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Non-Tech : Nissan Motors (NSANY) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: EPS who wrote (40)	5/13/1998 8:09:00 PM
From: EPS	Respond to of 124

FOCUS-Nissan says Daimler talks past halfway point 04:32 a.m. May 13, 1998 Eastern TOKYO, May 13 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co president Yoshikazu Hanawa said on Wednesday talks on a tie-up with Germany's Daimler-Benz AG were past the halfway point and he hoped for a deal by late June. ''We're past the halfway point. We've been talking to each other for quite a long time now and we've both already said to each other what we need to say,'' he told reporters after a news conference on Nissan vehicles for the physically disabled. He added that Nissan Motor, Japan's second-biggest carmaker and the world's sixth-largest, was also mulling tie-ups with other companies. ''We are looking at a variety of places where there is a possibility of tying up. It just so happened that Daimler was the first one to become publicly known,'' he said. He added that the Daimler talks would not affect Nissan's cooperation with U.S. carmaker Ford Motor Co . Nissan and Ford make minivans at a joint factory in the United States. Nissan and Daimler announced on Monday they were in talks on a possible alliance in a number of areas in the commercial vehicle sector, including the possibility of Daimler taking a controlling stake in truck maker Nissan Diesel Motor Co , now nearly 40 percent owned by Nissan Motor. Hanawa said the talks with Daimler covered about a dozen areas ranging from technology to sales to production. ''I told our people involved (in the talks) to make tie-ups wherever they could,'' he said. He added that while there was a strong chance Daimler would become Nissan Diesel's top shareholder, Nissan Motor did not plan to entirely relinquish its stake in the truck maker. He said Daimler's equity participation in Nissan Diesel could take the form of an injection of fresh capital as well as the purchase of Nissan Motor's shares in the company. Nissan Diesel, the smallest of Japan's 11 carmakers, has been hit with heavy losses due in large part to a sluggish economy and shrinking truck demand at home. Hanawa added that the Daimler talks were with the Nissan group as a whole, although they did not at this time involve group member Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd , which makes Subaru brand automobiles and is about four percent owned by Nissan Motor. Hanawa said Daimler's aims in the talks apparently included a stronger presence in Asia's commercial vehicle market. ''Daimler is particularly strong in large vehicles, and they feel they want to develop their business in Asia,'' he said. He added, however, that there had so far been no talk of a Nissan Motor merger with Daimler or of one firm taking an equity stake in the other. He said he first learned of Daimler's plans to merge with U.S. carmaker Chrysler Corp in the newspapers last week, and that he doubted whether that move would affect the Nissan-Daimler talks. ((Edmund Klamann/Tokyo Equities Desk +81-3 3432 9052

