Carmakers worldwide struggle to survive

TK: when the credit markets tighten up in the U.S. and demand falls, everyone is in deep trouble. So it’s not just a U.S. problem and the European producers are experiencing difficulty. But it’s clear the U.S. carmakers lag their Japanese and to some extent their European counterparts in getting on with producing higher mileage and smaller vehicles at a profit margin. (France’s President has announced a bailout for their carmakers. So are French carmakers in the same trouble that the U.S. companies are in?) Their problems will be the same, because of the drop in demand. (Also in the story out of France, the government is giving incentives for buying a more environmentally friendly car.) In some respects they are subsidizing the incentive to get rid of gas guzzlers. I think we are going to see some of that by the companies themselves as an incentive to get people into the showroom. (Where are you seeing carmakers getting it right?) We have things to learn from the Japanese, they’ve been able to balance the demand for small and large cars, and look forward as well. (What are the hidden opportunities in this crisis?) I think the tremendous pressure being put on the U.S. and other global companies is going to accelerate the pace for moving towards a green industry. There will be enormous pain in this situation, but because of the depth of the crisis, we’ll get more energy towards transforming this industry for the better.