The production halt will only last for a week at Ford’s Kansas City, Missouri plant, although it will idle three other plants for a period of several weeks. Buick not only posted a retail sales increase of 7{c0ab263b3175d981033b17d6eec654a369e659a5af23b80a9510e95dedf16ccb} last month, its best October since 2003, but it was also the first American auto brand to crack the top three in Consumer Reports’ Car Reliability Survey rankings since the survey began in the early 1980s.
That’s because in 2018 Beijing plans to introduce a carbon trading scheme, similar to California’s, that will force automakers with sales topping 50,000 to produce EVs locally. On the other side of the scenario is the fast-rising Japanese automaker – the Toyota Motor Corp. Let’s take a look at the current automotive climate and what the three automakers must do to win federal bailout approval. In December 2008, it received a $6 billion bailout from the Federal government. It is inevitable that the new players will induce more severe competitions in the US market.
President Bush and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson then agreed to a $23.4 billion bailout using TARP funds. Toyota, along with its Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor units, sold 10.15 million vehicles in 2015 and was the only automaker to eclipse the 10 million threshold.
Thanks to GM’s success with retail sales during a month when most of its competitors struggled mightily, its retail market share jumped 160 basis points to 18.1{c0ab263b3175d981033b17d6eec654a369e659a5af23b80a9510e95dedf16ccb}, the largest of any competitor. Over 20 years, American automakers focused on producing inefficient SUVs and pickup trucks. The responsibility for building cars that pollute less rests with the automakers. The president-elect also said he would build a wall with Mexico and renegotiate the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), which includes Mexico.
While we don’t intend to assign blame of the breakup for the joint venture, and while it remains to be seen whether the dissolution of the partnership is a good long-term move for Fiat and Tata, the example does provide an important illustration about why automakers need to have strong alliances with their dealer networks.