Archives: April 2007

Nissan's Ghosn Has Harder Job Than He Thinks

Posted by: David Kiley on April 28

Renault Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn has long driven himself hard to meet publicly stated financial goals. He didn’t disappoint this week, when he made good on his fourth quarter...

The Politics of Executive Pay

Posted by: David Welch on April 27

General Motors is going to have some explaining to do. A lot of explaining. As the auto maker gears up for what could be a landmark round of bargaining...

Ford's Earnings Improving. But It Suffers From Poor Hedging

Posted by: David Kiley on April 27

Ford’s overall first-quarter results over-achieved Wall Street forecasts. But let’s look at the most important slice of the Ford pie—The Americas—and see how ripe or rotted the fruit really...

Toyota Passing GM. Time To Pause for GM. Then Get Back To Work.

Posted by: David Kiley on April 24

Sure, it’s a moment to pause. Like waiting for the O.J. verdict. Toyota outsold General Motors worldwide in the first quarter for the first time. I can just see the...

Ford Turns To David Mamet To Make Edge Edgier

Posted by: David Kiley on April 17

If you hire writer-director David Mamet to handle your commercial for a new SUV as Ford did, the result you can expect is that the ad will go something...

Isuzu To Make Vehicles in the U.S. Again?

Posted by: David Kiley on April 16

Five years after it pulled back from the U.S. market, Isuzu Motors is laying the groundwork to resume production here by building a plant in Alabama. Japan’s biggest maker of...

Mulally Vs Bush

Posted by: David Kiley on April 11

We are having some fun with Ford CEO Alan Mulally. The CEO a few weeks ago was at The White House with Chrysler CEO Tom Lasorda and GM CEO...

Management moves at Toyota

Posted by: Ian Rowley on April 11

Reports in yesterday's Nihon Keizai, Japan's biggest business daily, reckoned that Toyota may give North American chief Jim Press on the board. The move, if it happens, will make Press,...

Kerkorian Returns

Posted by: David Welch on April 06

OK, I’ll do a mea culpa here. When I wrote on this blog a few weeks ago that former Chrysler Corp. CFO Jerome York was doing some due diligence...

Dear Dieter (Zetsche)....

Posted by: Gail Edmondson on April 06

You spoke about integrity as a top priority during DaimlerChrysler's annual shareholder meeting on Apr. 4. So I couldn't help wondering what you would have thought about the scene in...

Quiet debut for Subaru

Posted by: Douglas Macmillan on April 05

In the land of the jaw-dropping exotics, futuristic concepts, celebrity endorsements and Trail Rated Test Tracks of the 2007 New York International Auto Show, the 2008 Subara Impreza WRX...

NYIAS object of envy number one: Maserati GranTurismo

Posted by: Douglas Macmillan on April 05

There was plenty of drool to mop up in the high-end carmaker booths at this week’s auto show in New York. Ferrari showcased its aggressive 599 GTB Fiorano, Lamborghini...

Jeep, XM know how to please crowds at NYIAS 2007

Posted by: Douglas Macmillan on April 05

When Chrysler planned its Jeep off-road test track for the New York International Auto Show, I don’t think they expected snow flurries in early April. So I have to...

Ford's Mulally Backs Fields and Codino

Posted by: David Kiley on April 05

Ford CEO Alan Mulally said Wednesday after a popular keynote address that press reports, namely one in The Detroit News, were untrue regarding the likely replacement of Mark Fields and...

For Chevy mini-car concept, three is the magic number

Posted by: Douglas Macmillan on April 04

Groove, Beat, and Trax aren’t hip-hop DJs, they’re three sprightly little concept cars Chevrolet showed to the press at today's preview for the 2007 New York International Auto Show....

Bentley unveils luxury coupe, sells out of them

Posted by: Douglas Macmillan on April 04

Almost before the fizz of the champagne settled at the Bentley Brooklands’ New York Auto Show debut, marketing director Stuart McCullough announced that the window of opportunity for owning...

High-Tech Infiniti EX Concept Debuts at NYIAS

Posted by: Douglas Macmillan on April 04

First-day buzz at the 2007 New York International Auto Show flocked to the Infiniti booth, where a sharply designed G37 Coupe, set to hit showrooms in August, made its...

The Countdown at DaimlerChrysler

Posted by: Gail Edmondson on April 02

It's now only 36 hours until DaimlerChrysler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche faces several thousand shareholders in Berlin, eager to hear him say that Daimler is selling Chrysler. The details can...

Japan: No end to the auto sales gloom

Posted by: Ian Rowley on April 02

Japanese auto makers are doing just fine almost everywhere but back home sales keep on slumping. According to figures released today, registered car sales in March slumped 12.6% to 487,738...