To: EPS who wrote (40)	5/13/1998 8:11:00 PM
From: EPS	Respond to of 124

Mitsubishi struggles while Daimler, Nissan snuggle 07:33 a.m. May 12, 1998 Eastern By Edmund Klamann TOKYO, May 12 (Reuters) - Japan's troubled Nissan Motor Co is snuggling up to a big strong German carmaker that could ease its burdens, but Mitsubishi Motors Corp , another struggling auto firm, looks set to go it largely alone. Nissan Motor, the world's sixth largest carmaker, on Tuesday revealed further details of areas where it may cooperate with Daimler-Benz AG . Daimler last week said it plans to merge with U.S.-based Chrysler Corp to form the world's fifth largest carmaker, and on Monday said it was also talking to Nissan about a possible tie-up in commercial vehicles. But Mitsubishi Motor, which once had cozy ties with both Daimler and Chrysler, has since drifted away from the two. Aside from some joint projects with Sweden's AB Volvo , analysts expect it will try to maintain its independence despite its struggle with heavy losses and intensifying global competition. ''Mitsubishi Motors has had a strong sense of identity as a member of the Mitsubishi group, which is very powerful globally,'' said Takaki Nakanishi, analyst for Merrill Lynch Securities Japan. ''But that's not enough anymore to survive in the auto industry. They must step out of the Mitsubishi group and establish cooperative relationships.'' Mitsubishi Motors, hit hard by the Asian currency crisis and sluggish sales at home, estimates it racked up a hefty loss of 110 billion yen in the fiscal year to March 31. It will announce final earnings results later this month. The company has embarked on a drastic cost-cutting plan, but analysts said more is needed. ''My sense is the company feels that with restructuring efforts it will be able to return to profitability,'' said SBC Warburg Japan analyst Peter Boardman. ''The market is moving faster than their cost-cutting. They're going to have to do something more structural.'' Mitsubishi has a joint plant in the Netherlands with Volvo that is scheduled to make 300,000 compact passenger cars this year, and the two firms are studying the possibility of jointly developing low-emission truck engines and other areas of cooperation in the truck sector. But Volvo has also appeared standoffish. Last Thursday, after the Daimler-Chrysler merger announcement, Volvo chief Leif Johansson said he did not expect his company's car business to be involved in any mergers. And last October, Johansson said his company was interested in further cooperation with Mitsubishi, but on a project-by-project basis rather than as a major alliance. Merrill's Nakanishi added that, while the Mitsubishi-Volvo relationship could develop into a strategic tie-up, they were too small -- even together -- to be a truly global player. Nissan, which saw profits fall sharply last fiscal year, on Tuesday said its talks with Daimler would include the possibility of the mutual supply of engines and transmissions, platform-sharing for vans and light trucks and technical cooperation at a Daimler plant in Brazil. Analysts said Mitsubishi was taken by surprise by the Daimler-Nissan negotiations. Chrysler once held a 24 percent stake in Mitsubishi, before the threat of bankruptcy forced it to liquidate what remained of the stake in 1993. In 1991, Chrysler sold Mitsubishi its half of a U.S. joint production plant. Mitsubishi still supplies Chrysler with nearly half of the 200,000 passenger cars the plant makes each year, as well as V6 engines, a Mitsubishi spokeswoman said. Nikko Research Center analyst Noriyuki Matsushima said that if DaimlerChrysler linked up with Nissan and severed the supply deal with Mitsubishi, it could mean trouble for the plant. ''(The supplies to Chrysler) are necessary to maintain utilisation rates at the U.S. factory,'' he said. He expected, however, that the current arrangement will continue for at least three years, while DaimlerChrysler's managers may continue to take cars for an even longer period. Investors on Monday greeted the Daimler-Nissan talks by buying shares of both Nissan and Mitsubishi on expectations both companies would benefit from consolidation in the sector. On Tuesday they apparently saw a Daimler-Nissan agreement as good for Nissan, but bad for Mitsubishi, which is now fading from the DaimlerChrysler picture. Nissan shares ended on Tuesday 5.3 percent higher at 457 yen, after gaining nearly 10 percent on Monday, while Mitsubishi Motors ended down 2.93 percent at 365 yen. ((Tokyo Equities Desk +81 3 3432-9052

To: EPS who wrote (40)	5/13/1998 8:13:00 PM
From: EPS	Respond to of 124

Daimler targets Asia through Nissan talks 09:46 a.m. May 11, 1998 Eastern By Scott Miller FRANKFURT, May 11 (Reuters) - Daimler-Benz AG on Monday took fresh steps toward meeting its lofty sales goals in Asia, confirming it was in talks with Japan's Nissan Motor Co to cooperate in commercial vehicles. Some analysts worried that the struggling Japanese company could present problems for Daimler, already planning to merge with the U.S. Chrysler Corp and and widely believed to be mulling a strategic link-up with another Japanese carmaker -- Mitsubishi Motors Corp. But others said Daimler, maker of Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks, could give itself a leg-up in the Asian truck market by striking a deal with Nissan. ''This is very positive for Daimler,'' said Rolla Kautz, analyst at BHF Bank. ''Daimler is weak in Asia, especially in trucks. It would take a long time for Daimler to build up in the growing Asian market by themselves.'' Daimler and Nissan confirmed on Monday they were in talks about forging a cooperation agreement on commercial vehicles, including a possible sale of shares in truck maker Nissan Diesel Motor Co Ltd. The pair said there was no timeframe for an agreement which could take the form of anything from an outright share purchase to joint product development to a Nissan agreement to buy Daimler axles and drive trains. Daimler, Germany's largest industrial company, has set itself ambitious sales goals in Asia, saying that within 10 years it hopes 20 to 25 percent of group revenue will come from the region, compared with about 10 percent now. Although Daimler's car and aerospace units would provide the biggest push, the company's commercial vehicle division, the world's largest, is being counted on to help boost sales. Nissan's range of products makes it an attractive fit for Daimler which wants to increase sales in Asia's fast-growing market for light trucks. Daimler is already well established in heavy trucks through its Actros line in Europe and Freightliner range in the U.S., and could benefit from Nissan's background in smaller commercial vehicles in Asia. ''Nissan Diesel would fit very well with Daimler,'' said Commerzbank auto analyst Andrew Blair-Smith. ''Daimler has a good position in Europe and the U.S., but is weak in Asia.'' Slumping stock markets in Asia, meanwhile, mean the price for a stake in Nissan Diesel would be attractive and might force the Japanese company's management to agree to terms favourable to Daimler. ''If one wants to expand in Asia, now is a good time,'' said Lothar Lubinetski, analyst at Enskilda Corporate in London. But he and others worried that a link-up with Nissan could present problems. Nissan Motor and Nissan Diesel are both struggling with shrinking sales and a deteriorating balance sheets. ''It seems that Nissan is in a lot of trouble. So that means another restructuring job for Daimler if they decide to buy,'' Lubinetski said. ''Its always a question of buying a company that is doing well, or buying one doing badly and restructuring it.'' Most analysts agreed that although Daimler has just announced a mega-merger with Chrysler Corp , it would still have plenty of resources to overhaul Nissan Diesel if it did plan to take a stake in the company. A Daimler spokesman said there was no connection between the Chrysler merger and the Nissan talks, noting that the two companies produced very different ranges of trucks. As part of its Asia push, Daimler started a 50-50 joint venture with China's Yangzhou Motor Coach Manufacturer General (YMCG) in 1997 to produce and sell buses and chassis for Yaxing and Mercedes-Benz makes. The group has also been producing its MB 800 vehicle in Indonesia since 1997. A Daimler spokesman said the company would continue to look for Asian partners for its commercial vehicle business, and industry analysts think this could include a link-up with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. At a news conference announcing the merger of Daimler and Chrysler last week, Chrysler Chairman Robert Eaton made clear that Asia was high on the new firm's agenda, saying it would seek to ''become a major force in Asia.''

