おはようございます。GMを始めとする日米欧の自動車大手の窮状がさかんに報道されていますが、それ以外の自動車会社の状態は？安いだけの国策会社はもっとヒドイ状態なのでは？
ロシア政府の自動車救済、乗用車ラダのアフトバス 支援はほとんど無条件
Few Strings on Russian-Style Bailout (NYTimes.com)
The factory (Lada) here has been stamping out the same version of the Lada, the typical boxy people’s car of the former Eastern Bloc, for four decades. Known by its Russian acronym Avtovaz, it is one of the least efficient automobile factories anywhere in the world — each worker produces, on average, eight cars a year, compared with 36 cars a year at GM’s assembly line in Bowling Green, Ky., for example.
Yet the government is giving Avtovaz billions of dollars in aid, no strings attached. No chief executive firings. No renegotiation of workers’ contracts. No demands to turn out better-quality cars, much less fuel-efficient hybrid cars. (The first car with an airbag was introduced here in 2005.)
But the auto bailout, Russian style, is intended more to ensure peace in the streets than restructure a business, much to the lament of some critics who think tough love might be better. “The key issue is too much government protection,” Yegor T. Gaidar, a former prime minister, said. “The factory will create as many problems for the Russian economy as General Motors for the States.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/business/global/07lada.html?_r=1&hpw
米大統領のトルコ訪問、オバマ大統領「米国はイスラム世界と戦争しているわけではない」 トルコは中東問題解決の要
Obama: U.S. Is Not at War With Islam (WSJ.com)
ANKARA, Turkey -- Barack Obama, in his first appearance as U.S. president in a Muslim nation, waded Monday into Turkey's thorniest issues -- the slaughter of Armenians in World War I and the rising power of political Islam in a secular state.
... "I know that the trust that binds the United States and Turkey has been strained, and I know that strain is shared in many places where the Muslim faith is practiced," he told Turkey's parliament in a speech beamed live throughout the Muslim world. "So let me say this as clearly as I can: the United States is not and will never be at war with Islam."
... White House officials say the administration sees Turkey as vital for a number of foreign-policy efforts. With a conservative government now controlling Israel, the president hopes to enlist Turkey as a bridge between Israel and Syria.
thorny issue: 厄介な問題
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123900834350192219.html
伊ENI、露ガスプロム・ネフト株20％をガスプロムに売却 ユコス時代の関係を清算
ENI to Sell 20% of Gazprom Neft to Russian Parent (WSJ.com)
Italian oil and gas company ENI SpA on Tuesday will sign a $4.2 billion deal to sell its stake in a Russian oil producer to OAO Gazprom, according to people familiar with the matter, closing one of the chapters of the Yukos affair.
Gazprom, the world's largest natural-gas producer, has long had a call option to buy ENI's 20% stake in Gazprom Neft, its oil unit, but many wondered if it was too strapped for cash to exercise it. A person familiar with the deal said the gas giant was lining up financing from some of Russia's largest banks, such as state-run VTB.
The deal comes at a difficult time for Gazprom, which has been squeezed by falling gas prices and collapsing energy demand across Europe, its main export market. Gazprom already is Russia's biggest corporate borrower, with $47.6 billion in debt as of mid-2008. Only last week, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin offered the company state aid to get it through the downturn -- an offer Gazprom's head, Alexei Miller, declined.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123903229030393233.html
米大手企業のR&D投資額、前年比で変わらず 08年第４四半期、景気低迷も
R&D Spending Holds Steady in Slump (WSJ.com)
Wary of emerging from the recession with obsolete products, big U.S. companies spent nearly as much on research and development in the dismal last quarter of 2008 as they did a year earlier, even as their revenue fell 7.7%, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. The sampling looked at 28 of the largest U.S. R&D spenders, excluding deeply troubled auto makers and the drug industry, where R&D spending is dictated by government requirements.
Big R&D spenders say they've learned from past downturns that they must invest through tough times if they hope to compete when the economy improves. Many innovative products, from the iPod to fuel-efficient aircraft engines, were hatched during downturns. If past patterns hold, today's spending may plant the seeds of innovations that triumph in the recovery.
"Companies by and large realize that large reductions in R&D are suicidal," says Jim Andrew, a senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group. "It is the last shoe to drop."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123819035034460761.html
日本とベネズエラ、両首脳が協力関係強化に合意 エネルギー・投資・貿易
Japanese, Venezuelan leaders agree to deepen ties (The Associated Press)
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez agreed Monday to deepen ties in energy, investment and trade, with Japanese companies ready to participate in gas and crude production in the Latin American country.
Aso and Chavez decided to set up a working team to discuss details of Japanese investment in heavy crude production in Venezuela's oil-rich Orinoco River basin, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Chavez, on a two-day visit to Tokyo, has expressed hopes to get Japanese companies to participate as minority partners in a joint venture with state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA in the Orinoco project.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iqdXfcESCEotjJbs-Ydbz0RPGkiwD97D56V00
米クライスラーの電気自動車開発、パートナーの１社はA123システムズ リチウムイオン電池
Chrysler Picks Electric-Car Vendor (WSJ.com)
DETROIT -- Chrysler LLC selected Massachusetts-based A123Systems to build lithium ion battery cells, packs and modules for its electric cars, which are expected to hit the market in late 2010.
The electric vehicle components will be used in Chrysler's ENVI vehicles, which have been in development for nearly two years, Lou Rhodes, president of the company's ENVI division said. The five vehicles are the Dodge Circuit EV, Jeep Wrangler EV, Jeep Patriot EV, Chrysler Town & Country EV and the Chrysler 200C EV concept.
"The design, development and chemistry is A123," Mr. Rhodes said. "They've been a trusted partner over the last three years."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123902570892592751.html
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良い一日を(o^-')b