market

The good news for the automotive industry is that it is expecting a worldwide burst of growth. The bad news: many middle-class suppliers are not able to keep up with this dynamic and will lose their self-employment.

“In the next 15 years, this might concern up to 20 percent of the middle-class suppliers”, a study by car-expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from the University of Duisburg-Essen shows.

Based on his calculations, 57 millions cars will be sold this year. Until 2025, the number should rise to 91 million. Interestingly, the markets with the greatest growth are positioned in Asia. Until 2025, the sales in China and India will be accounting for about 40 percent of the whole world market. One reason is the low vehicle density in Asia. For example: from 1000 Chinese people only 24 (2.4%) have got a car. In comparison: from 1000 Germans, 523(52.3%) have a car.

Those who want to keep up with the growing process must expand to Asia and work in cooperation with the factories there, says Peter Faulhaber, head of the consultancy “Struktur Management Partner” in Cologne, who was also involved in the study. “To supply China with exports from Germany is illusionary”, Faulhaber says. A survey amongst 180 suppliers, car and bank managers showed that the middle-class suppliers strongly underestimate this dynamic. They plan with too little shares of sales for Asia.

In conclusion: Those who miss the growth in Asia will be unable to keep up with the market and lose market shares. Five percent sales growth per year will be needed in order to not lose shares. Those who can’t achieve these five percent downgrades his cost position and takes the risk to become a candidate for takeover. Experts say that it is necessary to develop a fitting strategy for the Asian market to prevent this.

What is your assessment? Will Asia have taken over the majority of the world market by 2025?

The lack of engineers in Germany could become an impediment for the economical growth. The “Association of German Engineers” (VDI) is going to publish a topical report concerning the economical situation of Germany related to the engineering branch. The report says the lack of engineers in Germany might become a serious problem.

The problem of skills shortage over years can cause a certain damage for the German economy in the future. According to the VDI, 69.000 engineers are missing to fill vacant positions in Germany. And the problem of skills shortage will significantly intesify the current situation until 2020.

A solution for this problem could be a higher number of engineering alumni. The VDI calls for a consistent policy of education for Germany. Currently, every German state makes its own decisions concerning the education policy.

For most german industries the crisis seems to be overcome. But in the construction industry demand still decreases. This mainly affects the order figures.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, in September 2010 there were 1.1 percent less orders compared to 2009.
Indeed in construction work above groundlevel the demand increased by 1.2 percent but, in civil engineering underground the demand decreased by 3.2 percent.
In September 2010, the industry reached a turnover of 8.3 billion Euros, 1.6 percent more than in September 2009.
At the same time 1.7 percent less employees were engaged.

According to the latest economic survey of the “Zentralverbandes des Deutschen Baugewerbes” the companies in public construction are in a rather bad mood when talking about the current situation. In commercial construction, however, the mood is balanced. Despite of a weak September in 2010, the sector counts better order rates in the first nine month of 2010 than in 2009. However, a satisfying sales volume wasn’t achieved. According to the statistical figures, the number of orders increased by 2.3 percent whereas the total sales volume decreased by 4 percent.
In October 2010 the “Zentralverbandes des Deutschen Baugewerbes” expected a sales drop of 1.5 percent for the whole year 2010. In the beginning of the year 2010 the association assumed a constant development.

Do these figures meet your experiences? Do you see the current situation as a threat or rather as a chance?

Based on Manager Magazin

The fiat branch that is operating in Brazil is going to reveal its newest car on the Sao Paolo automobile fair in October.

The Fiat Mio is an all electric, 2.50 meter long car that is developed on the basis of user ideas that were shared on an online website where the design could be edited, commented and distributed.

17 000 members from over 140 countries have shared their thoughts in the web and developed Fiat’s newest creation that will be released this year. The result should be a customer friendly car, especially in terms of design and eco-friendliness.

What do you think of the car? Is the two-seater it going to be a success? Discuss here!

sources: autoevolution, auto-motor-und-sport.de

The world automotive markets are developing in different directions. On one side the Chinese car sales have slowed down a little since July after the government announced to reduce their incentives. In addition commodities around the globe are getting more expensive, which lowers the profits of the companies that need to look exactly on the development of the prices for metals like aluminum or copper.

On the other side countries like Brazil have brought companies like Ford a bigger profit due to a growing market where investments are made by several big international automotive brands.

Ford’s generated income of $765 million in the South American country might push Brazil to the second most important market, leaving the United Kingdom behind.

sources: autonews, just-auto, manager magazin

According to the German Automotive Association (VDA) the growth of the Asian, U.S. and Brazilian market has slowed down a little but, speaking especially for the Chinese sector is still at a positive rate of 17 percent in July.

In Europe things don’t look that good: du to expiry of state supported programs that made car buying in countries like Germany more affordable, sales go down.

However in India and Japan the market is happy about growing numbers. 1.3 million cars were sold in the second most populated country in the world and the Japanese could record a plus of over 13 percent last month.

The situation looks similar in Brazil, Russia and the United States where markets pick up pace and like in Russia rose by almost 50 percent.

source: automobilproduktion.de

Profits of U.S. company General Motors rose to almost 1.3 billion of this year’s second quarter.

Contrary to the loss of 12.9 billion in the second quarter of 2009, the income of the company has gone up rapidly which is also conditioned by selling a higher amount of shares in the last months.

However, the results in Europe are still unsatisfying: a $160 million loss still shows where issues problems have to be fixed. Results of the home market though look a lot better after 12 percent more cars were sold.

Also with focus on the Chinese market, GM will try to keep pace and establish their position as second biggest car seller in China, behind Volkswagen.

Source: autonews

I just found Carmio: this is a new auto parts price comparison website. It combines an easy search for your specific car parts with cheap prices.

First a search mask helps you to describe the car that requires a particular part. Once you’ve picked out the car part Carmio starts comparing prices.

The service will then list you the best offers including the online shops where you can purchase the respective auto part. According to the website you can save up to 70% of the regular price.

The price comparison also provides full market transparency.

In addition Carmio offers installation instructions for the most popular car brands and wearing parts.

We are curious to hear your opinions about this web service!

The number of cars sold in Italy this July is expected to have fallen by 26 percent. The main reason is that the government incentives ended this march.

The sales would have gone down even further, but car dealers have bought large numbers to meet their targets.

This might be the reasons for massive discounts on Italian Cars in other european countries. The Fiat Panda ist offered over 40 percent lower than mentioned in the price lists.

Now is the time to buy a cheap brandnew car.

Or do you think the prices will go down even further?

Source: Reuters, Autohaus24

Nissan has revealed plans for their new car „Leaf“ to contain a battery that can last up to eight years or over 100 000 miles. This is part of their attempt to release an affordable all-electric car on the market.

Consumer concerns about durability of the “rechargeable engine” are the reason for the company to announce that the car can keep the pace with normal gas automobiles and will have a similar lifetime. The “Leaf”, which will be on sale in the United States from December, will cost around $ 25, 000 (after tax credit) and can be charged in one of 15,000 charging stations that (will) spread all over the country.

source: autonews.com