United States is the richest country on earth. Many people live a fairy tale live compared to people of most countries. Well, what perhaps many of us from other countries do not know that US debt clock is just ticking.
I live in a third world country and I belong to middle class income group in my society. I don’t own car, nor does anyone in my family. I don’t have continuous electricity and water supply in my apartment. On the other hand, people in America perhaps cannot think of an apartment that does not have water or heater or Air Cooler. These things are a part of every day life there. Even a taxi driver has them in his or her home.
This kind of luxury comes at a price. The price is increasing national debt. US Public debt is increasing all the time. To get an idea about this matter, visit this link:
If you are a US citizen then you should bother about it simply because excess of anything is bad and even dangerous. The economic recession of 2008-09 has perhaps taught all of us the lesson that any economy can suffer from recession.
You know that FIFA has stalled Chelsea’s transfer ban as the court of arbitration for sports will give the final verdict on the issue. That is perhaps the reason, Chelsea is now desperate to spend a nearly £50m to acquire the service of Argentine youngster Sergio Agüero who is currently playing for Spanish club Atletico Madrid. Chelsea is also reportedly ready to shell out £250,000 per week as the wage of the player.
The important thing here is that Sergio Aguero has not become a big star in world football. It is true that he has earned extensive praise for his performance in FIFA Youth World Cup, but he has not won any major tournament at club level, despite gold medal at Beijing Olympics Games 2008 with Argentina. Star players like Ronaldo, Kaka, Ibrahimovic were involved in record breaking fee after helped their clubs win big tournaments like Champions League and domestic leagues.
The £100 million includes the player's salary which will be scaled up to reach nearly £250,000-a-week in the final years of the proposed Chelsea playing contract, the £40 million transfer plus near-£10m add-ons related to Chelsea's success, meaning a near £50 million transfer fee, with added agents' fees.
Atletico Madrid initially claimed £60m, but they are likely to comprise with transfer fees, knowing that there is no other club who are interested to get the player at this price range. Should the deal happen, it would easily break the British transfer record of £32.5m which ManchesterCity spent for Robinho.
Anyway, there is a much-awaited La Liga match on 29 November between Barcelona and Real Madrid which could be a classic match as a number of star players like Kaka, Messi, Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo are involved in it.
Global auto industry is currently going though a recovery phase after economic recession is over now. China is one of the fastest growing auto markets in the world and its government is now trying to make it world’s biggest auto market replacing US market. To make this happen, China has taken up some measures like government stimulus and cutting tax. Overall, it is expected that car market of China could see a 10 percent growth in 2010.
So, automakers, both global and local, are determined to grab a significant chunk of the market share next year. Due to economic recession, automakers had to go through a tough time and now they are looking to retain their market strength and return to profit again. Naturally, Chinese market has now become a lucrative destination for the car makers. Well, India also has a big auto market and Indian government should also try to attract the global auto makers by taking some measures.
Japanese automakers are facing a tough time ahead as dollar is struggling against yen over the last few months. Among the automakers, Toyota is thought to be the worst sufferer. Dollar fell down to a record low (in 14 years) of 86.29 yen recently and this indicates that the situation could be deteriorated in future. Euro is comparatively in strong position and this could be a positive sign for the automakers.
Toyota lost 1.2 percent, slightly more than falls of 1.1 percent in Honda and 0.5 percent in Nissan, but better than Mazda Motor Corp (7261.T), which fell 2.1 percent. The transport sector subindex .ITEQP.T lost 1.2 percent.
Global auto market is gradually improving since last quarter as economic recession is almost over and government stimulus also helped few automakers. However, now it seems that bad days of Japanese automakers have not gone yet. Reports also have it that dollar rate against yen could decrease further next year. So, companies like Nissan, Honda and Toyota could face a tougher time in the months to come.
After getting elected, president Obama is strongly advocating the idea of fuel efficiency and better and less environment pollution from cars. You know that in USA, there are nearly eight hundred cars against one thousand persons and they have the highest number of cars in the world despite the fact that both India and China have more than three times population than USA. So, now the Obama administration is trying to push the car companies to produce more fuel efficient cars. It was very interesting to see that the top three companies in this sector are all Asian. In the first place, there is Honda, Hyundai and then Toyota. Honda and Toyota are Japanese companies where as Hyundai is from South Korea. US car companies are much behind than Asian and European companies.
Well, I think that fuel efficiency is a very important thing for a country like USA where almost everyone has a car. Car is a very bad thing and it can really affect the environment. I think that the Obama administration should make the government agencies to buy fuel efficient cars. The main problem is that most consumers are not yet conscious about it. Of course in net I am of economic recession fuel, most people can not think of efficiency or any other factor and are not eager to change their car or pay more money. So, I think that they will have to wait a little longer about this matter. Environment pollution is a big problem for the whole world not just for USA.
Ford Motor was one of the major car makers who faced a tough condition when economic recession was rife over the last few years. However, the Michigan based car maker is now looking for a revival through its small car segment. From aged people to younger generation all are jumping to small cars, even though economic recession is gradually becoming over.
General users have not got over the affect marked by recession yet. So, the consumer confident is not yet high. Moreover, fuel price hike would also lead car users towards small cars which consume less fuel. Well, I think, Ford should consider hybrid market seriously. Competition is not yet huge in the hybrid car market as Toyota is dominating and Honda is trying to grab a significant chunk of share in the market.
Economic recession has taken a big test for the major automaker as many faced huge losses, while some even faced bankruptcy. However, Korean automaker Hyundai and its sister concern Kia. Despite a slow recession hit market, Hyundai kept its momentum going thanks its excellent marketing policy as well as new products.
Hyundai saw 4% up in its sales in 2009 compared to 2008, while many other car makers like Toyota, Honda, General Motors, Nissan, Ford and Chrysler experienced losses ranging from 20% to 30%. Kia also experienced 6.7% increase in its sales.
In order to keep itself in growth, Hyundai launched the cash-for-clunkers which ended up becoming very successful. Moreover, a lot of credit go to Hyundai’s marketing department too. While many other companies opted out from promoting their products during recession, Hyundai continued giving ads. Overall, Hyundai acted very smartly, and thus, turning a tough period into highly successful.
Honda has decided to transfer its motorcycle production from its Barcelona plant in Spain to Italy in its pursuit to revive its motorbike market in Europe. Though the Japanese automaker has been pretty much successful in the motorcycle market of India, it has lost significant chunk of market share in Japan, Europe and in the US. Naturally, Honda is working to revive its European market.
However, Barcelona production capacity will continue making motorcycle until March next year, and after the company will produce parts in Barcelona plant. Honda is traditionally a strong player in motorcycle market, and it is one of the most popular brands for the two-wheeler. So, the auto maker would now try to capitalize on that advantage in the European and US markets.
It is quite natural that German government would not be happy with General Motors’ failure to sell its Opel division to Canadian automaker Magna as well as Sperbank, an investment bank in Russia. Recently, General Motors (GM) has announced the cancellation of a proposed deal with Magna over the acquisition of Opel. However, having seen excellent sales over the last two months indicating a steady recovery from Economic recession, GM decided not to sell its Opel.
Opel is a Germany based automaker, in fact, the second largest automaker in the country. However, GM was facing a tough condition during the recession period and at one stage it seemed that the American automaker would have to close down its four Opel plants in Germany and lay-off several thousands of workers. However, German government, who provided .5 billion Euros to Opel as loan, was optimistic about Opel’s future when Magna assured that it would not close down the Opel plants in Germany and lay-off maximum 2,600 out of 25,000 workers.
GM has now said that it would restructure Opel and apologized for their decision of not selling Opel. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also condemned GM and now wants a solution to the problem.
Nearly one year ago, Toyota became the largest car maker in the world by overtaking problem ridden General Motors. Now, Toyota has been overtaken by Volkswagen-Porsche. It is perhaps natural law that no one will stay as number one forever. However, few people could think that the reign of Toyota in the top would be such short lived. The competition is intense. The good thing is that Volkswagen-Porsche got the benefit of the stimulus package in Germany and other parts of the world and it has made 4.4 million cars this year. On the other hand, Japanese economy suffered a lot and many people lost jobs there. Toyota has been able to make 4 million cars this year until now.
Volkswagen has done one good thing. It is giving some importance to Asian markets like China. Well, it is still yet to make any big impact in India. There is huge room for growth both in China and India as very few people still own a car in these two countries compared to Europe and America.
Well, it seems that Toyota will regain the top spot within a few months. Toyota cut back on production capacity during the time of recession. Volkswagen could capitalize on this matter and become the largest automaker in the world.
This is a very nice idea. You drive your car and it is painted with advertisements. In return you get some cash every month. Thus the concept of Free Car Media has caused some massive amount of interest in Internet, according to Google Trends. The only bad part is that your car will look the beautiful appearance and it will look like a junk billboard most of the time. Just imagine that you are going out with an advertisement of a company printed in your dress. It is not fun, is it?
However, because of economic recession and because of increasing unemployment in the US, many people would perhaps not mind to get some money. I tried to search a lot about the offers of free car media but I could not get any concrete information about it. Personally, I think that it is a good idea and it can really help you to at least pay the auto insurance. In USA, almost everyone has a car and most families have more than one cars. So, auto insurance is always a big headache for many families. So, if free car media advertisements can bring you the money that would pay your insurance for your vehicle then it is not a bad deal.
However, just remember that there are some scams in the name of this idea. So, always be careful about it. My suggestion is that do some search before taking any decision and then go for it if you need some extra cash. It wont harm you.
You can find more information in the following links:
Hyundai Motors experienced a surge in its October sales in the US market. In fact, their 48.9% year-on-year growth in October has been highest among the Asian automakers. The South Korean company has sold 31,005 units in October, a sharp increase from 20,820 vehicles sold during the same month last year. Dave Zuchowski, the vice president of sales in Hyundai, hopes that November and December sales will be very good for the company.
