Rod Lache Quotations

We believe that Dana is struggling to obtain secured bank financing and a bank deal may not materialize, or if it does, it may be too small to allow Dana to weather company specific and industry head winds.

The primary reason for our change of thinking is that there may be a legitimate argument that GM and the UAW would be better off if Delphi files.

When you can price much higher that means you can put a lot more content into the vehicles and can reinforce that brand equity by putting out exceptional products.

My feeling is that it (the Firestone brand) is irreparably damaged. I don't see how or why they would try to support the brand when they have a better brand (Bridgestone) that is unscathed by this news.

My feeling is that it (the Firestone brand) is irreparably damaged, ... I don't see how or why they would try to support the brand when they have a better brand (Bridgestone) that is unscathed by this news.

I think it's a smart move because it's less deceptive. People who are going on the Internet can get the right news up front.

I think it's almost impossible for Ford to distance themselves from the problem, but I think they've done a very good job conveying responsiveness to the U.S. consumer, obviously being more responsive than Firestone has.

Korea is the sixth largest car market in the world, and companies need the distribution network that Daewoo has. It also is a good platform with its low cost small car to move into China. It might not be the hottest one at the dance, but it's the only single one.

It doesn't give them the critical mass they need in Japan or any other Asian market. They want to have 25 percent of the Asian market. It's very strongly implied there will be more m&a activity in the market.

We continue to be disappointed by the limited cash savings targeted by current restructuring efforts. Our concerns go beyond the ongoing market share erosion, uncertainty over the GMAC sale, and uncertainty over (parts supplier) Delphi.

The problem with a lot of cars introduced is achieving differentiation. Most new vehicles rather quickly have to have price concessions. This thing is very unique.

We would note that given the size of GM, there are relatively few players that could pull such a deal off. Consequently, betting on a takeover of this scale seems to us to be more like gambling than investing.

This result underscores our concern about GM's earnings concentration, which may be even more acute than we have estimated.

We believe liquidity pressures, combined with a weak fundamental outlook could compel Dana to pursue debtor in possession financing and a Chapter 11 reorganization. Given restrictions on secured borrowing and pressure from its suppliers, Dana may not be successful in obtaining sufficient out of bankruptcy secured bank financing.

Customers are unsure of what supplier pricing is, but they are assuming correctly that it is not as good as employee pricing.

They've been telling us explicitly that they haven't decided on what their small car strategy is going to be, ... But they said their discussions with Fiat have not been on the basis of a merger, and that PSA is still their preferred partner.

It seems pretty far-fetched to me that this thing would go into a confrontation given that at least some progress has been made and everybody's incentive to get this over the finish line.

Ford's North American operating business model continues to deteriorate,

It's the worst thing that can happen if you're trying to launch a new product.

Dana is struggling to obtain secured bank financing and a bank deal may not materialize. We remain concerned that Dana will be unable to overcome weak demand outlooks.

It's an exaggeration to say they took Neon guts and built a truck over it, but took a lot of things in that platform and modified it.

Investors will have fresh questions about the feasibility of the company's $1 billion material cost savings goal in 2006. This is clearly a bad situation, but maybe not as bad as it originally appears.

I don't see this as resulting in anything dramatically negative. Over time, you'll see incentives rising everywhere. But it's not anything scary yet.

This is no big surprise. It's been rumored for some time. As far as share price, I think it depends on who they put in there. Right now there's a vacuum. If they put someone in who is shareholder-oriented, it should help.

The Firestone name is horribly damaged and it's definitely not clear they can survive the damage.