Crunch watch Mar 09: the auto industry in crisis

By Ben Pulman and Tim Pollard

Motor Industry

31 March 2009 13:48

Tuesday 31 March 2009
• Porsche said that its earnings before tax rose to €7.3 billion in the six months to the end of January – including a €6.8bn windfall from its VW share options (Financial Times)
• Fritz Henderson, GM's president and chief operating officer, will step up to replace Rick Wagoner, who was ousted on Sunday as CEO of General Motors (Financial Times)
• President Obama is essentially CEO-in-chief of GM – despite not owning a single cent of stock, says Detroit News commentator (Detroit News)
• German chancellor Angela Merkel gives assurances that any would-be investors in GM's European arm will be given state support. Opel is asking for €3.3 billion in aid – and up to 25,000 jobs in Germany depend on it, with up to 300,000 jobs across Europe including Saab and Vauxhall (BBC News)

Monday 30 March 2009
• General Motors' chief executive Rick Wagoner has been ordered to resign by US president Barack Obama with immediate effect. It's part of Obama's administration's critique of GM and Chrysler's turnaround plans – he's understood to be unhappy with the plans submitted (BBC News)
• New GM non-executive chairman Kent Kresa has admitted that at the company's next general meeting it will have 'a majority of new directors' (General Motors)
• Chrysler will receive US government aid for the next 30 days, but the Obama administration has said that if the company cannot secure a tie-up with the Fiat Group within that time period it will not receive any more money from the taxpayers and could go into liquidation. GM will also receive aid for the next 60 days (Detroit News)
• PSA Peugeot Citroen has sacked its boss Christian Streiff, citing the 'extraordinary difficulties' faced by the auto industry. Streiff will be replaced on 1 June by Philippe Varin, currently chief executive of Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus (BBC News)

Friday 27 March 2009
• Tesla is looking for new investment, possibly from a big car maker, to take its electric cars to the mass market (Financial Times)
• GM rethinks its survival in time for the US Govt’s March 31 deadline to reflect the disastrous state of the car market (Financial Times)

Thursday 26 March 2009
• GM agrees to share technology with Saab for five years. The announcement should make Saab more attractive as a going concern. GM has stated it will separate from Saab by January 2010 (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Fiat chief exec Sergio Marchionne is more optimistic about Europe's market, predicting 'the first signs [of improvement] will start to appear at the very end of this year... The recovery process has started. The worst of the global financial crisis is over, but the consequences remain' (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Standard & Poor's has downgraded Tata Motors' credit rating just days after the launch of the Nano, the world's cheapest car (Financial Times)
• Ford has begun 'detailed discussions' with potential Volvo buyers. It hopes to sell the company for between $1-2 billion and has several expressions of interest from Chinese car makers (Financial Times)
The US state of Michigan has reported its third straight month of double-digit unemployment growth. The state – home to Detroit and the US car manufacturing heartland – has the worst unemployment in America, with 12% out of work (Detroit News)
• Upmarket UK dealer chain HR Owen says profits halved last  year owing to the slump. Pre-tax profits fell by 53% to £1.4 million in 2008 (Financial Times)
• Kia plans to raise UK prices by an average of 3% from 1 April. It blames fluctuating exchange rates (Kia)

Wednesday 25 March 2009
• Sorry – an unusual day when nobody was in the CAR office, resulting in a lack of Crunchwatching!

Tuesday 24 March 2009
• Lamborghini has responded to recent rumours that it Estoque programme has been canned, claiming no decision has yet been made to produce the four-door supercar (Lamborghini)
• In response to the continued weakness of the £ against the €, Ford will increase prices across its range by 3.75% after 31 March. A Ka will be £50 more and a Focus CC £1000 extra (Ford)
• Nissan has announced its sales and exports figures for February 2009. Global sales were down 25.2% to 242,280 units compared to February 2008, while global production was down 51.3% year-on-year to 156,864 (Nissan)

