“Wisconsin adds incentives to major new military order for Oshkosh Corp ... - Post-Crescent” plus 4 more

Wisconsin adds incentives to major new military order for Oshkosh Corp ... - Post-Crescent
Solera Holdings posts fiscal 4Q profit - Seattle Times
Steven Cole Smith AUTOMOTIVE - Orlando Sentinel
Future mechanics, automotive technicians have new option to pursue ... - San Diego Daily Transcript
Dana Holding Corporation to Participate in Credit Suisse Automotive ... - PR Newswire

Wisconsin adds incentives to major new military order for Oshkosh Corp ... - Post-Crescent

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 02:00 AM PDT

OSHKOSH Wisconsin will provide up to $35 million in tax credits to help back Oshkosh Corp. in its newest military contract worth $281 million to produce the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles for the U.S. Army.

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The FMTV rebuy program is a five-year package for the production of up to 23,000 vehicles and trailers as well as support services and engineering, the company said.

Gov. Jim Doyle's office and the state Department of Commerce said Thursday the Oshkosh contractor would be entitled to credits over a 12-year period under the state's newly formed Enterprise Zone program to boost business development.

"It's all performance based," said Tony Hozeny, spokesman for the commerce department. "You create the jobs and generate the investment or you can't claim the tax credits."

Oshkosh Corp. said the first production vehicle deliveries of 2,568 trucks and trailers is slated for late 2010.

The order comes on the heels of a June 30 contract totaling $1.05 billion to provide 2,244 mine-resistant, ambush-protected all-terrain vehicles to troops in Afghanistan.

Oshkosh Defense, a division of Oshkosh Corp., recently hired an additional 500 workers in Oshkosh and 650 at JLG in McConnellsburg, Pa., to share the M-ATV production.

Ann Stawski, vice president, marketing communications for Oshkosh Corp. said the hope is to carry over production teams into the FMTV line of vehicles and maintain a consistent "heel to toe" production pattern.

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Solera Holdings posts fiscal 4Q profit - Seattle Times

Posted: 27 Aug 2009 04:06 PM PDT

SAN DIEGO —

Solera Holdings Inc., which provides software and services for the auto insurance claims industry, said Thursday it posted a fiscal fourth-quarter profit as revenue gains in the company's automotive recycling unit offset declines in other areas.

The company earned $11.8 million, or 17 cents per share, compared with a loss of $21.6 million, or 34 cents per share, a year ago.

Adjusted to exclude one-time items, net income was 39 cents for the quarter.

Revenue fell slightly to $144.1 million from $145.5 million in the fiscal 2008 fourth quarter.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predicted a profit of 38 cents per share on $138.6 million in sales. Analysts tend to exclude most one-time items from their estimates.

Revenue from automotive recycling and other customers was $20.5 million for the fourth quarter, a 34 percent increase from a year earlier.

For the full fiscal year, Solera's profit climbed to $57.8 million, or 85 cents per share, compared with $598,000, or a penny per share, in fiscal 2008.

Revenue rose to $557.7 million, from $539.9 million in the prior fiscal year.

Shares rose 59 cents, or 2.3 percent, to close Thursday at $26.69.

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Steven Cole Smith AUTOMOTIVE - Orlando Sentinel

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 07:25 PM PDT

Steven Cole Smith AUTOMOTIVE

August 30, 2009

' Cash for Clunkers" is dead.

Now what?

"Back to business as usual, I guess," said Jason Tulchinsky, general sales manager for Ford of Clermont. "Whatever that means."

"Business as usual," as you know, wasn't all that good before the program kicked off in July. Regardless of whether you think it was right to use tax money to help buy new vehicles, there is no denying this: The program, known formally as Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS, moved the needle.

It was a gutsy, thrown-together effort that suffered multiple shortcomings, but it did pump money — our own money, but who's counting? — back into the economy.

