closer look at the situation to see if this makes any sense for them.
The Automotive landscape seems to be reshaping itself and this may the first major change of more to come.
J.

Chevy Sequel

This from Auto week online…..
Driving Sequel turns out to be unremarkable, which is the most remarkable aspect. It drives much like any crossover vehicle, only without engine roar or conspicuous transmission shift points. Push on the accelerator pedal and it surges up to 60 mph in about 10 seconds. Stomp the brake pedal and it stops like a car—no goofy reactions as it switches back and forth between regenerative and friction braking. And it steers just like a car, complete with road feel. The suspension could use a little dialing-in, but only because the electronically controlled shocks were installed just a couple days before we drove it.All this is remarkable because the previous generation version we drove in France three years ago—the Hy-Wire—felt like a corporate-funded science fair experiment, laden down with weird control interfaces (twist the steering grip to accelerate or brake, for instance) and different-for-the-sake-of-different attributes meant to emphasize the technology more than to serve a potential customer. It was limited to 40 mph and felt slow and cumbersome.
This latest prototype from GM looks very promising, it shows that GM is ready to play and isn’t willing to let the likes of Honda get to market first with this kind of vehicle and technology. To say this looks very promising would be an understatement, the automakers have to move fast to establish more alternative fuel vehicles before the next Oil shock sends car and truck sales into the dumpster again.
It ‘s this kind of innovation and forward thinking that will save the American automakers, instead of being reactive, general motors’ is being proactive and showing the there is
Still creativity and passion in the halls of GM.
J.
Find out more from AutoWeek

Ford To Increase Reductions

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co.'s campaign to consolidate dealerships will cover more markets than initially planned.The broader scope will help Ford prepare for sharp reductions in market share.U.S. share of the Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands will drop by as much as 2 percentage points in 2007, U.S. sales chief Cisco Codina says. He forecasts share in the low to mid 14 percent range next year, down from the low 16 percent range the company projects for 2006.The Dearborn automaker's dramatic drop in U.S. market share and sales - it lost 1 million units from 2000 to the end of 2005 - has left dealers struggling with big declines in profit and in some cases financial losses.

More bad news from Ford? Who would have thought, but this is to be expected , I don’t think Ford Has a complete picture of its current standing in the market place and won’t until later this year.
I still believe that they are doing the right thing by consolidating dealerships, they need a distribution and production network that matches their market share. And that this has the potential to make Ford a much stronger company in the long run.
J.

Kia to scale back plans

Automotive news....

WEST POINT, Ga. -- KIA Motors Corp. has scaled back its U.S. sales expectations and as a result will use its U.S. plant as an export base for markets in Latin America.KIA had targeted U.S. sales of 800,000 vehicles a year in 2010, but now expects sales of about 650,000 in 2010, Chung Eui Sun, Kia CEO, said here today at the plant's groundbreaking.Chung and his father, Hyundai-Kia Group Chairman Chung Mong Koo, lifted shovels of sand to break ground on Kia's first U.S. plant here today. The younger Chung said it has not been determined how many of the plant's 300,000 vehicles a year would be shipped out of the United States.

Kia is just more competition in an overcrowded north American Auto market, this just make it's harder for all the players to make money in the car business.

But then again this is the way it's supposed to to be here, it's a shame the cable , cell phone and oil industries don't have this kind of competition.

J.

Saturn Aura

The new Saturn Aura looks like it may have what it takes to win over some import owners who usually will cast a very critical eye towards any off the domestic brands.
This is probably the best chance Saturn has of reestablishing itself as an alternative to the foreign brands. As usual the Aura seems to come up short in certain areas such as interior quality, though in all fairness most of the Aura's competitors also show some budget cutting to lower the price of the car.
Ive' mentioned elsewhere that some of the things that GM seems to do to tarnish it's image is the constant budget cutting of the interior trim and parts .
I think that this car has a good chance of building good will toward the Saturn brand if it's executed properly and in this case it looks to be true.
2006 is a different world to 1993 when Saturn first debuted, Hyundai is now a major player in the entry level car biz and the Japanese brands are as formidable as always.

But one car can't carry a whole brand. and the Aura is only the beginning of a rejuvenation of the Saturn brand.

Here's to Saturns success.

J.