One litre of biodiesel costs 14,000 litres of water

June 5, 2009 at 5:20 pm

(Source: Greenbang, Alpha Galileo & Green Car Congress)

The ‘water footprint’ of bioenergy, i.e. the amount of water required to cultivate crops for biomass, is much greater than for other forms of energy. The generation of bioelectricity is significantly more water-efficient in the end, however – by a factor of two – than the production of biofuel. By establishing the water footprint for thirteen crops, researchers at the University of Twente were able to make an informed choice of a specific crop and production region. They published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) of 2 June.

Researchers at the university analysed 13 crops to determine the optimal production regions for each based on water consumption and climate date. Their goal was to make it easier to prevent biomass cultivation from jeopardising food production in regions where water is already in short supply.

The researchers found, for example, that it takes an average of 14,000 litres of water to produce one litre of biodiesel from rapeseed or soya. However, the water footprint for rapeseed in Western Europe is significantly smaller than in Asia. For soya, India has a large water footprint, while the figures for countries such as Italy and Paraguay are more favourable.

In the generation of bioelectricity, too, there are big differences between the crops: sugar beet has by far the smallest water footprint – jatropha is 10 times less water-efficient. For the production of bioethanol, sugar beet is again by far the favourite: one litre of bioethanol made from sugar beet takes 1,400 litres of water, as against 2,500 litres for sugarcane, which is widely cultivated  in Brazil. 

A new report from Novozymes describes how Brazil could produce up to 8 billion liters (2.1 billion gallons US) of biofuel from sugarcane residues (bagasse) by 2020, representing additional export revenue for Brazil of up to US$4 billion. In Brazil, the proportion of bioethanol used in transport fuel is already at 50%; by comparison, the proportion is 7% in the US, 2% in China, and 1% in Europe, according to Novozymes.

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USDOT Secy LaHood Says Highway Trust Fund May Be Insolvent By Mid-August; Vows to Avert Bankruptcy and Pay For It

June 5, 2009 at 3:32 pm

(Source: Streetsblog & Wall Street Journal)

The Obama administration is working on a plan to fill the shortfall in the nation’s highway trust fund by August without adding to the federal deficit, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Congress yesterday.

The highway trust fund, which relies mostly on gas-tax revenue, will need up to $7 billion in additional money by the end of summer to ensure states continue receiving payments, LaHood told the transportation subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. The fund also will need up to $10 billion in the 12 months after September to ensure its solvency, LaHood said.

The circumstances behind the trust fund’s financial troubles are well-known: a nationwide decline in driving coupled with political resistance to raising the gas tax — which has remained static since 1993 — forced the Bush administration to push $8 billion into the federal transportation coffers last summer. But that infusion was not offset by corresponding spending cuts, which LaHood says the Obama team is committed to this time around.

“We believe very strongly that any trust fund fix must be paid for,” LaHood told members of the House Appropriations Committee’s transportation panel. “We also believe that any trust fund fix must be tied to reform of the current highway program to make it more performance-based and accountable, such as improving safety or improving the livability of our communities — two priorities for me.”

The administration’s quest to offset its trust fund fix, which will cost as much as $7 billion, could prove fruitless.  Rep. John Olver (D-MA), chairman of the panel that greeted LaHood today, put it simply when asked if the necessary spending cuts could be found. “That’d be very tough,” he said, noting that his own annual transportation spending is unlikely to become law before the highway trust fund runs out of cash.  Replenishing the trust fund with a cost offset, as LaHood suggests, requires a serious conversation about finding new long-term revenue sources for not just highways but all modes of transportation.

But he said the President Barack Obama administration has ruled out raising the gas tax to provide additional funding, saying an economic recession isn’t the time to make such a move.  “We are not going to raise the gasoline tax. I’ll just say that emphatically,” LaHood said.

Click here to read the entire article.

GM to sell Saturn brand to Penske dealership chain

June 5, 2009 at 12:45 pm

(Source: AP via Yahoo)

General Motors Corp., just days after the bankrupt carmaker sold its Hummer brand, said Friday that it has reached a deal to unload Saturn to racing legend and auto dealer Roger Penske.

