Earnings/Financials
UAW considers dropping “job bank” for idled workers
As you read this, there are about 3,000 unionized workers — down from about 15,000 two years ago — employed by the Detroit 3 getting paid, despite the fact that they aren’t working. While it’s nice for America’s automakers to have access to a talent-pool of available workers, it’s also a major financial drain on [...]
Popularity: 1% [?]
1Dec2008 | BlueFox | 0 comments | Continued
UAW wants executive pay to be limited
The president of the United Auto Workers union, Ron Gettelfinger, said in a recent CNN interview that U.S. automakers need to tell Congress they will limit corporate pay, bonuses and severance packages in return for more government loans. Gettelfinger also said that the Detroit Three only need the loans to hold them over during these [...]
Popularity: 1% [?]
1Dec2008 | BlueFox | 0 comments | Continued
Toyota credit rating gets cut
Car sales in the US are dismal right now, and even Toyota has been hit by anorexic demand. The Japanese automaker even resorted to 0% financing on eleven of its highest-volume vehicles, and it still didn’t prevent Toyota’s first quarterly sales decline in seven years. Add a surging yen and high raw materials costs into [...]
Popularity: 1% [?]
1Dec2008 | BlueFox | 0 comments | Continued
Volvo not interested in buying back Volvo Cars from Ford
The Volvo Group, successfully spun off ball bearing company SKF in 1927, no longer has much to do with the Volvo brand of cars. While it does build large commercial vehicles, the automotive unit was sold to Ford all the way back in 1999, and the only real ties the two corporations share is joint-ownership [...]
Popularity: 2% [?]
30Nov2008 | BlueFox | 0 comments | Continued
Porsche backing off from taking majority stake in VW this year
Looks like Porsche won’t be feasting on more shares of VW for Thanksgiving. Porsche has apparently decided to postpone its move to buy a majority stake in Volkswagen due to the global economic crisis. CEO Wendelin Wiedeking said he still wants that 75% share of VW, but that it’s just too difficult at the moment. [...]
Popularity: 2% [?]
26Nov2008 | BlueFox | 0 comments | Continued
Wait, What? Red Bull buys back full stake in Toro Rosso
We wish we could understand how Dietrich Mateschitz thinks, but we just can’t. After years of sponsoring F1 teams, the Red Bull chief decides to buy one outright. That wasn’t enough, so he buys a second one. Then he sells half of that team to former F1 driver (and fellow Austrian) Gerhard Berger. Then he [...]
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25Nov2008 | BlueFox | 0 comments | Continued
Canadian cancer patient wins Koenigsegg, opts for cash instead
If you won a lottery that offered you million-dollar supercar or a large cash prize, which would you take? Okay, well you might be a little biased if you’re reading Auto@CooOne. So let’s make this a little more challenging: what if you lived in a town with no paved roads like Norman Wells (population: 761), [...]
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23Nov2008 | BlueFox | 0 comments | Continued
Aw Snap! Congressional Democrats undercut compromise bailout bill
Wow, what an amazing piece of political theater that just went down. As we reported, four senators from auto producing state (two Democrats and two Republicans) led by Michigan Senator Carl Levin have reached an agreement on a compromise bailout bill for automakers. They were set to announce details of the compromise bill at 2:30PM, [...]
Popularity: 2% [?]
20Nov2008 | BlueFox | 0 comments | Continued
BREAKING: Automaker bailout agreement reached in Senate, still not a sure thing
CNBC is reporting that four U.S. senators have reached a bipartisan agreement on a bill to help the Big 3 automakers in Detroit. Those senators include Michigan Democrats Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, Ohio Republican George Voinovich and Missouri Republican Christopher Bond. Details of the bill are not yet available, but a news conference is [...]
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20Nov2008 | BlueFox | 0 comments | Continued
The Detroit 3’s problem is really… “vehicle density”?
There have been so many different arguments for why The Detroit 3 should or shouldn’t get a bailout that we could make a casserole out of them. One argument against a bailout — or at least, a reason for the futility of a bailout — that we don’t recall hearing yet is “vehicle density.”
The argument [...]
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20Nov2008 | BlueFox | 0 comments | Continued
