Automotive News - August 11, 2008 - (Page 50) 50 • AUGUST 11, 2008 final assembly comment TRAVERSE CITY >> Get live daily coverage of the 2008 Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich. Go to www.autonews.com/tcity for a complete report each day. Is animosity toward foreign cars finally a thing of the past? of people You hear a lotnotesand whether comparing about today’s energy costs the recent spike in prices is as painful as the oil price surge of the 1970s. Mostly I’ve discounted the talk because so many things are EDWARD LAPHAM different. IS EXECUTIVE But at EDITOR OF lunchtime the AUTOMOTIVE other day I saw NEWS. something that brought back a flood of memories from 30 years ago. Strolling through the parking lot of a restaurant that sits in the shadow of Ford’s world headquarters in Dearborn, I noticed a bright yellow Ford Escape with this bumper sticker: “Out of work yet? Keep buying foreign.” I didn’t see the driver so I couldn’t ask if he or she knew the domestic content of that Escape. Right along, I’ve been vaguely aware of bumper stickers expressing similar sentiments. But for some reason that particular one reminded me of the bitter anti-import animosity that flourished in some communities nearly 30 years ago. After the OPEC oil embargo of 1973, many Americans began switching to smaller vehicles built in faraway lands, but that didn’t seem to be a threat. But by the second big surge in oil prices, in 1979, it was clear that Japanese cars were more than a fad. That’s when you started seeing bumper messages like: “Hungry? Eat your Toyota.” And the UAW began rigidly enforcing a no-import ban in the parking lot of its Solidarity House headquarters in Detroit. Back then you also saw Big 3 dealerships sponsoring events that involved using a sledgehammer to bash a Toyota or a Datsun. One Detroit-area GM dealer ran local TV spots showing a tank crushing various imports. But times have changed. Most of the big Japanese and Korean brands build cars here. Some even have UAWrepresented employees. Many Detroit 3 dealers also sell international brands. And most Americans are acclimated to the changes. No, that kind of animosity won’t be an issue this time. Will it? Edward Lapham writes commentaries each week for autonews.com. Read them at autonews.com/edwardlapham. Enough, says Nissan: We’re passing along higher costsnough is enough, says Nissan. After fuming for two years about the soaring costs of steel, plastics and other raw materials, the automaker has begun raising sticker prices. The 2009 Titan full-sized pickup got a $190 raw materials surcharge, a 0.75 percent bump in the sticker; and the full-sized Armada SUV got a surcharge of $1,080 or 3 percent. “The industry needs to increase prices, and we are doing it,” Nissan Motor Co. CFO Alain Dassas told a group of analysts Aug. 1. “We are doing it anywhere and everywhere we can do it smartly and without, hopefully, jeopardizing our volume.” Jaguar has wish list for Tata L ess than three months after its sale by Ford Motor Co., Jaguar already is requesting new products from the Tata Group, its Indian owner. The automaker has made a pitch for a small sports car. In an interview with Automotive News last week, Jaguar Cars Managing Director Mike O’Driscoll said he wants Jaguar to be repositioned as “an exclusive high-line maker.” That means expanding the product line beyond the XJ fullsized sedan, XK coupe and XF mid-sized sedan. A sports car in hardtop and roadster versions, similar to the E-Type Jaguar of the 1960s, would signal the brand’s bold intentions, O’Driscoll said. The sports car also would lead Jaguar’s return to sports car racing. Jaguar faltered badly in its Formula One racing effort and dropped out in 2004. Except for minor events, it has been out of racing since then. The Tundra, left, and Armada: Higher costs mean higher prices. Automakers have been scorched by stiff price increases for steel, petroleum-based products, aluminum and other materials. But vehicle sales are falling — a bad time, it would seem, for automakers to raise prices. Nissan North America — whose U.S. sales are down only 0.9 percent through the first seven months of this year compared with the industrywide drop of 10.5 percent — says it has had enough. “We are going to increase pricing,” Dassas said, “and our intent is to