| Toyota's $1 Billion Marketing Push: Will It Drive Sales? Compete submits: Toyota (TM) recently announced an aggressive plan to drive US sales after losing ground to rivals. The plan includes $1 billion in marketing in Q4 2009, which AutomotiveNews reported would rank as Toyota’s largest Q4 spend ever.We reviewed Toyota’s Share of Market Interest (SMI) to reveal one element of the plan’s baseline: demand relative to the market. Brand SMI is the share of all in-market new vehicle shoppers that shopped one or more models within a given brand; shares across all brands total over 100% because most consumers shop more than one brand.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Ford Leads the Way in December Auto Sales Wall Street Strategies submits:The year that every automaker would like to forget is now officially behind us. December's monthly auto sales figures are in and the final month of the year put an almost giddy feeling on the final month of the year. General Motors grabbed most of the headlines in the final weeks of December with its Fire Sale announcement for Pontiac and Saturn models in hopes of working through its inventory. GM now estimates that roughly two months worth of inventory remains of the two brands combined (or about 1,700 units). Seven of the nine automakers that we monitor saw year over year increases for the month of December, led once again by Hyundai (HYMLF.PK), Toyota (TM), and Ford (F), which saw sales increase 40.6%, 32.3% and 32.8% respectively; however, the full year figures show a different story, with most automakers still reporting that sales fell compared to last year. Despite the strong improvements with Cash for Clunkers and the last two months of the year, it was difficult to offset the 40%-50% declines in the beginning of the year. Chrysler saw a 3.7% decline for month, which brought the annual figure to a 35.9% decline, however, the Company did extend its 0.0% APR offer to all 2010 models. It is a very different industry today than it was twelve months ago. A year ago at this time, Rich Wagoner, CEO of GM (fired), Robert Nardelli, CEO of Chrysler (fired), Alan Mulally, CEO of Ford (still has his job), and Ron Gettlefinger, head of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union (still has his job too) were taking flak from Congress about showing up to a hearing asking for help in private jets. Since that time, Congress has doled almost $1 trillion in aid, two automakers have entered and exited bankruptcy, and the world has bounced back from its brink of disaster mentality.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
The Toyota Way: Board of Directors May Need Shaking Up In 1983 Toyota (TM) introduced the Camry. My family almost immediately purchased one and drove it with complete security and great pride. We also marveled at its technical sophistication and very advanced gadgets.It’s hard to believe in the 27 years that have since passed, that Toyota has grown into the world’s largest car maker, and more recently suffered a mismanaged crisis that has contributed to its losing $35 billion in market value since mid-January.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Smart Transportation Tom Konrad (AltEnergyStocks) submits: Congestion and Peak Oil In late 2005 Houston was evacuated as hurricane Rita approached. The memory of Hurricane Katrina was still fresh in everyone's mind, and Houston, also called the Oil Capital of the World, is extremely car-dependent. 100-mile traffic jams quickly formed on all the major routes out of the city. Many people were stranded as their cars ran out of gas from driving for hours just to go a few miles. In the end, the evacuation turned out to be unnecessary as Rita turned and missed the city.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Pinnacle Airlines Corp. Q2 2010 Earnings Call Transcript Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (PNCL)Q2 2010 Earnings Conference CallAugust 3, 2010 10:00 AM ETComplete Story » seekingalpha.com |