WCA March 2007

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From the Americas
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Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2007
striking statistics: about 25% of international patents
filed in the United States in 2006 were submitted by
immigrants.
Automotive
Toyota surpasses DaimlerChrysler
as No 3 in the US
Toyota Motor Corp had its best year ever in 2006, with sales
of more than 2.5 million vehicles giving it a boost of 12.9%
for the year. The Japanese company’s market share rose
more than two percentage points, up from 13.3% at the end
of 2005. Toyota also pushed past Detroit’s DaimlerChrysler
as the No 3 auto seller in the US for the first time during a
calendar year. According to figures released on 3 rd January
by Autodata Inc (Rochester, Minnesota), Toyota ended
2006 with 15.4% of the US automotive market, compared
with DaimlerChrysler’s 13.3%. Industry analysts credited
Toyota’s success to its reputation for quality and fuel
efficiency as high gasoline prices over much of the year sent
American consumers back to cars from fuel-guzzling trucks
and sport utility vehicles.
Ford Motor Co ended 2006 with 16.4% of the US market,
retaining its No 2 position, despite having been eclipsed
in sales by Toyota for the first time in July and again in
November. But Ford almost certainly will be surrendering
second place to Toyota before very long. Having lost
$7 billion during the first three quarters of 2006, Ford is
now launched on a major restructuring to shrink its factory
capacity. The other member of Detroit’s Big Three producers
– General Motors Corp, the world’s largest automaker –
reported a drop of 8.7% in sales for 2006 compared with
2005. Its market share was 24.3% for 2006, with just over
4 million vehicles sold. Industrywide, US sales dropped
2.6% for 2006 to about 16.5 million from just under
17 million in 2005, Autodata said.
Of related interest . . .
To gain access to a growing segment of the automotive
market in which it now has no significant position, the
Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler AG has agreed with
China’s Chery Automobile Co on a plan for the Chinese
manufacturer to build small cars to be sold worldwide.
They will be offered through Chrysler dealerships in
the US, Europe, and elsewhere under the Chrysler
Group brand Dodge, Chrysler, or Jeep. According to a
Chrysler spokesman the cars, still in the design stage,
are to be based on an existing model but modified by
Chrysler and Chery engineers. Chrysler had wanted for
some time to enter the global market for small cars,
but was deterred by the high labour and other costs of
production in the United States.
In another joint small-car initiative, together with its
major shareholder Ford Motor Co, of the US, Mazda
Motor Corp of Japan plans to invest more than
$430 million to build a plant in Thailand. The Tokyo-
based business daily Nihon Keizai had reported last
autumn that Mazda was set on playing a key role in
Ford’s small-car operations to exploit growing demand
for fuel-efficient Mazdas in the US and Europe. The
paper said Mazda and Ford want to begin operations in
2009 at the Thai plant, which is to roll out some 200,000
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vehicles per year including the 1.3-litre Mazda Demio,
intended mainly for the North American market. Mazda’s
longer-range plans include a factory of its own, possibly
in Mexico, to start operations after 2010.
In other news of DaimlerChrysler, the company on
3rd January said a proposed joint venture with China
Motor Corp to make vans had won the approval
of Beijing, paving the way for expanded capacity in
China. According to a Beijing-based DaimlerChrysler
spokesman, Daimler, China Motor, and the Fujian Motor
Industry Group received permission from the Ministry of
Commerce for a $264 million venture to build as many
as 40,000 Mercedes-Benz vans a year.
Meanwhile, as reported in Indiatimes.com (3rd January),
DaimlerChrysler India realised volume sales growth of
11% last year and sees ‘immense potential’ for even more
buoyant growth ahead. Also in 2006, the DaimlerChrysler
Research and Technology Center – the US company’s
R&D unit in Bangalore – completed 10 years in India.
Telecom
Experts say communications
disaster planning is urgent
The grade 6.5 earthquake in the ocean off Taiwan on
26th December jolted Chunghwa’s undersea cables and
disrupted communication between the US and China.
When the fibre optic cables owned by the largest Taiwanese
telecom operator were damaged, call volume fell by half
and Internet usage slowed to a crawl. The routes were
restored fairly quickly, but according to experts the
episode highlights the vulnerability of international
telecommunications in a global economy that has grown
dependent on real-time connectivity.
According to Einnews.com, the earthquake and aftershocks
that jolted Asia for hours and reverberated in broken
US-China connections for weeks also raised the stakes
for $500 million in planned investment in new trans-
Pacific undersea cables. (‘Earthquake Exposes Worldwide
Telecommunications Vulnerabilities,’ 28th December).
“Natural disasters can expose weaknesses in global
communications,” said Ken Zita, chairman of the Pacific
Telecommunications Council conference ‘PTC’07: Beyond
Telecom,’ 14th-17th January in Honolulu, Hawaii (US)
“Despite the latest network management technologies,
traffic concentration remains susceptible to strong
natural hazards.”
PTC’07 was expected to draw telecom executives from
over 60 countries to discuss emergency communications
and disaster management. Session topics included rapid
deployment of communications tools in times of disaster
and the establishment of emergency tactical plans for
critical communications facilities. Founded in 1980, the
Pacific Telecommunications Council is an international
non-profit organisation, based in Honolulu, with a mission
to promote the development, understanding, and beneficial
use of telecommunications and information technology
throughout the Pacific region.
According to David Lassner, who heads the PTC board
of governors, the earthquake off Taiwan underscores
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