match completely the additional price increase of raw material with (vehicle) price increases.” Continental’s takeover trauma has Daimler playing defense T REBECCA COOK/REUTERS Barack Obama, speaking in Lansing, Mich., this month: He’s talking about $4 billion in loans and tax credits for automakers, but Detroit wants more. Candidates, get ready for some sticker shock O n a campaign swing through Michigan last week, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama proposed a $7,000 tax credit to help consumers buy fuelefficient vehicles. Obama’s goal: Put 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles on U.S. roads by 2015. That’s on top of Obama’s energy plan for $4 billion in retooling tax credits and loan guarantees for domestic auto plants and suppliers, to help U.S. automakers revamp their lineups with smaller, fuelefficient cars and trucks. Obama’s Republican rival, John McCain, is offering a $300 million prize for development of a commercially viable battery for plug-in hybrids or pure electric cars. McCain also is pushing flex-fuel vehicles and a $5,000 tax credit for buyers of vehicles that don’t emit carbon. All of which might seem like big numbers. But the Detroit 3 may be thinking even bigger. The Detroit 3’s most recent estimate is that it will cost them $110 billion over 10 years to meet federal fuel economy standards. But the law that mandates the new, higher standards authorizes “only” $25 billion in low-interest loans to help the industry develop fuel-efficient advanced-technology vehicles. Who’s going to make up the difference? It might depend on how close this year’s campaign is. he hostile takeover that German ball-bearings maker Schaeffler Group mounted last month on automotive supplier Continental apparently has Daimler worried about its own defenses against unwelcome suitors. News reports last week said Daimler, parent of MercedesBenz, is building a takeover defense strategy. Financial Times Deutschland reported that Daimler may line up an “anchor investor” to stymie any hostile takeover. Deutsche Bank is advising the company on the matter, the newspaper said. The market price of the Stuttgart automaker is now just less than 40 billion euros (about $62 billion), half as much as a year ago. That’s significantly more than the market value of ailing U.S. automakers. But the Continental deal, as well as Porsche’s move on Volkswagen, signals that the German dealmaking climate has heated up. In Continental’s case, the much smaller Schaeffler gained control of 36 percent of Continental shares by using a consortium of banks as allies, avoiding requirements to report its purchases. GM’s troubles bring media spotlight G eneral Motors’ execs, trying to assure the car-buying public that the company is alive and well despite the recent announcement of a bone-crushing $15.5 billion quarterly loss, are making the rounds on TV. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz was interviewed for a Wednesday, Aug. 6, CNBC documentary, “Saving General Motors.” CEO Rick Wagoner and design chief Ed Welburn also got air time. Lutz and Wagoner also taped an interview with Charlie Rose for ■ Toyota’s new two-wheeler Executive Vice President Takeshi Uchiyamada takes a two-wheeled spin on a Winglet, a new personal-mobility gizmo from Toyota. The Winglet will take on the U.S.-built Segway, and the comparison of the two holds some echoes from the car wars: The Winglet is smaller, lighter and more maneuverable than its American rival. But it also is slower and has a shorter range. Toyota hasn’t announced when it plans to sell the Winglet or how much it will cost. Lights, camera — Bob Lutz on CNBC broadcast this month on PBS. And Lutz said he did an interview with Leslie Stahl for CBS’ “60 Minutes.” Said Lutz of his foray with Stahl through the often-dangerous waters of “60 Minutes”: “She is charming before the interview, but then rephrases hard questions multiple times in the hope of getting one answer she likes.” GM spokesman Mike Meyerand said the CNBC documentary was “a chance for someone to get a better behind-the-scenes view of GM and some of the key products we have coming, like the Chevy Volt and the Chevy Camaro.” http://www.autonews.com/tcity http://autonews.com http://autonews.com/edwardlapham
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