Crunch watch Dec 09: the auto industry in crisis

Welcome to CAR's news aggregator as we round up the seismic change in the auto industry. Top tip: news summaries are added from the top hour-by-hour

Wednesday 30 December 2009
• Saab's PR chief told AN that GM is extending the deadline for a sale to 7 January – and the Trollhattan factory will resume limited manufacturing in early January to build the new 9-5 and some 9-3 cabrios (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Last night Bloomberg reported a Saab board member claiming that the 31 December deadline for a Saab sale or closure 'is not holy'. If GM receives a bid that is 'sufficiently interesting', it'll extend the deadline, said the Saab suit (Automotive News, subscription required)
• GM is offering massive discounts on Pontiac and Saturn cars, as it seeks to get rid of the remaining stock from these terminated brands. It's offering dealers $7000 cashbacks on any stock sold before 4 January (Detroit News)
• Daimler will decide on its small car partner by 'mid 2010', said chief exec Dieter Zetsche. Merc is seeking a partner to develop its small cars, including Smart and the A- and B-class set. Suitors include Renault (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)

Tuesday 29 December 2009
• Audi says it plans to spend €7.3 billion on plant upgrades, new models and tech upgrades over the next three years – and 80% of that investment is on new product and tech. The number of Audi models on sale will expand from 34 to 42 by 2015, the company confirmed (Detroit News)
• German car component firm Schaeffler is on the up, after a rocky few months reports the FT. It has recovered from a wobble when it took a 90% stake in three-times-larger rival Continental for €12bn (Financial Times)
• Oil prices have reached a month high as traders bet on recovering US demand. Brent crude reached $77 per barrel; Goldman Sachs analysts forecast a peak of $110 by the end of 2010 (Daily Telegraph)

Monday 28 December 2009
• Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has given local car makers Toyota, Ford, GM and Fiat an ultimatum that they must share technology with local businesses, or leave the country. Last year, 135,042 cars and trucks were assembled in the country (BBC News)
• Russian bank Sberbank wants compensation from GM for its part in Magna's aborted bid to buy Opel/Vauxhall from GM this autumn. CEO German Gref said in a TV interview that his company would consider suing if GM didn't offer compensation (Automotive News, subscription required)

Friday 25 December 2009
• C'mon, even our most dedicated Crunchwatchers take a break sometimes... Happy Christmas to our loyal readers, from all of us at CAR Online!

Thursday 24 December 2009
• GM does not anticipate any rescue deal for Saab, a spokesman said today. Spokesman Chris Preuss said the company planned 'no further announcements regarding the brand's sale' and continued to wind down the Saab business. The actual deadline remains for the end of December, but a last-minute rescue seems less likely than ever (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Toyota expects its suppliers to slash costs by nearly a third by 2013, as it drives down prices to bolster its competitiveness (Financial Times)

Wednesday 22 December 2009
• Ford and Chinese manufacturer Geely have agreed 'all substantive commercial terms relating to the potential sale of Volvo Car Corporation', and hope to sign the final documentation in the first quarter of 2010, with the completion of the sale expected in the second quarter of 2010. Ford will continue to cooperate with Volvo after the sale, but it will not retain any shares in the Swedish company (Ford)
• Michael Schumacher confirms the rumours and signs for the new Mercedes F1 team, né Brawn (BBC Sport)
• Fiat is to close one of its five Italian factories – in Sicily – but unveils plans to build more than 1m cars by 2012. This year it'll build 650,000 vehicles in Italy. Growth will come from expansion plans, including building two Chryslers (BBC News)
• BAIC says it paid $200 million for Saab technology – and it'll launch Saab-based models as soon as 2011. It now has rights to three car platforms, two engine technologies and a pair of transmissions (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Fiat will show an electric 500 concept and a Lancia Delta badged as a Chrysler at the 2010 Detroit auto show (Automotive News, subscription required)

