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Automotive RSS FeedsRomania automotive conference - There is a fair bit going on in Romania's auto industry these days. We recently had a colourful feature from Mark 'Coolbear' Bursa that neatly interweaved developments at Dacia with the country's recent history. A conference firm, WBR, has been in touch with me over an event, AutoRomania08 (below link) that's coming up which does actually look quite good in terms of the programme and speakers. The Romanian prime minister is even opening the event - a clear sign of how strategically important the auto industry and its inward investment has become to the Romanian government. Did you hear that the European Commission has suspended all funding for neighbouring Bulgaria because the money was being syphoned into the pockets of organised criminals? I gather there are problems in Romania, too - though not as bad as Bulgaria - and it is also close to having penalties imposed by the E...Feed Source: www.just-auto.com Ford piles on the red ink - If 'firms in the motor industry are good at losing money, but not good at going bankrupt' as an equities analyst has just said, then maybe Ford can go to the top of the class after it's latest results. Whatever the reasons for the 'special items', the bottom line does look a little gruesome. As pessimism mounts over general market prospects for North America in 2009, a restructuring Ford and GM are acutely aware of the need to be credibly seen to have sufficient liquidity to ride out the hard times ahead and keep the Chapter 11 chatter down. Fine, and maybe Ford is keen to get the bad news behind it with some of these write downs.
But what if 2010 shapes up as a stinker, too? What's next to be cut and at what point are the cost cuts either building a scary looking deferred backlog of spending that will have to hit sometime or starting to impact the patient... ?6m sticker price at the London Show - London's Motor Show this week was quite a busy event for us (naturally) and it's a show that I find intriguing on a number of levels. For one thing, people seem quick to point out the deficiencies (and the Excel venue is indeed an a**e to get to, no doubt about that, whether driving or on public transport - it's in a grotty and sprawling part of east London that is being regenerated). And the press centre was a little overrun at times - some people could be seen working on the floor.
But then again Birmingham's NEC wasn't exactly perfect either and I don't understand the mentality of journalists who say it's not worth attending - especially British-based ones. There was certainly plenty to see, people to talk to, even if it wasn't dripping with big world premieres the way the A-list shows do.
One thing the organisers have been clever about is the timing. Late July is in the summer dead zone when little is going on auto show-wise - the big shows ar... London Motor Show - We have got a motor show on in London this week and it even looks like the weather is finally looking up here.
Is the London event a biggie? It's sizeable but no, it's not up there with the big shows and is still to become properly established in the automakers' diaries. A number of them are absent and I guess the current economic backdrop doesn't augur particularly well for consumer visits.
But this is only the second London show since moving the event from Birmingham. The first one could be claimed by the organisers to have been a modest success.
It will certainly be interesting to see how busy the show is this time around and see how much media coverage is generated. The London event perhaps needs more time to become established and generate a clear position in terms of the benefits it can bring to consumers and exhibitors alike.
I can see why people question the point of a motor show in the UK. We don't have the large immediate base of local indigenou... Continental and VW similarities - The style of the takeover bid for Conti by family-owned German bearings maker Schaeffller is a little bit reminiscent of the manner in which Porsche has got control of Volkswagen; it's a gradual affair in which a smaller company gets control of a much bigger one by taking advantage of a low share price. And it looks likely to succeed.
Is it a good or bad thing? Continental does much more than tyres. It sounds like Schaeffler is motivated chiefly by the electronics stuff that Conti does post-Siemens VDO acquisition. Maybe going private could be to Conti's advantage? But might Schaeffler be tempted to sell off the tyres division? Or would new owners want to add shareholder value in the long run? If the prospective new owners are following Porsche-VW they will see that the architect of that, Ferdinand Piech, is taking a long view, strategically - while also doing a good job of delivering value to shareholders, on both sides.&nbs... Al Gore's latest - Al Gore certainly knows how to make the news. He's just said that the US needs to do away with all forms of carbon-emitting electricity production within ten years (er, easier said than done). Yep, that will grab some attention. At least he should spark some serious debate about energy policy in the US and that's no bad thing in a run-up to a presidential election.
Must admit, I did like this line: "We're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that has to change."
Just beware of politicians struggling to understand the energy problem or coming out with glib lines that they think will appeal to the populace. I actually would credit Gore with having done some work on the subject and to have developed his opinion as a result of that. He must know how difficult it would be to achieve what he is suggesting but wants to move the parameters of the debate in the US at this junctu... Making buildings look better - I recall that a few years ago there was an artist who covered landmark buildings with something like giant blankets. I think the Brandenberg Gate in Berlin was one. It made quite a visual impact.
