They’ve been telling us explicitly that they haven’t decided on what their small car strategy is going to be, … But they said their discussions with Fiat have not been on the basis of a...

Customers are unsure of what supplier pricing is, but they are assuming correctly that it is not as good as employee pricing.

I think we might have a slight degree of difference in the degree of aggressiveness in certain government bodies such as EPA and NHTSA. But overall, even in a Bush administration, environmental regulations are going...

Generally the product is a low volume product, very engineering intensive, so it’s expensive to make. GM has too much car capacity and not enough truck capacity. Car plants are operating close to 70 percent...

We believe that Dana is struggling to obtain secured bank financing and a bank deal may not materialize, or if it does, it may be too small to allow Dana to weather company specific and...

It’s an exaggeration to say they took Neon guts and built a truck over it, but took a lot of things in that platform and modified it.

Excluding fleet, retail sales of GM and Ford were down 7% and 6, respectively.

Language in the filing seems to suggest that a deal is not imminent and may not happen at all. Since the company appears to have suggested to the rating agencies that it expects resolution by...

The Firestone name is horribly damaged and it’s definitely not clear they can survive the damage.

They’ve eroded a lot of their credibility over the past couple of years. (Now) the bar that they set has been lowered again.

This result underscores our concern about GM’s earnings concentration, which may be even more acute than we have estimated.

While we acknowledge the potential for improvement from GM’s new trucks, it strikes us as completely unrealistic to believe that GM’s new product pipeline will be sufficient to do anything more than temporarily mitigate the...

I think that (labor peace at GM) is largely the news here. They’ve lost a lot of momentum last year and previous years due to strikes.

Our key takeaway from Toyota and Nissan presentations is that there may be more risk to our GM and Ford market share assumptions than previously thought.

When you can price much higher that means you can put a lot more content into the vehicles and can reinforce that brand equity by putting out exceptional products.

It seems pretty far-fetched to me that this thing would go into a confrontation given that at least some progress has been made and everybody’s incentive to get this over the finish line.

It seems like perceptions in Detroit have changed quite a bit, and people are nervous about GM ‘ s future, … This health care deal doesn ‘ t solve GM ‘ s problems, but it...

We would note that given the size of GM, there are relatively few players that could pull such a deal off. Consequently, betting on a takeover of this scale seems to us to be more...

On the negative side, however, the market appears to have become too optimistic about the potential for a GMAC sale.

In the long run it may gain greater market share, greater scale, … But it’d raise a lot of near-term concerns.

This is no big surprise. It’s been rumored for some time. As far as share price, I think it depends on who they put in there. Right now there’s a vacuum. If they put someone...

If we exclude the $2 billion in proceeds from asset sales, it appears that GM burned through approximately $1.2 billion in cash in the quarter.

While this certainly sounds dramatic, we fear it may not be enough. Unless the Big Three break their pattern of deflation and market share losses, it is likely that each of them will experience reductions...

The full benefit of the 18 million vehicle sales pace a year ago was never really achieved because of severe negative pricing over last couple of years. What’s going to happen as auto demand decline...

The problem with a lot of cars introduced is achieving differentiation. Most new vehicles rather quickly have to have price concessions. This thing is very unique.

I think it’s a smart move because it’s less deceptive. People who are going on the Internet can get the right news up front.

We acknowledge the risk that incentives may move higher. This risk is particularly acute considering the potential for a softening of auto sales, and considering all the capacity coming on line between 2000 and 2003.

It was a bit disappointing.

it’s not a stock moving event.

It doesn’t give them the critical mass they need in Japan or any other Asian market. They want to have 25 percent of the Asian market. It’s very strongly implied there will be more m&a...

Sales of 16 million now looks a lot less profitable than 16 million did a few years ago,

The primary reason for our change of thinking is that there may be a legitimate argument that GM and the UAW would be better off if Delphi files.

It looks like cost savings are trending better than expected and Asia and Latin America are getting close to turning the corner. On the negative side, Europe is having some pretty disappointing profitability.

[No matter what it looks like, reaching a deal] will involve some cost to GM, … But on the positive side, we believe that GM will likely avoid a potentially devastating shutdown of its North...

We believe liquidity pressures, combined with a weak fundamental outlook could compel Dana to pursue debtor in possession financing and a Chapter 11 reorganization. Given restrictions on secured borrowing and pressure from its suppliers, Dana...

The industry is on fire.

Ford’s North American operating business model continues to deteriorate.

If [Firestone parent] Bridgestone has to incur a strike and is unable to meet its commitments to customers, the name would be even more badly damaged, … Bridgestone at this point basically has to capitulate.

I think that Wagoner was essentially running GM for the past year at the very least, … He was certainly the operating guy, and Smith was the strategic guy.

We continue to be disappointed by the limited cash savings targeted by current restructuring efforts. Our concerns go beyond the ongoing market share erosion, uncertainty over the GMAC sale, and uncertainty over (parts supplier) Delphi.

We believe these companies face significant risk if the latest spike in gasoline prices serves as a catalyst to accelerate the shift away from these types of vehicles.

It’s undervalued. There’s a hidden asset, and GM’s realizing some of that value for shareholders. They’re going to use some of this stock to buy back some GM,

Dana is struggling to obtain secured bank financing and a bank deal may not materialize. We remain concerned that Dana will be unable to overcome weak demand outlooks.

Korea is the sixth largest car market in the world, and companies need the distribution network that Daewoo has. It also is a good platform with its low cost small car to move into China....

It’s the worst thing that can happen if you’re trying to launch a new product.

My feeling is that it (the Firestone brand) is irreparably damaged. I don’t see how or why they would try to support the brand when they have a better brand (Bridgestone) that is unscathed by...

I think it’s almost impossible for Ford to distance themselves from the problem, but I think they’ve done a very good job conveying responsiveness to the U.S. consumer, obviously being more responsive than Firestone has.

Investors will have fresh questions about the feasibility of the company’s $1 billion material cost savings goal in 2006. This is clearly a bad situation, but maybe not as bad as it originally appears.

I don’t see this as resulting in anything dramatically negative. Over time, you’ll see incentives rising everywhere. But it’s not anything scary yet.