Tuesday 22 December 2009
• Ford has offered incentive deals to all 41,000 US hourly workers to cut its factory costs – with a $50,000 pay-off and a $25,000 voucher off a new Ford for staff willing to quit (BBC News)
• Spyker has extended yesterday's 5.00pm deadline on its renewed offer for Saab. 'It is open-ended, it has been extended until further notice,' said Spyker CEO Victor Muller (Automotive News, subscription required)
• GM has poached the chief financial officer of Microsoft as its new money boss; New Zealander Chris Liddell takes up the post in January 2010 (BBC News)
• Ford is poised to announce progress in its sale of Volvo to China's Geely. Details haven't been announced yet, but Geely has reportedly offered just under $2 billion (Financial Times)

Monday 21 December 2009
• Spyker announces over the weekend it has submitted a new bid for Saab, addressing all of GM's criticisms of its failed bid last week. Victor Muller said his 11-point proposal meant Saab no longer required a European loan, but the offer only stands until 5.00pm Eastern Standard Time today (Spyker)

Friday 18 December 2009
• Chrysler confirms it won't hold a press conference at the 2010 Detroit auto show next month as it has no new product to herald. Chrysler has suffered the worst US sales drop of any major car maker, at 38% down (Detroit News)
• The new, soon-to-be-restructured GM Europe plans an operating profit margin of 4-5% within four years (Financial Times)
• Meanwhile, parent firm GM in the US is said to be performing ahead of expectations, according to the White House. It says GM will be refloated in the second half of 2010 (Wall Street Journal)

Thursday 17 December 2009
• A deal to settle a lawsuit against Honda in the US over the fuel economy claims has been protested by 26 state attorney generals (Detroit News)
• Russia's biggest manufacturer, OAO AvtoVAZ, is splitting some its operations into subsidiaries as part of a restructuring process (Detroit News)
• Renault is in discussions with Daimler about a possible partnership, CEO Patrick Pelata has revealed (Just Auto, subscription required)
• The Automotive Assistance Progmramme, a £2.3 million scheme set up in the UK in January, has yet to aid a single manufacturer (BBC)

Wednesday 16 December 2009
• Lamborghini has opened its sixth UK dealership in Sevenoaks, Kent (Lamborghini)
• Pop star Justin Timberlake is following in Bryan Adams' footsteps by becoming an Audi brand ambassador (Autoblog)
• Woops – another F1 prediction CAR cocked up. Renault will remain in Formula 1 next year, having sold a stake in its grand prix team to Luxembourg company Genii Capital, not Prodrive as we tipped (Autosport)
• General Motors chairman and interim CEO Ed Whitacre admits there is currently nobody lined up to replace the ousted Fritz Henderson (Detroit News)
• The Michigan Economic Growth Authority has given GM a 20-year, $50 billion tax break in return for the manufacturer’s promise to keep 2000 workers at the Renaissance Centre in Detroit (Detroit News)
• Chrysler LLC, now known as Old Carco LLC, will not repay the $4 billion loan it received from the US government, it emerges (Detroit News)

Tuesday 15 December 2009 
• German company Henkel has begun a legal battle with Daimler after announcing that a €90 million (£81 million) deal to sponsor the Mercedes Grand Prix F1 team was made by an ex-employee acting without authorisation (Autosport)
• A sharp rise in fuel prices pushed UK inflation to a headline rate of 1.9% in November, 0.2% higher than expected (The Times)
• Ford has reinstated financial benefits for its salaried US staff, which were suspended last year because of the economic crisis. The move has been described as a sign that the automotive industry is entering a recovery phase (Detroit News)
• Ford and Mazda are committed to a 'long term partnership' between the two manufacturers, according to bosses from both companies. The announcement comes a year after Ford sold its controlling stake in Mazda (Detroit News)
• Audi of America president Johan de Nysschen has criticised political leaders for their support of electric vehicles, arguing that their widespread use is decades away (Detroit News)
• General Motors' chief financial officer Ray Young has been reassigned. Young will become vice president of international operations once his successor is found (Detroit News)
• Ford's executive chairman Bill Ford Jr has praised Barack Obama for his $62 billion bailout of GM and Chrysler (Detroit News)


Monday 14 December 2009
• Chinese car maker Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co is planning to buy the production equipment and intellectual property for the Saab 9-3 and 9-5. Meanwhile, General Motors is considering bids for the Swedish manufacturer's remaining assets (Financial Times)
• Toyota has confirmed that its plug-in Prius will go on sale by 2011. Executive vice-president Takeshi Uchiyamada said it will 'have potential buyers seeing a plug-in as a viable option' (Detroit News)
• Hybrid vehicles are expected to increase their market share in the US by 0.4% in 2010, according to researchers. It is predicted that sales will then rise by 0.5% annually for the forseeable future (Detroit News)
• GM has reversed its decision to move its European headquarters from Zurich to Germany (Detroit News)

Friday 11 December 2009
• GM is close to settling on a buyer for its Saab division, reports Swedish news agency TT. ANE reports that Dutch supercar maker Spyker is at the top of a pile of bidders and plans to keep design and production in Sweden (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Volkswagen today said it was bracing itself for a tough 2010, despite a 19% jump in group deliveries in November 2009 (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Buick GMC general manager Michael Richards has quit after just nine days on the job (Detroit News)

Thursday 10 December 2009
• From 2014 Mercedes will produce all C-classes destined for the US market in North America (Mercedes)
• Toyota will unveil a new city car concept, designed specifically for the Indian market, at the New Dehli motor show in January 2010 (Toyota)
• All of 2010's new F1 cars are expected to be unveiled at a joint ceremony in Valencia next January. 'It is going to be a clear demonstration of how we are going to be working together,' said Mercedes GP CEO Nick Fry. 'We are not all going off and doing our own individual launches, so we can do something that is a lot more customer friendly' (Autosport)
• Due to continuing economic crisis, Porsche will extend the shortened working hours at its Zuffenhausen plant until the end of March 2010. In the next three months around 2300 employees will not be working on a total of 16 days, but Porsche's Leipzig plant - which builds the Cayenne and Panamera - is unaffected (Porsche)

Wednesday 9 December 2009
• The UK chancellor's Pre-Budget Report revealed that electric cars will be company car tax exempt for five years
• Volkswagen is to buy a fifth of Suzuki, the two companies announced today. VW is spending 222.5 billion yen (£1.5bn) to buy a 20% stake in the Japanese car maker by February 2010. VW is keen to tap into Suzuki's small car expertise and strength in markets in Asia (BBC News)
• Combined, VW and Suzuki will overtake Toyota as the world's biggest car maker
• 'Two of the world's leading carmakers are joining forces and preparing to meet the growing challenges that lie ahead,' said VW chief executive Martin Winterkorn. 'Together we can maximise our opportunities for growth
• New car sales continue to soar in Asia, reports the FT. India and China both enjoyed chunky growth – Chinese car sales jumped by 61% in November, while Indian sales rose by a similar amount (Financial Times)
• Chrysler will let its market share continue to fall – to achieve its long-term goals, says CEO Sergio Marchionne (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Ford will invest up to $500 million and create more than 1000 new jobs in Michigan for its electric vehicle programme – if $85m state aid is approved this week (Detroit News)
• Jaguar came top in the US sales satisfaction JD Power survey – the fifth time in six years Jag has hogged the top spot (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)

Tuesday 8 December 2009
• Britain's scrappage scheme now accounts for 251,629 new cars registered this year; new figures out today show a fifth of all new cars registered in November had the £2000 Government's incentive (SMMT)
• Renault today announced plans to build a battery factory just north of Lisbon; the new Aveiro plant will come on stream in 2012, with the capacity to build 50,000 lithium ion batteries a year (Renault)
• A Swedish consortium is ready to make a cash bid to buy Volvo from Ford. Formed by Volvo engineers' trade union members, Konsortium Jakob AB would become the third possible suitor after Geely and US group Crown (Bloomberg)
• Chrylser/Fiat boss Sergio Marchionne attacks European governments over narrow-minded aid to favoured car makers (News Daily)
• Mercedes-Benz reports sales of 88,600 cars worldwide in November 2009 – representing a 19% increase over the same month last year. Sales jumped 81% in Brazil and 25% in India (Business Week)
• New Vauxhall CEO Nick Reilly has reassured the company's 5500 workers that GM Europe's restructuring plan won't mean swingeing job losses in the UK (The Times)

