THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY
Glossary. A short list of automotive industry terms.
Chapter 1: Major Trends Affecting the Automobile
Industry. This chapter presents an encapsulated view
of the major trends that are creating rapid changes in the automotive
industry today.
Chapter 2: Automobile
Industry Statistics. This chapter presents in-depth
statistics on car sales, manufacturing, research, import/export
and more
Chapter 3: : Important Automobile Industry
Contacts - Addresses, Telephone Numbers and World Wide Web Sites.
. This chapter covers contacts for important government agencies,
automotive organizations and trade groups. Included are numerous
important World Wide Web sites.
THE AUTOMOBILE 400
Chapter 4: THE
AUTOMOBILE 400: Who They Are and How They Were Chosen.The
companies compared in this book were carefully selected from
the automobile industry, largely in the United States. 135 of
the firms are based outside the U.S. For a complete description,
see THE AUTOMOBILE 400 indexes in this chapter.
Individual Data Listings:
Look at one of the companies in THE AUTOMOBILE 400's
Individual Data Listings. You'll find the following
information fields:
Company Name: The
company profiles are in alphabetical order by company name.
If you don’t find the company you are seeking, it may
be a subsidiary or division of one of the firms covered in this
book. Try looking it up in the Index by Subsidiaries, Brand
Names and Selected Affiliations in the back of the book.
Ranks:
Industry Group Code:
An NAIC code used to group companies within like segments. (See
Chapter 4 for a list of codes.)
Ranks Within This Company's Industry Group: Ranks,
within this firm's segment only, for annual sales and annual
profits, with 1 being the highest rank.
Business Activities: A grid arranged into six
major industry categories and several sub-categories. A “Y”
indicates that the firm operates within the sub-category. A
complete Index by Industry is included in the beginning of Chapter
4.
Types of Business: A listing of the primary
types of business specialties conducted by the firm.
Brands/Divisions/Affiliations: Major brand names, operating
divisions or subsidiaries of the firm, as well as major corporate
affiliations—such as another firm that owns a significant
portion of the company’s stock. A complete Index by Subsidiaries,
Brand Names and Selected Affiliations is in the back of the
book.
Contacts: The names and titles up to 27 top
officers of the company are listed, including human resources
contacts.
Address: The
firm’s full headquarters address, the headquarters telephone,
plus toll-free and fax numbers where available. Also provided
is the World Wide Web site address.
Financials:
Annual Sales (2005 or the latest fiscal year available to the
editors, plus up to four previous years): These are
stated in thousands of dollars (add three zeros if you want
the full number). This figure represents consolidated worldwide
sales from all operations. 2005 figures may be estimates or
may be for only part of the year—partial year figures
are appropriately footnoted.
Annual Profits (2005 or the latest fiscal year available
to the editors, plus up to four previous years): These
are stated in thousands of dollars (add three zeros if you want
the full number). This figure represents consolidated, after-tax
net profit from all operations. 2005 figures may be estimates
or may be for only part of the year—partial year figures
are appropriately footnoted.
Stock Ticker:
When available, the unique stock market symbol used to identify
this firm’s common stock for trading and tracking purposes
is indicated. Where appropriate, this field may contain “private”
or “subsidiary” rather than a ticker symbol.
Total Number of Employees: The approximate
total number of employees, worldwide, as of the beginning of
2005 (or the latest data available to the editors).
Apparent Salaries/Benefits:(The following descriptions
generally apply to U.S. employers only.) A “Y” in
appropriate fields indicates “Yes.”
Due to wide variations in the manner in which corporations report
benefits to the U.S. Government’s regulatory bodies, not
all plans will have been uncovered or correctly evaluated during
our effort to research this data. Also, the availability to
employees of such plans will vary according to the qualifications
that employees must meet to become eligible. For example, some
benefit plans may be available only to salaried workers—others
only to employees who work more than 1,000 hours yearly. Benefits
that are available to employees of the main or parent company
may not be available to employees of the subsidiaries. In addition,
employers frequently alter the nature and terms of plans offered.
NOTE: Generally, employees covered by wealth-building
benefit plans do not fully own (“vest in”) funds
contributed on their behalf by the employer until as many as
five years of service with that employer have passed. All pension
plans are voluntary—that is, employers are not obligated
to offer pensions.
Pension Plan: The firm offers a pension plan
to qualified employees. In this case, in order for a “Y”
to appear, the editors believe that the employer offers a defined
benefit or cash balance pension plan (see discussions below).The
type and generosity of these plans vary widely from firm to
firm. Caution: Some employers refer to plans as “pension”
or “retirement” plans when they are actually 401(k)
savings plans that require a contribution by the employee.
Defined Benefit Pension
Plans: Pension plans that do not require a contribution
from the employee are infrequently offered. However, a few
companies, particularly larger employers in high-profit-margin
industries, offer defined benefit pension plans where the
employee is guaranteed to receive a set pension benefit upon
retirement. The amount of the benefit is determined by the
years of service with the company and the employee’s
salary during the later years of employment. The longer a
person works for the employer, the higher the retirement benefit.
These defined benefit plans are funded entirely by the employer.
The benefits, up to a reasonable limit, are guaranteed by
the Federal Government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
These plans are not portable—if you leave the company,
you cannot transfer your benefits into a different plan. Instead,
upon retirement you will receive the benefits that vested
during your service with the company. If your employer offers
a pension plan, it must give you a summary plan description
within 90 days of the date you join the plan. You can also
request a summary annual report of the plan, and once every
12 months you may request an individual benefit statement
accounting of your interest in the plan.
