From the Pigs are Flying Department:
Mitsubishi Posts First Profit in 4 Years
If you think GM and Ford are basket cases, they're not in nearly as bad shape as Mitsubishi (US) was a year ago. Old products, scandals, giving cars to people who never intended to pay for them, poor quality ratings, lousy resale values: name the problem, Mitsubishi was probably the poster child.
Mitsubishi had one thing going for it: a deep-pocketed keiretsu partner, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, that is even more adverse to admitting failure than George W. Bush. According to Autoblog, Mitsubishi announced its first quarterly profit in four years. The profit is attributed to a weak yen and a 4% sales gain. I've seen the commercials for the new Lancer. The commercials make it look like a fun-to-drive car. I can't remember any commercials for the Chevy Cobalt.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Ford Sharply Reduces Quarterly Loss
Results Better than Expected
Ford lost $1.4 billion in the first quarter last year. This year, the company only lost $282 million. Ford Europe was profitable. Ditto Ford Latin America. Ditto Premier Automotive Group. Ford Motor Credit made money, and so did Mazda. Where were the losses? Ford North America. Source: Autoblog.com
Results Better than Expected
Ford lost $1.4 billion in the first quarter last year. This year, the company only lost $282 million. Ford Europe was profitable. Ditto Ford Latin America. Ditto Premier Automotive Group. Ford Motor Credit made money, and so did Mazda. Where were the losses? Ford North America. Source: Autoblog.com
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Unsubstantiated Automotive Rumor of the Day:
New Car from Chinese Maker Roewe
I'm still waiting for confirmation, but a trusted source has told me that upscale Chinese car maker Roewe is going to license-build a deluxe version of the Nissan Versa for export. The car will feature brushed leather on most of its interior surfaces including the seats, dash, headliner and door panels. The car is tentatively called the Roewe Versa Suede.
Updated 4/26/2007 from Post 4/1/2007
New Car from Chinese Maker Roewe
I'm still waiting for confirmation, but a trusted source has told me that upscale Chinese car maker Roewe is going to license-build a deluxe version of the Nissan Versa for export. The car will feature brushed leather on most of its interior surfaces including the seats, dash, headliner and door panels. The car is tentatively called the Roewe Versa Suede.
Updated 4/26/2007 from Post 4/1/2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Hof's Blog Update: GM's Oldest pensioner dies at age 111
In June 2005, I commented on an article about Ernest Pusey, then age 109, who had been retired from GM for 47 years. Mr. Pusey, a World War I vet and the sixth oldest man in the world, died in November 2006 at age 111.
In June 2005, I commented on an article about Ernest Pusey, then age 109, who had been retired from GM for 47 years. Mr. Pusey, a World War I vet and the sixth oldest man in the world, died in November 2006 at age 111.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Fiat Net Income Doubles
GM: "Doh!"
It wasn't long ago that General Motors paid $2 Billion for the privilege of not buying the portion of Fiat that GM didn't already own. Since then, Fiat's been going strong, and today it announced that it doubled last year's income for the quarter. What can you say?
GM: "Doh!"
It wasn't long ago that General Motors paid $2 Billion for the privilege of not buying the portion of Fiat that GM didn't already own. Since then, Fiat's been going strong, and today it announced that it doubled last year's income for the quarter. What can you say?
The Googleteer and Harry Reid
I was sitting around the cracker barrel, jaw-jacking with the Googleteer, the Baron of Boolean himself, and we were talking about Nevada Senator Harry Reid. Until recently, I didn't Reid very highly. My only significant exposure to him was during the hearings during controversy surrounding government secrecy at the Groom Lake Air Force base, including the government's attempt to obfuscate the circumstances surrounding, and deny responsibility for, the deaths and injuries of numerous contract employees at the base. In that campaign, Reid came off like a waffle on a stick.
Recently, though, Reid has been a Senate leader in opposing the war. He publicly called the war unwinnable, and he says George W. Bush is in denial. With much machismo, I commented to the Googleteer that Reid "finally grew a pair." Momentarily puzzled, the Googleteer quickly recovered, pulled his golden keyboard from his utility belt and dashed off this search.
"Harry Reid" "grew a pair"
Result: 62 hits.
Bottom line: you can expect to hear more from Senator Reid in the near future, and he'll probably speak with a much deeper voice.
I was sitting around the cracker barrel, jaw-jacking with the Googleteer, the Baron of Boolean himself, and we were talking about Nevada Senator Harry Reid. Until recently, I didn't Reid very highly. My only significant exposure to him was during the hearings during controversy surrounding government secrecy at the Groom Lake Air Force base, including the government's attempt to obfuscate the circumstances surrounding, and deny responsibility for, the deaths and injuries of numerous contract employees at the base. In that campaign, Reid came off like a waffle on a stick.
Recently, though, Reid has been a Senate leader in opposing the war. He publicly called the war unwinnable, and he says George W. Bush is in denial. With much machismo, I commented to the Googleteer that Reid "finally grew a pair." Momentarily puzzled, the Googleteer quickly recovered, pulled his golden keyboard from his utility belt and dashed off this search.
"Harry Reid" "grew a pair"
Result: 62 hits.