 General Motors Corp. has a tentative deal to sell its Saturn brand to former race car driver and dealership group owner Roger Penske, both companies said Friday.

Penske has signed a memorandum of understanding that would give his dealership chain, Penske Automotive Group, Saturn’s 350 dealerships, the companies said. Penske said that he expects to offer all the dealers new franchise agreements and will retain all 13,000 Saturn employees for the immediate term.

“I would expect that the model that we’re putting together, the distribution model, will be profitable day one,” Penske said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We’ll have less costs. We’ll not be in the manufacturing side.”

Neither Penske nor GM would say how much Penske is paying for the brand. Penske said he expects the deal to close in the third quarter.

Penske Automotive Group also distributes Daimler AG’s Smart subcompacts in the U.S., but Smart has its own dealership network and Saturn dealers will continue to exclusively distribute Saturn vehicles, Penske said.

Initially, GM will continue to produce on a contract basis the Saturn Aura sedan as well as the Vue and Outlook SUVs, the companies said. But Penske said he is in talks with manufacturers around the world about building Saturn cars in the future.

GM Chairman Roger Smith first unveiled the Saturn brand in November 1983, describing it as a revolutionary new way to build and sell small cars in America. But the project was slow to develop and the brand did not officially launch until 1990. It featured the iconic tag-line “a different kind of car company.”

GM’s hope was that Saturn would attract younger buyers with smaller, hipper cars to better compete with Japanese imports. It built a new plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., devoted to Saturn production. The factory had more flexible work rules than traditional GM plants for the employees who built the cars.

Image Courtesy: Penske Automotive Group

Despite a cult-like following that drew thousands to annual reunions in Spring Hill, the brand never made money for GM. The factory stopped making Saturns in 2007 and currently builds only the Chevrolet Traverse.

As GM focused more on high-profit pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, Saturn began to languish in the late 1990s. Then in 2006, car buyers began to find Saturn’s new models more appealing. But after a good year in 2007, sales dropped 22 percent last year as the U.S. car market withered.

Penske Automotive also distributes Daimler AG’s Smart subcompacts in the U.S., but Smart has its own dealership network and Saturn dealers will continue to exclusively distribute Saturn vehicles, Penske said.

Carl F. Galeana, who owns two Saturn dealerships north of Detroit, said Friday he was thrilled that Penske would be the Saturn buyer.

Roger Penske is an icon in the business world,” Galeana said. “I’ve worked with him personally. Nobody works harder than Roger Penske.”

Galeana said the fact that Penske is interested in Saturn means the brand has value.

“It allows Saturn to get back to its original roots, which is to be an independent car company,” he said.

Shares of Penske Automotive rose 52 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $15.13 in midday trading on news of the sale. The stock has enjoyed a brisk rally this year, more than tripling from an annual low of $4.82 in March.

During a press briefing earlier this week, GM Chief Executive Frederick Henderson said Saab has attracted three bidders, but he declined to reveal names.  The renowned Hummer brand was sold to a Chinese heavy machinery company a couple of days ago and this transaction will conclude upon clearance from three different Chinese government agencies .

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Toyota Prius Tops May Auto Sales in Japan; Hybrid Sales Soar in Japan, Despite Downturn

June 5, 2009 at 10:52 am
This post is sponsored by LemonFree.com 

(Source:  Wall Street Journal, Green Car Congress & Tree Hugger)

Jadaprius

Image Courtesy: Green Car Congress - Prius sales in Japan by month since January 2007. Data: JADA.

Last month (May 2009), the Toyota Prius was the top selling model in the world’s second-largest economy; the rival Honda Insight hybrid came in third, according to new car sales rankings—excluding minicars with displacements of less than 660 cc—released by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association (JADA).   

In April HondaScryve Corporate Social Responsibility Rating was quite happy to report that its new Insight hybrid was both the best selling car in Japan for that month (outselling the Toyota Priusand the first hybrid car to have that honor with 10,481 units. (Earlier post.) In May, the Insight dropped to third place with 8,183 units, behind the Prius and the Honda Fit, with 8,859 units.Toyota’s May performance was all the more surprising, since the third-generation Prius didn’t go on sale until May 18.  

