GM Plans To Halve The Number Of Vehicle Frames

- GM Plans To Halve The Number Of Vehicle Frames



Aug 9, 2011

General Motors (NYSE:GM) plans to be leaner in the future by halving the number of car and truck frames its uses worldwide.

The company also says it plans to increase factory capacity 45% in Brazil, Russia, India and China by 2014 to take advantage of growth.

GM made the statements Tuesday in slide presentations for its annual global business conference for industry analysts.

The slides say that GM built cars and trucks on 30 specific frames last year. That number would be cut to 14 by 2018, saving on engineering, design and manufacturing costs.

The company also plans to keep its investment in research and development steady, even when car sales are down. That will save money by terminating the practice of stopping and starting projects.

General Motors has a potential upside of 71.6% based on a current price of $25.21 and an average consensus analyst price target of $43.25.

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U.S. Retail Sales Fall 0.2% In May, Smaller Drop Than Expected

- U.S. Retail Sales Fall 0.2% In May, Smaller Drop Than Expected



Jun 14, 2011

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated retail and food services sales for May at $387.1 billion today, down 0.2% from April, but up 7.7% from May of 2010.

Economists had expected a drop of 0.7% for May. The increase from March 2011 to April 2011 was revised down from 0.5% increase to a 0.3% increase.

Excluding slumping motor vehicle sales, which fell 2.9% from April, total retail sales rose 0.3%.

Core sales, which exclude automobiles, gasoline, and building materials, increased 0.2% in May from April.

For the first five months of the year, retail sales have totaled $1.87 trillion, an 8% increase over the same period in 2010.

Sales at gasoline stations, up 17.5%, lead the pack, followed by sales of motor vehicles, which despite slumping in April and May due to the Japanese earthquake, are still up 13.3% so far this year.

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Ex-BP CEO's Energy Investment Vehicle Aims for $1.6B IPO

- Ex-BP CEO's Energy Investment Vehicle Aims for $1.6B IPO

Thursday, June 09, 2011
Dow Jones Newswires
LONDON (Dow Jones Newswires)
by Alexis Flynn

The new investment vehicle headed by financier Nathaniel Rothschild and former BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward Thursday announced plans for a London listing later this month, that could see the venture raise as much as GBP1 billion to invest in emerging market oil and gas assets.

The special purpose acquisition company, called Vallares in a nod to Rothschild's earlier commodities venture Vallar, marks Hayward's return to the spotlight less than a year after he left BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster and Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The June initial public offering will aim to sate investor hunger for resource stocks following the listing of giant commodities trader Glencore International last month.

Vallares, which has attracted the backing of a number of U.S. and U.K. long-only and hedge funds as well as sovereign wealth funds, will look to invest primarily in upstream oil and gas exploration and production, said Hayward.

"What we're looking to fund is an emerging market player with good resources and good assets but that has neither the capital nor capability to fully develop them, and to merge with them," said Hayward, who explained that Vallares wouldn't use the capital raised to buy assets, but would instead look to use its equity to enact mergers with emerging market firms, who would then benefit from London's access to capital and Vallares' management experience.

Hayward said Vallares was looking at a range of investment targets.

"The truth is we have a very broad base pipeline of potential ideas. It does pretty well spread the world, from South America, West Africa, Russia, the Middle East, South East Asia," said Hayward.

In addition to Hayward and Rothschild, Vallares was founded by former head of Goldman Sachs' U.K. investment banking business, Julian Metherell and Tom Daniel, who helped establish Vallar with Rothschild.

The firm's senior management team, meanwhile, includes ex-BAE Systems Group Finance Director George Rose and former Enterprise Oil CEO Sir Graham Hearne.

Hayward said he would build an operating team around him with "the necessary skills and capabilities." However, he downplayed the prospects of approaching his ex-colleagues at BP. "Where they come from will depend a little bit on the day, but I'm certainly not going to go poaching from any of my previous employers, so you don't need to worry about that," he said.

Credit Suisse Group (CS) is acting as the IPO's global co-ordinator and joint bookrunner, while J.P. Morgan Cazenove is acting as joint bookrunner and Evolution Securities is acting as co-lead manager.

Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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Ford Taking Test Fleet of Electric Vehicles to China Later this Year

Ford Taking Test Fleet of Electric Vehicles to China Later this Year



Apr 18, 2011

Ford Motor Co. (F) said on Monday it is taking a test fleet of electrified vehicles to China later this year, including the Fusion hybrid.

On the eve of the Shanghai auto show, the car maker unveiled three electric vehicles: the new Focus all-electric vehicle, the C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid, and the Fusion hybrid.

Joe Hinrichs, head of Ford's Asia-Pacific and African operations, said in a statement, "With China aiming to go green on the road with new-energy vehicles, the country is the perfect platform to showcase Ford's advanced technologies in the electrification plan."

Ford Working With Numerous Cities To Ensure Readiness For Electric Vehicles

Ford Working With Numerous Cities To Ensure Readiness For Electric Vehicles



While Ford Motor Co (NYSE:F) is gearing up for the launch of its new Focus Electric car later this year and C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid in 2012, the company is also working with cities and utility partners to identify key infrastructure building blocks that will enable metropolitan areas to be ready for electric vehicles.

Some of the cities Ford is already working with include New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Boston.

Some of the key actions Ford has identified in working with cities include: utility rate structures that encourage nighttime (off-peak) charging, a streamlined permitting and inspection process to support infrastructure installation, integrated advisory committees representing a wide variety of groups, urban planning to optimize charge locations, and finally infrastructure incentives to offset a portion of customer costs.

Mike Tinskey, Ford's manager of Vehicle Electrification and Infrastructure said, "As more and more electric vehicles come to market, it's incredibly important that cities develop action plans including infrastructure development and permitting solutions to ensure these vehicles are a viable solution for citizens. Ford continues outreach with cities across the country to spread best practices and work with multiple partners including local utilities, auto manufacturers, technology companies and others to support a successful integration of electric vehicles."

Toyota Announces Temporary Shutdown of All North American Factories "Inevitable" (TM)

Toyota Announces Temporary Shutdown of All North American Factories "Inevitable" (TM)




Toyota Motor Co (NYSE:TM) announced earlier today that they will have to close down all of their North American factories by the end of this month due to a parts shortage caused by the damage from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.

The temporary shutdown of the company's 13 factories in North America is inevitable, the company said. How long the production stoppage will last is unknown. 25,000 workers will be affected, but no layoffs are expected.

The factories have been using parts from their inventories and those that were shipped before the disaster, but those supplies are running out.

Spokesman Mike Goss said, "We're going to get to a point this month where that gap in the pipeline starts to show up. So we'll have to suspend production for a while,"

Toyota gets about 15% of the parts for cars and trucks built in North America from Japan, "but still you have to have them all to build the vehicles," Goss said.

Shares of Toyota Motor are trading down 1.29% at $79.47.

General Motors to develop Buick plug-in hybrid

General Motors to develop Buick plug-in hybrid



General Motors (GM) is developing a Buick using the Chevrolet Volt's plug-in hybrid technology, reports Bloomberg. According to two people familiar with the project, designers are working on a version of the hybrid Opel Ampera scheduled for sale in Europe this year. The Buick version would go on sale in 2013 if it receives final approval.