| Jack of all trades a master in any era Any discussion of Australia's greatest sportstars will inevitably include Don Bradman and Dawn Fraser. But Jack Brabham's name is another that must be included. foxsports.com.au |
GM's Lutz Says Task Force Should Be Permanent; Expresses Doubt About Fiat-Opel Deal. GM’s vice chairman Bob Lutz said Thursday that he hopes that the White House auto industry task force becomes a permanent entity in some form. “It’s the first time in a long time that the industry has had the ear of the administration.”Lutz noted that China has an auto industry ministry and that Europeean countries, Korea and Japan have industrial ministries with auto industry sections. The vice chairman, who is retiring this year, said “it’s not as if we can go to NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Admninistration) or EPA with issues and problems…those are regulatory agencies.”“That has left the industry to go from pillar to post trying to get Congresspeople and Senators who have auto plants in their states to listen to us. Lawmakers who do not have auto industry assets in their states are not much interested in the issues of the auto industry.”Lutz also said he would not assume that Italian automaker Fiat is the odds on favorite to strike an alliance with GM on its European Opel division. Though Fiat has been talking to the German government and GM about conditions for Fiat’s investment in GM, many analysts have wondered how such a deal would work because Fiat will be running Chrysler, and GM and Chrysler remain rivals.Lutz said that a deal for Opel would not be a sale no matter what, but rather a deeply integrated product development alliance with a partner holding equity in Opel. “That would be very complicated to do with Fiat,” said Lutz. rss.businessweek.com |
Keselowski holds off Busch, wins Nationwide Series race in Iowa Brad Keselowski passed Kyle Busch with eight laps left and held on to win the inaugural Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway. rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
GM's LaNeve heads to the insurance biz This is a bit of inside baseball. In Detroit circles, when a sales boss leaves a company, it’s big news. To the average reader, not so much. But the departure of General Motors sales vice president Mark LaNeve does have some interesting facets to it. Sources close to LaNeve say that he is headed to Allstate Insurance to become chief marketing officer. LaNeve spearheaded Cadillac's resurgence with some pretty good marketing a few years ago. But I always saw his strengths being more on the sales side than marketing. This move should work for him. A big piece of marketing for insurance companies is managing the network of agents. Since LaNeve was well-liked by GM’s dealers, he will be a natural at that part of the job. LaNeve did not respond to emails and GM won’t comment on his next job. All State did not immediately respond to phone calls. What’s more interesting is why LaNeve left. One obvious reason is that when GM emerged from bankruptcy and reorganized management, LaNeve lost control of marketing. He essentially had some stripes ripped from his sleeve. Vice Chairman Bob Lutz took over marketing. That made LaNeve the top sales executive, and only the top sales executive. At GM, that’s a real pressure cooker. New Chairman Ed Whitacre wants to see market share top 20% next year. That doesn’t seem such a stretch since GM is at 19.5% right now. But consider that Hummer, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn are being sold or wound down. That means GM will lose some chunk of the 3 percent of the market that those brands command. Strip away even half of it and GM needs to grow by two points—or 200,000 vehicles in today’s car market—just to get there. If they don’t, the sales boss takes the fall. LaNeve may have figured that he had a target on his back, especially since it will take some time for the acrid stench of bankruptcy and government ownership to waft away from GM. Until GM finds a way to change the conversation about the company, its brands will be under that cloud. Enter Susan Docherty. She’s the former Buick general manager who gets LaNeve’s old job. Docherty is ambitious, tough, bright and enthusiastic. But the job will be a very tough one. GM has some good products like the new GMC Terrain and Chevy Equinox crossovers suvs, the Chevy Camaro and Cadillac SRX suv and CTS wagon and coupe. But to boost the sales numbers, Docherty will have to find a way to lure consumers into showrooms. And since Whitacre wants it done profitably, she must do it without incentives. The good news is that GM’s new models are selling at better prices. So it can be done. But are there enough new models to get over 20%? That’s tough to see at the moment. Perhaps LaNeve couldn’t see that, either. rss.businessweek.com |
Fisker to convert a GM plant in Delaware to build plug-in hybrid cars Out with the old, in with the new. California electric-car startup Fisker Automotive will announce plans tomorrow to turn an old General Motors plant in Wilmington (Dell.) into a hybrid electric-car plant, says a source with knowledge of the announcement. Fisker plans to use the 52-year-old factory to build its $48,000 Project Nina plug-in hybrid starting in 2012. Readers will recall that I have been pretty skeptical about electric cars and high-mileage plug-in hybrids. It’s not that the technology isn’t great. It is. But the economics still don’t work so well. Fisker wants to use the plant, which until recently assembled the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice roadsters, to build a mid-sized plug-in hybrid. With a $528 million credit line coming from the Department of Energy, Fisker should have the cash to get the project off the ground. My question is about sales. Even after getting a $7,500 tax credit, a Nina buyer (that won’t actually be the car’s name, it’s a code name right now) will cost $40,000. That’s at least a $12,000 premium over a mid-sized family car. A 26-mpg Chevrolet Malibu costs $1,500 a year to gas up at today’s fuel prices. If Fisker’s car gets over 100 mpg, it would save about $1,200 a year at the pump. That means the owner needs to drive it for a decade to get the savings back. That’s one hurdle for CEO Henrik Fisker’s and his mission to sell 100,000 copies of Project Nina a year. He does want to sell half the volume overseas, where the business case is better. But it’s still going to be tough for these expensive fuel savers to hit big sales numbers. Mr. Fisker does make another case for his cause. Nina and his company’s first car, the $88,000 Karma sports car, will both be upscale. The Karma will actually be a luxury sports car. So there’s more to it than just selling fuel economy, he says. And he makes a good point. Fisker thinks his selling point will be a green alternative for luxury buyers. Prius owners have high incomes and can afford much more than their $25,000 hybrid. So there may be some willing buyers. There will also be a lot of competition selling expensive greenery. Tesla Motors makes the same pitch as Fisker. GM will have the Chevy Volt, Toyota will be selling plug-in Priuses priced around $50,000 and Nissan also has an electric car coming. Ford will have some high-tech alternatives coming. Fisker will fine some buyers, no doubt. But will the company find enough to make its bold plan work? I’m still skeptical. rss.businessweek.com |