Cars---Carmen (fast)
Asia Pacific---Brenda (slow)
>> ford says sales fell in february, prompting cuts in production. sales at general motors and daimlerchrysler units were up, however. carmen roberts joins us now to sum it up and put it together.
>> it was another tough month for car sales for ford, indeed. north america’s second largest automaker struggling to halt five straight months of falling sales. g.m. sales rose 6% and chrysler’s rose 1% but sales at ford fell. truck sales up 4% but car sales down 14%.
>> profitability of the companies are generally driven by their trucks and luxury vehicles so if you have weakness anywhere, you’d reich like it to be in car sales.
>> credit lyonnais analyst said that ford took its eye off the ball years ago and is now paying for it.
>> its new product pipeline has been sparse. its market share, as a result, has been deteriorating. its fixed costs remain very high. now they’re in a rush to bring a lot of new fresh product to the marketplace and it’s hard do that in a short period of time.
>> in response to weaker sales, ford is cutting first-quarter production by 15,000 vehicles and cutting second-quarter production by 5% as assembly lines are changed over for the new models. analysts say that u.s.-based automakers need to boost march sales to stop market share losses to japanese automakers.
>> the key in the industry has and always will be product. you have to come out with product that people want to buy and if people buy it, they’ll buy it regardless of who the brand maker is as long as they perceive quality and value for their money.
>> currency is one of the problems and john devine complained from the geneva auto show today about the japanese government’s efforts to control the value of the yen.
>> frustrated, frankly, is the advantage the japanese producers have on the yen. what’s been happening is the japanese government is effectively bought dollar, artificially kept the yen low, providing a subsidy for japanese manufacturers here in europe and in the united states.
>> analysts say the slack demand this year may lead to bigger rebates or production cuts. incentives are already climbing. general motors spent more than $4,400 per vehicle in february and this year will spend the most ever by any automaker.
>> that’s fascinating, those incentives.
>> they certainly keep auto sales going.
>> thank you, carmen. from the big three to the big t, heading to tokyo. australia’s central bank announced it’s keeping its benchmark rate unchanged at 5.25%. brendan trembath in japan with the latest from the asia-pacific. brendan, the reverse bank did as expected. what are the details?
>> if you’re looking for higher yield, continue to look to australia. the key rate there remaining at 5.25%, a three-year high. 17 of 24 economists surveyed by bloomberg expected no change. so most thought the bank would not move. the australian dollar has gained about 28% against the u.s. currency. the past year. this is one element. the rising local currency cuts returns from commodity exports. australia, the biggest exporter of commodities such as coal. these exports fell 10% in january over last year. also, approvals to build homes fell for a third straight month in december. there had been a housing boom in australia which the central bank was keeping a close eye on, one of the reasons that the central bank raised the benchmark rate twice last year. matt?
>> we’ll also get the latest g.d.p. figures out today. what are analysts expecting on that front?
>> economists surveyed by bloomberg say global positioning system―gross domestic product probably grew 1.1% from the previous quarter and wages are growing. gross domestic product figures out shortly and no change in the benchmark interest rate.
>> brendan trembath, thank you very much. stay with us, folks. still more to come after the break. we’ll be right back.