Monday 23 March 2009
• Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments became the largest shareholder in Mercedes-Benz parent firm Daimler at the weekend. It now holds a 9.1% stake, worth £1.8 billion. Aabar said it was interested in raising its stake further to a maximum of 20% – and backs Daimler's electrification strategy (Financial Times)
• Component firm Valeo's chief exec has quit 'over a strategy disagreement'. Thierry Morin is being replaced by Jacques Aschenbroich (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Mercedes-Benz is defying the global downturn and announcing a $290 million investment boost to its Alabama, US, production centre. It is the sole factory building the M-, R- and GL-class vehicles (Automotive News, subscription required)
• GM Europe's distributor for Cadillac cars, the Dutch-based Kroymans group, is seeking court protection from creditors. It admitted it had acute liquidity problems owing to the downturn (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Beijing is encouarging its four biggest car makers – SAIC, FAW, Dongfeng and Changan – to lead consolidation of its domestic auto industry (Financial Times)
• The Tata Nano goes on sale today – but customers face a three-year waiting list as demand outstrips supply. Production capacity stands at 50,000 in the first year, meaning there's a wait until 2012 (The Times)

Friday 20 March 2009
• GM Europe has hired consultancy Roland Berger to help shape its rescue plan (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Mitsubishi today made a shock announcement that it's moving most of the functions of its Mitsubishi Motors Europe office – including sales, marketing, product management and business planning – back to Japan. The company will retain a European parts distribution office near Maastricht, which will now form the new MME HQ. The move means 45% of white-collar jobs will be made redundant (Mitsubishi)
• UK car production slumped by 59% in February 2009, as manufacturers mothball plants and wind back production lines (SMMT)
• Renault, meanwhile, increases production at its Flins and Slovakian plants – as the scrapping incentives in France and Germany have sparked a jump in demand for the Clio and Twingo (Renault)

Thursday 19 March 2009
• Buick and Jaguar have leapfrogged Lexus to take joint top spot in the JD Power and Associates' Vehicle Dependability Study of reliability in thee-year-old cars. Lexus had hogged first place for 14 years (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Aston Martin's owners, the Kuwaiti investment group Investment Dar, have back down from a possible sale of its stake to raise cash. Instead, it's selling some of its banking and industrial assets worth £600 million. Investment Dar had received 'several' expressions of interest in buying Aston (Financial Times)
• UK dealer group Inchcape announces a heavily discounted emergency rights issue to raise £232 million, as its profits collapse by 55% (The Times)
• Business secretary Lord Mandelson will visit Nissan's Sunderland factory on Friday (Nissan)

Wednesday 18 March 2009
• BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer has announced that 2009 will be a 'transitional year for the company'. Reithofer said: 'We have set clear priorities: liquidity, free-cash flow and working capital, fixed costs and investments.' He doesn't expect BMW's recovery to start until 2010 as sales will decline by 10-20% in 2009 (BMW)
• Despite the downturn, Rolls-Royce sold 1212 cars in 2008, up 20% on the previous year and the company's fifth year-on-year increase (BMW)
• Jean Todt has resigned from Ferrari's board of directors and all other positions within the company. The former Ferrari CEO is thought to be considering a bid to be the FIA's next president. Ferrari has also reported its 2008 profits, with the return on sales at 17.6%, on revenues that were up 15.2% to €1.9 billion (Ferrari)
• A junior German economy minister says today that Opel and its parent company GM have sufficient funds to last until April. Dagmar Woehrl told reporters in Berlin that there was money to stay in business for a while longer. Opel/Vauxhall are seeking €3.3 billion from European governments where it builds cars (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• The US President's auto team have told Congress members that 'significant announcements' will be made on the future of the fragile Big Three this week. GM and Chrysler, whose fortunes are on a knife-edge, are lobbying hard and claiming they're on target to have a watertight business case to present by the 31 March deadline (Detroit News)
• GM chief executive Rick Wagoner says there is a great willingness among European politicians to provide help for Opel and Vauxhall (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Cash-strapped buyers are increasingly defaulting on their car loans in America. Credit reporting agency TransUnion said they rose 8.9% in the fourth quarter of 2008 (Autoblog)
• The industrialist hoping to buy struggling British van maker LDV warns that without a goverernment loan of £4-5 million, it'll close this week (Financial Times)

Tuesday 17 March 2009
• The US Treasury's auto task force has made 'no decision' on whether to approve the proposed Chrysler-Fiat alliance – and warned that aid won't continue to be pumped in to failing car companies. Advisor Steve Rattner said: 'We're not going to put these companies on some kind of indefinite intravenous drip feed of money' (Detroit News)
• General Motors is planning a series of discounts and promotions to boost sales ahead of a further meeting to decide state aid for Detroit. Sources said that the business uncertainty around GM was damaging sales (Financial Times)
• Ford boss Alan Mulally has the option to buy 5 million shares in the Blue Oval under a contract signed before the current meltdown. His option is to buy at $1.96 each – while Ford shares are currently trading at around $2.19 (Autoblog)