The final numbers say 690,114 vehicles were sold, meaning that there were 690,114 "clunkers" taken off the road.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood pats himself on the back, saying, "Manufacturing plants have added shifts and recalled workers. Moribund showrooms were brought back to life, and consumers bought fuel-efficient cars that will save them money and improve the environment."

But there were some issues, one of them pointed up by John, a regular reader, who called to say he had tried to trade in his car but was turned down. The car was a 1986 Ford Country Squire station wagon with a V-8 engine — an enormous, heavy, poster-child vehicle for any definition of "clunker." Yet he was turned down because the revised EPA estimates list his overall fuel mileage as 19 mpg, just over the 18 mpg maximum.

Does anyone really think that 23-year-old car would average 19 mpg? No, and probably no one at the EPA does, either. Those mileage figures are based on a computed mathematical mileage formula reapplied to the current standards, not on actual testing of the individual cars that are more than 2 years old.

Another issue: The top five vehicles traded in, and thus destroyed, in the CARS program are, in order, the Ford Explorer, the Ford F-150 pickup, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the regular Jeep Cherokee and the Dodge Caravan minivan. None of those really come to mind as leading the pack in gas-guzzling and polluting.

What they do lead the pack in is in general dependability and low cost. And since the CARS program required that owners had to drive the clunkers to the dealership, all these vehicles were still running. And, I'd submit, might have run for a long time still. Touring one Orlando dealer's parking lot full of clunkers, he and I came up on a very clean Lexus ES300.

"Too bad," the dealer said. "This car ran perfectly, the leather interior is in great shape, the air blows ice cold. It would have made a nice little car for somebody who needed it."

Expect, then, with nearly 700,000 running used cars taken out of the market in just over one month, used car prices are likely to rise.

Note too that of the top five vehicles purchased, four are from Japanese brands with only one domestic, the Ford Focus. CARS certainly helped the domestic manufacturers, but it helped the Japanese brands more.

And now begins what some industry analysts are calling the "cash for clunkers hangover."

"Sales were stimulated at the start of the year's prime buying season, just when they were building on their own," said Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive officer of Edmunds.com, the online-information service. "People rushed into purchases that many would otherwise have made later this year. The result will be lower sales in the weeks to come."

The bottom line, perhaps, is this: "Cash for Clunkers strived to induce consumer spending on fuel-efficient cars, as well as give the auto sector a boost by helping dealers generate turnover," said George Van Horn, senior analyst with IBIS World, an industry-research company.

"The program has been successful in doing just that, but it's really a short-term fix, not a long-term solution."

Sentinel Automotive Editor Steven Cole Smith can be reached at 407-420-5699, scsmith@orlandosentinel.com or through his blog at Enginehead.com.

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Future mechanics, automotive technicians have new option to pursue ... - San Diego Daily Transcript

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 04:55 PM PDT

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Dana Holding Corporation to Participate in Credit Suisse Automotive ... - PR Newswire

Posted: 28 Aug 2009 11:54 AM PDT

TOLEDO, Ohio, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dana Holding Corporation (NYSE: DAN) announced today that Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jim Yost will participate in the upcoming Credit Suisse Automotive & Transportation Conference in New York City. Mr. Yost will present from 7:45 a.m. to 8:25 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Sept. 9, discussing Dana's recent financial performance, as well as current and future plans.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990903/DANA )

The presentation slide deck and an audio replay of Mr. Yost's remarks will be available after 5 p.m. on Sept. 9 via the Dana Investor Web site (www.dana.com/investors).

About Dana Holding Corporation

Dana is a world leader in the supply of axles; driveshafts; and structural, sealing, and thermal-management products; as well as genuine service parts. The company's customer base includes virtually every major vehicle manufacturer in the global automotive, commercial vehicle, and off-highway markets. Based in Toledo, Ohio, the company employs approximately 22,500 people in 26 countries and reported 2008 sales of $8.1 billion. For more information, please visit: www.dana.com.

SOURCE Dana Holding Corporation

Website: http://www.dana.com