Taxi Driver Online

BMW considers applying for state aid


BMW, the German maker of premium cars, is considering an application for state aid for its financial services division to help ease the pain of its ailing dealer networks who are struggling to sell vehicles amid the global slowdown in demand.

BMW is following in the footsteps of Volkswagen's financial services division which has already applied for help, despite the fact that Volkswagen is flush with cash compared with other German manufacturers.

"The Federation of German Car manufacturers was asked by manufacturers to assess whether it made sense to seek state guarantees," said a BMW executive. "It was decided to do this on a joint basis to avoid the impression that any one company was in particular trouble."

He stressed that the board was still mulling over the move and that it applied only to the financial services arm.

On the one hand, top managers at BMW, based in Bavarian Ingolstadt, have to work out the future cost of securing a cash infusion from the state.

On the other hand, the company is being besieged by its dealers who cannot move cars from the showrooms.

Traditionally Germans prefer to lease their cars, or borrow on easy terms.

Financial service units, which are effectively house banks for the car makers, therefore hold the key to the survival of the industry. However, they are dependent on wholesale funding.

The rise of BMW, which overtook Mercedes as the world's largest premium passenger car maker in 2005, has been based on affordable credit to purchasers.

However, yesterday it announce that it will be putting 26,000 workers on shorter working hours in February and March as well as shedding temporary workers.

The main plants affected are in Bavaria - Dingolfing, Regensburg and Landshut - and a deal struck with union representatives guarantees that workers on short time will never earn less than 93 per cent of their after-tax wage packet.

Redundancies have been ruled out until 2014. But the main problem will be in the supplier companies who are likely to lay off workers on a large scale.These comapnies are already suffering from the lack of credit.

The government, anxious to slow down the rising unemployment, has offered cash handouts to those who get rid of their older models, nine years or older, and buy a new one.

The car companies are hoping this will give a boost to sales. So far though there is no evidence of a re-birth of the German car buyer. Companies are not renewing their fleets, taxis are disappearing from cities and exports are floundering.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Checker Motors files for bankruptcy

It was an American icon, and a company recognized all over the world, but now the Checker Motors Company has hit hard times.

The company has filed for bankruptcy, but Checker Motors, one of the last major car manufacturers left in West Michigan, is hoping for a comeback even as the auto industry swoons.

The checker pattern on the side of taxis is instantly recognizable to people all over the world. They say the pattern and knew it was a Checker cab. Checker Motors stopped making the cabs in the early 1980's and has been a parts supplier since, but now even that is up in the air as the company heads into bankruptcy.

In December, Checker Motors made the announcement that a large part of its workforce would be laid off, and it was no mystery why. After ceasing production of its iconic cabs in 1982, Checker Motors went into the parts business, counting GM, Ford and Chrysler among its customers. With the big three struggling, companies that depend on them have struggled as well.

The poor performance across the auto industry is the likely reason Checker Motors needs bankruptcy protection.

"Checker cab is iconic worldwide, when you watch an old Hollywood movie and you see cabs in New York City or Chicago or any big city it was always a Checker cab," said Jay Follis, Marketing Director of the Gilmore Car Museum.

High labor costs were also cited as a reason for the bankruptcy filing. Checker Motors was founded in 1922 and was once one of 17 car manufacturers located in and around Kalamazoo.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Perhaps the govenment should have arranged so that people could get loans direct from them instead of giving the money to the banks to bail them out in a hope that they would use the funds to continue the lending cycle. Obviously not though. Lets be honest anything or any company that involves shareholders will put themselves and their shareholders before anybody or anything else it's the nature of the beast. If the bank continued its lending then everybody else would not be feeling the pinch quite so badly. Whilst I applaud the banks for making sure people at least have a deposit before they get a mortgage it's ridiculous that the only people able to get loans now to buy bigger items such as cars are those that don't really need the loan in the first place.

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

CC

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

There is a bright side for the PH trade though!

Ambassador Cars At An Affordable Price!



Heralding the government's package to stimulate the economy, Hindustan Motors Limited (HML) offered yet another price cut, this time for its Ambassador Cars. Hindustan Motors had confirmed a price revision for the Mitsubishi vehicles, after the excise duty reductions were announced.

The government's stimulus package, which specified a four per cent reduction in Cenvat, has led to this initiative by HML. The Company is passing on the benefit of the duty cut to the customers who can expect cut in Ambassador prices from mid-night today. Ambassador prices would be downward revised in the range of Rs 10,000 to 14,500, depending on the model. Ambassador is sold in 1.5L,1.8L & 2. L options and is available in Petrol, Diesel, CNG & LPG variants.

