Posts for 'Automobile' Category

General Motors Corp. has kicked off formal talks with potential buyers for its struggling Hummer sport-utility-vehicle division, even as it engages in negotiations to merge with Chrysler LLC.

A Hummer spokeswoman said the auto maker has begun sending out a sale prospectus for Hummer, but she declined to comment on GM's timetable for selling the brand and its potential price tag. Jim Taylor, Hummer's new chief executive, will head negotiations with interested parties.

A sale of Hummer would bring GM some much-needed cash. Because the company is losing money and facing an economic downturn, analysts believe it could run short ...

Jaguar Land Rover has selected Fiat Group Automobiles Financial Services (FGAFS) to be its exclusive partner in the main European markets, providing a full range of automotive financial services for its dealers and customers.

 FGAFS will provide funding capabilities at competitive costs while at the same time giving Jaguar Land Rover the required geographical coverage and specialised automotive expertise. The agreement will gradually replace the arrangement with Ford, whose financial arm provided support during the Ford ownership of Jaguar Land Rover.

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Sales of new cars and trucks plunged to their lowest level in more than a decade in June, as high gas prices and a weak economy kept American consumers away from dealer showrooms.

With the drop last month of more than 18 percent, automakers now expect to sell well below 15 million new vehicles this year, far fewer than the norm this decade of more than 16 million vehicles a year.

Detroit automakers were hit hard. Ford Motor was down 28 percent in June, General Motors was off 18 percent, and Chrysler dropped 36 percent.

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It would be first decline in U.S. since '95; demand cited

Toyota Motor Corp.'s sales in the United States appear to be heading toward a decline for the first time since 1995.
Toyota Executive Vice President Tokuichi Uranishi told shareholders at meeting Tuesday in Japan that U.S. sales could slide below the 2.62 million vehicles Toyota sold last year.

"We are struggling in the U.S. at the moment," Uranishi said, according to Bloomberg, as he spoke to about 3,200 shareholders. "Higher fuel prices and the subprime loan crisis have cut demand."

Toyota's annual sales increases in the United States are so consistent they have nearly become a foregone conclusion. The last decline was in 1995, when sales declined by 0.4%, or 4,731 vehicles, to 1.08 million, according to Autodata Corp.

But as Toyota grew into a full-line manufacturer, offering a wide choice of pickups and SUVs, it became more exposed to overall economic conditions, said Tom Libby, senior director of industry analysis for J.D. Power and Associates.

"They are really not in the ideal position for today's market conditions," Libby said. "If I had to pick a company that is in the ideal position of the marketplace right now, I would pick Honda, because they have no exposure to the upper end of the market, and Toyota does."

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General Motors told dealers Monday that it plans to raise prices on 2009 models by an average of 3.5 percent despite a tough market that is forcing the automaker to cut production and discount its 2008 models.

Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of North American sales, said in conference calls to dealers that the increases will allow GM to recover only part of the rising cost of steel and other commodities and the cost of safety and other features on the new models. The increases will amount to about $1,000 per vehicle.

GM already had increased the prices of its 2008 model vehicles twice because of rising commodity costs, spokesman John McDonald said. The move comes a little more than a week after Chrysler announced a 2 percent increase in the price of its remaining 2008 vehicles.

GM also said it will further cut production of trucks and sport-utility vehicles, and it will run a sale this week to help clear out high inventories. The sale includes zero percent financing for up to 72 months.

"We're really just trying to spark the market at the end of the quarter," LaNeve said.

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Plunging prices for used pickups and sport-utility vehicles are deepening U.S. automakers' sales slide, with Ford Motor Co. the latest company to feel the pinch.

Gasoline near $4 a gallon helped send prices for used large pickups and SUVs tumbling at least 21 percent in May, Atlanta- based Manheim Consulting estimates. That cuts trade-in values, pushing light-truck sales down 16 percent in 2008, compared with less than 1 percent for cars.

``Regular consumers don't need larger SUVs or pickups; it's a lifestyle choice,'' Standard & Poor's equity analyst Efraim Levy in New York said in an interview. ``If it's getting to be a bad investment, it's not worth buying a new one right now.''

Detroit automakers including Ford are vulnerable to the drop in pickup and SUV sales. The U.S.-based companies depend on those models for almost 70 percent of their sales and a greater share of profits than Asian competitors such as Honda Motor Co.