The Prius posted 10,915 units in May, in Japan more than twice the 5,079 units sold in May 2008 and compared to 1,952 units in April 2009, according to the JADA data. (In the US, Toyota reported 10,091 units of the Prius sold in May.)

Why are these fuel-sippers speeding out of Japanese dealer lots, when sales of the more-expensive hybrid cars are still in the doldrums in the U.S.,  Japan’s economy isn’t doing any better—indeed, its first-quarter contraction was the biggest since World War II.

There are several possible explanations—beyond the fact that both Toyota and Honda have cut prices to make hybrids a little less niche and a little more mass market. First, generous government incentives: Japan’s stimulus package included a range of tax breaks for buyers of hybrid (and electric) vehicles which can knock thousands of dollars off the price tag. Japan has tougher mileage standards—but that affects what kind of cars manufacturers turn out, not what kind of cars consumers flock to. One huge difference is the price of gasoline—which automatically makes the hybrids more attractive, especially in a recession. Japan, like many European countries, slaps a hefty national tax on gas. Right now, Japanese pump prices work out to $4.61 a gallon. That compares to a U.S. national average of about $2.50 a gallon.

Over 1.8 Million new and used cars

Meet Mr. Brian Deese, The 31-Year-Old in Charge of Reshaping G.M.

June 4, 2009 at 2:05 pm

(Source: New York Times & Fox News)

It is not every 31-year-old who, in a first government job, finds himself dismantling General Motors and rewriting the rules of American capitalism.  

Image Courtesy: New York Times

But that, in short, is the job description for Brian Deese, a not-quite graduate of Yale Law School who had never set foot in an automotive assembly plant until he took on his nearly unseen role in remaking the American automotive industry.  

Nor, for that matter, had he given much thought to what ailed an industry that had been in decline ever since he was born. A bit laconic and looking every bit the just-out-of-graduate-school student adjusting to life in the West Wing — “he’s got this beard that appears and disappears,” says Steven Rattner, one of the leaders ofPresident Obama’s automotive task force — Mr. Deese was thrown into the auto industry’s maelstrom as soon the election-night parties ended.  

“There was a time between Nov. 4 and mid-February when I was the only full-time member of the auto task force,” Mr. Deese, a special assistant to the president for economic policy, acknowledged recently as he hurried between his desk at the White House and the Treasury building next door. “It was a little scary.”

But now, according to those who joined him in the middle of his crash course about the automakers’ downward spiral, he has emerged as one of the most influential voices in what may become President Obama’s biggest experiment yet in federal economic intervention.  So what does Mr.Deese’s resume look like? It should be impressive, considering he’s managing America’s $458,000 per dayinvoluntary investment.

Deese grew up in a Boston suburb, the son of a political science professor at Boston College. He moved to Vermont and attended Middlebury College, where he studied political science and also took time to host a campus radio show called “Bedknobs and Beatniks,” described in one write-up as “a format of music, news, discussion and banter.”

While far more prominent members of the administration are making the big decisions about Detroit, it is Mr. Deese who is often narrowing their options.

A month ago, when the administration was divided over whether to support Fiat’s bid to take over much of Chrysler, it was Mr. Deese who spoke out strongly against simply letting the company go into liquidation, according to several people who were present for the debate.

“Brian grasps both the economics and the politics about as quickly as I’ve seen anyone do this,” said Lawrence H. Summers, the head of the National Economic Council who is not known for being patient whenever he believes an analysis is sub-par — or disagrees with his own. “And there he was in the Roosevelt Room, speaking up vigorously to make the point that the costs we were going to incur giving Fiat a chance were no greater than some of the hidden costs of liquidation.”

Mr. Deese was not the only one favoring the Fiat deal, but his lengthy memorandum on how liquidation would increase Medicaid costs, unemployment insurance and municipal bankruptcies ended the debate. The administration supported the deal, and it seems likely to become a reality on Monday, if a federal judge handling the high-speed bankruptcy proceeding approves the sale of Chrysler’s best assets to the Italian carmaker.

Click here to read the entire article.

