A short overview of what happened in other parts of the world while you were in bed. TTAC provides round-the-clock coverage of everything that has wheels. Or has its wheels coming off. For the next two weeks, WAS will be filed from Tokyo.
Bad November for Toyota: Toyota’s Japanese production dropped 27.2 percent in November from a year earlier to 288,138 vehicles as exports sagged 23.9 percent and domestic sales skidded 27.6 percent Overseas production fell 26.1 percent to 301,367 in the month. Other Japanese companies share in the misery, but not as much as ToMoCo: Honda down 3.9 percent in November. Mazda minus 19.8 percent. Suzuki shed 7.3 percent, writes the Nikkei (sub)
Itai-itai!: Nissan’s and Mitsubishi’s numbers came in by the end of the day in Tokyo, and they are nasty: Nissan’s domestic output shrank by 35.6 percent in November, their exports tanked by 30.2 percent, the Japanese domestic sales down 22.8 percent. Mitsubishi not much better: Output in Japan down 2.6 percent. November exports minus 13.8 percent. Domestic (Japanese) sales evaporated to the tune of minus 31.1 percent. The Nikkei (sub) carries this moral-enhancing comment: “Some analysts warn that earnings could get worse further down the road, indicating more output drops may come.” Kota Yuzawa, analyst at Goldman Sachs, said: “We still cannot see an earnings bottom.”
It’s a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction: Seeking Alpha reports breathlessly that the General Motors shill site gmfactsandfiction.com received “nearly 180,000 unique visitors in November; a 3000%+ increase over October.” To put the numbers in perspective: 180,000 unique visitors is pretty much 1/10th of the 1,810,737 extremely unique B&B that sought the truth about cars in Thetruthaboutcars.com. And a “3000%+ increase over October?” Looks like about 6000 lonely hearts found their way to gmfactsandfiction in October. If the number is a fact. Speaking of which: TTAC receives more visitors from General Motors than gmfactsandfiction received from the whole wide world in October: Last month, TTAC had 7,449 visitors from a network called general motors corporation , and 4,914 from ford motor company .
The show must go on: Chinese were worried that the U.S. production halts of Ford and GM may affect their still thriving production, which relies on parts and components shipped from the U.S. Not to worry, said a spokes person for Shanghai GM to Gasgoo: “Vehicle models made by this joint venture are highly localized and only use a small number of auto parts imported from the United States. The U.S. inventories of these components are sufficient to supply for Shanghai GM’s manufacturing. The GM imports to China can be guaranteed as well because their China sales are not great and the U.S. market demand is sliding.” Ford was likewise sanguine. The show will go on.
SAIC may pull out of Korean Ssangyong. When Chinese SAIC bought Korean firm Ssangyong, it had to endure labor walkouts over plans to shift production from Korea to China. A few days ago, Ssangyong announced they couldn’t meet payroll. Now, SAIC said they may exit from Ssangyong Motor Co. if the South Korean company’s labor union doesn’t accept a restructuring plan, Gasgoo reports. Ssangyong Chief Executive Officer Choi Hyung Tak says, SAIC’s “withdrawal will mean bankruptcy for Ssangyong.”
At 10m a year, everybody is screwed: “We still see it as unlikely that GM (or any automaker) will be able to restructure itself to positive cash flow in North America while US light vehicle sales continue to trend around the (annualized) 10 million unit range,” Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache wrote according to an AFP report. Lache says, GM will not be able to reach a breakeven point at its current market share level unless US sales reach an annualized rate of 13 million vehicles. AFP: “Few analysts expect auto sales to rebound to that level until 2010.” Translation: They are NSFWd.
Wagoner hearts Gettelfinger: Rick Wagoner defended the United Auto Workers and said he remains hopeful the company and union can strike a deal to lower labor cost. Wagoner said the union “took a lot of bullets” and that “people were trying to score political points rather than fix the issues we were facing.” Wagoner’s comments came as UAW President Ron Gettelfinger attacked as unfair stipulations in the aid package that call for the union to accept wage cuts and other concessions. Says so at CNN.
And we wish you: A happy Christmas, Hannukah, El-Hijra, or whatever you may celebrate wherever you are. To our dedicated readers from North Korea: Happy Constitution Day! Here in Japan, ‘tis the season to give the house a good cleaning. A chore from which I am absolved due to TTAC duty. Thank you for that! Emperor’s birthday was yesterday. Been there, done that. Also, WAS may take an occasional holiday also as the news dry up. Europe is officially closed, not to return before first week of Jan. In China, all expats of the JVs have gone home.
“TTAC receives more visitors from General Motors than gmfactsandfiction received from the whole wide world in October: Last month, TTAC had 7,449 visitors from a network called general motors corporation , and 4,914 from ford motor company .”
Ouch, the truth hurts!
But only 12,500? I would have thought it would have been more. Unless they’re avoiding big-brother web filtering/tracking tools and waiting until they get home to come here.
