While America Slept. Saturday, February 14th 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.

Sweden to GM: “Take a hike”: GM is asking Sweden to guarantee $600 million in European Investment Bank loans to keep the Saab Automobile unit operating until it can be restructured. All they got from Sweden was a firm nej, inte alls. (Forgetaboutit.) Sweden’s Premier, Fredrik Reinfeldt, said that “GM has to bear the responsibility,” Automobilwoche [sub] reports. Some insiders see the mounting unwillingness of foreign governments to help US automakers as a backlash against the “buy American” campaign. Non-,conspiracy-bound observers point out that the Swedish government is hoping that both GM and Ford will be successful in unloading their respective Swedish brands. Sweden wants to add extra incentive to move fast by removing any additional life support.

Chery / Volvo still in play: Usually, on the second day after a dalliance between a Chinese manufacturer and a Detroit brand is floated, a denial follows like clockwork. Instead, Chery-owned Gasgoo today runs a new story reiterating a possible bid by China’s Chery for Volvo, a brand which Ford is desperately seeking to unload. The story itself provides no new insight, but the added traffic is relevant from a SIGINT perspective.

It’s a crimson-red bloodbath: More than 460, or nearly 30 percent of publicly traded Japanese companies, are expected to report group net losses in the year ending March 31, the Nikkei [sub] reports. The bloodletting is especially severe in the automobile sector, where profits through the third quarter have been wiped out by bigger and bigger losses in the last quarter of fiscal 2008.


Cheap plastic alert: Leading chemical producer Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. will by April drop its pricing policy for plastics used in car parts in favor of one that halves the time lag for reflecting market prices of the key material naphtha, the Nikkei [sub] says. More than 200 automakers (OMG, there are still 200 alive?) and other manufacturers have agreed to the switch. Subsidiary Japan Polypropylene Corp. will be responsible for sales and pricing under the new strategy.

El bailout, ole! The Spanish auto industry, one of the hardest hit of Europe, will receive €4.1b in help from their government. The money is earmarked for automakers and parts manufacturers, Automobilwoche [sub] says.

Porsche testdriver crashes: A Porsche factory testdriver crashed his 911 Cabrio on the autobahn near Darmstadt, Germany, at high speed, and died, Der Spiegel reports. His colleague, following in a Panamera, barely avoided similar fate. The perished Porsche driver had 25 years of experience.

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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  • The duke The duke on Feb 14, 2009
    "More than 200 automakers (OMG, there are still 200 alive?) and other manufacturers have agreed to the switch." I believe the proper reading of this is that more than 200 companies, both automakers and manufacturers (read: suppliers, aka Tier 1, Tier 2, etc.) have agreed to the change in pricing. Not that there are 200 automakers. I must say, this is a smooth move on Mitsubishi plastics part. Agree to slash prices quicker now, when automakers are hurting, and of course they agree. But when the market eventually swings up, and prices go up, Mitsubishi gets to increase prices quicker than they did in the past - so they eat less costs then they used to. Lower costs quicker now also means easier sales for them now. Its a win-win for them.
  • 95_SC 95_SC on Feb 15, 2009

    GM should just kill Saab then. We know the brand is unimportant to Americans and if the Swedes don't care, then, well, who cares? Seems like a no brainer to me.

  • ToolGuy Honda was robbed.
  • ToolGuy "Honey, someone is trying to cross the moat again"
  • Rochester "better than Vinfast" is a pretty low bar.
  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
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