Hey Yodi, glad you are on the mend. So do Germans even care about fuel economy? I guess the diesels get good MPG but I am surprised electric is so frowned upon – even BMW? TSLA not doing so hot here either – haven't been able to take back $200.
Chrysler Fiat Automobiles (NYSE:FCAU) unit sales +5.6% to 163,586 units vs. a forecast range of 8% to 8.4%.
Car sales rose 2% during the month to 45,851 and truck sales increased 7% to 117,735.
Chrysler Fiat Automobiles (NYSE:FCAU) had its strongest February in the U.S. since 2007 despite a harsher period of weather than typical.
The automaker also extended its streak of consecutive positive sales growth months to 59.
Brand sales growth: Fiat -5% to 3,289; Chrysler +13% to 28,502; Jeep 21% to 55,642; Dodge -15% to 42,115; Ram +12% to 33,991; Alfa Romeo 47 (new).
Model sales growth: Jeep Patriot +59% to 10,280; Jeep Wrangler +21% to 12,911; Jeep Cherokee +19% to 14,026; Chrysler 200 +31% to 15,805; Dodge Dart +52% to 7,407; Ram P/U +7% to 31,298; Chrysler Town & Country -4% to 8,341; Fiat 500L +19% to 956; Alfa Romeo 4C (new) 47.
The automaker says it ended the month with 85 days supply of inventory vs. 101 days last month.
Ford (NYSE:F) unit sales -1.9% to 180,383 vs. the +5% to +6% expected range from analysts.
Passenger car sales fell 8.1% to 56,081 during the month.
Utilities sales -2.3% to 54,420.
Truck sales +4.0% to 69,882 led by the new aluminum-bodied F-150.
Shares of Ford are down 3.8% premarket to $15.95 after the sales report.
Ford (F -1.9%) stayed away from blaming the weather for its February sales miss like its peers to focus on the strength it saw for new model introductions (Explorer and Mustang).
Sales growth by brand: Ford -1.7% to 174,129; Lincoln -7.5% to 6,164.
Sales growth by model: Ford Focus -12.0% to 14,019; Ford Fusion -4.9% to 22,732; Ford C-MAX -25.7% to 1,376; Ford Mustang +31.9% to 8,454; Ford F-Series -1.2% to 55,236; Ford Explorer +31.8% to 17,027; Lincoln Navigator +96% to 862, Lincoln MKC (new) 1,558.
Ford says the new F-150 is one of its fastest-turning vehicles on dealer lots with a sell rate 4X the industry full-size pickup average.
Warren Buffett took aim at activist investor Harry Wilson yesterday, who is pushing for a seat on GM's (NYSE:GM) board with the goal of getting the automaker to return a greater percentage of cash to investors.
"I totally disagree with the idea of putting somebody on the board who has an option on some other people's stock which is only good for two years," Buffett told CNBC's "Squawk Box".
Buffett also added praise for CEO Mary Barra, saying she was doing a good job leading the automaker.
U.S. Steel (NYSE:X) -2% and AK Steel (NYSE:AKS) -3.7% premarket after Nomura downgrades each stock to Neutral from Buy, with respective price targets of $21 (lowered from $37) and $4 (cut from $10).
The firm sees two major structural changes underway that should significantly alter the global steel landscape in the coming years: dollar strength and cost curve deflation driven by lower raw material prices and freight rates.
Flat-rolled and long product import pressure have been significant headwinds for the industry over the past year, and Nomura expects further dollar appreciation into 2016 will keep import pressure high.
Citing a number of catalysts – the rescheduling of the company investor day, that settling the antitrust lawsuit will be difficult, and the chance of a negative CCAR result – Macquarie downgrades American Express (NYSE:AXP) to Underperform. The price target is cut to $76 from $81.
Less than three months after the U.S. and Cuba agreed to restore diplomatic relations, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) appears to be laying the groundwork to ship to the country.
A "ship to Cuba" button was seen on Amazon's website yesterday by Reuters correspondents in Havana.
While the option did not work, logistics experts say the appearance of the selection suggested the company was working on it.
March 3rd, 2015 at 10:04 am
Hey Yodi, glad you are on the mend. So do Germans even care about fuel economy? I guess the diesels get good MPG but I am surprised electric is so frowned upon – even BMW? TSLA not doing so hot here either – haven't been able to take back $200.
Speaking of autos: