TOP 100 TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS SITES
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| Chrysler: The View from the White House Felix Salmon submits: Steven Rattner’s first-hand account of the automaker bailout is self-serving (of course), but still very much worth reading. He’s very much the office-bound technocrat: “we recognized the importance of a trip to Detroit,” he writes at one point, “so in March, several of us made the journey”. Well, yes, that would probably make sense. At the same time, this financier understands clearly and intuitively that in bankruptcy proceedings, seniority of creditors doesn’t matter:Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Daimler: Coming to America Marc Chandler submits:We have noted that the combination of the chronically weak dollar, strong productivity gains and the threat of protectionism will likely encourage foreign companies to boost their productive capacity in the United States. A couple of Japanese auto producers have already made recent moves in this direction. On Wednesday, Germany's Daimler (DAI) said it will shift some of the production of its best-selling Mercedes-Benz Class C model to its US facility.Daimler officials were quoted on the news wires indicating that the shift was part of a larger effort to bring production closer to its main sales regions and reduce exposure to the variability of currencies. According to reports, Daimler estimates that producing its car in the US saves about 2000 euros per car.In respect to its German work force, Daimler argues that because producing closer to its customers will save the company money in terms of costs and exchange rate management, it will help protect employment in Germany too, though of course German labor unions see it differently.Mercedes-Benz has one plant in the US in Alabama that opened in 1997 and produced 152.5k cars last year. The company sold about 251k vehicles in the US last year, about a 1/5 of its total global sales. By the time the shift is complete, it will hire about 4,000 US workers, up from 2,800 now.Separately, it touches on another theme we have discussed before: the real competitive pressure Detroit feels is not coming from Tokyo and Seoul as much as Alabama, Tennessee and California.It also illustrates another point about the behavior of multinational companies and foreign direct investment flows: cheap labor may not be the key attactor. Most of the US foreign direct investment, for example, is located in other high wage economies. The size of the local/regional market seems to be an important determinant as well.Disclosure: No positionsComplete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Toyota Takes Back Market Share With Incentives TheCarConnection.com submits: The aggressive incentives offered by Toyota (NYSE:TM) appear to be working, bringing shoppers back to Toyota dealerships—and the automaker back from a recall-related sales slump.For the first half of March (through 3/14), Toyota has more than 14 percent of the market, according to the pricing and market-analysis firm TrueCar, which supplies customized market pricing here at TheCarConnection.com. Among brands, that places it second only to Ford (with 17.4 percent), with Chevrolet in third place with nearly 13 percent.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Babcock & Brown Air Limited Q1 2010 Earnings Call Transcript Babcock & Brown Air Limited (FLY)Q1 2010 Earnings CallMay 5, 2010 9:00 am ETComplete Story » seekingalpha.com |
GM’s IPO Filing Reveals Challenges That Could Discourage Investors Money Morning submits: By Don MillerWhen General Motors Co. (GM) filed registration papers for an initial public stock offering (IPO) last Wednesday, it also revealed the formidable challenges it faces - some of which may give pause to investors considering taking a stake in the venerable automaker.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |