U.S. car quietly on Fuxing Road

U.S. GM, Chrysler and Ford, known as "fallen angels," are becoming the new darling of Wall Street.

If we return to 2009, no one can expect that the three major U.S. states can revive today, just as no one can expect them to be on the brink of bankruptcy.

In the past 2011, GM recaptured the position of the global auto overlord. Ford also received the highest level of profit in the same period in the fourth quarter of last year. Chrysler, which was reorganized by Fiat, also got rid of losses and realized profits. These are regarded as the United States. The signs of full recovery of the car.

Although Toyota’s global recalls, Japan’s earthquake and Japan’s floods, and other major events throughout the United States’ three major rejuvenation roads seem to be a little fluke, they have survived the rest of 2009, the United States’ three major financial reports. To the product lineup, a new look has long been made.

All of this is fundamentally due to the 2009 bankruptcy reorganization of General Motors and Chrysler and Ford's recovery plan. A related person from GM China told the reporter of the First Financial Daily that in fact, GM has a good foundation. After the bankruptcy reorganization has taken off its burden and gone light, the revival is easy to understand.

Bankruptcy Restructuring In 2011, General Motors recaptured the global sales championship that Toyota Motor had occupied for four years with a scale of 9.03 million vehicles. This time winning the title for GM, not only the car sold much, but also earn a lot of money, which is contrary to the situation of bankruptcy reorganization before selling cars do not make money. In the first three quarters of last year, GM’s net profit reached 7.1 billion U.S. dollars.

At the end of last year, Ford Motor officially announced the return of quarterly dividends. Ford Motor suffered major losses in 2006, suspended shareholder dividends, and introduced new CEO Alan Mulally for corporate restructuring. As of the end of the third quarter of last year, Ford’s current assets amounted to 31 billion US dollars.

Chrysler announced on Wednesday that it had achieved a profit of 183 million U.S. dollars in fiscal year 2011, which was the first time that the company had achieved annual profit since 2009 when it filed for bankruptcy.

For the first time in more than ten years, the three major US companies have collectively made significant profits. Automobile expert Jia Xinguang told the newspaper that the 2011 results show that the three major US states have achieved revival. He believes that in 2009, General Motors, Chrysler's bankruptcy and reorganization, played an important role in the United States car rejuvenation.

In 2009, the Obama administration, who took office shortly, quickly handled the US auto industry, which is increasingly slipping into the abyss, injected 820 million U.S. dollars into GM and Chrysler, demanded a one-time bankruptcy restructuring, fundamentally adjusted the business, and implemented an active Recovery plan.

With the help of the bankruptcy reorganization, GM and Chrysler took away the heavy historical burden. In particular, it solved the problem of high labor costs that have plagued the United States. The high labor costs are considered to be the key to the inability of the US auto industry to compete with its Japanese counterparts.

In the fifteen years before the bankruptcy reorganization, GM’s employee pensions and medical insurance expenses amounted to US$103 billion, an average of about US$7 billion per year.

Prior to the announcement of bankruptcy protection, General Motors and the American Automobile Workers Union reached a labor cost reduction agreement. Last year, the U.S. Third National Auto Workers Federation and the Auto Workers Union reached a new agreement that is more competitive. The labor cost has been reduced by more than 30% compared with that before the financial crisis.

Additions and Subtraction On the road to recovery, with the exception of a substantial drop in labor costs, the three major US organizations have also made fundamental adjustments in terms of their strategic importance.

From Ford’s revival starting in 2006 to the bankruptcy and reorganization of GM’s and Chrysler’s in 2009, strategic subtraction has always been the focus of the US’s top three.

Since Mulally took office as Ford CEO in 2006, he quickly carried out asset integration, closed 17 factories, laid off 50,000 people, sold Aston Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar, reduced Mazda, and even sold “under Golden Egg's chicken, Hertz, quickly accumulated $20 billion in cash. This is why Ford was able to avoid bankruptcy reorganization in 2009.

After the bankruptcy reorganization, GM also closed and sold Saturn, Saab, Hummer and other brands. Only Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC were retained, and Chevrolet was the global flagship brand.

For Chrysler, which lacks mature product sales channels and participates in international competitiveness, the U.S. government did not hesitate to let Italy's Fiat reorganize Chrysler.

This strategic subtraction will continue. Mary Barra, general global product development director, said in the second half of last year that “in the next 10 years, GM will cut half of the global vehicle platform and engine platform.”

In 2010, the number of universal car platforms was 30. By 2018, GM plans to produce 90% of its cars on 14 platforms, and the number of engine platforms will also decrease from 20 to 10. GM plans to use the integrated platform to manufacture and sell more cars in order to reduce costs and increase profits. Cutting models and engine platforms can increase production efficiency by 40%.

In addition to subtraction, the three major US companies have also continued to strengthen their competitiveness in fuel economy. Raising the fuel economy is the focus of the 2009 U.S. government-led GM and Chrysler bankruptcy reorganization. In Fiat's reorganization of Chrysler, the U.S. government even stipulated that as long as Chrysler is helping the United States to produce a car with an energy efficiency of 40 miles per gallon of gasoline, Fiat’s shareholding in Chrysler can be increased by 5%.

GM China sources said last year that the rapid recovery of GM was mainly due to the improvement of the fuel economy performance of products, and the new products developed by the global platform have been very successful in the market.

Last year, GM's Malibu and Ford's Fusion sold about 200,000 vehicles in the United States, making it the most popular American mid-level home car. Although it was still not able to catch up with Japan’s Accord and Camry, the gap narrowed to around 100,000 vehicles. In the new energy sector, GM's VOLT began to be marketed last year; Ford will sell hybrid and plug-in hybrid products this year. This will change the situation in which new energy is dominated by Japanese companies.

Uncertainty in the future Obama gave a high evaluation of the three major US revival. However, with the increasingly fierce global competition in the automobile industry in the future, the three major U.S. countries are still facing high uncertainties.

The revival of the three major U.S. states has a fluke, and to a certain extent has been related to the decline of major competitors in the recent two years due to various circumstances. In 2010, Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. was damaged due to its global recall. The Japanese earthquake in 2011 and floods in Thailand also hit the Japanese auto industry led by Toyota.

Perhaps, considering this situation, General Motors, which has returned to global dominance, has not deliberately emphasized the first. General Motors Chairman and CEO Exon said last year: "I need to win in the market, but I prefer to beat a healthy and dynamic Toyota and Honda."

In 2011, the United States’ three largest US market share was 47%, an increase of 2% compared to the previous year. However, the forecast shows that after Japan's auto companies resume competitiveness in 2012, GM, Ford, and Chrysler’s US market share will decline by 0.6%, 0.5%, and 0.2%, respectively.

Analyst Jesse Toprak said that for the three big companies, it is more important than guaranteeing market share to clarify future development priorities, improve the cost structure, and produce competitive products that better meet consumer demand, relying on products rather than promotions. Touch the hearts of consumers.

For GM, the biggest advantage lies in its global layout. For GM, seven out of ten vehicles come from markets outside the United States. Most of the recent performance gains have come from emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

For Volkswagen and Toyota, each has its own disadvantages. The public lags far behind in the US market, and Toyota lags far behind in the Chinese market.

However, GM's Opel is still "bleeding", which is the legacy of GM's 2009 bankruptcy reorganization. With the uncertain impact of the European debt crisis, Opel’s turnaround in 2012 still faces many uncertainties.