Did you ever stop and think about how “dumb” our electricity grid is? We pay the same rate for a kilowatt hour of electricity at noon as at 3 a.m., when demand is much lower and the utilities are creating power that no one can use. And it’s not interconnected, so a wind farm in, say, South Dakota, can’t send its considerable electricity generation to population centers like New York. As...
Auto Industry Archive
May 2009
As bad as things are for Chrysler, which just declared bankruptcy, and for General Motors, which is also on the brink, it’s worth repeating that U.S. sales are nearly as bad for Toyota, Honda and Nissan, too. That says buyers are sitting on their wallets regardless, despite deep discounts. Incentive programs from Ford, GM and Hyundai will even pick up your car payments if you lose your...
The concept of vertical integration is at work here: Richard Ull, founder and CEO of a new car-sharing service called Mint that announced an expansion today, also owns a chain of parking garages. That gives him a leg-up against the competition (read: Zipcar, which merged with arch-rival Flexcar 18 months ago) because finding a place to put share cars is one of the big expenses in this rapidly...
The Big Three took two big hits in recent days: General Motors said that it’s restructuring will include the elimination of its venerable Pontiac brand (in addition to already chopped Saturn), and Chrysler declared bankruptcy. Now, GM says it will honor all existing warranties on its orphan vehicles, and Chrysler is trying to create an aura of normalcy—this is an orderly bankruptcy, with a...
Largely lost in the noise surrounding Chrysler filing for bankruptcy on April 30 is the fact that both Chrysler and General Motors are curtailing production, a move that would make a very loud splash in normal times. At the same time Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors, Chrysler announced it will temporarily stop all manufacturing operations effective May 4. The company...
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Industry Transcripts by Seeking Alpha
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Everyone has their eyes on the automotive industry lately. BNET Automotive gathers and supplies daily industry trends and news coverage with specific insights for managers and executives, focusing on the major auto companies and parts manufacturers. In addition to detailed auto company trends and profiles, we report on new alliances and partnerships, new models, mergers and acquisitions, labor management, auto unions, investments, and other key issues related to this sector of business.