Automotive TNT

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Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity has dropped in the automotive sector, new statistics show. However, experts still believe the outlook for M&As remains positive.

New data from PwC reveals that M&A activity in the automotive sector slowed down in the first half of this year, with 264 deals being closed at an estimated value of $10.6 billion. This is a significant drop since the first half of 2011, when 303 deals were closed to the value of $18.8 billion.

Paul Elie, US automotive transaction services leader for PwC, commented on the trend, “Europe is taking a toll on global M&A deal activity. Historically, Europe has been among the most active regions in automotive M&A. That said, automotive companies from emerging countries like China and India have opportunities to acquire technology or market access at favorable valuations in Europe.”

A number of factors have contributed to the downturn in M&As in the automotive sector, with the main one being the ongoing economic crisis, which saw car registrations drop by 6.3 per cent in the first six months of this year.

PwCs Autofacts predicts that annual car sales in Europe will fall by a 7.3 per cent, which would take the annual total to 12.6 million units, over 3 million units below the 2007 high point.

However, it is not all bad news for Europe. The operating environment in Europe may result in positive valuations and a growth in inbound M&A activity over the next couple of years, particularly around the acquisition of technology and market access.

Outside of Europe, North America is continuing to attract more investments, after it underwent restructuring during the 2008/9 recession. Thanks to this, North American operations are benefiting from healthy profits, resulting in them having cash available to invest in M&A deals. North Americas share of M&A deals is now up to 26 per cent, from 20 per cent in the first half of 2011.

Asia was the most active region for automotive M&As in the first half of 2012. However, 86 of the 96 M&A transactions took place within Asia. As internal sales slow down in India and China, buyers are likely to be looking for ways to boost sales and they may also be on the lookout for technology deals in a bid to remain globally competitive.

Although deal activity was down across all sectors, component manufacturers fared the best, suffering only a 5 per cent drop, compared to drops of 19 per cent and 21 per cent in vehicle manufacturers and other categories respectively.

M&A activity has dropped for both trade and financial suppliers compared to this time last year, the PwC figures show. M&A volume for financial buyers fell to 22 per cent, the lowest it has been since 2008/9. Financial buyer activity was mainly based around component supply with over half of the deals being in this area.

PwC expects M&A activity for the global automotive sector to grow by 300 million units between now and 2018. However, due to technological changes and industry fragmentation, a clearer timescale for growth is not in place yet. |

