Monday, August 10th, 2009
Auto companies have traditionally been engineering and manufacturing businesses, rather than marketing and retail businesses. Henry Ford, for example, insisted dealers pay for his Model Ts as soon as they left the factory door. But what made sense in Henry's time, and reached its apotheosis with the huge River Rouge ...
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Monday, August 10th, 2009
DETROIT - Ford Motor Company is ebullient about its first year-over-year sales increase since November 2007. Total Ford-Lincoln-Mercury sales, including fleet, rose 2 percent in July 2009 compared with July 2008, and of that, retail sales rose 9 percent. Still, it's too early to party. The Great Recession isn't over ...
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Monday, August 10th, 2009
Hyundai's U.S. CEO John Krafcik said it best earlier this year: "flat is the new up." By that measure, Audi AG is riding high. Global sales fell 11 percent in the first half of 2009, versus 18 percent for the whole industry. What's more, Audi was comparing its number to ...
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Thursday, July 30th, 2009
We're heading into Transylvania today. The skies should be leaden, with lightning strobing in the wet gloom and thunder grumbling like a distant artillery barrage. Instead we're travelling in bright sunshine and a soft summer breeze. No Hollywood cliches here.
We know today is going to be a slow day -- ...
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Thursday, July 30th, 2009
I awoke in Strasbourg to the pitter-patter of rain on my hotel room's thick-glassed windows. Day 1's weather in Paris had been warm and humid, so the thought of precipitation had me hoping the clime outside would be cooler. But I wondered: would this welcome pitter-patter soon become unwelcome, following ...
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