Here we cite the following auto companies: Nissan (NSANY), Honda Motor Co. (HMC), Daimler AG (DAI), Ford Motor Co. (F), Toyota Motors (TM) and General Motors Corp. (GM).

On the flipside of senior equity analyst Paul Raman, CFA's notes on the San Diego Auto Show, we now cast the spotlight toward where auto companies might need to make near-term improvements. Most if not all companies will be looking to make strategic acquisitions and/or joint ventures to increase their global positions.

SUBARU (Forester, Outback, Impreza, Legacy, Tribeca)This company is owned by Fuji Heavy Industries.Overall, this product line has an SUV focus, but vehicles have too much plastic, in our opinion.  Models that should be discontinued - Impreza.

NISSANMurano - Sales are off 10%, but this a 21 MPG vehicle that has 4/5 star safety and a nice interior. It is a crossover and has

...

We cite these companies: General Motors (GM), Ford (F), Toyota (TM), Nissan (NSANY), Honda (HMC) and Daimler (DAI).

Today, President Bush approved an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry Friday, offering $17.4 billion in rescue loans in exchange for tough concessions from the deeply troubled carmakers and their workers. The government will have the option of becoming a stockholder in the companies, in effect partially nationalizing the industry.

If the carmakers fail to prove viability by March 31, 2009, they will be required to repay the loans, which they would find all but impossible. A firm will be deemed viable only if it can show positive cash flow and can fully repay the government loans.

Under terms of the loan, General Motors (GM) and Chrysler must provide the government with stock warrants giving it the option to buy GM and Chrysler stock at a specific

...

If there’s ever a reason why you should avoid investing in the electric-car revolution it’s a start-up called Better Place L.L.C.

Based in Silicon Valley, the company is negotiating with governments and car makers to set up networks of charging systems for electric-car batteries.

The New York Times ran a story today about how Hawaiian Electric Company endorsed the Better Place system of rechargeable stations and swappable batteries. Better Place already has garnered endorsements from Israel, Denmark, Australia, Renault-Nissan and a coalition of Northern California.

In essence, the endorsements constitute permission for Better Place to install its system.  Here’s how Better Place makes money for investors:

Drivers pay to access a network of charging spots and conveniently located battery exchange stations powered by renewable energy. – Drivers pay for the miles they drive. – Cars are made much more affordable—even free in some markets—by the business model’s financial and  environmental incentives to add drivers

...

November saw the sales of cars manufactured in North America drop to 236,000 units. That's 17% below October (which was already horrible) and 40% below the number sold in November of 2007.brimg alt= style=width: 480px; src=http://local.content.compendiumblog.com/uploads/user/7e88b461-578b-47f3-88ec-038e212ad053/aa0ff38d-9bb9-44a5-bba5-8be30d8f6977/dom_cars_dec_08.gifbrSource: a style=font-family: verdana; href=http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2008/12/the_auto_downtu.htmlEconbrowser/a.brbrMeanwhile, a style=font-family: verdana; class=summheadline href=http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103sid=aDvTwqi_v3J8amp;refer=newsGM and Chrysler are seeking $11 billion to avert collapse this year. /aIn short, they are simply running out of cash. Democrats pledged to keep them out of bankruptcy without saying how. brbrAnd a style=font-family: verdana; href=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/automakers-post-steep-sales-declines/story.aspx?guid=681021CC-8778-40C2-AC80-822D0321CB9Eamp;dist=SecEditorsPicksMarketwatch tells us/a that Ford, Lincoln and Mercury combined car sales fell 31.5%, GM took an even harder hit with its 41.3% drop, Volvo sales tumbled 46.5% (ouch!) and Hummer sales dropped the most, downa stunning 63.9%.brbrToyota, Nissan and Honda had less-bad news, but each saw sales drop by more than 31%.brbrCars are piling up on the lots. If you think they're cheap now, just wait until the after-Christmas sales. But we may be approaching the point where ...

NYT: A Sea of Unwanted Imports November 19, 2008

By MATT RICHTEL NYTimes

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Gleaming new Mercedes cars roll one by one out of a huge container ship here and onto a pier. Ordinarily the cars would be loaded on trucks within hours, destined for dealerships around the country. But these are not ordinary times.

For now, the port itself is the destination. Unwelcome by dealers and buyers, thousands of cars worth tens of millions of dollars are being warehoused on increasingly crowded port property.

And for the first time, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Nissan have each asked to lease space from the port for these orphan vehicles. They are turning dozens of acres of the nation’s second-largest container port into a parking lot, creating a vivid picture of a paralyzed auto business and an economy in peril.

“This is one way to look at the economy,” Art Wong, a spokesman for the

...

American optimism at all-time low, 2009 recession imminent… Fannie and Freddie to the rescue? Chris Mayer with good news for oil investors. Another day, another double-digit decline… Russian market, currency plummeting. Pat Cox with a “huge” breakthrough medical tech about to become reality. Have we hit a nerve? The automaker debate rages on in The 5’s inbox

Oy. “The $700 billion financial bailout program,” the New York Times sums up Treasury Secretary Paulson’s speech this morning, “will not be used to buy troubled mortgage-backed assets, as originally intended. Instead, capital would be provided directly to nonbank companies, as well as banks and financial institutions, and that more would be done to prevent home foreclosures.”

Is it any wonder 83% of Americans think the U.S. is “headed in the wrong direction”?

...

American optimism at all-time low, 2009 recession imminent… Fannie and Freddie to the rescue? Chris Mayer with good news for oil investors. Another day, another double-digit decline… Russian market, currency plummeting. Pat Cox with a “huge” breakthrough medical tech about to become reality. Have we hit a nerve? The automaker debate rages on in The 5’s inbox

Oy. “The $700 billion financial bailout program,” the New York Times sums up Treasury Secretary Paulson’s speech this morning, “will not be used to buy troubled mortgage-backed assets, as originally intended. Instead, capital would be provided directly to nonbank companies, as well as banks and financial institutions, and that more would be done to prevent home foreclosures.”

Is it any wonder 83% of Americans think the U.S. is “headed in the wrong direction”?

...

What are the two most expensive goods you’re likely to buy in your lifetime?  A home and a car, probably.  And the news today on both is an indicator of how screwed up things are.

The Washington Post figures the country has about one million homes too many.  And close to 30,000 of them are in Las Vegas alone.  “The solution, local executives say, will come not from Washington policymakers but from the market itself,” reports the Post. “When there are too many houses, builders stop building them. That has already happened, and many Vegas home builders have gone out of business.”

But of course, that’s not going to stop politicians from intervening anyway and trying to prop up home prices — that is, keep them unaffordable.  There was Jack Kemp, that paragon of supply-side virtue, stumping in Florida this weekend for John McCain and his $300 billion mortgage bailout.  Barack Obama’s

...

What are the two most expensive goods you’re likely to buy in your lifetime?  A home and a car, probably.  And the news today on both is an indicator of how screwed up things are.

The Washington Post figures the country has about one million homes too many.  And close to 30,000 of them are in Las Vegas alone.  “The solution, local executives say, will come not from Washington policymakers but from the market itself,” reports the Post. “When there are too many houses, builders stop building them. That has already happened, and many Vegas home builders have gone out of business.”

But of course, that’s not going to stop politicians from intervening anyway and trying to prop up home prices — that is, keep them unaffordable.  There was Jack Kemp, that paragon of supply-side virtue, stumping in Florida this weekend for John McCain and his $300 billion mortgage bailout.  Barack Obama’s

...

Another day, another batch of dismal economic data. This time it's the ISM Manufacturing index. It came in at 38.9 in October, down from 43.5 in September and below forecasts for a reading of 41. That's the worst ISM reading going all the way back to September 1982. In case you're wondering, the worst reading ever (my data goes back 60 years) was 29.4 in May 1980.Digging deeper into the report, the ISM subindex measuring new orders dropped to 32.2 from 38.8. The subindex measuring employment fell to 34.6 from 41.8. And the subindex measuring production dropped to 34.1 from 40.8.Meanwhile, in the beleaguered auto sector, Ford reported that sales plunged 30% from a year earlier in October. Sales fell 23% at Toyota and 33% at Nissan. Auto sales are down 12 months in a row, the longest consecutive stretch of declines in 17 years.