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"This announcement represents more progress with our Way Forward plan," said Mark Fields, Ford's president of The Americas.

But GM said it has always reported sales from its stake in the SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. and that its figures are accurate.

"The successful approach Ford is taking with our component operations -- including selling or idling our ACH facilities -- will help us achieve our commitment to reduce overall operating costs by $5 billion by the end of 2008." Other ACH businesses in negotiations for final agreement and sale include glass, fascias and fuel tanks, climate control systems, propshafts, and power transfer units (PTU).

The ACH fuel rail business and its El Jarudo subsidiary were sold at the end of the first quarter.

"The response from the marketplace has been better than expected," said Al Ver, ACH CEO and COO and Ford Motor Company vice president.

"We believe that is due, in large measure, to the significant improvement in the quality, on- time delivery and cost-effectiveness of our operations during the past year and a half." Automotive Components Holdings is a temporary company managed by Ford, which was established in October 2005 with former Visteon component operations.

ACH's mission is to ensure the flow of quality components and systems while preparing the ACH automotive component operations for sale or idling.

Today, the $4 billion company and its 12 plants are supported by about 12,000 full-time employees, mostly leased from Visteon or Ford. "Acquiring the Sandusky, Ohio facility is a logical extension of our engineering and manufacturing expertise in lighting," said Richard Newsted, Meridian's president and CEO. "We are excited about the opportunity to improve the long-term competitive position of this operation and expand our strengths and capabilities in lighting technology." The sale is contingent upon reaching a new and competitive agreement with the United Auto Workers.

Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles in 200 markets across six continents.

With about 260,000 employees and about 100 plants worldwide, the company's core and affiliated automotive brands include Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo and Mazda.

The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company.

Geographically, over the past twelve months, California, Canada, the Scandinavian States and the European Union have all experienced a very busy year with important interaction between industry and government.

Numbers of stations are up, in line with expectations, and the number of new projects on the board with at least provisional backing, indicates that the next year will be even busier.

For the full length version of the the 2000 Automotive Infrastructure Survey please click on the link below.

information from ; IndustryInformation 4. The UK Market for Automotive Services Was Worth an Estimated Â16.38bn in 2006 — a 5% Increase on 2005 and 27% Higher Than the Figure for 2002 Research and Markets has announced the addition of “Automotive Services Market Report 2007” to their offering.

The UK market for automotive services was worth an estimated Â16.38bn in 2006 — a 5% increase on 2005 and 27% higher than the figure for 2002. Expenditure on automotive services continues to benefit from strong sales of new and used cars and a steady increase in the number of cars on UK roads.

As defined by this report, the term `automotive services' covers car servicing and mechanical repairs, car body repairs, and car breakdown and recovery services.

The largest of these sectors is car servicing and mechanical repairs, which is served by a range of organisations, including franchised car dealers, independent garages, garage chains, autocentres, fast-fit centres and mobile service units.

The second-largest sector is car body repairs.

This sector has been affected by declining prices for both new and used cars and the limits that insurance companies have placed on the sums they are willing to spend on bodywork repairs.

Car breakdown and recovery services is the smallest sector of the market.

This is a mature market, but it remains an essential service for millions of motorists and the leading suppliers are extending the range of services they offer in order to increase their revenues.

At present, MOT tests need to be undertaken when cars are 3 years old and annually thereafter.

Failure rates for vehicles taking MOT tests are fairly high, and the industry is concerned that the Government is now considering delaying the requirement for an MOT test until a car is 4 years old and then making the test compulsory every 2 years thereafter.

Around two-thirds of the UK's 18,300 MOT test stations are independent garages, which rely on the annual tests for around 40% of their income, and if the proposal to delay the test is accepted, it could cost these garages a substantial amount of income.

The market for car servicing and repairs is influenced by a range of external factors, including the Block Exemption Regulation (BER), technical developments such as computerisation, and commercial developments in the upstream market, such as the reduction in new car prices.

The changing ownership of companies is an ongoing feature of the market — especially in the car dealership sector.

As a result of these influences, the structure of the automotive-services sector is changing over time. Expenditure on automotive services is forecast to show steady growth over the period to 2011, although the expected decline in the number of new car registrations in 2007 is likely to affect the rate of increase somewhat.

Thereafter, between 2008 and 2011, continued growth in the UK car `parc' and the trend for fewer motorists to undertake basic car maintenance (a factor that increases demand for car breakdown and recovery services) should combine to produce a steady increase in the value of the market.