Defined Contribution Plans: These are quite
different. They do not guarantee a certain amount of pension
benefit. Instead, they set out circumstances under which the
employer will make a contribution to a plan on your behalf.
The most common example is the 401(k) savings plan. Pension
benefits are not guaranteed under these plans.
Cash Balance Pension Plans: These plans were
recently invented. These are hybrid plans—part defined
benefit and part defined contribution. Many employers have
converted their older defined benefit plans into cash balance
plans. The employer makes deposits (or credits a given amount
of money) on the employee’s behalf, usually based on
a percentage of pay. Employee accounts grow based on a predetermined
interest benchmark, such as the interest rate on Treasury
Bonds. There are some advantages to these plans, particularly
for younger workers: a) The benefits, up to a reasonable limit,
are guaranteed by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
b) Benefits are portable—they can be moved to another
plan when the employee changes companies. c) Younger workers
and those who spend a shorter number of years with an employer
may receive higher benefits than they would under a traditional
defined benefit plan.
ESOP Stock Plan (Employees'
Stock Ownership Plan): This type of plan is in wide
use. Typically, the plan borrows money from a bank and uses
those funds to purchase a large block of the corporation’s
stock. The corporation makes contributions to the plan over
a period of time, and the stock purchase loan is eventually
paid off. The value of the plan grows significantly as long
as the market price of the stock holds up. Qualified employees
are allocated a share of the plan based on their length of service
and their level of salary. Under federal regulations, participants
in ESOPs are allowed to diversify their account holdings in
set percentages that rise as the employee ages and gains years
of service with the company. In this manner, not all of the
employee’s assets are tied up in the employer’s
stock.
Savings Plan, 401(k):
Under this type of plan, employees make a tax-deferred deposit
into an account. In the best plans, the company makes annual
matching donations to the employees’ accounts, typically
in some proportion to deposits made by the employees themselves.
A good plan will match one-half of employee deposits of up to
6% of wages. For example, an employee earning $30,000 yearly
might deposit $1,800 (6%) into the plan. The company will match
one-half of the employee’s deposit, or $900. The plan
grows on a tax-deferred basis, similar to an IRA. A very generous
plan will match 100% of employee deposits. However, some plans
do not call for the employer to make a matching deposit at all.
Other plans call for a matching contribution to be made at the
discretion of the firm’s board of directors. Actual terms
of these plans vary widely from firm to firm. Generally, these
savings plans allow employees to deposit as much as 15% of salary
into the plan on a tax-deferred basis. However, the portion
that the company uses to calculate its matching deposit is generally
limited to a maximum of 6%. Employees should take care to diversify
the holdings in their 401(k) accounts, and most people should
seek professional guidance or investment management for their
accounts.
Stock Purchase Plan: Qualified
employees may purchase the company’s common stock at a
price below its market value under a specific plan. Typically,
the employee is limited to investing a small percentage of wages
in this plan. The discount may range from 5 to 15%. Some of
these plans allow for deposits to be made through regular monthly
payroll deductions. However, new accounting rules for corporations,
along with other factors, are leading many companies to curtail
these plans—dropping the discount allowed, cutting the
maximum yearly stock purchase or otherwise making the plans
less generous or appealing.
Profit Sharing:
Qualified employees are awarded an annual amount equal to some
portion of a company’s profits. In a very generous plan,
the pool of money awarded to employees would be 15% of profits.
Typically, this money is deposited into a long-term retirement
account. Caution: Some employers refer to plans as “profit
sharing” when they are actually 401(k) savings plans.
True profit sharing plans are rarely offered.
Highest Executive Salary:
The highest executive salary paid, typically a 2004
amount (or the latest year available to the editors) and typically
paid to the Chief Executive Officer.
Highest Executive Bonus:
The apparent bonus, if any, paid to the above person.
Second Highest Executive
Salary: The next-highest executive salary paid, typically
a 2004 amount (or the latest year available to the editors)
and typically paid to the President or Chief Operating Officer.
Second Highest Executive
Bonus: The apparent bonus, if any, paid to the above
person.
Other Thoughts:
Apparent Women Officers or
Directors: It is difficult to obtain this information
on an exact basis, and employers generally do not disclose the
data in a public way. However, we have indicated what our best
efforts reveal to be the apparent number of women who either
are in the posts of corporate officers or sit on the board of
directors. There is a wide variance from company to company.
Hot Spot for Advancement
for Women/ Minorities:A “Y” in appropriate
fields indicates “Yes.” These are firms that appear
either to have posted a substantial number of women and/or minorities
to high posts or that appear to have a good record of going
out of their way to recruit, train, promote and retain women
or minorities. (See the Index of Hot Spots For Women and Minorities
in the back of the book.) This information may change frequently
and can be difficult to obtain and verify. Consequently, the
reader should use caution and conduct further investigation
where appropriate.
Growth Plans/ Special Features:
Listed here are observations regarding the firm’s strategy,
hiring plans, plans for growth and product development, along
with general information regarding a company’s business
and prospects.
Locations: A "Y"
in the appropriate field indicates "Yes."
Primary locations outside of the headquarters, categorized by
regions of the United States and by international locations.
A complete index by locations is also in the front of this chapter.