Ambassador cars are sold primarily to the Taxi and Government segment. Of late the individual segment is also showing interest in the vehicle with a lot of ex pats and high profile individuals like fashion designer Manish Arora ,Sitar Maestro, Pt. Ravi Shankar using it as their personal vehicle.

Ambassador's bullet proofing capabilities in terms of its load bearing capacity is also drawing people to it. HML Managing Director, Mr Ravi Santhanam said, "We have responded to the Government's move by passing on the benefit from the excise duty cut to our customers immediately. This move will certainly help in increasing demand for our entire product portfolio ."

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

OMG how old is that car it's proper ugly, urghhhhhhh

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Tesco plans to create 10,000 new jobs
Jan 14 2009

TESCO yesterday vowed to create 10,000 jobs by opening new stores this year, despite tough trading conditions.

Finance director Andrew Higginson's pledge came as he revealed like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, grew by only 2.5 per cent in the seven weeks to January 10.

It was weaker than rivals Sainsbury's, who last week reported growth of 4.5 per cent, and Morrisons who are expected to reveal a nine per cent boost.

Tesco blamed the "challenging" market and their introduction of new discount ranges for the low growth.

From Times OnlineJanuary 15, 2009

Waitrose is to create more than 2,500 jobs

The supermarket chain has also agreed to buy 13 stores from the Co-operative Group, for an undisclosed sumIan King Deputy Business Editor
Waitrose is to create more than 2,500 jobs this year in the biggest expansion in its history, The Times has learnt.

The supermarket chain will confirm that it has agreed to buy 13 stores from the Co-operative Group, for an undisclosed sum, following the latter’s takeover of Somerfield. It plans to boost staff numbers at the stores significantly.

In addition, Waitrose will announce that it plans to open at least nine new stores this year, including new sites at Bristol, Weston-super-Mare, Altrincham, Colchester and Winchester.

Mark Price, the managing director of Waitrose, said that the stores being bought from Co-op would give the grocer its fifth shop in Wales and its second stores in Tyne and Wear, Lincolnshire and Warwickshire, as well as increasing its West Country presence.

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He told The Times: “As a result of this acquisition and our expansion plans, we will be creating some 2,250 new jobs in the stores, but there will be more in the distribution, warehouse and call centre operations, which will support them.”

Mr Price said that all staff recruited, including existing employees of the Somerfield stores involved, would become “partners” at Waitrose — whose staff own the business — entitling them to an annual bonus and a non-contributory final salary pension plan.

He said that each store bought from Co-op would have 150 to 200 staff once converted to the Waitrose format — about twice the number that a comparable Somerfield store would typically employ.

Along with existing staff at the stores, it means some 4,000 people will become Waitrose “partners” this year, taking the total above 43,000.

Mr Price said Waitrose had two strategic aims for 2009 — to overtake Marks & Spencer in pure food-and-drink sales and to take market share from Tesco and Sainsbury’s in sales of ingredients and food being bought by family shoppers.

He added: “I absolutely expect Waitrose to gain market share this year and these two things are within our grasp. In food and drink, we are only just behind M&S at present, but my aspiration is that we will overtake them. Given that we will have 220 stores and that they have 1,000 outlets selling food and drink, that will be quite an achievement. We’re already ahead of them if you include household goods.

“But we also want to do more for family cooks and in ingredients. We have already made ourselves more competitive in this area — last year we invested £50 million in price and introduced offers on some 700 lines — and feel there is more to do.

“When people see our prices they are usually surprised that we are less expensive than they thought we were. Our research shows that, if you take 12,000 lines, we are more expensive than the others on around three per cent of them — even though shoppers unfamiliar with us assume we are more expensive on around 25 per cent of them.

“Yes, we have 8,000 lines where we are unashamedly trying to offer the best and will charge more, but cornflakes cost the same at Waitrose as they do at Tesco and milk costs the same as it does at Asda. So we are definitely looking to take business from Tesco and Sainsbury’s in particular.”

Mr Price said Waitrose, which is part of the John Lewis Partnership, could even open more than the nine stores it has earmarked. He would not deny that Waitrose is in talks with administrators of Woolworths to buy some of the crashed variety retailer’s former sites.

He added: “People will be genuinely surprised, I think, that Waitrose has taken this opportunity to grow so aggressively in this environment. But the best time to go fishing is when the weather’s at its worst and nobody else is there. We are really happy with the strides that we are taking and this shows the confidence we have in our brand.”

