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The Portuguese Plant is Closing
GM is closing another major factory. The factory is in Portugal and it will close Oct. 31 of 2006. GM is constantly searching for ways to increase the profitability of the plant, but it seems that that’s not going to happen. Gerald Johnson, GM’s Europe director, announced the closing in a newspaper report on Friday.
Gerald Johnson said in the letter, reportedly sent to union representatives, that GM had delayed its decision to close the factory because the Portuguese government had asked for time to find a solution for making the Combo production unit more profitable, the newspaper said.
Though Johnson has already stated the plant will close, the Portuguese government is doing everything they can to ensure it doesn’t close because it is a big source of revenue for them.
Workers in Portugal and Germany walked out of plants earlier this month in protest after reports that the troubled company might cut jobs in Western Europe.
America is not the only country that’s hurting because of mismanagement in a few big companies. Germany and Portugal’s families have been hurt from layoffs and other things that sprung from our economy difficulties
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The auto industry struggles some more
Back when Ford Motor Co. stated that they would cut 30 thousand jobs, William Clay Ford Jr., chief CEO and great 
grandson to Bill Ford, announced that, in 2008, Ford would be back on their feet (maybe you can guess where I’m going with this article).
It seems, however, that Mr. Ford Jr. might be eating his own words about having the company back on track by 2008. The reason, or at least part of it, is the declining sales of SUVS. The explorer SUV dove 27 percent, and the expedition fell 30 percent, while gas prices rose 34 percent. Not many people are buying SUVs because of economical concerns and high gas prices. And, since Ford’s flagship car was the explorer, there are major problems.
Restructuring a company is a difficult task; however, it seems that the company is doing a good job at cutting jobs. While Ford announced they would cut 30,000 jobs in x amount of years, they’re actually ahead with that statistic.
Ford’s rival, GM, is looking better. GM’s restructuring plan is actually showing progress; because, their money-making-cars were not SUVs. Toyota, on the other hand, is thriving. Toyota can’t stop 10 min from building new factories and producing cars in the US.
The future of Ford is based on the dependence that Ford will “innovate” with cars that actually make money and people want. Times have changed, hence, companies, including Ford need to change. The auto industry is going through major changes, I sure hope the company Ford is build Ford Tough
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Scion reaching a young audience
Toyota’s always been known for innovative marketing, but their new Scion kiddie marketing has got to be their boldest advertising move yet:
It may appear counterintuitive, but Toyota says the promotion is working. Ten days into the campaign, visitors to the site had used the word “Scion” in online chats more than 78,000 times; hundreds of virtual Scions were purchased, using “clams,” the currency of Whyville; and the community meeting place “Club Scion” was visited 33,741 times. These online Scion owners customized their cars, drove around the virtual Whyville and picked up their Scion-less friends for a ride.
Waiting for youngsters to buy cars will be difficult, but they’ll certainly remember saving their ‘clams’ in Whyville and will appreciate Toyota’s sponsorship from a young age. I’m not sure they’ll influence much buying at this point, but the long term branding is priceless.
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Toyota Is Minority Conscious
The auto industry is one of the biggest industries in the world, and it makes sense that they would strive to be culturally diverse. It seems today that Toyota has snatched the top spot for being minority conscious. Black Enterprise, an ethnic magazine, announced Toyota as being one of the top 40 minority conscious companies.
Toyota was also recognized for making an effort to become culturally diverse. Toyota offers advertising promotions, community outreach, and scholarships for minorities.
"Toyota has always considered diversity and inclusion to be a top priority across the company," said Pat Pineda, group vice president of Toyota Motor North America Inc.,
I really like Toyota’s attitude about this award. Even though they have received many awards like this, they still realize there is still much work to do. Toyota seems committed to taking the American auto industry where it needs to go.
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What do you want in a car?
What is an ideal vehicle ?
An “ideal” is defined as an excellent or perfect example. In the first Ideal Vehicle Awards, announced today by automotive research and consulting firm AutoPacific, owners rate their new 2006 model year cars and trucks by how closely they come to their ideal. The cars or trucks that owners would change the least are the most ideal.
Those carmakers that best understand their customers and create the vehicle their core buyer group desires have come closest to the ideal.
And it looks like Ford and Hyundai know their customers best. Hyundai received the top overall spot for most ideal brand, while Ford captured a few high spots themselves. Rating the idealness of a car is somewhat intriguing, but these people apparently know how to do it. I guess a car is the most ideal when the owner has the least things he or she would change about the vehicle.
But, here’s a look at the rest of the ideal awards for 2006.
PASSENGER CARS
Premium Luxury Car: Lexus LS
Entry Luxury Car: BMW 3-Series
Large Car/Luxury Car: Mercury Montego
Premium Mid-Size Car: Hyundai Sonata
Mid-Size Car: Mercury Milan
Image Compact Car: Toyota Prius
Compact Car: Ford Focus
Sports Car: Porsche 911
Sporty Car: Acura RSX
SUT, SUV, and MINIVAN
Sport Utility Truck: Honda Ridgeline
Luxury Sport Utility: BMW X-5
Large Sport Utility: GMC Yukon
Premium Mid-Size Sport Utility: Nissan Murano
Mid-Size Sport Utility: Hyundai Santa Fe
Compact Sport Utility: Subaru Forester
Minivan: Honda Odyssey
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Ford offers free gas incentive
While Toyota is busy becoming the number 1 automaker in the world, Ford is trying to catch footing in the market again. Ford is now offering zero percent financing and free gas for a year. It is called "Drive On Us" campaign. Every car purchased between June 2, 2006 and July 31, 2006
will receive the ultimate financing and a MasterCard with $1,000 in fuel credits, and with SUVs the MasterCard will have $1,100 in gas credit.
Some models get a price reduction and the Gas card. Ford is really pushing the limits with zero percent financing. I think they’re surpassing GM’s employee pricing with price reductions, gas credits, and zero percent financing. .
So, if you’re getting ready to buy a car, you may want to check out your local Ford dealer.
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The future of powering our automobiles.
Just yesterday I wrote about the need for hybrid cars to become cheaper if they are going to take hold in the auto market. As of now, the cost of upgrading to a hybrid off sets the gas you will save. However, this may change soon.
Right now, the great hope of the auto industry is the hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicle. However, that is still far away. It may be 20 years before that technology arrives. This means that the hybrid has a chance to rule right now. Many auto makers are focusing on helping it achieve that status.
Toyota is leading the hybrid wave at the moment and it plans to stay at its fore front.
Toyota is practically the lone player in the hybrid car business. In 2005, the company sold about 250,000 hybrid cars, taking up some 80% market share. Currently, only such luxury cars made by Toyota as the Alfard, Prius, Estima and Harrier are equipped with the hybrid system. By reducing the production cost, however, the company plans to install the system on such popular cars as the Carolla and Vitz.
As I said, the key to Toyota’s plans is to make the hybrid cheaper. They hope to accomplish this with further development of the lithium cell battery.
The lithium ion battery is a type of the secondary battery that can be charged and used repeatedly. Compared with the nickel-cadmium and nickel-hydrogen cells, lithium ion battery is lighter in weight and its voltage is three times higher. It can be charged and store more electricity and thus it is more suitable for producing smaller and lighter batteries.
Toyota hopes to drastically cut the costs of producing hybrid models over the next three years. And it looks like several others are looking to get in the hybrid game as well. Hydrogen fuel-cells may be the way of the future but it looks like the next two decades will belong to the hybrids.
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A top advisor leaves after less than a year.
It seems like every other day somebody important is stepping down or leaving a company. Late last week is was Stephen Girsky’s turn. Girsky was a full-time advisor for GM for a little under a year. Before that, he was an analyst on Wall Street.
As usual he cited family/personal reasons for his departure. He wanted a job closer to home. He was currently having to commute from New York to Detroit on a regular basis, and felt good about leaving at this time for business reasons.
Simonetti [GM Spokesperson] also said Girsky felt it was a good time to leave GM because the automaker’s North American turnaround plan is on track. GM narrowed its first-quarter loss to $323 million, down from $1.3 billion the year before.
That is definitely an improvement, but his replacement and the rest of the GM brass have their work cut out for them to get back to positive numbers. It just makes you wonder sometimes when people just leave for “family reasons.” However, GM shares rose 9 cents after the news became public.
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A look at an impressive new entry in the battle for better fuel economy.
Recently, I’ve posted several topics about auto news relating to the gas crunch and vehicles with good fuel economy. Today, however, I was very excited when I saw the Loremo. Not only does it get 157 miles per gallon but it just looks great.
The Loremo is produced by a six year old German car company name Loremo AG. Despite its gas mileage the Loremo is not a hybrid and still has good performance.
The base model Loremo LS is powered by a 2 cylinder 20 hp turbo diesel engine that will reach a speed of 100 mph and the GT model will reach up to 135 mph with a 0 to 60 mph acceleration of 9 seconds.
Wow! That sounds great but how did they do it? Well, the car is extremely light weight and aerodynamic. And even with its light weight, the Loremo still meets safety standards because of their patented “linear cell structure” method.
This sounds like a very ground breaking and interesting car but, sadly, at this time it looks like it will only be for sale in Europe
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The Sky is not falling in the global auto industry
At this moment in time, the American auto Industry looks really bleak. However, that’s not the case everywhere.
Daniel Pool, adviser to National City Corp., insists the global auto industry is actually thriving.
"If you look past Ford, General Motors and Delphi, you will find that the global auto industry is healthy and there are success stories to be found here in Michigan and elsewhere," Poole said.
National City maintains strong investments in such auto suppliers as Auburn Hills-based BorgWarner and Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls Inc., said Poole, assistant director of equity research for the financial holding company in Evansville, Ind.
"You have to look for companies that are responding well to technological change and rapid global growth," Poole said.
Good news about the auto industry comes as a suprise to most Americans, because; it is very hard to see past all of the lay-offs and chapter 11 bankruptcies that have taken place in the past few years.
Poole, however, was not oblivious to the problem in America, he just wanted his investors to understand the automotive world is not coming to an end and that companies will eventually pull out of this slump. Poole does predict that there will be a few more major bankruptcies in the next 11 to 18 months.
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