With US economy is recovering strongly following a devastating recession, US auto industry is now in its way to make a turnaround. Reports available in the media indicate a GDP growth of 3.5% in US economy in the third quarter of the year. Kia Motors Corp., the affiliate of Hyundai, has also recorded a 45% growth in October sales. Largest automaker Toyota has seen just 1 percent increase in its sales last month, while Nissan Motors projected a 5.6 percent increase in its monthly sales in October. However, Honda’s October sales decreased 0.4%.
However, overall the market is gradually becoming stronger with demands soaring up ahead of Christmas.
Toyota has recently announced that it has marked profit in the July-September quarter and it was a big relief for the automaker because the profit came after experiencing only losses in the previous three quarters. The recession-hit auto-market is gradually getting recovered and the car makers are also getting their strength back. Honda and Nissan also experienced success in the last quarter.
Toyota has now reappointed 275 workers in its Georgetown plant in Kentucky. These temporary workers were laid off last year due to poor sales in the wake of economic recession. Production is going on in full swing with the workers working overtime in Saturday. This is another one of the indications that the Japanese automaker is gradually recovering its business with the help of government stimulus as well as increasing demand in the emerging car markets like China.
Nissan has unveiled the first image of its concept electric commercial van. The Japanese automaker earlier announced that it would come up with an electric version of NV200 gasoline-run commercial van which was released in 2009. Now that the company has resealed the image of the NV200 electric commercial van, you can expect that Nissan would very soon step into the commercial van market with a all-electric vehicle.
Meanwhile, the company is now planning to release its electric passenger vehicle NV200 EV in 2011. It is expected that the passenger car would make a strong challenge for Toyota’s highly popular Prius hybrid car. By releasing the image of NV200 commercial van, Nissan has indicated that the company has taken up hybrid market very seriously as it aims to release a zero-emission van in future.
World’s largest automaker Toyota has seen a quarterly profit of $242 million during the July-September quarter of the current fiscal year. The Japanese car maker marked profit following losses in three previous quarters in a row. No doubt, the news of profit has come a big relief that the company has again returned in profit. Due to global economic recession, global auto industry has stumbled over the last one or two years. Now that the recession is almost over, there are signs of recovery seen in the recent quarter.
Toyota’s $242 million profit in the last quarter may not be very promising compared to the profit the company made during the same period of last year. In fact, Toyota’s profit for the July-September quarter fell by 84%. Still, it is good because the company faced only losses in previous three quarters. Other automakers like Honda and Nissan have also reported of more than expected profit in the last quarter. Due to the last quarter’s sales surge, Toyota is going to increase its yearly sales forecast now. However, it is also true that Toyota has not yet fully recovered in the recession-hit industry and it seems that the company would take time to make a strong turnaround.
As the economic recession is almost over, the automobile market in the US is gradually recovering. Leading automakers like General Motors (GM) and Ford experienced year on year increase in October. Though overall sales in October were not very promising, the market was better than the previous month. Chrysler Group, however, could not match the success of fellow automakers like GM and Ford as the company’s October sales were 30% down compared to the same period last year.
Autodata Corp has estimated the total sales of October 2009 at 838,052, just 104 units fewer than the same month of the last year. However, the October sales were 12% up from the total sales volume of September. So, it is pretty much clear that the market is in a recovery process and automakers have a good phase of time ahead of them.
I saw a list of 400 richest people in China according to Forbes and I wrote about it in the Hobby Economist Blog. It seems that the country is walking towards restricted capitalism inch by inch. So, I am not surprised to see that the government has approved the idea of a WaltDisneyTheme Park in Shanghai. Shanghai is a prosperous city and the new rich people of the country mainly live in this city. So, they need some kind of entertainment and a theme park from Disney is a very good thing. It will save perhaps the country some foreign exchange as some rich people will not feel the need to travel other countries to enjoy the pleasure that Disney has to offer.
Honda has revealed that November 20 would be the launching date of 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour. Price would start at $29,670 and $710 would be added to the price as the destination and handling charge of the vehicle. The car features 3.5-liter V-6 engine besides the automaker’s fuel-saving technology.
Accord Crosstour comes in two models: EX and EX-L. EX model features dual-zone air conditioning, a stereo system featuring seven speakers and it also has a moonroof as well as chrome detailing. Among the features of EX-L include leather trim, Kevlar cone speakers, USB audio interface as well as optional satellite navigation.
Toyota is currently leading the global hybrid market with a 75 percent share and it seems that the Japanese automaker is planning to strengthen its hold in the hybrid market. There is no doubt, Toyota Prius has become an increasingly popular brand in the hybrid car market and that is why, the automaker is planning to roll off several other hybrid cars under the brand name of Prius, and thus, making it a sub-brand of Toyota.
That means Toyota Prius could be a family of vehicles; rather than just one vehicle. However, nothing has been finalized yet, but it has been reported that the plan of making Prius a sub-brand is now on the discussion table and it could happen in future. If Prius really appears as a family of several vehicles, you could find large as well as small versions of hybrid vehicles from Toyota Prius.
No doubt, Toyota has seen extensive success through Prius in the hybrid market and it has been perhaps the most popular hybrid car in the world. The company is also planning to sell more than 1 billions hybrid vehicles per year from now and the company will churn out 10 new hybrid cars.
