Chrysler, Nissan break up pact
Posted on August 27, 2009 at 7:28 am
Six months after saying so in code, Nissan and Chrysler have ended their vehicle-development partnership wherein Nissan supplied small cars and Chrysler built full-size trucks.
Nissan spokesman Fred Standish said Fiat wasn’t involved in any of the discussions. Standish stressed that the company was committed to stay in the North American truck market.
“We are looking at a variety of options,” he said.
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Your turn, GM dealers
Posted on May 15, 2009 at 7:51 amA day after Chrysler brought out the ax, General Motors will this morning begin notifying more than 1,000 of its dealerships that their franchise agreements will not be renewed.
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One in four Chrysler dealers to go
Posted on May 14, 2009 at 11:48 am
With Fiat officials pulling the strings, the auto maker says it plans to end its agreements with almost 800 dealerships around the country.
Steven Landry, Executive Vice President for North American Sales, said the decision on which dealer contracts to reject “was based on a data-driven matrix that assessed a number of key metrics.” The 25 percent of its dealers Chrysler wants to drop account for 14 percent of sales, he said in the statement.
One of the main reasons why is in this short Wall Street Journal story: In 2008, Chrysler sold 303 vehicles per store. Toyota sold 1,292 and Honda 1,030.
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Dealer group rallies
Posted on May 6, 2009 at 2:41 pmRuss Darrow, chairman of the American International Automobile Dealers Association, offers a response to the “growing and unsettling wave of anti-dealer rhetoric in the news.”
The Obama administration’s auto task force and the executives of Chrysler and General Motors seem to think cutting their dealer bodies will solve all their problems. In truth, they are digging themselves deeper into a retail hole. I can’t believe our government or anyone else thinks GM or Chrysler can make more money with 20-30 percent fewer retailed customers – their dealers.
And it is not just automakers who will suffer when dealers close up shop. Communities of every size and in every region of this country rely on dealerships to act as a major employer and tax base, and to support local teams and charities. When dealerships go, they leave a vacuum that won’t be filled in these difficult economic times.
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Fiat? The driving force behind the new auto industry? Really?
Posted on May 3, 2009 at 11:43 pm
That thought keeps coming to me as I read reports of Sergio Marchionne’s plans to cobble together the centerpiece of his conglomerate with Chrysler and GM’s European division.
That “marriage made in heaven” would create a Frankenstein of a car company with more than $100 billion in revenue. (GM had $149 billion last year but would shed more than $30 billion in sales with its European arm.)
Yes, other auto makers have turned around their fortunes. Lee Iacocca revived Chrysler in the ’80s and Carlos Ghosn wouldn’t be in charge at Renault today had he not worked his mojo on Nissan.
But it wasn’t that long ago that GM was fighting like mad to not be forced to buy ‘hapless’ Fiat outright, the result of a put option included in a 2000 agreement to share parts.
Whatever happens, experts say that the troubles for the company that was once Europe’s largest automaker and the crown jewel of Italian industry will not be solved. Extra capital will help Fiat buy time, but the lack of a hot-selling vehicle in recent years has led to dwindling market share in all of its major markets and losses of $1.3 billion in 2003 and estimated losses of $1.1 billion in 2004.
Five years later, are Marchionne and Fiat really strong enough to pull off this industry-changing coup? Or is this the Italian orgoglio before the fall, a classic case of over-reaching?
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Auto suppliers gasping for air
Posted on May 1, 2009 at 2:59 pmThe shutdown of Chrysler during bankruptcy and GM’s planned extended downtime in June and July will push many companies to the brink.
“Prior to this, 30 to 40 percent of auto parts companies are in some form of distress financially, and I would guess all of these shutdowns are going to pump that up to maybe 50 percent suppliers being in a real financial distress situation,” said Anthony Faria, an analyst at the auto research center of the University of Windsor in Ontario.
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More auto dealers wait for the phone call
Posted on April 30, 2009 at 11:07 pmThat would be the call to from Detroit telling them they have to give up their Chrysler franchise. Much like GM, the auto maker’s reorganization plan includes serious cuts in its dealer network, which includes nine outlets in the Nashville MSA.
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Chrysler’s Chapter 11 official
Posted on at 11:59 am
The Obama administration’s auto task force this morning said it will orchestrate a ’surgical’ bankruptcy for the No. 3 U.S. auto maker that includes an alliance with Fiat.
The agreement with Fiat will allow the Italian company to take a 20% stake in Chrysler that will grow as Fiat meets certain milestones, such as building new models in Chrysler plants. In addition to the $3.5 billion in financing to keep Chrysler operating while in bankruptcy, the government will also provide up to $4.7 billion for the new Chrysler once it emerges.
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Nissan taking second look at Chrysler pact
Posted on February 12, 2009 at 8:35 pmThe two companies last year agreed to supply certain cars for the other to market, but Smyrna-based spokesman Fred Standish says the companies are now working “to ensure that financial objectives for both companies can be met.”
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Born in Spring Hill, headed for Turin?
Posted on January 19, 2009 at 5:41 pmBusinessWeek’s David Kiley brainstorms on how Saturn might fit into the U.S. expansion plans of Fiat.
It may sound a little goofy, but given the seriously nice product line in Saturn today, and the quality of the dealerships, it seems like a better fit than using Chrysler dealers to me.
UPDATE - It looks like the Italians have their eye set on Chrysler.
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Chrysler: No Jeep talks
Posted on January 14, 2009 at 12:32 pmThe Detroit automaker throws cold water on reports that it is considering unloading one of its prime brands to Nissan-Renault or another competitor.
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Jeep to Nissan?
Posted on January 13, 2009 at 11:01 pmReuters is reporting that talks between Chrysler and Renault-Nissan have picked up steam in recent weeks and could include the sale of the iconic brand.
The string of potential deals would deepen ties between Chrysler LLC and two of its key current partners but could also mark the end of the struggling No. 3 U.S. automaker as an independent venture.
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Nissan’s collateral damage
Posted on December 29, 2008 at 10:10 pmYes, the company is taking steps to deal with the recession. But more than half its suppliers also work with the Big Three, who won’t be taking a whole lot of deliveries in the coming weeks.
GM, Chrysler and Ford plan to shutter about 59 factories over the next month. A small number of parts suppliers asked GM for payments in advance after the automaker said it would run out of money by month’s end without U.S. loans, according to people familiar with the matter.
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TN congressmen’s auto loan roll call
Posted on December 10, 2008 at 9:50 pmJim Cooper – one of 20 Democrats to vote against the $14 billion loan package – breaks the Tennessee tie.
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Consumers won’t buy a car from a company that goes bankrupt
Posted on December 5, 2008 at 11:10 amFrom Huffington Post:
A recent study from automotive market research firm CNW surveyed 6000 people intending to buy a new car within six months, and discovered that more than 80 percent of them would switch brands if the vehicle they wanted came from an automaker that went bankrupt. Breaking it down by company, Americans were more likely to abandon domestic automakers than foreign ones, with Chrysler faring the worst — a full 91 percent of buyers wouldn’t take home an Auburn Hills product if the company went bankrupt. Ford and GM didn’t do much better, with 80 percent of those surveyed saying they would jump ship if things went south.
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