Bottom line: you can expect to hear more from Senator Reid in the near future, and he'll probably speak with a much deeper voice.
149 MPH in a 4-Cylinder Altima
Just how overpowered are modern cars? This video shows a 2007 Nissan Altima 2.5S hitting 240 KM/HR. That's 149 miles per hour. The 2.5S is the "small" engine in the U.S. market. There is also a 3.5 liter V-6. Where can you go 149 mph? Saudi Arabia, apparently. The next time you draw an Altima at Enterprise Rent-a-car, you might want to try it for yourself to see if this video is legit. Maybe not.
Just how overpowered are modern cars? This video shows a 2007 Nissan Altima 2.5S hitting 240 KM/HR. That's 149 miles per hour. The 2.5S is the "small" engine in the U.S. market. There is also a 3.5 liter V-6. Where can you go 149 mph? Saudi Arabia, apparently. The next time you draw an Altima at Enterprise Rent-a-car, you might want to try it for yourself to see if this video is legit. Maybe not.
Friday, April 20, 2007
The Googleteer(tm) on Greg Oden
The Googleteer(tm), the Sultan of Search himself, flew in the window today upon the mention of the name of Greg Oden, the Ohio State basketball player.
Mr. Oden officially announced that he was declaring his eligibility for the NBA draft. Because I'm based in Indianapolis, Greg's home town, I was shocked by his appearance during the NCAA Final Four. Even though Greg's only 19 years old, he didn't look like the gangly high school kid that I was used to seeing. He looked like a grizzled NBA vet. So, I wondered, exactly how old is it that Greg Oden looks?
The Googleteer(tm), sensing a question that needed to be answered, vaulted through my portal and put his search skills to use.
Greg-Oden "looks older" 157 hits
Greg-Oden "looks much older" 10 hits
Greg-Oden "looks 30" 26 hits
Greg-Oden "looks 35" 39 hits
Greg-Oden "looks 40" 49 hits
Greg-Oden "looks 45" 7 hits
Greg-Oden "looks 50" 3 hits
Greg-Oden (looks /3 older) 249,300 hits (This is a proximity search designed to return all pages that have "Greg Oden" within 3 words of the word "older".)
It looks like we have a bell curve, skewed somewhat to the older side of 35. Since the median is somewhere betwwen 35 and 40, and the mode is 40, it appears that there is a rough consensus that Greg Oden looks like he's between 35 and 40 years old. My advice to you Greg, when the birthday fairy comes along to tap you with her magic wand and make you look a year older - RUN! She beat the s--t out off you last year.
The Googleteer(tm), the Sultan of Search himself, flew in the window today upon the mention of the name of Greg Oden, the Ohio State basketball player.
Mr. Oden officially announced that he was declaring his eligibility for the NBA draft. Because I'm based in Indianapolis, Greg's home town, I was shocked by his appearance during the NCAA Final Four. Even though Greg's only 19 years old, he didn't look like the gangly high school kid that I was used to seeing. He looked like a grizzled NBA vet. So, I wondered, exactly how old is it that Greg Oden looks?
The Googleteer(tm), sensing a question that needed to be answered, vaulted through my portal and put his search skills to use.
Greg-Oden "looks older" 157 hits
Greg-Oden "looks much older" 10 hits
Greg-Oden "looks 30" 26 hits
Greg-Oden "looks 35" 39 hits
Greg-Oden "looks 40" 49 hits
Greg-Oden "looks 45" 7 hits
Greg-Oden "looks 50" 3 hits
Greg-Oden (looks /3 older) 249,300 hits (This is a proximity search designed to return all pages that have "Greg Oden" within 3 words of the word "older".)
It looks like we have a bell curve, skewed somewhat to the older side of 35. Since the median is somewhere betwwen 35 and 40, and the mode is 40, it appears that there is a rough consensus that Greg Oden looks like he's between 35 and 40 years old. My advice to you Greg, when the birthday fairy comes along to tap you with her magic wand and make you look a year older - RUN! She beat the s--t out off you last year.
FHA Reform Planned to Ease Subprime Mortgage Mess
Brian Montgomery, the Chief of the Federal Housing Administration, announced that the agency would be reforming its programs to provide alternatives to abusive sub-prime mortgages for folks with damaged credit. According to the Reuters article linked, FHA mortgage originations declined from 9.1% of all mortgages in 1996 to 1.8% in 2006. I guessed that the FHA share went down, but I never dreamed it went down by that much. And people say GM is losing market share! This FHA action is welcome, but it's way late. A good portion of the subprime mortgage mess could have been avoided if the FHA would have acted sooner.
Brian Montgomery, the Chief of the Federal Housing Administration, announced that the agency would be reforming its programs to provide alternatives to abusive sub-prime mortgages for folks with damaged credit. According to the Reuters article linked, FHA mortgage originations declined from 9.1% of all mortgages in 1996 to 1.8% in 2006. I guessed that the FHA share went down, but I never dreamed it went down by that much. And people say GM is losing market share! This FHA action is welcome, but it's way late. A good portion of the subprime mortgage mess could have been avoided if the FHA would have acted sooner.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
