Probably half the job is cost-cutting. The new model lineup is the other part of it.

You have to admire them. Even with $4,000 in incentives, they’re still making money…You compare that with how GM and Ford are doing in North America, and you have to give them a medal.

One of the necessities of the restructuring program is to downsize. GM has too many plants, too many people, and too many models.

Sales of gas-inefficient large SUVs are in a state of near-collapse this month, … It seems likely that the shift in the sales mix away from large SUVs will persist and continue to damage Detroit’s...

I don’t want to say anything.

I think Chrysler lost a lot of market share, which has not been the case for Mercedes.

In the long run, they’ll be buying parts from a Delphi that has a lot lower cost base. Several years out, there’s a good chance they can buy parts cheaper from Delphi because Delphi, in...

I think the overhang of this war is affecting car sales, but it’s hard to prove and hard to quantify. It won’t necessarily be $500 (more) a car, but it could be $200 to $300.

I think they’re doing half of the job extremely well; that half is capacity and costs. That half of the job that’s hard to tell is the new models.

The accounting charges seem to be mostly timing — instead of earning in one period they have to state them in another period.

The specialist will then have another look at the ankle to see if the injection has been of any help,

What GM is talking about in my book are not hybrids. These are trucks with humongous starter motors.

Despite concerns that the current sales weakness represents a new recession in vehicle sales, we believe that the explanation continues to be payback for last summer’s excesses,

It’s one of the reasons why GM will lose less money in 2006.

You take a billion here and a billion there, and it adds up. No question, it’s major.

The fleet sales that inflated the January results will probably diminish for GM, Ford and Chrysler. There’s three reasons why their market-share has declined: product, product and product.

Half of his pay is dependent on the performance of the company, so that looks pretty reasonable relative to the pay of other CEOs at big companies. It probably doesn’t look reasonable to the guy...

To me it was a foregone conclusion because the union and the company had already agreed to it.

Hertz is no longer an outlet for the tens of thousands of Ford vehicles that it used to be, and it doesn’t relate to Ford’s core business. I don’t think the absence of Hertz will...

My initial reaction was, ‘What took them so long?’ … They had too many brands, too many fiefdoms, and they had to simplify it. Even after they phase out Oldsmobile, they’ll have too many, but...

The combination of these two companies doesn’t change the European landscape, … It doesn’t make much difference in the U.S.

The passenger cars are not inherently as profitable as big SUVs or big pickups, but they have to refurbish their car line, even if it doesn’t get them back to historical profit margins.

It goes to the ‘equality of sacrifice’ principle embraced by the union. It may make it easier for GM to get concessions from the rank and file.

I was expecting an announcement on the dividend today, so I was surprised that we didn’t hear anything about it. They ought to cut it for tactical reasons, even though they can continue to pay...

I don’t buy the bankruptcy talk. I think they have the resources to get through this. The stock has gotten so banged up, it could be an interesting speculation play. But I’m not going to...

Imports and transplants are again the big winners in 2005, and will close out the year with about 40.5 percent of the market, up from 38.8 percent in 2004.

It’s basically several hundred million dollars of costs that [the auto companies] are incurring and that they are getting nothing for.

These pills can be useful pills, but they don’t match up to the hype we’ve had that they really cure the illness.

While the (health-care) deal is a positive, they have several other challenges. They are losing too much market share. They have too many plants, too many people and too many models.

Padilla is a very able (executive), but he is also the old guard. Padilla is out because Ford wants his own people. That’s my view.

A strike would be moot unless they waited until GM was back in production after the Flint strikes. If they went down now, who would care? It wouldn’t mean anything.

We can wait to see what happens, but perhaps he’s bitten off more than he can chew, … They’ve used the value of Hughes effectively to benefit other shareholders. I don’t think there’s any consensus...

It would be a dream come true to score and incredible to score the winner.

Rockport has a tremendous fishery for reds and we are hoping to attract the most serious redfish anglers to show them off and put on a great event. Our immediate inclination tells us we are...

Hertz has become kind of a noncore operation for them, a much less important outlet.

These are vehicles on the market mainly because of the insanity of regulators in states like California that are worried about emissions standards,

It’s a footnote, … I think it’s a minor help to Ford’s cash position. I suppose anytime you get about a quarter of a billion dollars it’s welcome, but it doesn’t change the big picture.

Detroit was an island surrounded by prosperity this year. The big SUV sales collapsed and did a number on their profitability. Both GM and Ford will lose a little market share in 2006, but not...

(Delphi) is one of the chief things that was holding GM up and causing fears of bankruptcy. On Broad and Wall there’s a collective sigh of relief.

It’s not the end of the world.

I think the effect has already been felt on Ford’s earnings because Ford and the other automakers book themselves in profits when they produce and ship the cars to the dealers,

The domestics suffer from hardening of the arteries in their design departments and are turning out well-executed but boring cars and trucks.

This is really more a matter of Mark Fields wanting to get his own people in place.

I was expecting an extremely ugly quarter but this was a great deal uglier than I’d thought.

Both Ford and G.M. are saddled with these legacy costs that they’re negotiating with the union. Beyond that, there isn’t much they can do but continue to attack their single largest cost: purchased materials.

I would not imagine there is any danger of any of our players freezing. They play at play at a good level and are solid players.

The job cuts will ultimately generate considerable cost savings if GM is smart enough to fire the right people and keep the right ones.

I guess I’m a little skeptical about the product side of this restructuring. Can they turn around the decline in market share with their new product?

We can take some confidence from the result against Azerbaijan.

I think Mark Fields will eventually be COO, but it’s possible they might still bring in someone from outside the company.