GM- Ominous sign
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GM- Ominous sign
And so it begins...
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=147827
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=147827
Bob Lutz Cashes Out of GM Stock
DETROIT — In what appears to be a tacit acknowledgement by its top executives that a General Motors bankruptcy filing is all but inevitable, former vice chairman Bob Lutz and several other GM executives liquidated their remaining shares of stock in the rapidly sinking automaker.
Other GM officials who sold their shares included vice chairman Thomas Stephens; GM North America president Troy Clarke; chief information officer Ralph Szygenda; manufacturing boss Gary Cowger, and GM Europe chief Carl-Peter Forster.
Lutz on Friday sold 81,360 shares of GM stock at $1.61 a share, netting $130,989.
GM previously had said it could flood the market with up to 60 billion new shares of stock, virtually wiping out existing shareholders, including its own executives.
Inside Line says: Yet another sorry footnote in the checkered history of GM. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
DETROIT — In what appears to be a tacit acknowledgement by its top executives that a General Motors bankruptcy filing is all but inevitable, former vice chairman Bob Lutz and several other GM executives liquidated their remaining shares of stock in the rapidly sinking automaker.
Other GM officials who sold their shares included vice chairman Thomas Stephens; GM North America president Troy Clarke; chief information officer Ralph Szygenda; manufacturing boss Gary Cowger, and GM Europe chief Carl-Peter Forster.
Lutz on Friday sold 81,360 shares of GM stock at $1.61 a share, netting $130,989.
GM previously had said it could flood the market with up to 60 billion new shares of stock, virtually wiping out existing shareholders, including its own executives.
Inside Line says: Yet another sorry footnote in the checkered history of GM. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
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Ominous sign- Part II
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=147826
Nissan Lost $2.4 Billion in 2008
TOKYO — Nissan Motor followed rival Toyota Motor in reporting heavy losses in fiscal 2008, driven by a substantial $2.85 billion loss in its fiscal fourth quarter ending March 31. The full-year loss totaled $2.4 billion, compared with a profit of $4.97 billion in fiscal 2007.
Toyota last week reported a massive loss of $4.50 billion for the fiscal year. In comparison, Honda posted a profit of $1.41 billion.
Amid a global downturn that has affected virtually every major manufacturer, Nissan said its worldwide sales for the fiscal year dropped nearly 10 percent, to 3.4 million vehicles. The company expects sales to fall even further to 3.1 million units during the current year.
Although Nissan said it will delay some product programs to preserve cash, the company confirmed plans to begin production of pure electric vehicles in fall 2010 at its Oppama plant in Japan. The plant will be able to build up to 50,000 EVs a year.
Nissan will begin selling its new dedicated EV initially in Japan and the United States, with a broader worldwide rollout planned for 2012.
Inside Line says: The popularity of the GT-R didn't do much to drive traffic to Nissan showrooms in 2008. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
TOKYO — Nissan Motor followed rival Toyota Motor in reporting heavy losses in fiscal 2008, driven by a substantial $2.85 billion loss in its fiscal fourth quarter ending March 31. The full-year loss totaled $2.4 billion, compared with a profit of $4.97 billion in fiscal 2007.
Toyota last week reported a massive loss of $4.50 billion for the fiscal year. In comparison, Honda posted a profit of $1.41 billion.
Amid a global downturn that has affected virtually every major manufacturer, Nissan said its worldwide sales for the fiscal year dropped nearly 10 percent, to 3.4 million vehicles. The company expects sales to fall even further to 3.1 million units during the current year.
Although Nissan said it will delay some product programs to preserve cash, the company confirmed plans to begin production of pure electric vehicles in fall 2010 at its Oppama plant in Japan. The plant will be able to build up to 50,000 EVs a year.
Nissan will begin selling its new dedicated EV initially in Japan and the United States, with a broader worldwide rollout planned for 2012.
Inside Line says: The popularity of the GT-R didn't do much to drive traffic to Nissan showrooms in 2008. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
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Shares headed to the basement
As of 11:38am central:
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- General Motors Corp. shares dropped as much as 24% to hit a 76-year low of $1.09 on Tuesday, after CEO Fritz Henderson a day earlier said a bankruptcy is "more probable." Also weighing on the stock, word broke after the market closed Monday that a group of top GM executives spent last week selling all their shares in the company, according to SEC filings. GM is approaching a June 1 deadline to reach concessions from the United Auto Workers union and its bondholders or face bankruptcy, like rival Chrysler LLC.
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- General Motors Corp. shares dropped as much as 24% to hit a 76-year low of $1.09 on Tuesday, after CEO Fritz Henderson a day earlier said a bankruptcy is "more probable." Also weighing on the stock, word broke after the market closed Monday that a group of top GM executives spent last week selling all their shares in the company, according to SEC filings. GM is approaching a June 1 deadline to reach concessions from the United Auto Workers union and its bondholders or face bankruptcy, like rival Chrysler LLC.
