Entries from Chemicals & The Economy tagged with 'auto sales'
Toyota cuts global auto production
Back in May, the blog suggested that "Chrysler's bankruptcy marks a 'tipping point', when the first major company is finally forced to adjust to a permanently lower level of demand." Now comes news that Toyota is to follow Chrysler's lead,...
US house sales rise as foreclosure increases
The US housing crisis is still getting worse, causing the weekend collapse of Guaranty Bank, the 11th largest US bank failure. As the Wall Street Journal notes, this marks a "new stage" in the banking crisis. Guaranty Financial had bought...
Electric cars could change naphtha balances
Last week, Nissan said its new Leaf model had achieved 367 mpg (156 kpl) in city driving. And this week, GM said its Volt could get an average 100 mpg rating. Pedro Spohr of Galp in Portugal was therefore clearly...
Cerberus loses $6bn in just 2 years with Chrysler
Cerberus' timing was clearly not very good with its Chrysler acquisition in Q3 2007. And Steve Feinberg, Cerberus co-founder, admitted this when he told the New York Times "we were too optimistic on timing. Maybe what we should have done...
US auto sales continue rebound
US auto sales have not yet followed the European lead, and shown an increase versus 2008 levels. And they certainly don't match China's 17% sales increase in H1. But they were down just 11% in July. And Ford did post...
Sodium silicate becomes 'killer app' for old engines
Sales of most chemicals are down due to the recession. But US sodium silicate volumes could see a massive boost, according to the Wall Street Journal. The reason is that the government has mandated its use to destroy the engines...
Swedish bank takes over Top 50 European automotive supplier from private equity
In 2007, Sweden was the largest private equity market in Europe, as a percentage of the country's GDP. And the local banks lent freely, as elsewhere, to fund investments. Now they, and other Nordic banks, are struggling to minimise their...
European auto sales increase versus 2008
Any improvement in the troubled auto sector is extremely good news for the chemical industry, after the battering of the past few months. Thus the blog welcomes news, as the chart shows, that European sales increased 2.4% in June, the...
The blog's 2nd birthday
The blog is now 2 years old. Its readership is very loyal, and continues to grow. 64% of current readers bookmark the blog, and read it regularly. And it is now being read in 2088 cities and 111 countries -...
US plastics firms switch from auto parts
Employment in the US auto industry has already halved since 2000, to less than 500,000. Now, with major restructuring underway, suppliers of plastics components are looking around for other markets. One current success story, identified by the Wall Street Journal,...
Difficult decisions loom on future US auto demand
By the end of May last year, 6.2m autos had been sold in the US market, each containing $2700 of chemicals (according to the ACC). The total sales value to the chemical industry was $16.8bn. So far this year, just...
EU GDP falls 2.5%, auto sales down 12%
Continental Europe is now in its worst recession since World War 2. GDP fell 2.5% in Q1, following a 1.6% fall in Q4. Germany, often viewed as the 'motor' of the eurozone, saw its GDP fall a shocking 3.8% as...
GM bankruptcy threatens auto supply chain
It seems highly likely that GM, the largest US car manufacturer, will enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the next few weeks. Chrysler, the 4th largest US company, may well follow them. Even if it avoids bankruptcy, GM's own restructuring...
GM plans 2 month summer shutdown
The prospect of bankruptcy is finally sharpening the knife at GM. As the blog noted last month, inventories are at astronomical levels. 781000 vehicles were in stock at the end of February, and this figure had only dropped by 15000...
US auto sales start to bottom
The blog may be over-optimistic, but as with US house markets, it is hopeful that US auto market may have hit at least a temporary bottom. Spring should be a good period for sales, and March saw auto volumes down...
Obama gets tough on US auto industry
There had been speculation that President Obama's mid-West background might tempt him to take a soft line on the troubled automotive industry. But his comments on Thursday that there has been "a lot of mismanagement of the auto industry over...
Auto suppliers face difficult time as bankruptcies rise
The decline in auto sales is now threatening many industry suppliers around the world: • Today, the main Japanese car parts group has warned that "Toyota's production cuts will cause bankruptcies among suppliers if the government restricts aid to large...
US auto sales remain depressed
February brought no relief for the troubled US auto industry, so critical to chemical sales. Sales were down 41% versus 2008. Even more worryingly, sales over the past quarter, and last 6 months, averaged under 10 million/year. Chrysler's results also...
European auto sales slide continues
European auto sales fell 25% in January, according to JD Power. This equals an annualised rate of just 11m cars, the lowest since the early 1990's. 13.6m were sold in 2008. And although the forecaster hopes for some improvement later...
GM, Chrysler's US sales collapse
January's US auto sales figures gave no hope that demand is yet bottoming out. Volumes were down 41% versus 2008. As the chart shows, the main pain was felt by GM and Chrysler, who saw sales down 49% and 55%...
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