Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Cents and Sensibility - Kimberly and Friends' Consortium -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rocket_no9 who wrote (107400)	5/26/2000 2:35:00 PM
From: If only I'd held	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108040

Listen to ferret face and her gloom and doom..."a major downer" woohoo 35 points.....When is she gonna get that job with Regis??

To: rocket_no9 who wrote (107400)	5/26/2000 2:56:00 PM
From: stock4U	Respond to of 108040

FORD and IC will start on line car buying service. Ford's Indian unit raises 2000 sales target BOMBAY, May 26 (Reuters) - Ford India Ltd, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co of the U.S., has raised its sales target for calendar 2000 riding on the success of its Ikon model, its managing director said on Friday. Ford India hopes to sell between 22,500-23,000 cars during the year compared to a target of 21,500 set late last year when the Ikon was launched, Phil Spender, who is also Ford India's President, told Reuters. ``At the moment it looks like we are building good brand equity (with Ikon) and volumes are a little bit more robust than we first thought,'' he said. ``We have waiting lists of between six and eight weeks for deliveries. There's plenty of pent-up demand here at the moment,'' he said. Spender was speaking on the sidelines of a news conference to announce a tie-up with Indian financial services firm ICICI Ltd (NYSE:ICd - news) which would allow expatriate Indians to buy cars through the Internet to be delivered in India. Ford has invested about 17 billion rupees so far in India and has set up a manufacturing unit on the outskirts of the southern Indian city of Madras where it makes the Ikon model. Spender said Ford was in the process of increasing its production in India to about 100 cars a day from 80 now and hoped to have profitable operations from the current year. ``Ikon has been a huge success in the market and we are really thrilled about that. We are very confident there will be a cash break-even this year,'' he said. ``In terms of making a bottomline profit... that is more dependent on what the second product is that comes in to support the Ikon and we haven't got our plans finalised,'' Spender said. The Ford official said he saw demand in India for mid-sized cars, where the Ikon is placed, at 80,000 units this year but forecast growth for the overall car market to slow down. ``We feel the car market will grow between 12 to 15 percent this year and we see the Ikon segment growing at a faster rate than that because of all the new model activity that's there,'' said Spender. ``I think under the circumstances that's fairly healthy growth but what that clearly means is we are coming off the 40 percent year-to-date growth, down to something more modest which is where we viewed it all along