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From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
This is exactly the kind of panic that CAUSES bankrupcies and stock-market collapses. 
The more people act like lemmings and all jump off a cliff (even Bob Lutz), the more likely there WILL be a GM bankrupcy. If investors would just stop panic-selling, GM stock....and GM corporate prospects....just might stabilize.
The more people act like lemmings and all jump off a cliff (even Bob Lutz), the more likely there WILL be a GM bankrupcy. If investors would just stop panic-selling, GM stock....and GM corporate prospects....just might stabilize.
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Lexus Fanatic
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From: Virginia/D.C. suburbs
Ford is the perfect example. They were in deep financial trouble just like GM and Chrysler, but cool, level-headed management and investors, by their calm, collected actions and the tendency not to dump Ford stock in panic, got the company back on its feet. Today, while not as debt-free or profitable, as, say, in the 70s or 80s, the company is not only running reasonably well, but is making some good vehicles too.
Lexus Test Driver
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From: MA
The GM crisis is not cause by the panic of the investors, it is cause by the bottom line. If you spend 10 billion dollars more than you take in every three months and at the same time, you are borrowing billions from the govenment, I am no business major but those are not good signs for GM.
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From: Tennessee
Anybody who understands the problems at GM and their available options has KNOWN for months now that GM would be filing for bankruptcy in 2009. I don't understand how this is a surprise to anyone. The only reason the execs didn't sell sooner is because they haven't been allowed to.
It would actually be a bad thing if they didn't file because until they do file there's simply no way for them to ever be profitable. Right now they've got a lineup of cars that most other manufacturers could turn a healthy profit with, but they can't because they have 4-5 times as many dealers as they actually need and are paying 2-3 times as much for labor as they should be, and both factors are contractually bound to where the only thing they can do about it is go into a controlled bankruptcy.
Whether or not they go down in flames with this bankruptcy is an unknown at this point, but what I can guarantee is that they'd be going down without a doubt without filing... even if the government kept pumping good money after bad into GM, it would never manage to become profitable... they'd just be keeping it on life support which would be the very definition of unhealthy socialism. The only reason they've been throwing money at GM pre-bankruptcy these last few months is to give GM time to prepare.
It would actually be a bad thing if they didn't file because until they do file there's simply no way for them to ever be profitable. Right now they've got a lineup of cars that most other manufacturers could turn a healthy profit with, but they can't because they have 4-5 times as many dealers as they actually need and are paying 2-3 times as much for labor as they should be, and both factors are contractually bound to where the only thing they can do about it is go into a controlled bankruptcy.
Whether or not they go down in flames with this bankruptcy is an unknown at this point, but what I can guarantee is that they'd be going down without a doubt without filing... even if the government kept pumping good money after bad into GM, it would never manage to become profitable... they'd just be keeping it on life support which would be the very definition of unhealthy socialism. The only reason they've been throwing money at GM pre-bankruptcy these last few months is to give GM time to prepare.
Lexus Champion
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From: ca
I saw the report Chrysler WON'T have the payback the multimillion dollar "bridge loan" the Tax payers gave them.
Why do we even call these things loans anymore, we all called it, we are NEVER going to see that money back.
I suspect the same thing for all the money we poured down the GM rat hole.
Why do we even call these things loans anymore, we all called it, we are NEVER going to see that money back.
I suspect the same thing for all the money we poured down the GM rat hole.
It's not inevitable, IF investors and managers don't panic (see my above post).
Ford is the perfect example. They were in deep financial trouble just like GM and Chrysler, but cool, level-headed management and investors, by their calm, collected actions and the tendency not to dump Ford stock in panic, got the company back on its feet. Today, while not as debt-free or profitable, as, say, in the 70s or 80s, the company is not only running reasonably well, but is making some good vehicles too.
Ford is the perfect example. They were in deep financial trouble just like GM and Chrysler, but cool, level-headed management and investors, by their calm, collected actions and the tendency not to dump Ford stock in panic, got the company back on its feet. Today, while not as debt-free or profitable, as, say, in the 70s or 80s, the company is not only running reasonably well, but is making some good vehicles too.
Ford wasn't in anywhere near as much debt. Ford's been ACTUALLY restructuring for years, unlike GM which seems to have been 'stuck' and in denial (despite coming out with some great product improvements). Ford didn't take government funds which were pretty much guaranteed to kill the companies because Obama seems to be fixated on protecting the UAW above all else.
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General Motors is planning to build cars in China and import them into the United States, a strategy that could trigger further job losses and union anger in the US.
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Last Updated: 11:56AM BST 14 May 2009
A plan to shift a greater proportion of the struggling car-maker's production overseas is still being negotiated with US politicians, who have already lent GM $15.4bn (£10.18bn) in order to keep it afloat and safeguard its 90,000 US workers.
However, a spokesman for GM in Shanghai said it was "only a matter of time" before vehicles made in China are imported into the company's home market, in another blow to the US car industry.
