Daily Edition TCC WJR
TCC'S DAILY EDITION: Jan. 8, 2004
Detroit Show: When Paparazzi Attack!
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2004 Detroit Auto Show Coverage by TCC Team (1/5/2004)
Benz Reveals New SLK

2005 Mercedes-Benz SLK
2005 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren by TCC Team (11/24/2003)
Two seats, eight cylinders, 617 horsepower, and $400,000 – but does it add up?
Lampe Retiring from Bridgestone
John Lampe, CEO of Bridgestone Americas and the man who helped revive Bridgestone in the U.S. after the Firestone tire recall of 2000, will retire in March. Lampe, 56, became the CEO of the tire company’s U.S operations just two months after the recall of 6.5 million tires damaged the company’s public image and led to a historic severance of its ties with Ford Motor Company. Lampe will be succeeded by Mark Emkes, 50, the current CEO of the company’s North American operations.
Ford Replacing 13 Million Tires by TCC Team (5/28/2001)
A nasty divorce gets even costlier.
Ford, Suzuki Cutting Rental Sales
In the history of the world, no one has ever washed a rental car, according to one bit of recycled wisdom from the management consulting crowd. But apparently no one is going to build them either. Steve Lyons, president of the Ford Division, which has been a regular supplier of rental car fleets, said during an interview at the North American International Auto Show that Ford scaled back on rental car sales in 2003 and plans to scale back some more in 2004. James Padilla, Ford executive vice president, said Ford halted production of more than 50,000 Ford Tauruses destined for rental fleets and wound up improving its bottom line. "It's a triple whammy," he suggested. The manufacturer discounts the car initially when it’s sold to the rental company; the return of the rental cars units undercuts residual values and then the manufacturer winds up offering larger incentives because the returned rental units compete with new models at the dealership, Lyons noted. Cutting back on sales to rental car fleets also should help clear the way for introduction of new passenger cars such as Ford Five Hundred and Ford Freestyle, Lyons added. Koichi Suzuki, the president of automotive operations at American Suzuki Motor Corp., also said Suzuki has decided to reduce sales to rental car companies. Suzuki sales plunged more than 40 percent in the December in part because of the company's decision to reduce sales to the rental companies, he added. Nevertheless, Suzuki still expects its sales to grow to 100,000 units by next year, he said. —Joe Szczesny
Sirius to Offer Video by ‘05
Satellite radio company Sirius says it will offer up to four channels of video programming by the middle of 2005. The company told crowds at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that it doesn’t know how much it will charge yet for the service, but at the same trade show Delphi Corp. is displaying a video screen that can receive the Sirius broadcasts. Sirius says it will focus on kids’ programming at first; the company also expects a big boost in its subscriber base this year, which has lagged behind rival XM because of Sirius’ later market launch. XM recently reported that it had passed the million-subscriber mark.
FROM THE SOURCE headlines from the latest press releases
PRNewswire
iBiquity Digital Corporation announced today that an Iowa buyer became "first in the nation" to purchase an HD Radio tuner. Nathan Franzen purchased a Kenwood KTC-HR100 HD Radio tuner from the Ultimate Electronics store in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Monday, January 5, 2004. Following installation in his 2001 Pontiac Grand Prix, Franzen tuned to KZIA-FM Z102.9, Cedar Rapids' home for today's hit music, becoming the first consumer nationwide to personally experience the CD-quality sound of HD Radio receiver, the biggest revolution in radio since the advent of FM broadcasting more than fifty years ago.
THE TICKER
Name | Symbol | Last | Chg |
AUTOLIV | ALV | 39.45 | +0.88 |
AUTONATION INC | AN | 18.06 | +0.09 |
ARVINMERITOR | ARM | 25.37 | +0.40 |
AMER AXLE & MANU | AXL | 41.98 | +0.91 |
BALLARD PWR SYS | BLDP | 12.37 | -0.02 |
BORG WARNER | BWA | 88.07 | +0.14 |
COLLINS AIKMAN | CKC | 6.44 | +1.38 |
CUMMINS INC | CMI | 53.22 | +0.74 |
DANA CORP | DCN | 19.19 | +0.22 |
DAIMLERCHRYSLER | DCX | 47.12 | -0.27 |
DELPHI CORP | DPH | 11.05 | +0.36 |
EATON CORP | ETN | 112.60 | +2.38 |
FORD MOTOR CO | F | 16.99 | +0.45 |
GENERAL MOTORS | GM | 55.00 | +0.74 |
GENTEX CORP | GNTX | 43.35 | -0.65 |
GOODYEAR TIRE | GT | 7.95 | +0.01 |
HONDA MOTOR CO | HMC | 22.04 | -0.53 |
JOHNSON CONTROLS | JCI | 59.44 | +0.49 |
LEAR CORP | LEA | 63.40 | +0.22 |
MAGNA INTNL | MGA | 79.28 | -2.04 |
MOTOROLA INC | MOT | 15.06 | +0.04 |
NISSAN MOTORS | NSANY | 23.41 | -0.27 |
SONIC AUTOMOTIVE | SAH | 22.48 | +0.03 |
TOWER AUTO | TWR | 7.20 | +0.04 |
TOYOTA MOTOR | TM | 69.65 | -1.13 |
UNIT AUTO GRP | UAG | 30.49 | +0.13 |
VISTEON CORP | VC | 11.30 | +0.39 |
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