Global Car Industry Facing Recession

The Global Car Industry
Facing Recession and a Credit Crisis
Case study
Reference no 309-032-1

This case was written by Nick S Potter, Birmingham Business School, University of
Birmingham. It is intended to be used as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. The case was compiled from published sources.
© 2009, Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham.
No part of this publication may be copied, stored, transmitted, reproduced or distributed in any form or medium whatsoever without the permission of the copyright owner.

ecch the case for learning

Distributed by ecch, UK and USA www.ecch.com All rights reserved
Printed in UK and USA

North America t [phone] f [phone] e [e-mail]

Rest of the world t [phone] f [phone] e [e-mail]

309-032-1

___________________________________________________

The Global Car Industry: Facing Recession and a Credit Crisis
N.S. Potter
“The change that has hit the world economy is of a critical scale that comes once in a hundred years” said Katsuaki Watanabe, announcing Toyota’s first annual loss in its
71 year history. The firm said it expected a loss of 150 billion Yen (£1.1 billion) in yearly operating profits and confirmed that vehicle sales in the U.S. had fallen 37% in
December 2008 and that production would halt for a total of 14 days from January to
March 2009 in an effort to reduce inventories.
Meanwhile, in America, outgoing President George W. Bush threw the struggling car makers a $17.4 billion lifeline to stave off immediate bankruptcy and Canada became the second G8 economy to bail out its car industry. In the UK, Tata approached the government for up to £1billion to help save Jaguar and Land Rover and announced at the same time that it was sponsoring the Ferrari F1 team in 2009.

The Global Car Industry in 2009 - An Overview.