To: EPS who wrote (40)	5/13/1998 8:16:00 PM
From: EPS	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 124

Nissan focuses staff on selling its product By Dale Jewett / The Detroit News GARDENA, Calif. -- School is in session at the Nissan Division of Nissan Motor Corp. USA. The course: Marketing 101. During the last couple of years, the division has attracted notice with a series of eye-catching television commercials, such as a toy sports car speeding around a house. Those commercials made people pay attention, but didn't convince them to buy Nissan cars and trucks. To do that, Nissan started spending an average of $1,500 per vehicle in incentives. Nonetheless, sales for the first four months of this year are down 31 percent. So Michael Seergy, who was named vice-president and general manager of the Nissan Division of Nissan Motor Corp. USA in February, is sending his charges back to school. During the next few weeks, about 8,000 Nissan sales people will go through training courses to get them to focus on selling product attributes, not incentives and low lease rates. The move is part of Seergy's "back to basics" strategy for Nissan. Seergy last week sat down with Detroit News editors and reporters to discuss his plans: Q: How can you cut back on incentives at a time when companies such as General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have jumped in with a new round of incentives? A: We can't turn our back on what the competition is doing. But when you look at what they are doing and how they go to market with deep discounting, the one thing that we have that we haven't communicated well is our product. We think we have a more competitive product. And that's something I think we can lean on. Q: But in the past, Nissan has educated the customer to expect both an above-average product and a steep discount. How do you break free of that incentive legacy? A: Well, there's only one way you can differentiate yourself in the car business today. Especially if you have the opinion which I do that more and more consumers see products as homogeneous to some degree, especially among imports. They're all reliable, all dependable to some degree and the margins are small. How do you differentiate yourself? You do it by handling the customer. The biggest problem is you walk into a dealership, very few (sales people) have been there and have the old book of business they use to have. The guys are all green now. When you have a 3 (percent) or 4 percent unemployment, you have people migrating to other types of jobs and you've got sales people living on what you call a mini -- $50 or $100 a car. We need to keep the same people in place. So we launched a sales person retention program where we pay them $100 for each vehicle sold as additional compensation. And if they're still there three months later, we'll give them another $25 per vehicle. Q: In the late 1980s and early '90s, Nissan was thought of as the maker of sporty, performance-oriented vehicles. What does Nissan stand for today? A: What Nissan stands for today is probably the essence of what Mr. K was -- we build quality products at the most efficient plant in the United States and the most efficient plant in Asia. We stand for the basics of quality, design, designed by the right people and sold by the right people. Q: Are you going to change your ad agency? A: Chiat/Day did exactly what we asked them to do. As a matter of fact, they did an extraordinary job, so good that they won awards. And they had our blessing. Now our direction has changed. And as far as I can see, they're doing exactly what I'm asking. So they're not the problem, either. We're the problem. We're the ones who slipped on our own banana peel. Michael Seergy Job: Vice-president and general manager, Nissan Division Experience: Joined Nissan in 1990 as national market representation manager for Infiniti Division. Prior to current post, Seergy was Northeast regional vice-president for Nissan Division. Education: Bachelor's degree in accounting from Manhattan College; master's degree in business administration from Fordham University Personal: A native of New Jersey; married, with two children