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said it would not be referring Co-op’s takeover of Somerfield to the Competition Commission. It said it was satisfied with Co-op’s agreement to sell 133 stores in areas where competition would otherwise have been reduced as a result of the deal.

Apart from selling 13 stores to Waitrose, Co-op has also sold some 38 to Morrisons for around £225 million, while Tesco, Spar and Lidl have also bought some. Musgrave, the Irish owner of the Budgens convenience chain, was reported before Christmas to be in talks over acquiring around seven outlets.

John Fingleton, chief executive of the OFT, said: “This divestment package ensures that consumers will continue to enjoy strong competition in local grocery markets across the UK, while at the same time allowing a strategically important and likely pro-competitive merger in the UK grocery sector to go ahead.”

Stampede for 'Bush shoe' creates 100 new jobs

Robert Tait in Istanbul

The Guardian, Monday 22 December 2008

Their deployment as a makeshift missile robbed President George Bush of his dignity and landed their owner in jail. But the world's most notorious pair of shoes have yielded an unexpected bonanza for a Turkish shoemaker.

Ramazan Baydan, owner of the Istanbul-based Baydan Shoe Company, has been swamped with orders from across the world, after insisting that his company produced the black leather shoes which the Iraqi journalist Muntazar al-Zaidi threw at Bush during a press conference in Baghdad last Sunday.

Baydan has recruited an extra 100 staff to meet orders for 300,000 pairs of Model 271 - more than four times the shoe's normal annual sale - following an outpouring of support for Zaidi's act, which was intended as a protest, but led to his arrest by Iraqi security forces.

Orders have come mainly from the US and Britain, and from neighbouring Muslim countries, he said.

Around 120,000 pairs have been ordered from Iraq, while a US company has placed a request for 18,000. A British firm is understood to have offered to serve as European distributor for the shoes, which have been on the market since 1999 and sell at around £28 in Turkey. A sharp rise in orders has been recorded in Syria, Egypt and Iran, where the main shoemaker's federation has offered to provide Zaidi and his family with a lifetime's supply of shoes.

To meet the mood of the marketplace, Baydan is planning to rename the model "the Bush Shoe" or "Bye-Bye Bush".

"We've been selling these shoes for years but, thanks to Bush, orders are flying in like crazy. We've even hired an agency to look at television advertising," he said.

Zaidi has been in custody since the shoe-throwing incident, amid claims that he has been badly beaten. He faces a possible jail sentence for insulting a foreign leader, but has reportedly apologised and requested a pardon from Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

Brown unveils plan to create 100,000 jobs•

PM sets out modern version of 1930s New Deal


Gordon Brown today unveils ambitious plans for a 1930s American-style programme of public works to ease the pain of recession by creating up to 100,000 jobs.

School repairs, new rail links, hospital projects and plans to usher in a new digital age by investing in superfast broadband will be used to keep unemployment down. The plans will also be used to tackle climate change, by means of investments in eco-friendly projects such as electric cars and wind and wave power that would also create jobs.

Speaking exclusively to the Observer, the prime minister also pledged action within weeks to kickstart bank lending in an attempt to save existing jobs.

Brown is studying a scheme pioneered by Nissan to avoid redundancies in manufacturing, which would see ailing firms given government funding to move staff on to part-time working and use the remaining time for training.

His promise to use public money not only to create short-term jobs, but also to build a low-carbon economy for the future, will be seen as a modern reworking of Roosevelt's New Deal - a massive programme of public works, such as dams and roads, to help America recover from the Great Depression. Brown even claimed his green plans would be bigger than Barack Obama's planned multi-billion-dollar "Green New Deal", relative to the size of Britain's economy.

In a wide-ranging new year interview at his family home in Scotland, the prime minister also:

• ruled out an early second recapitalisation of the banks;
• signalled opposition to deploying more British troops in Afghanistan;
• proclaimed a "historic opportunity" for an international deal on climate change.

He also revealed his own new year's resolution - to take up running.

However, his biggest priority will be to create and save jobs, amid predictions that by 2010 one in 10 Britons will be unemployed. Retailers are expected to respond to a disappointing December by shedding staff this year.

"I want to show how we will be able, through public investments and public works, to create probably 100,000 additional jobs over the next period of time in our capital investment programme - schools, hospitals, environmental work and infrastructure, transport,"

Well that promise lasted a fortnight.

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IDFIMH

And now he will be able to do so without getting a fixed penalty notice.

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IDFIMH