Company Said To Be In A “Distressed” Condition. PSA Peugeot Citroen unveiled its sales figures for the first quarter and reiterated its gloomy prognostications for the year. Sales of assembled vehicles fell 23.5 per cent to 619,000, and kit cars shipped mainly to Iran fell 18.7 per cent to 713,000. Peugeot said production in the […]
Archive | April, 2009
Fiat Auto Small First Quarter Loss Pleases Investors
Mooted Big Chrysler, Opel Deals On The Horizon A Worry. Bad Results Would Have Blown Chrysler Deal; How Did Fiat Do It? Investors Worry Rights Issue Might Be Imminent To Fund Ambitions. Fiat Auto managed to keep losses in the first quarter to a relatively small amount, thanks in part to its success in raising […]
Scrapping Hinders Industry Need To Consolidate, Cut Costs
Sales Boost In Short-Term Won’t Eliminate Eventual Pain. But Some Applaud Scrapping Schemes As Crucial Help In A Storm. “avoids dangerous sales declines in 2009 and helps auto makers maintain a flatter, more profitable, cycle. What is wrong with that?” Britain, finally, signed up to provide subsidies for car scrapping, but not everybody believes this […]
Hyundai i20 review
5-Year Guarantee The Winning Card But i20 Matches Competition In Most Areas, Wins On Price Fuel Consumption Doesn’t Match Claims, But Nobody Else’s Does ***** out of 5 Even Residuals Claimed To Beat The Best, Thanks To Warranty The competition like Ford is raising prices in the teeth of a recession and effectively committing suicide in […]
Fiat Bravo review
Beautiful, Practical New Small Petrol Engine The Shape Of Things To Come 1.4 litre Powerful, But Economy Falls Short **** out of 5 The Fiat Bravo is one of those rare cars that is so beautiful, people will buy it just for its looks. That is especially impressive in the small family car sector of the […]
Renault, Via Nisssan, Could Gain From U.S. Recovery
As investors survey the financial rubble around them, it is natural for them to dream of better times. Renault has been the beneficiary of such musings, with investment bank Morgan Stanley, and stockbroker Bernstein Research focussing on Renault’s recovery prospects, benefitting from a possible spurt in sales in the U.S. Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas […]
GM Demise Would Add $24 Billion Plus To Global Profit
Ford Big Winner In U.S., VW In Europe. General Motors and Chrysler’s competitors could gain pre-tax profit of more than $24 billion if the companies are forced to dramatically downsize after some kind of bankruptcy, according to a report from Bernstein Research in London. $14.5 billion of that would accrue from U.S. operations and $10 […]
Fiat’s Chrysler Plan Might Distract From Closer Troubles
Investors worry that Fiat’s plan to take a stake in troubled Chrysler may be a bridge too far for a company facing serious concerns of its own. Fiat Auto’s sales in Europe, and particularly in Germany, have been inflated by so-called scrappage schemes, and any benefits from a possible deal with Chrysler are years away, […]
Investors Said To Eye GM’s Saab, Opel-Vauxhall, But Why?
The European media is full of stories about suitors lining up to buy a piece of General Motors Europe’s Saab and Opel-Vauxhall subsidiaries, but nowhere can you find a compelling reason why investors would want to buy into these perennial loss makers. The Financial Times, in an item headlined “GM’s European arms lures investors”, says […]
Peugeot’s New Management Faces Some Tough Decisions
Did Streiff Aggravate Peugeot Family, Or Government, Or Both? Overcapacity, Platform Sharing, Need For Faurecia Under Spotlight. “It wasn’t what he did, it was the way that he did it,” is one view seeking to explain former PSA Peugeot CEO Christian Streiff’s demise, although others take a different slant. According to Nomura International, investors shouldn’t […]