Dec. 17, 2010 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
· The Vehicle Advocate Program (VAP or overnight drive) schedule has been released for 2011. Wentzville is scheduled to have the vehicles from February 7 through March 7. The vehicles in this year’s fleet are: Buick Regal, Buick Lacrosse, Chevy Traverse, Chevy Cruze, GMC Acadia Denali and Cadillac CTS Coupe.
· The deadline for picking up either the thermometer or any suggestion drawing prize is Wednesday, Dec. 23. You can call 2308 to make an appointment or stop by suggestions to claim your prize.
· The Adopt-A-Child program is sponsoring 80 children this year. You can still donate to any community services committee member if you wish to help.
· The Civil Rights Committee is still selling chances for an HP laptop computer. The tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10 and available from any committee member. The drawing will be Wednesday, Dec. 22 at 1 pm in the cafeteria. Thanks for your support.
· Below are pictures of the GMC Sierra All-Terrain HD Concept that will debut at the International Auto Show in Detroit in January. It is believed to offer a good indication of the styling of the next-generation Sierra pickup.
Here are excerpts from a Wards Auto world article about Toyota’s future: The light at the end of a dark tunnel for Toyota Motor Corp. is not as bright today as Goldman Sachs Japan analysts found it last February. A recent 28-page study summing up the auto maker’s current plight is headlined “A sleeping giant – Toyota re-rating delayed; Nissan still top pick” and underscores the difficulties the company is having to recover lost ground and raise lower rankings. Their expectations for a return to better times for the auto maker any time soon have been dimmed.
For example, they foresee global automotive sales expanding at a much faster pace in the future than the 2.6% average annual growth rate of the past 20 years, estimating year-on-year gains of 9% to 69.2 million units in calendar 2010, 8% to 75 million in 2011 and 8% to 80.7 million in 2012. Yet Toyota’s global sales, down 15% year-on-year to 7.567 million units in the fiscal year ending March 2009 and off 4% to 7.237 million in fiscal 2010, are expected to be far behind the overall industry pace, rising only 3% to 7.451 million in the current fiscal year.
In the slowly shrinking home market, Toyota is expected to remain firmly in place as the sales leader, yet operating losses in Japan in fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010 are expected to continue, with the company’s operating margin estimated at -5% from now through fiscal 2013.
Europe is another black hole for Toyota. Sales sank from 1.284 million units in fiscal 2008 to 858,000 in fiscal 2010 ended last March and are predicted to bottom out at 723,000 in fiscal 2012 before edging up to 741,000 the following year. Toyota’s operating profits in this area ceased in fiscal 2008, replaced by operating losses in the next two years, and Goldman Sachs analysts estimate continued red ink this year through fiscal 2013.
Sales in North America, mainly the U.S., were 2.098 million units in fiscal 2010, 30% (860,000 units) below those two years before, but the analysts foresee a rise from this bottom to 2.544 million vehicles by fiscal 2013. “One of the most serious issues for Toyota at present is the mismatch between the production and sales mix, with its North American production ratio at only 50% versus 90% for Honda (Motor Co. Ltd.) and 80% for Nissan (Motor Co. Ltd.),” the report says. The authors add that “the strong yen eroded margins on models imported from Japan, and stepped up sales incentives offered since the recalls have also dented sales’ profits.” Highlighted areas of concern include:
· Operating profit sensitivity to a one yen movement against the U.S. dollar is estimated at ¥30 billion ($375 million) for Toyota, ¥15 billion ($187.5 million) for Honda and ¥14 billion ($175 million) for Nissan.
· Toyota’s under-performance in profit margin stems from weak sales volume rather than foreign exchange or costs.
· Sales mix/incentives are a key factor in the difference between Toyota and Honda profits. Likely explanations include an increase in incentives prompted by the North American recalls, deterioration in the regional and product mix due to weak sales in the high-margin North American market, and sluggish Lexus sales.
· Toyota is pursuing a variety of cost-cutting measures to maintain domestic production (about 3.2 million units) and turn a profit at an exchange rate of ¥80/$1 but seems to be still affected by recalls as sales continue to slump, especially in North America.
· Operating profits in the current fiscal year from financing will be ¥290 billion ($3.62 billion), twice those from automotive and other company business and two-thirds of Toyota’s global total, a dramatic shift from 3% of that total in fiscal 2008.
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