General Motors Co.’s (GM) board of directors gave a vote of confidence to embattled Chief Executive Rick Wagoner after the automaker surprised Wall Street by announcing a $15.5 billion loss. This praise reminds me…
Chrysler had a fair amount of trouble re-financing a relatively large portion of its debt. The company’s finance division was only able to raise $24 billion to replace a $30 billion facility. The money…
The plague of falling US vehicle sales is reaching the earnings of big car companies abroad. BMW "reported second-quarter earnings that trailed analysts’ estimates and abandoned its profit forecast on falling U.S. sales, the…
If we told you General Motors (NYSE: GM) was having troubles and needs to trim bad brands (and more workers), you’d accuse us of working for for the government’s Department of Redundancy Department. But…
GM (GM) has developed the pattern of matching bad news with more bad news. Since the company does still have some bright spots, it may want to balance its public relations act. Its relentlessly…
Chrysler is exiting the car leasing business and GM (GM) and Ford (F) have a foot out the door. All of those SUVs that come back off lease sit on dealer lots because no…
GM (GM) does well in China, but based on the company’s dire situation in North America, it is going to have to do a lot better in the world’s most populated country and other…
The headlines about Ford’s (F) second quarter will all be about its $7.8 billion loss. Most of that red ink is for asset impairments and does not directly address how the core operating businesses…
Toyota (TM) made a cut in its forecast for car sales during its fiscal year. It was an extremely modest cut, given the troubles in the global car market, especially the US. According to…
Ford (F) and GM (GM) are each announcing new plans to save themselves from the earnings garbage bin and give their shareholders some needed hope. It is awfully late to get started.
At the beginning of this year, a number of US car companies said they thought that domestic units sales would drop only slightly from 2007. Those numbers have been revised down ever since. Most…
Toyota (TM) has finally succumbed to the same reality that the rest of the car industry has. It will cut its global sales forecasts by nearly 4% for 2008. Most of that is certainly…
GM’s (GM) problem is that there is no "correct" size for its North American operations. While it is in fine shape overseas, especially in Latin America, Russia, and China, there is no way for…
Things have been so bad at Ford (F) that there is nothing left to cause its stock to rally. High gas prices have be undermining sales of its profitable SUVs and pick-ups. It has…
Toyota (TM) is planing to sharply cut its SUV and pick-up production in the US. It can see the writing on the wall as well as anyone. Don’t build what you cannot sell. But,…