Monday 16 March 2009
• The UK's car trade body, the SMMT, claims that 76% of consumers want a scrappage scheme like in Europe. It's likely that the Government will launch a £2000 incentive for people scrapping a nine-year-old car for a newer, cleaner one. A similar scheme in Germany has prompted a 21% jump in sales
• Nissan today announced a series of management changes to beat the downturn – streamlining its business in Africa, Middle East, India and Europe (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Ford is cutting production at its German and Spanish factories in response to the 'unprecedented decline' in demand for new cars. Valencia will move from three to two shifts, while Saarlouis will continue its four-day week (Financial Times)
• The likelihood of leading hedge funds suing Porsche over the 2008 VW share price spike scandal is increasing. Trade body Aima, which represents hedge funds, is exploring a legal challenge after its members lost billions when the VW share price quadrupled in a few days – when they were betting it would fall (Financial Times)
• The price of oil fell by 5% this morning after Opec members voted not to cut production. A barrel traded at $44 today (The Guardian)

Friday 13 March 2009
• BMW's profits are down nearly 90%, to just £306m, thanks in part to €2.4bn of exceptional costs linked to bad debts, personnel costs and moves made to cover risks on the used car market (BBC)
• GM has admitted that it currently does not need £1.45bn of US government funding it had previously requested for March. The company claims that the development reflects the acceleration of its cost-cutting efforts. (BBC)
• Chinese car sales have jumped 25% in February, thanks to the government cutting tax on small-engined cars in an effort to boost the sale of fuel-efficient cars. Sales in February totalled 827,000, up 25% on February 2008 and a 12% increase on January 2009  (BBC)

Thursday 12 March 2009
• CAR learns that an update from Saab is due 'this week', as the car maker's Road to Independence team attempt to construct a business case for survival. We hear there are eight parties interested in investing in the Swedish car maker
• Opel dealers have agreed to pool levies from every vehicle they sell to raise a fund to help keep GM Europe afloat. Euroda, a trade body representing Opel and Vauxhall dealers, has pledged €400 million to save the European arm – €150 per vehicle sold for the next three years (Financial Times)
• Volkswagen chief exec Martin Winterkorn warns that the car market is far from rock bottom – forecasting a fall 'significantly' below 50 million global sales, compared with the 55m sold in 2008 (Financial Times)
• Business secretary Lord Mandelson claims that the Bank of England and the Treasury have dragged their heels over launching a substantial aid package to the UK's car industry (The Times)
• Don't believe the hype about Chinese brands snapping up failing western brands such as Hummer, Saturn, Saab or Volvo. They're struggling with their own brands and past experience of snapping up the Rover/MG remnants hasn't been a smash hit (The Detroit News)

Wednesday 11 March 2009
• Seat president Erich Schmitt is being replaced after less than three years. James Muir (who yesterday quit yesterday as Mazda Europe CEO) will take over the top job at the Spanish manufacturer from 1 September 2009.
• Toyota cuts working hours and base pay at its Burnaston, UK factory by 10%. The company says the move is designed to ensure it doesn't make redundancies yet, and comes into effect on 1 April 2009. A statement said: 'We believe the measures we have announced give us a greater opportunity to maintain employment through this difficult period' (Toyota)
• Ford's former components specialist Visteon has quelled speculation it was heading for bankruptcy by making a $16 million interest payment on $453 million of bond debt. Analysts had thought that it would miss the bond payment to save cash for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing (Automotive News, subscription required)
• Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne says he 'will fight like hell' to ensure his company makes money this year – and lays into car company bosses who've already rolled over and admitted they'll make a loss in 2009. 'I think the first duty of a leader is to keep his company in the black. To accept – and announce – at the beginning of the year that you will lose money is the worst sign of leadership you could give to your troops,' he tells ANE (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• BMW chief exec Norbert Reithofer reveals the financial crisis is accelerating the hunt for cooperative ventures. But he says the proposed alliance to work on the next-gen Minis with Alfa Romeo and Opel failed (Automobilwoche)
• Only two UK-based car makers have applied for European-backed funding, according to an FT analsysis. Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover have requested financing from the European Investment Bank (Financial Times)

