US carmakers don（名士） green mantle for $25bn loans pleas（嘆願） to Gongress

FT Dec 3 2008
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Ford boss willing to drop salary to $1
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Detoit's beleaguered（取り巻く） carmakers yesterday sought to present themselves as lean（不作）, innovative and environmentally aware as they appealed to Congress for $25bn of emergency loans.
In their second appeal to Washington in less than a month, General Motors, Ford Motor and Crysler outlined plans to become more competitive to back up their bid for bail-out funds.

UK carmakers ask for aid as sales see sharp decline

FT 19 Nov 2008

UK carmakers ask for aid as sales see sharp decline
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Britain's car industry yesterday became the latest to ask for government financial aid and tax breaks to address "unprecedented(前代未聞の） circumstances" this year.
In Germany , General Motors' Opel unit this week held talks with the government on euro 1 bn worth of loan guarantees to shore up(立て直す、支援する） its liquidity.
Germany's carmakers have asked that their financing arms be eligible for state credit guarantees under that country's bailout programme for banks. Talks are still ongoing.

GM and Cerberus race to finalize Chrysler stake deal ahead of poll

General Motors and Cerberus Capital Management are racing to finalize a deal for the carmaker to acquire the private equity group's stake in Chrysler before next Tuesday's US election.

Some industry executives and advisers to the carmakers questioned whether a deal could be done by next week because the positions of constituents including unions and the government have not been firmed up.

Porche accelerates towards VW control

FT 28 Oct 08

Aggressive share buying may have jeopardised(危険にさらす） co-operation
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Hedge funds were scrambling（奪い合う） to cover their short positions in Volkswagen yesterday after shares in Europe's largest carmaker more than doubled following Porsche's disclosure that it had increased its stake to almost 75 per cent.

These funds, which aim to profit from share declines by selling shares and buying them back in the market at a lower price, had been betting that the difference between VW's ordinary shares and its preferred shares would be narrow.
Preference shares pay a fixed rate of interest but do not carry voting rights, while ordinary shares do have voting rights.

Porsche said over the weekend that it had increased its stake from 42.6 to 74.1 per cent.

GM in hunt for capital injection, and fresh wobbles at Ford

FT Oct 22/08

GM in hunt(狩） for Buffett-style capital injection
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Ford has little room for manoeuvre(策略）
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General Motors is seeking a sizeable capital injection from outside investors as a possible alternative to a deal with Chrysler. Such investment would be along the lines of Warren Buffett's recent purchases of minority stakes in GE and GS.

One banker questioned GM's chances of finding an outside investor. " I just do not think most private equity guys are that enamoured of（魅せられる） the auto industry and I do not know how you could try to secure it in some way." he said.

Renault-Nissan group has also studied a closer relationship with Chrysler that would fall short of (届かない、不足する）an acquisition.
Nissan already has three manufacturing agreements on small cars and pick-up trucks with Chrysler and is discussing others for vehicles such as mid sized cars.

Ford
Attention turned to fresh wobbles(動揺する） at Ford Motor.
KirK Kerkorian, the 91 year old scourge(災難、悩み） of Detroit's boardrooms, said he was selling some of his more than 6 per cent stake in Ford, and might sell all of it.

Ford's share price down 4.7% to $2.22 in lunchtime trading and diverted（そらす、転ずる） attention away from GM.

Mr. Kerkorian's exit comes in a turbulent（激しい、騒々しい） month for Ford, which last week saw the resignations of Jorma Ollila and Sir Jhon bond, two of its most experienced board members.

The bad news is that Ford now has little room for manoeuvre. Apart from its Mazda stake, virtually all its assets are now mortgaged to lenders.

Jim Farley, Ford's marketing chief, said last week that total light vehicle sales this month were running at an annual rate of 11m to 12 m units, compared with 12.5m in September and more than 16m a year ago.

Ford's US fortunes depend heavily on the F-150 pick up truck, its top selling model and the biggest contributor to profits.

