U.S., Japanese Auto Stocks Sink, Recession Looms Large
You can bet that more than a couple of Detroit execs are monitoring today’s Fed rate cut and U.S. stock market slide, wondering if this is it. Meanwhile, BusinessWeek’s Autobeat reports that Japanese automakers' stock prices are suffering alongside The Big 2.8's. Compared to year-ago prices, Mazda’s stock is down 45 percent, Toyota’s is off by 32 percent and Honda’s stock price has dipped 35 percent. This despite the fact that all the automakers expect to post record earnings in March. The underlying logic: when the U.S. economy sniffles, the rest of the world feels a head cold coming on. Long term, bigger picture, Autbeat says Japanese automakers “strong sales in emerging markets” should offset the coming U.S. slowdown, and their range of fuel-efficient offerings put them in a good position to profit from higher U.S. gas prices. Not to mention the fact that if a full-on recession throws one (or more) of The Big 2.8 into Chapter 11, the last men standing will get one Hell of a dead cat bounce.
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Donal, if Renault-Nissan hopes to sell lots of electric cars in Israel, more power to 'em. But surely the article's reference to building "500,000 electric service stations in the country" is incorrect. Israel's population is about 6.5 million, with under 3 million in the labor force. That would mean about a half-dozen workers per electric service station. The country's land area is 20,330 square kilometers. That would mean about 25 electric service stations per square kilometer (or about 65 per square mile).
Although I think we are going to be using oil for 100 more years at least, it would be fun to watch alternative means of power be developed. This is what OPEC was afraid would happen if oil took off in price, and once alternatives are found there will be no going back.
OK, here's a more likely scenario: Automaker Renault-Nissan will manufacture the cars and Better Place, a California start-up founded by former SAP executive Shai Agassi, will build the infrastructure, which may eventually consist of 500,000 charging points and up to 200 battery-exchange stations. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1705518,00.html I guess the charging points would be in parking lots and home garages.