Search results for Toyota
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Posted
Feb 11 2008, 01:44 PM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Like some many unsuccessful companies before it, Chrysler wants to cut its way to profitability. The privately held company, run by Home Depot exile Robert Nardelli, will probably chop its number of brands 50% and dealerships by a third.
According to The Wall Street Journal, "over the next three years or so, the now closely held auto maker plans to drop as many as half of the approximately 30 vehicles it now produces, a move likely to cut sales at least for a while." A while may be forever.
It is not believable to think that Toyota, Honda, and, to a lesser extent, GM will not market vehicles directly into the niches which Chrysler gives up. Toyota especially has the dealer network and broad brand line-up to do this.
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Posted
Apr 03 2008, 11:45 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Filed under: Apple, Comcast, Ford, DirecTV, Verizon, Sirius XM, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, Toyota, GM, Utilities, Dish Network
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
When the Justice Department cleared the merger of Sirius with XM Satellite there was anticipation that once the deal got done the shares of both companies would go up. A year ago, the combination was viewed as a dream deal.
If anything, the shares have dropped. Sirius is below $3 and XM is below $13. The market began to realize that the year wasted on getting government approval was a year the companies need to stay competitive. XM has over $1 billion in debt. Refinancing it in the current market would be nearly impossible. Selling shares would lead to extremely large dilution. As we recently noted, Goldman Sachs even put Sirius on its "Conviction Sell List" with a price target of $2.25.
Growth at Sirius has slowed considerably. In the fourth quarter revenue rose only 29% to $250 million. But, for the full year, revenue was up 45%. Subscriber deactivations in the fourth quarter were almost 540,000 compared to 330,000 in the same quarter of 2006. The firm's net loss was $166 million. Long-term debt was almost $1.3 billion.
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Posted
Aug 25 2008, 01:48 PM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Toyota says it will hike the price of its Prius and Harrier hybrids in Japan to cover the increased cost of steel and other materials.
The price increases are the first in Japan since 1992 without an accompanying new model with improved features. The company raised prices 10% in 1974 after the first oil shock.
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Posted
Sep 18 2008, 07:31 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
General Motors' prototype Volt underscores the basic problem automakers have in developing new electric technology: The car is designed to run just 40 miles between charges of its lithium-ion battery pack.
That’s fine for zipping around town, but useless for many daily commutes -- especially in the West. The U.S. Department of Transportation says 23% of the nation’s commuters drive 42 or more miles roundtrip to work each day; another 10% drive 32 to 40 miles roundtrip. GM’s Volt just doesn’t meet their needs.
For years, nickel-cadmium batteries were the standard, but lithium-ion, commercialized by Sony in the early 1990s, offers twice the “energy density” and is now the most promising battery
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Posted
Oct 01 2008, 11:52 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
One in five U.S. car dealerships could bite the dust in the next year, according to a study out Wednesday. Sales are down. Credit is harder to come by, and even the people who have good credit are leery of making big car purchases.
Potential investors are staying away, and no wonder. Car sales in this country have declined for 11 months straight -- the longest slide in 17 years, according to Bloomberg.
And September was a particularly ugly month. Carmakers are reporting results for the month, with negatives across the board. Ford's U.S. sales fell 34% from the month before, and Toyota was down 32%.
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Posted
Nov 19 2008, 03:33 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
A car industry bailout may save General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler for a few months, but it is likely to set a painful precedent for governments in Asia and Europe.
If troubled American auto companies can get cheap and ready loans, why shouldn't their peers in China, Japan, Russia, and Europe? Which country can afford to lose its automakers?
According to The New York Times, "China’s car industry is quietly pressing Beijing for government help as it copes with a jarring slowdown." Until earlier this year, vehicle sales on the mainland were growing at double digits. That has turned into flat sales in the last couple of months and 2009 looks no better. China's auto firms have been gearing up and spending to accommodate demand which is no longer there.
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Posted
Nov 20 2008, 02:50 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Sound the alarms! Consumer prices are in a freefall, stoking fears the economy is on the precipice of deflation. The Labor Department on Wednesday reported the prices of consumer goods fell by 1 percent in October, the biggest one-month drop in 61 years. As the New York Times points out, no, falling prices are not a good thing for an already shrinking global economy. "While most consumers might welcome the idea that things are getting cheaper, deflation is an economists’ nightmare," the NYT writes. For starters, declining prices would greatly minimize the impact of the Federal Reserve's previous rate cuts. Unresponsive monetary policy is what sunk Japan in the 1990s, the so-called "lost decade," pundits are quick to point out.
What is the Fed to do? Cut again. According to the Financial Times, "the U.S. central bank may cut interest rates again by as much as 50 basis points from the current level of 1 percent in December." Analysts at JP Morgan Chase predict the Fed will go even lower—down to zero by early next year. It's not just the U.S. that is seeing a rapid decline in prices. Prices are also falling across Europe and in Japan, the NYT reports
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Posted
Nov 21 2008, 06:43 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
The rhetoric is eerily familiar: A green, viable alternative to gasoline. What's not to love?
Any purported "cure" for America's gasoline addiction should, however, be regarded with the utmost skepticism - just think of the ethanol debacle. Ethanol helped spur rampant food-price inflation -- resulting in riots throughout the developing world -- while doing little to curb oil imports from unfriendly nations.
The promise of electric cars could similarly be remembered as a massive swindle - one that cost taxpayers billions and still failed to find a green solution to our
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Posted
Nov 25 2008, 08:11 AM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
"One of the most important infrastructure projects that we need is a whole new electricity grid."
- Barack Obama
President-Elect Barack Obama must be panicking. He's just been made captain of a ship that appears to be sinking. To make matters worse, the rescue boats (made in China) are also taking on water. Are we actually drowning? Probably not. But watching your life's savings wash away in a tidal wave of bad economic data can be disorienting.
Obama cannot afford to be disoriented, or even to appear disoriented. He has to do something bold and bright to turn the world's biggest economy around.
It appears he's going to emulate the Chinese and announce billions of dollars in infrastructure spending. In addition to work on roads and water utilities, it's a good bet Obama will order
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Posted
Dec 02 2008, 12:05 PM
by
Minyanville
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
The 40-watt lightbulb deep in the heads of Detroit's CEOs flickered to life as they attempted to stage one of the biggest public relations comebacks in the history of the universe.
In November, the CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler flew to Washington in private jets to beg Uncle Sam for a $25 billion handout.
Oops. You'd think it might be smart to brush up on your poor-boy act before jangling the tin cup before Congress. Well, these guys are smart; they finally caught on.
Alan Mulally, Ford's honcho, plans to drive about 10 hours to Washington from Detroit in a gas-electric hybrid vehicle for the second round of testimony today. (With luck, it won't be a Toyota Prius.) GM and Chrysler said that their top dogs won't fly in private jets this time, but didn't disclose how they'd get to Washington
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