Carmakers resort to new model price cuts

FT Oct/20/08
Unusual move by Ford and Chrysler
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Ford motor and Chrysler have taken the rare step of offering discounts on their newest models as they gear up for a ferocious(ひどい） battle for the hearts and wallets of North American pick up truck buyers.
At the centre of the fray(争い） are the　2009 version of Ford's F150 and Chrysler's Dodge Ram, both now arriving in dealer showrooms.
F series has been the US top selling vehicle for the past 31 years, contributing 27% of Ford's 2007 sales volumes.
The Ram accounted for 17% of Chrysler's sales last year.

F series sales in September were 39% lower than a year earlier. Ram sales were down 28%.

CSM worldwide, expects further shrinkage next year and in 2010, bringing sales of trucks down to about half of 2001' 3.3 million peak.


GM and Toyota trucks are sold with heavy incentives , with some dealers offering 2008 models at little more than half price.

Geely campaings for electric black cabs

FT Oct /20/08

ブラックロンドンタクシーを製造する会社をCo-ownする中国の自動車会社Geelyは電気タクシーをロンドンの都市に持ち込むべくイギリス政府筋と面談した。
FTの取材に答えた中国Geelyの社長は、「ロンドンタクシーを電気自動車に変えたい」と語った。
Geelyは、ブラックロンドンタクシーを製造するManganese　Bronze社の株式を23％保有している。更にブラックタクシーを製造する会社とは上海で、Geelyが51％出資するジョイントベンチャーをもっており、今年12月から中国で自動車を生産開始する。

Chinese carmaker Geely could bring electric-powered cabs to London. Geely owns 23% of Manganese Bronze, the Coventry(イングランドの都市）-based producer of black London cabs.

Tata powers electric vehicles stake

FT Oct/15/08

Tata motors has moved a step closer to realising its plan to release an electric vehicle into the European market with its acquisition yesterday of a controlling stake in a small Norwegian electric vehicle company, Mijo.

Tata motor UK will pay USD 2 mio for 50.3% stake in Mijo.

Tata motor will produce electric vehicles , a sedan to be launched in Europe next year.

Daimler to slash production

FT Oct/15/08

The German automobiles group yesterday announced that it would slash 3,500 of the 21,000 jobs at its North American truck business.
It intends to close two plants in the US and Canada and to cut administrative costs related to the Sterling brand.

The move followed similar decisions by some of Daimler's competitors after the industry has been hit by a slowdown not only in the US but most recently also in Europe.

Volvo Trucks is cutting more than 20% of its European blue-collar staff, and MAN is reducing this year's production.

Mr. Renschler, head of Daimler's truck business said that no similar moves should be expected for Daimler in Europe. "We are much better prepared in Europe as far as flexibility is concerned," he said.

China car sales boom runs out of stream

FT 08/Oct/15

Lower forecasts a blow to automakers
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Growth down to single-digit figure
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Expected global economic slowdown could significantly depress Chinese car sales for the rest of this year and 2009 sales could be flat, according to industry analysts. The change would be a sharp reversal after several years of double-digit growth in the world's second largest vehicle market.

JD Power cut its forecast for passenger vehicle sales in China in 2008 to 5.8m units from its previous forecast of 5.95m, making a 6.7 per cent increase over 2007. China's car market grew by 24 per cent last year.

For 2009 JD Power expects passenger vehicle demand to increase only modestly to 5.88m units.
CSM recently downgraded its 2008 sales forecast , partly in response to the economic crisis, predicting growth of less than 10%.

ICICI hunts for(探す） bear cartel（カルテル）

FT Oct/14/08
Bank asks police to investigate brokers
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Smear campaign(組織的中傷） led to attack by speculators.
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India's ICICI Bank has asked the police to hund down(追詰める）　a "bear cartel"(弱気のカルテル） that it alledges（主張する） launched a smear campaign involving mobile phone text messages, e-mail and Internet blogs in an attempt to bring down the country's largest private bank.