Sichuan Tengzhong’s Hummer Bid Faces Chinese Regulatory Hurdles

June 4, 2009 at 1:36 pm

(Source: Wall Street Journal)

 The biggest hurdle to the historic sale of General Motors Corp.’s Hummer brand to a little-known Chinese manufacturer of dump trucks and industrial machinery may be receiving Beijing’s seal of approval.

The Obama administration has already expressed strong support for the proposed sale to Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. But before it can buy Hummer, Tengzhong, based in Sichuan province, needs support from three different Chinese government agencies governing overseas investment, economic planning and China’s tight controls on foreign exchange.

China’s economic planning agency will have to weigh the Sichuan-based company’s desire to buy the company against its policies to encourage more fuel-efficient vehicles and automobile-industry consolidation.

Meanwhile, a visit to Tengzhong’s facilities, where workers make small batches of machinery parts at a time, highlight questions about the company’s technical readiness to manufacture a complex passenger vehicle — especially if some manufacturing of the vehicles eventually shifts to China, as is “logical” if the bid succeeds, a person familiar with the situation said.

Normally, China’s high-profile outbound investments involve government ministries at every step of the process, because the buyers are owned by the central government. Tengzhong, however, is privately held, with few assets and no experience in commercial automobiles.

“There aren’t many precedents for this transaction,” says Jeanette Chan, a partner at law firm Paul Weiss in Hong Kong.

She notes new rules that came into effect May 1 require a number of approvals before Tengzhong and GM can sign a binding agreement. The rules stipulate that overseas investments of more than $100 million require central government approvals, while provincial governments can sign off on smaller deals.

Central government agencies expected to review the deal include the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. Of these, the commerce ministry’s approval is most important; if its approval process runs smoothly, it will take at least 30 working days, Ms. Chan said.

While the company appears to have ties in the local government, that won’t likely translate to any clout on the national level. On Wednesday, Tengzhong’s CEO Yang Yi said the company was “in the middle of the approval process.”

Key criteria include whether the company will be able to fund the purchase and succeed in developing the business. Tengzhong hasn’t released information about its finances, but it appears to be relatively small. Analysts expect Tengzhong to pay $200 million to $300 million for Hummer.

Click here to read the entire article.

US lawmakers say Highway Trust Fund faces new hole; as much as $17 billion in additional federal money is needed to maintain roads and bridges over the next two years

June 4, 2009 at 1:05 pm

(Source: ENR.com & Wall Street Journal)

The Obama administration said as much as $17 billion in additional federal money is needed to maintain roads and bridges over the next two years, underscoring the challenges policy makers face as driving habits change.

Image Courtesy; Stateline.org via Gmanet.com

The recession and gas-price increases over the past two years have caused many consumers to drive less and switch to more fuel-efficient cars. The result has been a fall in revenue from taxes on gasoline and vehicle purchases, which are used to fund state and local transportation projects.

Officials from the  Obama administration and U.S. Dept. of Transportation have said that the trust fund will not have enough cash to cover commitments to states for highway projects, according to Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and the panel’s top Republican, James Inhofe of Oklahoma.

According to administration and DOT officials, $5 billion to $7 billion will be needed by August to avert having to slow down Federal Highway Administration reimbursements to state DOTs, Boxer and Inhofe said on June 2. The lawmakers added that a further $8 billion to to $10 billion will be needed in fiscal year 2010 to maintain the highway program at its current level. Congress has set the 2009 federal highway program obligation limit at $40.7 billion.

Boxer and Inhofe discussed the trust fund’s problem at a June 2 committee hearing on the nomination of former Arizona DOT Director Victor Mendez to be the new head of the Federal Highway Administration.

Inhofe raised the possibility of tapping the interest on the Highway Trust Fund balance as one solution. That interest goes to the general Treasury, not the trust fund.

The administration has resisted calls to increase the 18.4-cent federal tax on a gallon of gas; the tax hasn’t been raised since 1993.

Last year, Congress transferred $8 billion from the government’s general fund to the highway trust fund in response to a similar shortfall, allowing states to move ahead with hundreds of job-creating transportation projects. Congress may do that again this year.

Lawmakers could also consider tweaking the economic-stimulus law so states could use some of their stimulus money to compensate for other budget shortfalls. In most cases, states can’t use stimulus funds to compensate for budget deficits in their transportation-spending plans.

