Autoblog

If you're a regular reader here on Autoblog, it should come as no surprise that Spyker is in deep financial trouble. The exotic Dutch carmaker was forced to sell off its F1 team, cancel the production of the C12 Zagato supercar and even mortgage its own name.

Never content to go quietly into the night, however, Spyker is on a campaign to raise funds. The latest endeavor has been to court European investors, but negotiations with Lichtenstein-based ACI recently fell through after an initial agreement was signed.

According to reports, Spyker is now in negotiations with Snoras Group, a Lithuanian bank, to fund and potentially acquire stake in the Dutch automaker. Spyker says it has a few other possibilities on tap, and hopefully one of them will come through to rescue the company and its beautifully quirky automobiles.

[Source: Motor Authority]

No one knows yet what Cerberus is going to do with Chrysler. However, the possibilities probably include quite a few things that wouldn't be normally expected in the car business -- such as GMAC and Chrysler Financial working closely together.

Cerberus hasn't made any mention of such, yet -- that comes from GM CEO Rick Wagoner in his first public comments since Cerberus was announced as the winning Chrysler bidder. Cerberus bought 51% of GMAC last year, and now runs Chrysler Financial. Wagoner's comments, however, were very open and non-committal -- specifically, he said "I think it's possible you could see opportunities for Cerberus-owned Chrysler Financial and Cerberus-owned GMAC to seek out opportunities to work together." GM isn't looking for such a tie-up, it is simply open to "potential synergies" should such cooperation be shown to be in everyone's interests. He did appear sure that such a proposal -- for working together -- would be coming in time. If Cerberus did combine the two, it would rule the auto loan market, taking the number one spot from Ford Motor Credit.

[Source: Automotive News, sub req'd]

General Motors reported its delayed fourth quarter earnings today and, lo and behold, managed to earn a net income of $950 million in the waning months of 2006. Compare that with last year's Q4 loss of $6.6 billion, and today's news is all the more incredible.

Again, those tricky one-time items skewed the results somewhat, since $770 million was earned in Q4 for the sale of GMAC, the automaker's financing unit. Still, without the one-time bump, GM managed to earn $180 million.

Cost cutting played a major role in GM's positive Q4 performance, as its vehicle lineup, at least in the U.S., is still a transitional mix of "old" and "new" GM product. Many highly anticipated new vehicles, like the Chevy Maliby, Camaro, and Cadillac CTS, have yet to go on sale. We expect the automaker's revenue from retail sales in the U.S. to keep climbing once the majority of its product portfolio has been turned over. GM also did well outside of the U.S., posting $228 million in earnings abroad compared with a $1.2 billion loss last year.

It seems clear, at least to us, that even if the GM turnaround hasn't officially turned the corner, it's got its blinker on and is just waiting for the light to turn green.

[Source: Automotive News]

The ups and downs of the rumored Chrysler sale are a better soap opera than NASCAR.

Now, Magna International, one of the reported suitors, has confirmed that the supplier is interested in exploring the purchase of the Chrysler group and has recently met with officials at the automaker. The main reason for the small fish eating the big fish would be mutual preservation. By propping up Chrysler, Magna keeps one of their large customers humming, and the continuation of contracts will keep Magna employees busy.

Other companies are exploring the option of acquiring Chrysler, as well. Private capital firms the Blackstone Group and Cerberus Capital Management have paid visits to Auburn Hills recently, and General Motors has reportedly been examining the possibility of a lash-up, as well. We hope that GM has decided not to move forward, as there are seemingly more overlaps than synergies between the two automakers, and we worry for the future of jobs, platforms, plants and workers should the very strange marriage between two of the Big Three goes forward.

[Source: Detroit News]

The "merger" at DaimlerChrysler never really came off as a good idea. We put "merger" in quotation marks because no one ever really bought it as a marriage of equals, but saw it for what it always was: Daimler-Benz taking over Chrysler. Whatever way you spin it, though, it was never a match made in heaven. Lagging sales from Chrysler Group brands are a drain on the parent company's bottom line, and the US lost one of its Big 3 independent domestic carmakers.

Now the company's biggest stockholders are asking that the American half be spun-off as a separate company. Why not sell it off? Apparently, according leading investment experts at least, Chrysler wouldn't find a buyer. In fact, they say, with billions in unfunded pensions and other workers' benefits, DaimlerChyrsler would have to pay someone to take it. Ouch.

The bottom line is that none of the DaimlerChrysler brands have much expertise in the growing small-car market. Nissan/Renault does, though, and after failed talks with GM and Ford, some financial experts have suggested that DCX should ink the deal. That'd make for one very large auto conglomerate, based in the US, Japan, France and Germany. Think they might need a shorter name, though.

[Source: Reuters via Motor Authority]

Most of the numbers for the month of June are in, and as you can see the red arrows outnumber the green ones yet again. Eighteen out of the 39 automakers below are reporting a rise in June sales over the same period last year. The 25.9% drop in sales by General Motors has attracted the most attention so far, but the General's performance, along with FoMoCo falling 6.9% and the Chrysler Group dropping 15%, can largely be attributed to the successful summer sales drive of 2005 that artificially inflated sales during that period. We should expect all three domestic producers to show a drop in sales throughout the summer because of this anomaly.

Toyota, meanwhile, keeps on chugging with a 14.41% increase in sales last month compared to the year prior. Honda was also up, but only negligibly, and Nissan has yet to report.

Mad props go to Suzuki for picking up the pace with a 28% rise in sales last month. Credit for the big jump goes to the new Grand Vitara, the sales of which jumped 606% since last year to 2,514 units thanks to the all-new model. At the other end of the spectrum, Saab sales have been reduced to a trickle, falling 50.2% to just 3,295 units during the month of June. Another note of interest, all of the Germans saw a rise in sales, with Mercedes-Benz gaining the most ground on itself by posting a 14% rise in sales.

Big Winner:
Suzuki28%

Big Loser:
Saab50.2%

BRANDS
Acura-19.4% at 15,107 (June 2005: 18,744)
Audi11.3% at 8,039 (June 2005: 7,209)
BMW3.4% at 24,179 (June 2005: 23,392)
Buick-36.6% at 23,738 (June 2005: 37,446)
Cadillac-21% at 23,265 (June 2005: 29,444)
Chevrolet-25.5% at 243,353 (June 2005: 326,632)
Chrysler-21% at 51,986 (June 2005: 65,594)
Dodge-11% at 96,485 (June 2005: 107,997)
Ford-7.2% at 226,250 (June 2005: 243,678)
GMC-46.5% at 47,604 (June 2005: 88,971)
Honda3.4% at 111,342 (June 2005: 107,672)
HUMMER-16.2% at 5,661 (June 2005: 6,754)
Hyundai4.3% at 44,508 (June 2005: 43,051)
Infiniti20% at 9,300 (June 2005: 11,623)
Isuzu-8.4% at 1,652 (June 2005: 1,803)
Jaguar-25.2% at 2,160 (June 2005: 2,888)
Jeep-19% at 37,475 (June 2005: 46,441)
Kia1.3% at 27,443 (June 2005: 27,095)
Land Rover12.7% at 3,847 (June 2005: 3,414)
Lexus6.3% at 27,686 (June 2005: 26,043)
Lincoln-11.1% at 9,610 (June 2005: 10,808)
Mazda8% at 23,727 (June 2005: 22,063)
Mercedes-Benz14% at 20,802 (June 2005: ~18,247)
Mercury1.7% at 16,670 (June 2005: 16,395)
MINI-1.4%  at 3,556 (June 2005: 3,607)
Mitsubishi-.04% at 10,004 (June 2005: 10,621)
Nissan18.9% at 65,854 (June 2005: 81,158)
Pontiac12.1 at 41,115 (June 2005: 36,665)
Porsche10.4% at 3,058 (June 2005: 2,770)
Saab-50.2% at 3,295 (June 2005: 6,614)
Saturn.70% at 23,790 (June 2005: 23,618)
Subaru3% at 18,476 (June 2005: 17,946)
Suzuki28% at 9,516 (June 2005: 7,449)
Toyota15.71% at 195,332 (June 2005: 168,832)
Volkswagen5.5% at 20,121 (June 2005: 19,071)
Volvo-11.4% at 10,867 (June 2005: 12,266)

COMPANIES
Chrysler Group-15% at 185,946 (June 2005: 220,032)
Ford Motor Co -6.9% at 269,404 (June 2005: 289,449)
General Motors-25.9% at 413,473 (June 2005: 558,092)
Honda America 0% at 126,449 (June 2005: 126,416)
Toyota Motor Co.14.41% at 223,018 (June 2005: 194,875)


UPDATE - Added Nissan, Infiniti, Porsche, Kia and corrected error in Audi's numbers.
UPDATE 2 - Finally found Hyundai's Junes sales and reorganized listing for simplification.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has posted its sales, unit production, and exports across various markets for the month of May. Worldwide production went up 4.2 percent compared to May 2005, buttressed by the European and North American (NA) segments. The latter, especially, experienced strong growth due to continued sales of the Eclipse coupe and the Eclipse Spyder convertible. Exports to NA rose 65.8 percent compared to last year. It was the European segment, though, with a 246-percent rise in sales compared to 2005, that probably brought a smile to the troubled automaker.

Press release after the jump.

Confirming rumors that we reported first late last month, General Motors and Suzuki will not be working together to sell cars in Japan anymore, nor will the two automakers follow through with the partnership undertaken in 2001 on development of some new vehicles. A Suzuki spokesperson says that the move stems from a meeting between GM chief Richard Wagoner and Suzuki chairman Osamu Suzuki. The two companies are scaling back their relationship in response to the reduction of GM's stake in Suzuki from 20 percent to three percent. As a result, Suzuki will discontinue the sale of two GM models, one of them being the Chevy TrailBlazer, and the two companies won't be working on the next Chevrolet Cruze compact car (pictured).

[Source: The Daily Yomiuri]