Resurgent GM nips at Toyota's heels in sales race

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By TOM KRISHER

FLINT, Mich. (AP) - General Motors has a shot at being No. 1 again.

The resurgent automaker reported Monday that its worldwide sales last year came within 30,000 of beating Japanese rival Toyota, which took a big hit because of safety recalls.

GM is hiring, producing more and basking in a better reputation for quality. It expects to sell even more cars and trucks this year, putting it within reach of the title of biggest in the world - an honor it held for 76 years before losing it in 2008.

Regaining the global lead means a lot to workers on the assembly line in Flint, a town devastated by years of auto industry job losses. Just two years ago, they didn't know if their factory or even their company would survive.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110124/D9KV0VJ00.html

[DavidDvorkin]

1. I suspect it won't be too long before the top automakers

will be Chinese and Indian.

Then old Toyota and GM execs can gather in the rec room of the Old Auto Execs Home and whine about the good old days.

[Kolesar]

2. The Indian Tata was a bust...eom

[Xithras]

3. Bust? By what measure?

They now own Land Rover and Jaguar, are the largest auto manufacturer in India (a nation 3 times the size of the U.S.) and either completely or partially own a number of commercial and industrial vehicle manufacturers around the world. Just last year, they bought a large automotive design and engineering company in Italy, for the single and publicly stated goal of designing cars that will better match the tastes of European and American car buyers.

For a company that only started to move seriously into the passenger car market a decade ago, I'd say that they're doing pretty well.

[Kolesar]

5. India's Nano car deadlock continues as talks fail

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSDEL34682020080913



Tata Motors (TAMO.BO) suspended work at the factory in West Bengal state earlier this month and threatened to look at alternative sites after farmers backed by the local opposition party blocked roads leading to the plant and threatened workers.

The Nano project in the eastern Indian state has been mired in a land row since the snub-nosed, $2,300 car was unveiled in a blaze of publicity in January.

Farmers unwilling to give up their lands had demanded 300 acres of farmland from the factory complex.

The government says it can return over 70 acres (28 hectares) and compensate by paying more money to farmers, but they have refused the offer.

"The government compensation package is not what was promised to us," said Mamata Banerjee, leader of Trinamool Congress, which is spearheading the protests. "We will announce our next step after a rally near the factory on Sept 16."

...
The stand-off threatens to undermine production capacity but is unlikely to delay the planned October launch of the Nano, billed as the world's cheapest car, as some units could come from existing Nano plants.

[Xithras]

6. That info is way out of date.

Tata had a conflict with some farmers in 2008 over their original construction site. The Bengal state offered them land that didn't belong to them, and that delayed production.

Tata pulled out of that location over the bad publicity, built the plant elsewhere, and has been selling the car since 2009.

[Kolesar]

8. Tata Nano Sales Drop To "Nano Levels"

| The Truth About Cars
Dec 2, 2010 ... Bloomberg reports that the world's cheapest car, the Tata Nano has seen its sales drop from the point where it had to hold a lottery to ...http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CC4QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetruthaboutcars.com%2F2010%2F12%2Ftata-nano-sales-drop-to-nano-levels%2F&ei=8zg-TbONEYH78Abvg_TFCg&usg=AFQjCNGmu2ol7wNnKn1o4ov-wESP729baw



India's Tata Nano Sales Drop to Lowest Level
Dec 8, 2010
http://blog.roadandtrack.com/india%E2%80%99s-tata-nano-sales-drop-to-lowest-level/
With a starting price of approximately $2,200, the Tata Nano was supposed to be the car that transformed Indian roads forever. But sales of the jellybean-shaped four-door have dropped precipitously, due in part to concerns over the car catching fire. According to sales data released by Tata Motors, November sales of the Nano dropped to only 509 units. This is down from a high point of roughly 9,000 sales in July this year. Sales of the Nano have now fallen in four consecutive months.

Tata Motors has chosen not to recall the Nano due to the spate of fires. The Mumbai-based automaker has said there are no inherent flaws in the car’s design, though the company recently offered a safety upgrade to current owners. This includes installing a heat shield for the catalytic converter, along with upgraded fuses for the electrical system. It remains to be seen whether the Nano’s sales woes at home will affect plans to sell a better equipped and slightly larger version of the car in Europe beginning as early as next year.

[Xithras]

9. Now that is interesting.

Wasn't aware of the fire and sales problem. Selling only 500 units in a month has to HURT.

I am still curious, though, why you seem to be connecting the health of the company to this particular model. Tata was the biggest car manufacturer in India long before they came up with the Nano, and they have a lot of other cars and trucks on the market that are selling reasonably well. The company itself is suffering through the same economic problems as every other car manufacturer on the planet, but they aren't in any danger of going under, and haven't backed away from their expansion plans.

[DavidDvorkin]

4. Tata Motors is far from a bust. Some info:

Tata Motors is India’s largest automobile company, with consolidated revenues of USD 20 billion in 2009-10. It is the leader in commercial vehicles and among the top three in passenger vehicles. Tata Motors has products in the compact, midsize car and utility vehicle segments. The company is the world's fourth largest truck manufacturer, the world's second largest bus manufacturer, and employs 24,000 workers. Since first rolled out in 1954, Tata Motors has produced and sold over 4 billion vehicles in India.

From a Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Motors

[Boojatta]

7. How resurgent can GM be if its mouth is so close to the ground ...

and Toyota is standing tall? Yes, I'm merely commenting on the imagery suggested by the headline.

[robcon]

10. Sales to dealers, yes. sales to consumers, no.

Dealer inventories have skyrocketed, as the sales to consumers haven't materialized for GM.

[pampango]

11. LA Times: GM's China sales top U.S. total, a first for the automaker

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-autos-gm-20110125,0,5849923.story

General Motors' sales in China increased nearly 29% in 2010 while U.S. sales rose just 6%. GM is one of the best-positioned automakers in emerging markets, even better than Toyota, says one expert.

GM sold more cars and trucks in China than it did in the U.S. last year, marking the first time that a foreign market has outpaced the automaker's domestic sales in its 102-year history.

GM has led all other global automakers in Chinese sales for six consecutive years. "GM took the big risk moving into China with Buick some years ago, but now its global footprint is actually better than even Toyota's," Magliano said. "Ford has made some good moves, but they are still trying to catch up in emerging markets."

Toyota Motor Corp., which narrowly beat out GM last year to hold its position as the world's largest auto seller, trails far behind its American rival in China, where the Japanese company sold 846,000 vehicles in 2010. Vehicle sales by Ford Motor Co. and its Chinese partners were 582,000 in 2010.


Visitors look at the Chevrolet Spark during its launch at an auto show in Guangzhou, China.
GM is the largest foreign automaker in China. (Qilai Shen, Bloomberg / January 25, 2011)