Yesterday, Friday, the Japanese government ordered requested the shutdown of the Hamaoka nuclear power plant, 117 kilometers (73 miles) southwest of Tokyo. No accident had occurred, the measure was a precaution. The plant provided power to the Aichi prefecture where Toyota and many other industries are located.
According to The Nikkei [sub], “chronic power supply troubles threaten Toyota Motor Corp. and the other manufacturers that call the region home. At this point, Toyota has no idea what effect shutting down Hamaoka will have on its operations, a person familiar with the automaker said Friday.” (Read More…)
Beijing closed the book on the tit-for-tat saga that had started with the U.S. slapping punitive tariffs on Chinese tires. China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) issued a final ruling today, declaring that the United States has dumped subsidized sedans and sport utility vehicles with engine displacement of 2.5 liters or bigger on the Chinese market, writes China’s state-owned new agency Xinhua. According top the MOC, this has harmed China’s domestic auto manufacturing industries. Then, China did nothing. (Read More…)
GM solidly trounced analysts’ expectations and delivered $3.2 billion if Q1 2011 net income. The consensus of a Bloomberg panel was $1.74 billion. Compared with the first quarter of 2010, revenue increased $4.7 billion to $36.2 billion, says GM press release. GM’s first-quarter profit more than tripled to its highest in at least 21 years. (Read More…)
Would you buy a Buick Park Avenue Davos World Economic Forum 2011 Special Edition? No? GM China thinks the Chinese will disagree with you and will snap up the “Buick Park Avenue 2011 Boao Forum for Asia Special Edition.” What is a Boao Forum? Glad I asked. As CarNewsChina tells us, “the Boao Forum is an economic conference comparable to the famous Davos Forum but focused on Asia.” And now it gets complicated: (Read More…)
There is a Police Equipment Show in Beijing, and it’s a meeting of the minds: Chinese cops want to get out of their Santana wagons (read gen 2 Passat Variant), and Chinese carmakers want a slice of the lucrative government pie. Our friend Tycho of ChinaCarNews (formerly known as TheTycho.com) went to the show and took his camera along. Above a uniformed Shanghai-Volkswagen Passat Lingyu, the logical successor of the ubiquitous Shanghai-Volkswagen Santana. More Chinese police after the jump … (Read More…)
At yesterday’s annual shareholder meeting, Volkswagen had nothing but good news: A record year 2010, a record first quarter 2011, a company that is rolling in cash. Instead of thanking management for the good numbers and the (smaller than expected) dividend, ingrate shareholders bawled Winterkorn out. (Read More…)
Didn’t they say that you have to be a monster car company with at least 5 million units, just to survive? BMW did not get the memo. Aiming for sales of just 1.5 million units this year, BMW delivered a first quarter 2011 net profit before tax of €1.812 billion ($2.691 billion), surprising analysts that had expected something in the neighborhood of $2 billion. (Read More…)
China is getting a double dose of Volkswagen Passat. The new generation B7 Passat will hit China’s streets in a longer wheelbase version, to provide legroom for the boss in the back while the driver up front braves the crazy Chinese traffic. Just like the previous-gen B6, the car will be built by Volkswagen’s northern joint venture with FAW and will be sold under the Magotan name. “Passat” was already taken by Volkswagen’s southern joint venture, more on that below. (Read More…)
Japan’s carmakers are slowly returning back to normal, hobbled only by unsure supply of parts and sometimes power. It will be slow going and full of surprises. One thing is for sure: The March 11 tsunami will have an ugly effect on carmakers’ books. Combined losses for the Japan’s carmakers and suppliers could “the biggest ever,” surpassing those during 2008 to 2009 financial crisis, Noriyuki Matsushima, an analyst in Tokyo at Citigroup Inc., told Bloomberg. (Read More…)
The German car market rose only slightly in April. 266.251 units were sold, reflecting a growth of 2.6 percent compared to April 2010. This according to data released by the Kraftfahrtbundesamt. Despite rising gasoline prices, SUVs (+35.5 percent) are gaining popularity. So do cars by Opel, with +20.9 percent the domestic brand with the strongest growth. Hyundai (+38.3 percent) is the third largest import brand, behind such “imports” as Renault/Dacia and Skoda. (Read More…)
As expected, troubled Saab has been thrown a lifeline by China’s Hawtai. Spyker announced today that its Swedish unit Saab has secured €150 million ($222.5 million) in funding from Hawtai. The Chinese company will be able to produce and sell Saab cars in China.
Hawtai will invest €120 million for a 29.9 percent stake in Spyker and provide a €30 million ($44.6 million) convertible loan to Saab. If the convert is exercised (which is pretty much a given – it matures in 6 months with a 7 percent interest rate) it converts at €4.88 a share, says the Wall Street Journal. (Read More…)
As predicted a month ago, the full brunt of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami hit Japan’s auto industry in April. Sales of new cars, trucks and buses crashed 51 percent from April a year earlier. Most of Japan’s auto industry was closed in the first half of April and operated at reduced capacity in the second half of the month. (Read More…)
Volkswagen was all grins when litigating hedgies lost the first round in court in the U.S. (it’s on appeal) and when the public prosecutor in Stuttgart dropped some of the investigation into former Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking and former CFO Holger Härter (only to add new angles.) Until the matters are cleared, Volkswagen and Porsche officially are not married, unofficially, they share all available beds.
Now, a new lawsuit causes frozen faces and acid reflux at the very top of Volkswagen: German investment funds intend to involve prominent supervisory board members of Volkswagen AG in a billion dollar court case. (Read More…)
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