Consumer Business Review: Ford’s European DISASTER, GM LOSES To Toyota

Here are Wednesday’s top stories:

RadioShack Corporation’s (NYSE:RSH) second quarter gross margins dropped to 37.8 percent, compared to 45.9 percent year-over-year, which is being blamed on a customer shift to lower-margin smartphones. Chief executive Jim Gooch commented that “The initiatives we have underway have not yet generated enough momentum to reverse the trend.” Shares lost more than a quarter of their value on the day.

Don’t Miss: Ford Earnings: Profit Falls, Yet Revenue TOPS Analyst Estimate.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) says now that its full-year loss in Europe will top $1 billion, and that the problems there seem to be structural as opposed to cyclical. Ford Europe switched to a second quarter pretax loss of $404 million, contrasted with a $176 million profit year-over-year, and European revenue fell from $9 billion to $7.1 billion. First half sales in Europe are down 10 percent, and industry-wide deliveries are off 6.3 percent.

General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) shares slipped below $19 for the first time since Nov. 2010, when the company emerged from bankruptcy, after Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) took over the first-half worldwide sales lead. GM reported first half sales of 4.67 million vehicles, which fell about 300,000 short of its rivals figurer. However for Toyota,”what’s even more important than the numbers is the profitability.”

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