Industrial buildings are often dull to look at. There is a brutal functional form thing going on and it's rare that an industrial building is pleasing on the eye.
I liked this draping thing going on at Ford in Germany. This could catch on, if the local authority planning regs allow it. I for one would favour anything that brightens up a grey industrial landscape.GERMANY: Honey, I shrink-wrapped the Fiesta factory... Be careful in the office - It's become very fashionable to mock the 'Health and Safety' culture, but if H&S procedures and systems can reduce accidents, that's no bad thing. Accidents can blow up out of nowhere.
I was talking to Mark Bursa earlier - he's been at the Farnborough Air Show this week turning his hand to producing copy for an aero publication. As he typed away, he noticed the bloke sat next to him was trying to adjust his chair. The seat and the seat 'chassis' had, unknowingly, become separated due to the failure of some component. As the poor chap moved the seat closer to the table, his fingers entered the gap between the flat bed you sit on and some metal that forms part of the structure. He then brought his whole weight down on the end of a finger that was duly sliced off, guillotine style.
Blood was gushing everywhere and Mr Bursa - who spent the rest of the day with blood on his shirt - rescued the tip and gamely took charge of&n... 'Bright greys' - Bright greys? Just come across a term that stuck while leafing through AM magazine. What does the Daihatsu brand say to you? An unfashionable marque that majors in dull but competitively priced small cars with Japanese kei-class roots (the Copen being a stylish exception to the dullards rule)? That's maybe a little harsh when you consider the recently introduced Materia model - a funky looking car that is turning a few heads.
But who is Daihatsu aiming its products at? Answer: bright greys and I'm not talking ETs. 'Bright greys' are the term used by Daihatsu UK chief Paul Tunnicliffe when talking about Daihatsu's relatively aged customer base. They are active and aspirational, he says. They shop at Waitrose (an upscale 'middle class' UK supermarket chain) and John Lewis (an also upscale department store) and holiday in Tuscany and France (not a caravan in Clacton). How does he know where they holiday? They write to him to expl... Advanced diesels - Just been having a chat on the phone with Jesse Crosse - one of our contributors on the technical side - about some of the very latest developments with diesel engines. Some of the results of the latest R&D out there sound genuinely exciting in terms of how efficient and clean the technology can become. An article is in the pipeline.
Jesse is good at demystifying subjects that can be hard to get the old brain around. Here's an example:ANALYSIS: Lotus champions a methanol economy... A 'harmonious' society - There's a thoughtful series running in the Daily Telegraph comparing America and China's societies - it's a bit of a travelogue, with some extremely pertinent observations made. The latest has a look at Chongqing - a rapidly developing city where a number of car plants are to be found, including a Ford JV.
Very nice work at the Telegraph, a British daily newspaper enjoying a kind of reinvention on the web that is slightly at odds with its rather staid print image. For those that don't know, it's traditionally been seen as the sort of right-wing newspaper retired army majors might read - conservative with a small 'c' (and a large one come to think of it). I hope the good material being produced online is getting a decent audience, presumably widening the DT's readership base beyond Colonel Blimp of Tunbridge Wells who thinks it's still 1955.America and China: Th... China's 'green Olympics' - China is so desperate to look good in the eyes of the world with the Beijing Olympics that it's almost painful to see the PR problems being dealt with in a rather ham-fisted manner (why does the world not understand us?). After the clumsy spectacle of the Chinese secret service goons accompanying the Olympic torch and being outwitted by determined Tibet protesters, there's now the small matter of air quality in Beijing.
Well, you wouldn't want to work your lungs hard through a smog of particulates would you?
I understand that some emergency measures are being contemplated to get some improvement before the Games commence, but there have now been enough media stories about poor air quality to engender unfavourable comparisons with the pea-soupers that gripped London in the 1950s before smoke-free zones came in.
Ironically though, if you go the Olympics, you may find yourself in a hybrid cab. Good stuff, bravo - every... Freddie & Fannie matter, yes they do - They may sound like a couple of old-time showbiz names, but Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are reminding us this week that the credit crunch is still very much with us, even if we are in danger of obsessing over the impact of dearer oil in our own sector.
As far as the auto industry is concerned, the way the credit crunch plays out is important because of its impact on vehicle markets and consumer demand. It's looking less likely that 2009 will see a sharp rebound in the US economy and the scale of ongoing problems in wholesale credit markets is brought home by Freddie and Fannie's woes.
Meanwhile, automakers are having to adjust to rapidly changing market conditions. Last week, Toyota became the latest to announce a major restructuring of US manufacturing operations. If even Toyota is having trouble shifting its Tundra pick-up that tells you how serious things have become.