Tuesday 10 March 2009
• Audi today announced record sales, revenues and profits for the 2008 tax year. It delivered 1,003,469 vehicles, posted €34 billion in revenues and made a €3.2 billion profit. 'These outstanding key figures – the best ever in the history of the company – provide Audi with a sound basis for funding capital investments in its ambitious model range from its own resources over the next few years,' said finance director Axel Strotbek (Audi)
• Mazda's European boss James Muir announced his sudden departure. CFO Jeffrey Guyton replaces Muir as chief executive officer of Mazda Motor Europe. Muir headed up Mazda's Euro operations since 2005 and will take up a new post outside Mazda, the company said (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)

Monday 9 March 2009
• The Swiss gigolo who blackmailed BMW heiress Susanne Klatten for €7 million is jailed for six years. Helg Sgarbi had wooed Klatten at various hotels but later claimed he had incriminating video evidence of their trysts. The married business tycoon owns a 12.5% stake in BMW (BBC News)
• UK business secretary Peter Mandelson concedes that Vauxhall is 'in terrible trouble'. He confirms he is in regular contact with his German counterpart, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, as the two governments plan if and how they can rescue GM's European operations. 'Vauxhall is in terrible trouble because its owners, General Motors, are in danger of becoming insolvent,' Mandelson tells the BBC's Andrew Marr programme. He admits he has spoken to GM Europe president Carl-Peter Forster three times in the past week (Financial Times)
• US sales in February fell to the lowest annualised rate for 27 years – sparking a 41% drop in American car production to prevent over-supply (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• Sir Jackie Stewart has agreed to waive his sponsorship fees from RBS as the embattled British bank struggles to fix its finances. The bank, which lost £24 billion last year, said that Sir Jackie agreed to fulfil his obligations in 2009 without pay (BBC News)

Friday 6 March 2009
• Reports in the German media are suggesting that the country's MPs are saying (off the record) that they were 'shocked' to learn that Opel does not have any assets. All its factories are actually owned by GM in the USA, and there is also confusion as to whether Opel owns the intellectual property (IP) information of its vehicles (BBC)
•  Honda confirms the sale of its F1 operations to former team boss Ross Brawn. The team will now be known as Brawn GP, and will use engines supplied by Mercedes-Benz in this year’s championship. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button (who is reported to have taken a substantial pay cut) are being retained as the team's two drivers (BBC)
• JM Family Enterprises Inc, which owns Southeast Toyota (the distributor that accounts for 16% of Toyota sales in the USA) has dismissed 500 employees due to 'unprecedented challenges'. The cuts are amount to 11% of the workforce and also include JM Family's finance and insurance units (Automotive News Europe, subscription required)
• German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has told the newspaper Handelsblatt that Opel 'should seriously exercising insolvency law' to protect its assets, and as a better solution than the state taking control (Automotive News Europe)   

Thursday 5 March 2009
• Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has encouraged the European Union to play a stronger role in co-ordinating aid for car makers, but warned against individual governments intervening to save individual manufacturers. (Financial Times)
• Jaguar and Land Rover workers have voted to take a one-year pay freeze and switch to a four-day working week, in a move designed to save their jobs. The deal is expected to save JLR £70m in 2009 (BBC News)
• UK new car registrations were down 21.9% to 54,359 units in February 2009, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reports. The percentage of diesel-powered vehicles sold dropped from 45% in February 2008 to 44.1% in February 2009
• Porsche sales in North America for February 2009 were down 12% compared to the same period in 2008, a drop to 1622 units. And while the company remains bouyant, stating that new Cayman and Boxster were up 42% to 528 cars, Cayenne sales were down 41% to just 477 vehicles. 911 sales were down 6%, but actually up 33% on sales in January 2009

Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 March 2009
• Apologies for the lack of Crunchwatch stories on Tuesday and Wednesday – we were all a bit tied up at the Geneva motor show. Click here for our bountiful coverage of Europe's spring auto industry expo. There's plenty of industry news and comment

Monday 2 March 2009
• The Volkswagen Group announces a 5% rise in sales revenues in the 2008 tax year and a 3% increase in operating profits, up to €6.3 billion. Chairman Martin Winterkorn said the group's multi-brand strategy and low CO2 cars had helped sustain sales, although he admitted that 2009 would see a fall in demand and revenues (Volkswagen).

By Ben Pulman and Tim Pollard