Congress and the administration are crafting legislation that would determine how the federal government funds transportation projects over the next several years. With the White House opposed to a gas-tax increase, lawmakers are trying to identify new money sources to maintain the nation’s infrastructure.

One hint of their approach could come later this month when Rep. James Oberstar (D., Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, is slated to unveil his blueprint for transportation spending.

‘Cash for Clunkers’ stalls in Senate; California’s Feinstein clashes with carmakers

June 4, 2009 at 12:17 pm

(Source:  The Detroit News & SFGate.com)

Supporters have dropped an attempt to add “cash for clunkers” legislation to a tobacco regulation bill now before the Senate, a setback in efforts to boost car sales with federal subsidies.

“There are technical details to work out and the senator continues to look for a vehicle to pass this very important piece of legislation,” said Brad Carroll, a spokesman for Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a co-sponsor of the bill.

Two congressional aides said the measure was derailed by objections from the Senate Appropriations Committee to using money from the $787 billion economic stimulus package for the measure, which would offer up to $4,500 credits for consumers trading in older, low-gas-mileage vehicles.

In January, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced a bill, S247, that would give vouchers to people who turn in a car or truck that gets 15 or fewer miles per gallon to a dealer that scraps it.

Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, introduced one in the House, HR1550. A compromise version was attached to the 900-page energy bill that was passed last month by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., introduced an almost identical one in the Senate. Her bill, S1135, would provide vouchers of $3,500 or $4,500, depending on the difference in gas mileage between the clunker and the new vehicle. The vouchers could only be used to buy or lease new vehicles, not for used vehicles or mass transit.

Environmentalists oppose the two industry-supported bills because they would provide vouchers to people who scrap more fuel-efficient vehicles (18 mpg or less) than under the Feinstein proposal (15 mpg or less).

Industry officials said they were optimistic the dispute could be resolved and that the plan — which has White House backing — would win passage, as a stand-alone bill or attached to other legislation.  An identical cash for clunkers bill in the House has also failed.  So far, legislators have been unsuccessful in separating that legislation from a massive energy and climate bill that could take months to finalize.

Last month, Sen. Feinstein proposed an alternative that is less stringent than her original bill but stricter than Stabenow’s. For details, see links.sfgate.com/ZHHC.

It’s not clear whether the Senate will back the Stabenow bill, the new Feinstein approach or a compromise.

“Fiscal conservatives and environmentalists oppose the more permissive Stabenow bill as an expensive subsidy for the ailing auto industry, while union and manufacturing interests oppose the stricter Feinstein approach, which would likely favor fuel-efficient imported vehicles,” said Benjamin Salisbury, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets, in a report.

“The Senate could vote on both amendments and add the most popular one to unrelated legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration regulatory authority over tobacco products,” Salisbury wrote.

Idea likely to stick around

That didn’t happen Wednesday, as many expected. But with President Obama in favor of cash for clunkers, the idea is not likely to die.

Becker hopes Congress will not rush into passing a bill without enough research and debate to determine how much the program will cost and who will benefit most. “Somebody might come along and do clunker dating,” matching up people who want to buy new cars with people who have clunkers, he says.

He adds that Germany started a 1.5 billion euro cash-for-clunkers program this year and it has already swelled into a 5 billion euro program.

Consumers waiting to buy a new car until a bill passes should first figure out if their existing car would qualify under the scrapping plan. If so, the next question is whether the voucher would be worth more than the price they would get if they sold or traded in their car. If so, they should figure out whether the new car they want to buy would qualify. With so many unknowns remaining, it’s hard to reach a conclusion.

Monday is bankruptcy for GM – Storied automaker suffering huge losses and plummeting market share will file for Chapter 11 protection at 8 a.m

May 31, 2009 at 7:27 pm

(Source: CNNMoney.com)

President Obama to address nation.

General Motors, the nation’s largest automaker and for decades an icon of American manufacturing, stood Sunday on the brink of bankruptcy and a de facto government takeover.

Image Courtesy: CNN Money

A bankruptcy petition will be filed on Monday at 8 a.m., according to a source with direct knowledge of the bankruptcy proceedings.