Labels: Automotive Posted by Raden Ezo on 6/14/2007 12:41:00 AM 0 comments   Sales and Distribution Networks Are the Automotive Industry’s Last Pot of Gold, According to IBM / Roland Berger Study A joint study by IBM Global Business Services (NYSE: IBM) and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants reveals that automotive companies that restructure their car distribution networks can realize sales growth of as much as 12 percent and cost savings of 11 percent.

Entitled "Automotive Sales Champions," the study is based on interviews with automobile manufacturers (OEMs) and dealers, which represent more than 80 percent of the automotive market in Western Europe, in addition to analysts and financial service providers.

The study concludes that the only remaining potential for the industry’s profitability improvement is in its car sales and distribution network.

Today about 25 to 30 percent of a car’s retail price are spent for sales, marketing and distribution because of their duplicated efforts and complicated networks.

By building better organized sales and distribution systems, including dealer networks, and with greater cost transparency, the auto industry will be able to achieve the double-digit sales growth and cost savings it has long aimed for. "Automobile manufacturers in Europe have taken efficiency potentials in development, production and cooperation almost to their limits," says Ralf Landmann, an Automotive Competence Center partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.

"In the future, OEMs will concentrate on sales and distribution networks because this is where there is an opportunity for significant performance improvements." The main weaknesses that currently beset sales are: lack of process integration and too little comparative cost analysis (benchmarking) lack of sustainability and monitoring of the efficacy and success of sales initiatives marked silo mentality lack of management qualities among dealers lack of communication along the entire chain of sales activities.

More than 80 percent of respondents complain about a lack of change management principles, as well, such as communication.

Additionally, 70 percent of them claim that the success of their sales activities is sustained inadequately while 57 percent of them think that they lack systematic industry benchmarking.

"Using our interviews and the study results, we have developed a set of specific recommendations for the automotive industry, so they can increase profits and sales," says Claudia Schmitt-Lhmann, associate partner at IBM Global Business Services.

"These action-oriented recommendations focus on qualitative aspects of the dealer network, especially in the areas of collaboration, qualification of dealers and elimination of silo structures, and customer relationship management between dealers and consumers.

We also suggest that they have long-term sustainable sales strategies.

Many dealers told us that they often suffer from short-term and frequently changing strategies." For more about IBM, please visit www.ibm.com. Labels: Automotive Posted by Raden Ezo on 6/14/2007 12:40:00 AM 0 comments   Chrome(R) Systems Launches Consumer-Friendly Automotive Reviews Chrome Systems Inc., an industry leader in collecting, enhancing, and distributing best-in-class automotive data, today announced the release of its AutoBrief automotive reviews product.

A fast and easy way to get detailed, expert reviews on cars and light-duty trucks, AutoBrief is distinct in the category of reviews for its objective focus on a vehicle's overall strengths and the value a vehicle brings to a consumer while avoiding subjective comparisons.

This makes it optimal for dealership use. All AutoBrief reviews are developed and published by Chrome's data analysts and backed by Chrome's 20 years of industry experience and vehicle data. Currently consisting of 2007 model year vehicles, reviews will be added to AutoBrief as new model year vehicles are introduced with weekly updates available.

Each AutoBrief review includes information pertinent to consumers, including: model year strengths, overview of the changes from the previous year's model, the value the model brings to the consumer, and a final overview section that summarizes the key points included in the more detailed review table.

Each vehicle is reviewed on its own merits, without inviting comparisons or competition with other brands or models.

"AutoBrief delivers in-depth, detailed vehicle reviews to consumers," said Sean Taylor, Chrome Product Manager.

"When these vehicle descriptions are leveraged against Chrome's entire set of new vehicle data, the consumer gets a complete picture of the vehicle for the best and most-informed buying decision." Chrome provides vehicle content, software, technology and services to deliver complete enterprise solutions to all segments of the automotive retail industry.

These segments include manufacturers, fleet companies, dealers, Internet sites, and financial institutions.

Chrome pioneered the technology behind electronic vehicle configuration with the introduction of PC Carbook(R), and since 1986 has collected, analyzed and enhanced "raw" automotive data from all manufacturers.

Chrome Systems Inc. is a subsidiary of DealerTrack Data Services, Inc., a DealerTrack Holdings, Inc. company (NASDAQ: TRAK) . Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements Statements in this press release regarding the benefits of AutoBrief and all other statements in this release other than the recitation of historical facts are forward-looking statements (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995).

These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements of DealerTrack Holdings, Inc. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

Factors that might cause such a difference include: Chrome's success in expanding its customer base and product and service offerings; and other risks listed in DealerTrack's reports filed with the SEC, including DealerTrack's 2006 Form 10-K. Forward-looking statements included herein speak only as of the date hereof and DealerTrack disclaims any obligation to revise or update such statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or circumstances.