Automakers: winners and losers

After the turmoil of US automakers, specially Ford and GM, we see the headlines on Nissan: Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. said Friday that profit tumbled 22.6 percent in the October-December quarter amid rising commodity costs, tougher competition and softening sales.

At the other side, the winners are: Toyota and Honda (Nissan, which was recently surpassed by Honda as Japan's third-largest automaker in terms of vehicle production).

The major problems for the losers are: US market (Nissan was "certain" to miss its global sales target of 3.73 million units for the business year ending on March 31 as it underperformed in the United States and Japan), energy and innovativeness (In the first half of the fiscal year, Nissan launched just one of 10 new products scheduled for introduction).

Finally this: Combined U.S. sales for January by Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. outstripped those by GM and Ford combined.