Industrywide sales declines led by trucks helped spur Ford's forecast yesterday for a wider 2008 loss. The second- largest U.S. automaker said it will pare output by as much as 25 percent and delay unveiling the latest version of its top- selling vehicle, the F-Series pickup. Auto-loan unit Ford Motor Credit also will post a loss, Ford said.

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design and technology leader in the Indian mobile market, today, announced the launch of its Flagship model Soul (SGH-U900) in the country. Soul offers the perfect balance of design and features. In addition to the introduction of Soul, SAMSUNG today also announced the launch of seven new, stylish, advanced mobiles in the country across the popular Guru series; multimedia (music and imaging) and the business phone segment. Reinforcing its lifestyle positioning, the Company today announced its foray into the mobile accessory business in the country by launching lifestyle mobile accessories in the market.

Announcing the launch of Soul, stated Mr Sunil Dutt, Country Head, SAMSUNG Telecommunications India, "We believe that Soul is the answer for today’s style-conscious consumers, looking for a perfect blend of outstanding quality, design and performance. We are confident that the Soul will enhance the SAMSUNG consumer experience in the premium phone category." Soul is the ultimate essence of mobile; a slim, lightweight and stylish product yet still boasting all the essential functions in one single device. Showcasing extreme minimalism in a slim design, Soul has a full metal body with a premium look and feel with a natural color and hairline texture .

Soul enhances the usability for the user with features that adapt to the user depending on the application. With Magic Touch by DaCP, navigation indicators on the keypad of the phone change according to the user’s needs, making navigation of the menus simple, intuitive and direct. The navigation panel’s icons change according to function. For example, when in music mode, music related icons will light up on the navigation indicators. When in camera mode, camera related icons such as zoom and brightness icons will appear.

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Honda Motor Co., Japan's second- largest automaker, may start mass production of its FCX Clarity fuel-cell car within 10 years to meet growing demand for fuel- efficient models.

If we can bring costs down by a certain amount, I think we can start mass-production,'' President Takeo Fukui said in an interview at its new-model center today in Tochigi prefecture, northeast of Tokyo. Honda began production of the FCX Clarity at the center today.

Honda plans to lease 200 FCX Clarity vehicles in the U.S. and Japan over the next three years and has five customers for the car in the U.S., the company said in a statement. The carmaker is adding low-pollution models including fuel-cell and gasoline-electric hybrids as record-high oil prices and tougher carbon-emission rules boost demand for cars that use less fuel.

There's still a lot of research that's left to be done'' on fuel-cell cars, said Yuuki Sakurai, who helps manage the equivalent of 5.7 trillion yen ($53 billion) including Japanese auto stocks. ``It's difficult to fathom what the industry will look like ten years down the road.''

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Nissan Motor Co. (7201.TO) said Tuesday that its net profit jumped 67% in the quarter ended March, in a sign that the company is overcoming the strength of the yen and high material costs.

The Japanese car maker, in which French car maker Renault owns a 44% stake, posted a net profit of Y137.6 billion in the three months ended March 31, up from Y82.2 billion a year earlier.

Its sales fell 17% to Y2.990 trillion in that quarter from Y3.591 trillion and operating profit declined 14% to Y211.7 billion from Y245.2 billion.

In the full fiscal year ended March, its net profit rose 4.7% to Y482.26 billion from Y460.80 billion, operating profit increased 1.8% to Y790.83 billion from Y776.94 billion. Its sales grew 3.4% to Y10.824 trillion from Y10.469 trillion.

The net profit for the last fiscal year was above the Y469.72 billion forecast consensus compiled by financial information provider Quick, based on 19 analysts.

For the current fiscal year through March 2009, Nissan expects its net profit to fall 30% to Y340.00 billion, operating profit to drop 31% to Y550.00 billion and sales to decline 4.4% to Y10.350 trillion.

Soaring gas prices have turned the steady migration by Americans to smaller cars into a stampede.
In what industry analysts are calling a first, about one in five vehicles sold in the United States was a compact or subcompact car during April, based on monthly sales data released Thursday. Almost a decade ago, when sport utility vehicles were at their peak of popularity, only one in every eight vehicles sold was a small car.

The switch to smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles has been building in recent years, but has accelerated recently with the advent of $3.50-a-gallon gas. At the same time, sales of pickup trucks and large sport utility vehicles have dropped sharply.

In another first, fuel-sipping four-cylinder engines surpassed six-cylinder models in popularity in April.

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