While America Slept. Monday, February 23rd, 2009

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

An overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. WAS is being filed from Beijing until further notice.

Interest in Saab: Jan-Åke Jonsson, managing director of Saab Automobile AB, said other carmakers were among the investors that had shown interest in the unit, Reuters reports. The Swedish carmaker, granted protection from creditors last week, has said it must quickly restructure to deal with losses, seen at 3 billion Swedish crowns ($347 million) this year, and find new funding from either private or public sources in order to launch new and more competitive models. Germany’s Autohaus reports that Sweden’s government again denied any financial help to Saab.

Opel will hand in homework: GM Europe and Opel finally got their acts together: they will present their long-awaited business plan to the German government in the coming days, Reuters says. The German government distanced itself on Monday from any commitment to Opel’s future.

Cash4clunkers works: Germany’s cash4clunker program (€2.5K if you retire old and buy new) will result in 400K additional sales, says the industry group Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA) [via Das Autohaus]. That would be an increase of 13 percent. German car makers take about half of the additional sales, says the VDA.

Quick denial: This morning, China Business News reported that Chinese car maker Beijing Auto had initial talks with Chrysler to buy assets and technology while seeking to expand globally through acquisitions and to build its own brand model based on a global brand. “Not so,” said the purported purchaser, according to Gasgoo. Beijing Auto, is the Chinese partner of Hyundai Motor and Daimler AG. Chrysler LLC quit a joint venture between Beijing Auto and Daimler AG in late 2008, a year after Daimler sold its control to Cerberus (a.k.a. the smartest guys in the Kremlin). Chrysler’s 300C sedan is still made at the Beijing venture.

Toyota reduces output by 20 percent: Toyota plans to produce 6.5 million vehicles this year, down 20 percent from 8.21 million in 2008, the Nikkei [sub] says. Depending on how the industry fares, Toyota may be forced to slash output even further. Its February-April output will be only half the year-earlier level. The firm aims to wrap up its inventory adjustments in May, with production to rise month-to-month but still remain 40 percent below year-earlier levels. Toyota sees production picking up in or after the summer following the release of new models, including the redesigned Prius hybrid.

New Honda CEO: Honda appointed Takanobu Ito as new president and chief executive to replace Takeo Fukui, the Nikkei [sub] reports. Fukui, 64, has served in the top position since June 2003. Ito, 55, has been recently been engaged in production and research-and-development operations at home and overseas. Honda follows Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Co. in handing over management responsibilities to new top executives.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Robert Schwartz Robert Schwartz on Feb 23, 2009

    "To be fair, I’m not quite sure why Toyota and Honda are changing their CEO’s. ... The downturn and resultant profit drops wasn’t a fault of their incompetence and bad management decisions. They were well run companies." Yes, and because they are well run companies they have deep benches and willing to put in a fresh player when they run into trouble. They would never tolerate letting a f&^%$-up like Rick Waggoner run things into the ground for years on end.

  • PeteMoran PeteMoran on Feb 23, 2009

    @ KatiePuckrik I’m talking about Frankie Boyle, the Scottish comedian. That's the man. I was just curious as to how those of you in NA happened to know his name? Sorry, unless of course you're actually in Europe somewhere, but I (mistakenly maybe) thought you were in Canada, or maybe an ex-pat.

  • Jalop1991 The intermediate shaft and right front driveshaft may not be fully engaged due to suspected improper assembly by the supplier. Over time, partial engagement can cause damage to the intermediate shaft splines. Damaged shaft splines may result in unintended vehicle movement while in Park if the parking brake is not engagedGee, my Chrysler van automatically engages the parking brake when we put it in Park. Do you mean to tell me that the idjits at Kia, and the idjit buyers, couldn't figure out wanting this in THEIR MOST EXPENSIVE VEHICLE????
  • Dukeisduke I've been waiting to see if they were going to do something special for the 60th Anniversary. I was four years old when the Mustang was introduced. I can remember that one of our neighbors bought a '65 coupe (they were all titled as '65 models, even the '64-1/2 cars), and it's the first one I can remember seeing. In the '90s I knew an older gentleman that owned a '64-1/2 model coupe with the 260 V8.
  • SCE to AUX "...the complete Mustang model lineup to peruse"Will the fake Mustang show up, too?
  • SCE to AUX We don't need no stinking badges.
  • SCE to AUX I've never been teased by a bumper like that one before.
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