Investors who own 54% of $27 billion in GM bonds have agreed to not fight plans for a quick bankruptcy process, GM said on Sunday.

The deal with bondholders could make it easier for GM to restructure by neutralizing some of the opposition to a bankruptcy filing. But it does not wipe away the need for the company to seek court protection for making drastic reductions in dealer, labor and other costs.

President Obama will address the nation shortly before noon on Monday to discuss the bankruptcy, two officials close to the situation told CNN. Obama will explain the rationale for the filing and his hopes that this is the best route for a turnaround.

It is expected that GM will detail some 20,000 job cuts and the closure of about a dozen plants by the end of 2010. The company has already said it will slash 40% of its network of 6,000 retail dealerships by next year and drop four of its brands — Hummer, Saab, Saturn and Pontiac.

The impact of GM’s bankruptcy, which follows a Chapter 11 filing by Chrysler on April 30, will ripple across the nation to dealers, suppliers and other businesses large and small that work in the sector.

The company, once the country’s largest private sector employer, has only a fraction of its former staff. Its 80,000 hourly and salaried U.S. employees are half the number it had as recently as 2001.

Nearly 500,000 U.S. retirees, as well as more than 150,000 of their family members, depend on GM health insurance and pension plans. Retirees will see cuts in their health care coverage, although the company’s underfunded pension plans are not expected to be affected by a bankruptcy filing.

In addition, some 300,000 employees at GM dealerships will be affected, as well as hundreds of thousands of workers at auto parts makers and other GM suppliers whose jobs depend on the company’s survival.

The future

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing would aim to help GM emerge with only its more profitable plants, brands, dealerships and contracts. GM’s unprofitable plants, contracts and other liabilities that the company can no longer afford would be left behind.

The government has already given GM $19.4 billion to fund operations and cover losses this year, and total help is expected to exceed $50 billion.

GM will pay back $8 billion of that sum. The government will also receive $2.5 billion in preferred shares of GM that pay a dividend and are more similar to a loan than stock.

But more than $40 billion of federal help to GM will be converted into the 72.5% stake in the new company. Taxpayers would make back the money loaned to GM if shares of the new GM increase dramatically in value following an exit from bankruptcy.

GM is expected to have about $17 billion in debt following bankruptcy, significantly less than the $54.4 billion it owed as of March 31.

In a Sluggish Japan, Prius Sales Boom

May 31, 2009 at 12:00 pm

(Source: Time & Green Car Congress)

Orders in Japan for Toyota’s new Prius hybrid have topped a booming 110,000, a major dealership chain said Saturday, in what is turning out to be a rare bright spot in the gloomy auto market.

The third-generation Prius officially rolled out in Japan just two weeks ago. But dealers are already flooded with orders, including some placed weeks in advance, according to the dealership. (See TIME’s photos of General Motors factory-scapes)

Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s biggest automaker, said two weeks ago that it received 80,000 advance orders, and has not updated that number.

But the Toyota Tokyo Corolla dealer said Saturday that nationwide orders at Toyota dealerships in Japan, including those of rivals, have soared to 110,000. Dealers tally their customer orders differently from the way manufacturers do.

But any way you slice it, the Prius is a hit. Toyota has set its monthly sales target for Japan at 10,000 new Prius cars — a figure that should make it the top-selling car in the country.

As the orders stack up, the company looks on track to meet or even surpass its goal and take that crown — an astonishing accomplishment for a hybrid, although the Prius is fighting competition from another new hybrid, Honda Motor Co.’s Insight.

Hybrids are in demand partly because the Japanese government began offering tax exemptions for the cars to encourage their sales earlier this year.

The overall Japanese auto market has been languishing for years, with vehicle sales falling to their lowest level in more than three decades last year. Demand has worsened since the U.S. financial crisis sent this nation into a recession.  According to Green Car Congress, the Nikkei estimates that Japan passenger car production in fiscal 2009 will likely decrease to 1979 levels, mostly due to a plunge in exports. The projection, which was compiled based on automakers’ data and interviews with company officials, calls for the eight Japanese passenger car firms to assemble 8.21 million vehicles in the year ending in March 2010, 14% fewer than last year and the second consecutive annual decline, following a 15% fall in fiscal 2008.