Fiat Share Prices Fall as European Banks Become More Weary

 

The CEO of Fiat, Sergio Marchionne had recently announced that he was interested in acquiring the rest of Chrysler, and completely merge the two companies. However, this ‘announcement’ has made two European banks become more weary of the situation, and so, they`ve downgraded Fiat’s stock.

One bank, UBS AG, is changing the status of the company’s stock from a ‘buy’ rating, to a ‘neutral’ rating, while Deutsche Bank changed the stocks’ status from ‘hold’ to ‘sell. Now, as Chrysler is currently much more profitable than Fiat, and dragging it along for the ride, Marchionne is undoubtedly keen to get more of the profits of the American market, which is working much better than the one in Euope, and will do so for at least another two or three years, according to analysts.

Also, this past Tuesday, Fiat shares fell by 5.9%, the event which prompted the two aforementioned banks to react. They still need somewhere in the eregion of 1.6-billion to 2.9-billion euros to get the rest of Chrysler, yet it is highly doubtful that they actually have that much money to spend, given the current situation.

Story via detroitnews.com

You have read this article chrysler / Europe / Fiat / Financial / Industry / US with the title US. You can bookmark this page URL http://rouserworks.blogspot.com/2012/11/fiat-share-prices-fall-as-european.html. Thanks!

Automakers Plan to Set Global Standard for EV Charging

In an effort to promote a quicker adoption of EVs, the major global automakers are expected to cooperate and collaborate in the setting of a global standard for EV fast charging. There are currently two different charging systems in use, CHAdeMo and Combo, which, apparently is one too many.

The CHAdeMo fast charging system is mainly promoted by Japan, but according to Hideaki Watanabe, Corporate VP of Nissan, “There’s really no conflict between the CHAdeMo and Combo systems. We just have to work together to standardize the charging systems.” The ‘Combo’ fast charging system is the one favored by Europe and the US, and it’s the system they want to promote around the world. According to Rudolf Kerbs, Volkswagen AG’s group chief officer for electric traction, who stated last week that the two sides “need to make concessions”, he went on to say that it would be ideal if, somehow, the two charging methods were made compatible with one-another, so that over the course of the coming years they would eventually merge into one single system.

However, China, the ‘soon-to-be’ biggest player on the global auto market, wants to adopt its own, separate system, thus forcing the automakers to comply if they want to sell their EVs in the PRC. We’ll just have to wait and see how this pans out.

Via therepublic.com

You have read this article EV / News / US with the title US. You can bookmark this page URL http://rouserworks.blogspot.com/2012/06/automakers-plan-to-set-global-standard.html. Thanks!

Texas Toll Road to Get 85 MPH Speed Limit

Last year, a law that stated Texas would raise the speed limit to 85 mph where this is possible, as well as cancel the nighttime limit was approved, and now we are seeing the first results of the initiative.

According to Fox News, a new toll road, which will be included in State Highway 130, will be built (the construction is debuting in the proximity of Austin) and this will come with an 85 mph (that's 137 km/h for all you folks in other sides of the world) speed limit.

Being allowed to drive 5 mph (8 km/h) faster than before is great news, but, if you spend a second to think about this, it won’t seem like such a pleasant announcement anymore, simply because the idea that you have to pay to be able to do that is annoying to say the least.

You have read this article Speed Limit / Speeding / US with the title US. You can bookmark this page URL http://rouserworks.blogspot.com/2012/06/texas-toll-road-to-get-85-mph-speed.html. Thanks!