After losing $6bn in the first quarter, GM has slashed its global production by 40pc, or 900,000 vehicles. Around 13 assembly plants will be affected by shutdowns in the US. The company has a June 1 deadline to complete a restructuring or follow Chrysler into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
"The production quality here is the same as Luton in the UK or the US. We may not be fitting them with all the specifications but that does not mean we can't," he added.
"In a perfect world, you produce vehicles where you sell them. That's how it should be. But if it doesn't make sense economically to have two factories because you do not sell enough volume then it might make sense to have one location," he explained.
A 12-page dossier submitted to politicians in Washington suggests that the number of cars that GM manufactures in Mexico, China and South Korea and imported into the US will roughly double.
Currently the company imports the Chevrolet Aveo and Pontiac G3 from South Korea and the Saturn Vue and Chevrolet HHR sport utility vehicles from Mexico. The company could export small vehicles such as the Chevrolet Spark from China to the US.
However, the numbers of Chinese exports to the US are likely to be small.
"I don't believe that you are going to have a situation that you produce millions of cars in China and ship them to the US," he said. "If you produce a vehicle here and you have 50,000 or so in extra volume you might find another market that can sell them."
According to reports in China, GM will start shipping cars from Shanghai in 2011, with just over 17,000 being exported in the first year.
The move will be fiercely challenged by GM's unions. "GM should not be taking taxpayer's money simply to finance the outsourcing of jobs to other countries," said Alan Reuther, a lobbyist for the United Auto Workers union. He added that the number of extra cars that GM plans to import will be equal to the output of four US assembly plants, "the same number that GM plans to close".
Although GM is struggling globally, its operations in China continue to be a huge success. Sales in March rose by more than 50pc to 151,000 cars, compared to 172,000 in the US. GM has invested in research and design facilities alongside its Chinese partners and says it could design and produce a car wholly inside China within 12 to 24 months.
The company also conceded that China could eventually become a more important market than the US.
"We sell as many Buicks here as in the US so the question is not crazy or unrealistic," said the spokesman. "The US market continues to stagnate and move backwards. China will make 10.5m cars this year, an increase of 8.7pc. The US will make 9.5m. So it will be the first time that China builds more cars than the US, and three years ago, the US was building 17m cars a year."
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Last Updated: 11:56AM BST 14 May 2009
A plan to shift a greater proportion of the struggling car-maker's production overseas is still being negotiated with US politicians, who have already lent GM $15.4bn (£10.18bn) in order to keep it afloat and safeguard its 90,000 US workers.
However, a spokesman for GM in Shanghai said it was "only a matter of time" before vehicles made in China are imported into the company's home market, in another blow to the US car industry.
After losing $6bn in the first quarter, GM has slashed its global production by 40pc, or 900,000 vehicles. Around 13 assembly plants will be affected by shutdowns in the US. The company has a June 1 deadline to complete a restructuring or follow Chrysler into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
"The production quality here is the same as Luton in the UK or the US. We may not be fitting them with all the specifications but that does not mean we can't," he added.
"In a perfect world, you produce vehicles where you sell them. That's how it should be. But if it doesn't make sense economically to have two factories because you do not sell enough volume then it might make sense to have one location," he explained.
A 12-page dossier submitted to politicians in Washington suggests that the number of cars that GM manufactures in Mexico, China and South Korea and imported into the US will roughly double.
Currently the company imports the Chevrolet Aveo and Pontiac G3 from South Korea and the Saturn Vue and Chevrolet HHR sport utility vehicles from Mexico. The company could export small vehicles such as the Chevrolet Spark from China to the US.
However, the numbers of Chinese exports to the US are likely to be small.
"I don't believe that you are going to have a situation that you produce millions of cars in China and ship them to the US," he said. "If you produce a vehicle here and you have 50,000 or so in extra volume you might find another market that can sell them."
According to reports in China, GM will start shipping cars from Shanghai in 2011, with just over 17,000 being exported in the first year.
The move will be fiercely challenged by GM's unions. "GM should not be taking taxpayer's money simply to finance the outsourcing of jobs to other countries," said Alan Reuther, a lobbyist for the United Auto Workers union. He added that the number of extra cars that GM plans to import will be equal to the output of four US assembly plants, "the same number that GM plans to close".
Although GM is struggling globally, its operations in China continue to be a huge success. Sales in March rose by more than 50pc to 151,000 cars, compared to 172,000 in the US. GM has invested in research and design facilities alongside its Chinese partners and says it could design and produce a car wholly inside China within 12 to 24 months.
The company also conceded that China could eventually become a more important market than the US.
"We sell as many Buicks here as in the US so the question is not crazy or unrealistic," said the spokesman. "The US market continues to stagnate and move backwards. China will make 10.5m cars this year, an increase of 8.7pc. The US will make 9.5m. So it will be the first time that China builds more cars than the US, and three years ago, the US was building 17m cars a year."