Monday 7 December 2009
• VW today took a 49.9% stake in Porsche. It's part of its plan to assume overall control of the sports car maker (Volkswagen)
• China's Geely Automobile Holdings could be interested in buying Saab from GM, reports ANE. It's already the preferred bidder for Ford's Volvo unit (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• China new car sales have burst through the 12 million barrier so far this year – and is on track to hit 13m by the year end. It's never produced more than 10m before (BBC News)
• Detroit's NAIAS auto show is in rude health – with a 10% jump in exhibitors compared with 2009's show (Automotive News, subscription required)
• New GM Europe boss Nick Reilly says the restructuring plan for Vauxhall and Opel is 90-95% complete, as he is announced as CEO of both brands. It’s expected that 8300 jobs will be cut during the process (GM)
• General Motors has bought out Suzuki’s 50% share in the Ingersoll plant in Canada, taking full control of the operation in a cost-saving strategy to shift production from the USA, while Suzuki increases its focus on emerging markets. GM plans to double output at Ingersoll to 40,000 cars each year (GM)
• Jaguar announced a 50% increase in UK sales for November 2009 over the same month last year, with sales of the XF saloon up 149%. Jag has seen an overall rise in sales for the year to date, having sold 9128 cars to last year's 8462 units (Jaguar)

Friday 4 December 2009
• UK new car sales soared by 58% in November 2009 compared with the same torrid month a year earlier. The SMMT said 158,082 cars were registered, but total sales this year are still 9% down on the same period in 2008 (BBC News)
• PSA Peugeot Citroen is in talks to buy a chunk of Mitsubishi Motors in a broad alliance. But analsyts warn it's far from a done deal (Financial Times)
• GM – which seems to be putting out plenty of small good news stories to deflect attention from this week's boardroom coup that deposed CEO Fritz Henderson – has announced plans to form a new joint venture with Chinese car maker SAIC to build a small car for India (BBC News)

Thursday 3 December 2009
• Woops – illness, a trip to Germany and another web writer being stuck in LA conspired against Crunchwatch on Thursday. Apologies for the brief interruption to normal service!

Wednesday 2 December 2009
• The rumour mill has stepped into overdrive after last night's coup at the top of GM. The 68-year-old GM chairman Ed Whitacre has added acting CEO to his list of responsibilities. He was formerly the head of AT&T, America's biggest telecoms firm – and AN decsribes him today as 'a bulldog and deal maker' (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Fritz Henderson reportedly lost the confidence of Whitacre in recent months. Henderson, who was a GM lifer, was seen as incapable of transforming the working culture of new GM, reports local paper the Detroit News. And his standing diminished after the management's plan to sell Opel/Vauxhall to Magna was reversed by the board on 2 November (Detroit News)
• The search for a new CEO for GM (expected to be an outsider) is likely to take three to four months minimum (Detroit News)
• The White House denies any involvement in the removal of Fritz Henderson from GM. 'This decision was made by the board of directors alone,' said a White House spokeswoman. 'The administration was not involved in the decision' (BBC News)
• Merbanco merchant bank is out of the running to buy Saab, chief exec Christopher Johnson said today. Spyker is expected to confirm its interest today (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Daimler is moving around a fifth of its C-class production from Sindelfingen in Germany to its Alabama, US factory from 2014 to compensate for a weak dollar (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)

Tuesday 1 December 2009
• Saab and Swedish government officials are in Detroit in a last-ditch attempt to save the iconic car maker. Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co (BAIC) has held talks in Trollhattan about transferring some of its old-model equipment to China (Financial Times)
• Chinese car maker Geely is seeking at least $1 billion in loans from Chinese banks to finance its $1.8bn bid for Volvo (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Hyundai has had to pull out of the Japanese car market after just eight years, blaming poor sales. It'll shutter all 46 dealers (Automotive News, subscription required)
• The search is on to replace Ratan Tata, the 71-year-old boss of the eponymous Indian car maker. He told The Wall Street Journal: 'We have some outside consultants and a formal search process is on' (The Times)

By Tim Pollard, Ben Pulman, Richard Webber and Tim Swietochowski