Paul Elie said, “PwC maintains positive expectations for deal activity contingent upon the following conditions: Successful resolution of Europe’s sovereign debt crisis; strong economic recovery in developed markets such as the US and Japan; and resumption of trend line economic growth in emerging markets like China and India.”
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DETROIT The Fender Premium Audio System in Volkswagen vehicles has received universal rave reviews from auto columnists and critics after its debut. The new audio system helped to make the all-new 2012 Passat the Motor Trend 2012 Car of the Year.
VW’s new Fender premium audio system is among the standard features on all Passat VR6s, according to Motor Trend. With crisp, clean sound biased toward the front of the interior to best replicate a live concert, this hi-fi is the best you’ll find in a non-luxury car, and one of the best overall.
VWvortex expressed the same level of excitement about the new system: It is one of the best OEM systems out there. 400 watts of total power feed dual voice coil front 6.5-inch front mids with tweeters mounted in the a-pillars up high. The rear passengers also have four speakers in back and bass comes through clean and crisp via a 9″ subwoofer and enclosure mounted under the rear deck. This is a sound system worth upgrading to and sounds really fantastic.
Its loud, proud, and never muddy, echoed MotorAuthority.
Dynamite. Outstanding, said Mark Phelan, automotive columnist at the Detroit Free Press. It makes you wonder why nobody asked Fender to craft a car audio system before.
And CNET Reviews gushed, Most impressive is the Fender audio system, standard on the SEL trim Passat, which we find is the best system available in the segment We were blown away by its ability to expose all the tones produced by plucking a single guitar string.
In addition to the Passat, the nine-speaker killer sound system, developed jointly with Panasonic, also can be found on the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta and Beetle model lines. So impressed with the Fender Premium Audio System, CNET named Fender Premium Audio the factory car audio of the year.
The Fender Premium Audio System is the product of three years of research and was developed hand-in-hand with the Volkswagen vehicle design team, resulting in a nine-speaker, 400-watt system that delivers uncompromised clarity regardless of volume, with a unique Fender sound.
The speakers have been uniquely designed and feature proprietary Panasonic technology to reproduce the individual elements of the Fender sound.
Panasonic and Fender engineers worked painstakingly to uniquely tune the system for each individual vehicles interior, customizing the sound and allowing VWs customers to experience the raw emotion of a live performance each time they drive their vehicle.
About Fender Musical Instruments Corporation:
Fender is the number one U.S. guitar and amplifier brand and a name that is synonymous with rock n roll. With an illustrious history dating back to 1946, Fender has touched and transformed music worldwide and in nearly every genre: rock nroll, country and western, jazz, rhythm and blues, and many more. Everyone from enthusiasts and beginners to the worlds most acclaimed artists and performers has used Fender instruments and amplifiers, in the process making the company not only a revered music industry name, but also a cultural icon. For more information, visit www.fender.com.
About Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America:
Based in Peachtree City, Ga., and with Detroit-area operations located in Southfield, Mich., Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America is a division company of Secaucus, New Jersey-based Panasonic Corporation of North America, the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation. (NYSE: PC) of Osaka, Japan, one of the world’s leading developers and producers of innovative digital and other electronic products for consumer, business and industrial use. Panasonic Automotive Systems Company of America also acts as the North American operating company of Panasonics Automotive Systems Company, which coordinates global automotive industry systems and components operations. For more information about Panasonic, visit www.panasonic.com/automotive.
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Automotive industries conduct automotive marketing research to measure consumer behavior and thus understand whether a service or a product creates a sufficient demand in the market. Marketing search is considered as an effective tool in understanding the new marketing trends, likes and dislikes of the customers and the efficiency of the competitors. By conducting a well designed marketing study, manufacturers can reduce the uncertainty and risk associated with the launching of a new product.
Automotive marketing research is necessary in the following situations.

When you lack adequate information to formulate and design marketing strategy

When you are stuck with more options and confused with what to choose

When there is conflicts within the organization regarding the policy,marketing strategy and objectives

When you detect or forecast any problem like declination of market share

When you find a marketing program efficient and effective and you want to know how and why

When you are behind a new project; introducing a new product, launching a product in to a new market segment, revising the price and so on.

Following are some situations when automotive marketing research is not helpful.

When time is a constraint; when you work under strict time schedule

When you clearly know what you want know without conducting a research

When the detailed information about your research problem already exist in the data base of your organization

When the expense of conducting research exceeds its value

When the budget is insufficient to effectively carry out the research

When you feel that the research findings would not largely help in your newly launched product

When the problem is unclear to define and the objectives are undistinguishable

Presently, it is not mandatory for the marketers or the manufacturers to conduct automobile marketing research by themselves. Conducting marketing research is now easier and efficient by utilizing the service of reputed marketing research companies. These companies understand the research problem from the clients, design appropriate marketing research methodology and then conduct the research on behalf of their clients. By conducting car clinics, auto show research, drive studies, online research and mail and phone studies, these marketing research companies collect useful information from the selected samples.
Most of the reputed and experienced automotive marketing research companies conduct the marketing research through the following steps.

Understand the research objectives and information needs

Determine the appropriate research design

Develop the date collection process

Determine and design the sampling

Collect data

Processing the data

Preparation of the research report

Submitting the final report to the client

In this highly competitive global economy, automobile industries need to exploit the opportunities and avoid all the mistakes that are likely to appear while launching a new product in order to survive and be profitable. Hence, it is imperative to conduct automotive marketing research to collect current, reliable and useful information to make effective marketing strategies and decisions.

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