Bertel,
Is it really necessary to call it a “shill site”? It’s a promotional web site, like Sinamotive.com is. I don’t expect GM to include bad stuff about them just like I don’t expect to see criticism of Sinamotive on your site. PR and marketing is PR and marketing. “Shill” implies deception like someone posing as a satisfied customer. GMfactsandfiction is giving GM’s spin on things, no doubt, but they’re honest about who is publishing the site. Spinning isn’t the same as shilling. If you called it a “spin site” I wouldn’t object. I’m not trying to flame you, I just don’t think it’s a fair criticism.
Detroit can do no right, as far as some are concerned. Over on Autoblog, when it was pointed out that GM & Ford developed a six-speed auto “in house” before anyone else, the Detroit haters were quick to point out that Hyundai did it “on their own” but GM & Ford “had” to work together. I wonder how folks will spin the 41mpg EPA rating on the 2010 Fusion Hybrid (better than Camry Hybrid, better than Civic Hybrid) so that Ford is portrayed as inept. I think it’s similar to the “no true Scotsman” argument.
As for traffic, TTAC has been running for years, gmfactsandfiction has been up for a couple or three months. My guess is that GM.com and the various GM brand sites get a bit more traffic and I wouldn’t be surprised if their monthly totals are more than 1.8M unique impressions. Comparing the traffic of a newly launched site to that of an established brand is hardly a fair comparison and going from a few thousand hits to a couple hundred thousand in one month without much more promotion than some press releases and word of mouth is no little feat (and boy, do I miss Lowell George).
Soon after starting a site devoted to the *Chevy SSR I was sometimes getting higher rankings on Google results than the official site. Does that mean that GM doesn’t know how to market? Perhaps. Does it mean that I knew a few SEO tricks? For sure.
*The SSR didn’t sell well but made money for GM as a halo vehicle – with an maximum planned build of ~13K units a year and 4500 Chevy stores that’s all it was intended to be, and market studies showed that the SSR helped Chevy sell about 70,000 BOF vehicles a year.
Is it really necessary to call it a “shill site”? It’s a promotional web site, like Sinamotive.com is. I don’t expect GM to include bad stuff about them just like I don’t expect to see criticism of Sinamotive on your site. PR and marketing is PR and marketing. “Shill” implies deception like someone posing as a satisfied customer.
According to Merriam-Webster, one of the defintions of shill is 2 : to act as a spokesperson or promoter
Going by that definition, his description is accurate.
Ford maintains an internal website with daily summaries and links to industry news. Sometimes your news items or reviews of Ford products are linked on the site.
Kota Yuzawa, analyst at Goldman Sachs, said: “We still cannot see an earnings bottom.”
Ow, that’s certainly not what anyone in the auto buisiness want’s to hear.
And, you have my permission to keep calling Gmfactsandfiction a shill site. What else would you call it? The name itself makes it sound like they are all about getting to the truth about GM when nothing could be further from the truth. Your descriptor provides us with the truth about the GM website.
“gmfactsandfiction”
Skimming-type reading resulted in interpreting the small text (to my ancient weary withered eyes) as:
gmsatisfaction
and my first thought was of a laughable corn-pone Web site touting the HUGE throng of people supposedly enamored with all that is GM and GM related.
The next interpretation, directly upon the proverbial heels of the first thought was the site was a spoof site…. chock-full of folks such as I who lambast GM for some of their horrid treatment of customers but doing so in an obtuse manner so obvious that over-the-board loyalty is actually interpreted in the scathing manner the “loyalty” and “satisfaction” is intended.
Then, further reading led to the realization the Web site was merely corporate touting.
Some of the people can be fooled but not all.
Until GMC extends to me a personal apology for the horrid warranty coverage (actually lack of coverage) I received from their dealers and the resultant spittle upon my face via their corporate rep when I approached GM “corporate” about the affairs or, until the time GMC emulates the Titanic, I will continue my task of informing everyone possible at a multitude of Web sites and in real-life of the danger the consumer faces when buying a GMC product when supposedly warranty-covered defects rise up and strike the hapless owner.
Out of fairness I do declare and convey to others that perhaps their experience will be different.
I sincerely hope that all the mega-rich uppercrust within GMC had the vast majority of their wealth stashed with that elite class huckster in the news recently who supposedly swindled a HUGE amount of money from the uber-rich.
If the USA government bails out those folks I will have 100-percent solid proof that the ongoing class war in the USA may be approaching the boil-over point.
For those of you isolated from the working-poor underclass. Heed me. There is growing anger down here at the bottom. If economic conditions worsen and folks hear their kids cry out in hunger at night, be prepared for calamity within the social structure. The mass media refuses to convey reality about us, the “dregs” of society. Due to guilt? Or, perhaps, fear that doing so will be the proverbial straw…..?
Thank God for the National Guard.