Category: News

China wanted a stimulus package in the form of frenzied lending and it got it. As we approach 2010, Chinese banks will need to re-up cash to meet capital requirements:

CCTV: Chinese banks will need to raise as much as 500 billion yuan ($73.2 billion) from the capital market next year to beef up their capital reserves after a lending boom this year, according to a Financial Times report Monday, citing Li Fuan, an official from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

His comments were the first official acknowledgement of China’s banks needing to fundraise to replenish capital.

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See Also:

• Albert Edwards: Here Comes A Trade War, A Yuan Revaluation, And A Stunning Chinese Trade Deficit
• Andy Xie: Obama Is Wrong, A Yuan Repricing Won’t Do Squat
• Bank Of China Official: The World Is Running Out Of Money To Buy US Debt

Google is building up to make a major play in an area where it hasn’t had much of a presence before, voice communications. Google Voice was launched earlier this year and it has been picking up steam since, despite still being technically in private beta. It plans to open up the service to everyone later this year and now TechCrunch reports that it will include it to the Google Apps suite for enterprises and organizations soon after.

The move wouldn’t be that unexpected considering the trajectories of both Apps and Voice. It’s also a potentially very lucrative market, though certainly not lacking in competition. Google has constantly evolved Apps and added more features and services along the way. It started out with only a handful of apps like Gmail, Calendar and Docs, but has added quite a few more along the way.

Google Voice started out as GrandCentral, a company offering a very similar service, which Google acquired in 2007. Since then it worked to move the product to Google’s infrastructure and has been opening it up for a few months now. While still in private beta, invitations are handed out rather liberally at this point.

The service enables users to have just one phone number for all their phones regardless of the carrier. Google Voice redirects all incoming calls to the connection… (read more)

Filed under: Car Buying, Sedan, Marketing/Advertising, Ford

When a new model hits the market, auto manufacturers typically release higher-option models out of the gate to maximize early profits. In short, if you’re jonesin’ to get into an all-new product, you often pay a content premium to be one of the first to get said new car or truck. In a good market, that makes sense, but since 2009 has been a sales disaster for automakers, it was understandable that Ford chose to make more lower-spec 2010 Tauruses than normal. Despite the challenging financial climate, as it turns out, many dealers are clamoring for more high content models.

Automotive News is reporting that dealers are short on SEL and SHO variants of the new Taurus. Marketing chief Jim Farley reportedly told a group of reporters at a press event that the situation was “a problem for our dealers.” Overall inventory of the Taurus is solid, with the typical dealer holding a 60-70 day supply of the plus-sized sedans – but some dealers have reportedly waited up to 80 days for certain custom orders.

Given how much more upscale the 2010 model is over the last model, this can be seen as a victory of sorts for the Blue Oval, as it wasn’t clear that consumers would welcome back the Taurus nameplate on any car, much less one with loftier aspirations and price tags. That said, all is not puppy dogs and ice cream – Taurus sales are down 22 percent year-over-year (selling 38,361 units through November), although whether that is because of the economy or the car itself remains up for discussion.

Ford dealers are reportedly also running short on F-150 Double Cab models as market demand was misjudged by product planners.

One vehicle that may help Ford to pick the right mix out of the gate is the Fiesta. Ford has gained over 80,000 hand-raisers for what will soon be the Blue Oval’s smallest US vehicle and the “Fiesta Movement” has helped the automaker get a lot more data on what kinds of variants customers expect. If the Fiesta launch goes as planned, we’re thinking Ford will take similar steps to market other products in the future.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]

REPORT: Ford altering Taurus model mix to build more SEL, SHO models originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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