With gasoline prices where they are, you don't need to be Einstein to conclude that the Toyo... That CNW study that said a Hummer is greener than a Prius - 'Dust-to-dust' sounds like the way to go in assessing the environmental impact of various vehicles. And, intuitively, you'd think that a vehicle containing a heavy battery made up of an extracted metal ore would be a bit heavy in the production phase, even if cleaner in use.
And you may have heard about a study in the US that 'proved' a Hummer is actually environmentally cleaner in terms of the 'whole life' picture than a Prius. That study certainly got itself plenty of publicity with its eye-catching headline claim and people still trot it out.
But it's also a study that has been very heavily criticised - and not just by Toyota - on alleged flaws in the methodology. This link summarises the case for the prosecution. Prius Versus HUMMER: Exploding the Myth... Dawn of the hydrogen age? - Hardly a day goes by without something of interest on the alternative - to the fossil fuelled ICE - powertrain front. BMW is apparently going to be putting electric motors inside some Mini models destined for California. And manufacturers are generally rushing electric car programs wherever possible.
The UK tech firm ITM pushing the idea of localised refuelling stations for hydrogen is an interesting one. That could remove the chicken and egg infrastructure provision problem, but a 25-mile range sounds a bit paltry for the home refuelling scenario.
Mind you, the technology could get a good start with the compressed hydrogen version that extends range 'four-fold'. Maybe we're not that far from a major fleet operator actually going for something like this and then momentum could conceivably get going. I understand ex-Ford of Brita... WTF is that plate about? - Look, I haven't really ever grown up and I freely admit I would probably have to let out an involuntary chortle were I to see a car registration plate with 'WTF' on it. It's the same with other naughty words and acronyms seen out of context and in the wrong places. It's in my DNA.
Little ironies like this one crack me up; you can just imagine the conversations at the North Carolina State DMV office as the penny dropped when someone complained. Personally, I would derive no little amusement from having such a plate myself and would consider it a prized possession. It's only an acronym for goodness' sake. It's not like there's a big neon sign saying 'idiot' (not that people these days use quaint terms such as that).
And how much did it cost to notify some 10,000 drivers who 'might be offended and want a free replacement'? Bonkers. The officials in NC should have stuck to their guns and just said 'so what'. Or even, ahem, SFW?... Solar power in Zaragoza - I wonder how much this investment to install solar panels on the roof of a GM factory in Spain has cost, but the end result sounds pretty impressive. If someone had asked me where the biggest roof solar panel facility in the world was, I wouldn't have thought it would be a car factory.SPAIN: GM plant gets world's biggest rooftop solar power system... Petrol tank for GM's Volt - There's an interesting posting on Autoblog that raises a thorny question for engineers working on plug-ins that come with a supplementary gasoline engine to boost range by using the engine to generate electricity. How much fuel do you need to be carrying around? Much depends on how much range can come directly from the battery charge-up and also how efficient the power generation is when the car is running indirectly on fossil fuel.
Here's another thought though.
Just how will people actually use such a vehicle in the real world? Those doing mainly short daily journeys may rely on plug-in charging most of the time and get into a groove of charging the battery nightly and keeping the tank near empty to save weight. Great. But would others just get into the habit of filling up the tank and mainly use a car like the Volt on the supplementary ICE if they cover plenty of miles? And if so, I wonder ... Bangle on BMW 'GINA' concept - Interesting video with BMW's Chris Bangle talking about a light and flexible fabric skin BMW has developed for a concept. As he rightly says, this concept poses questions.
On a more contemporary note, the new 7 looks like it has had a 'play safe' philosophy on external design this time around, the focus more on packing the car with some impressive sounding high-tech stuff. There won't be a 'Bangle butt' type controversy with this one.
GERMANY: BMW reveals new flagship... 'Going green' - I have just been reading Dealer Update (a UK automotive retail sector publication produced by Trader Media/Auto Trader group). Through Auto Trader's UK website they carried out a survey on attitudes of retail buyers to green cars and issues. The survey results reinforce what the cynics say.
Most people, it seems, don't want to pay extra to be good to the environment. In choosing a car, price is by far the most important consideration. It was the most important single feature for a car for 86% of respondents and that's followed by performance and safety. Ranked low are things like low environmental impact in materials used or a 'clean' factory where the car came from.
But here's the thing. Small cars are booming in Britain; interest in electric cars and hybrids has never been higher. And it's got very little to do with people wanting to be green. It's got everything to do with rising taxes on motoring, a general squeeze on househo... Copyright © 2008, Real Estate Investment Tips. All Rights Reserved. |