General Motors and Ford, who are two of the three Detroit carmakers, have made it into the Fortune 500, top ten list. The magazine has just released their annual top 500 ranking American companies.

General Motors is at number 5 based on it’s global sales, which was up 3 places from last year. Fortune 500 noted that GM’s US$150.3 billion revenue in 2011 was an increase of 11% from its result the year previous. There were other auto-related companies that made the top 500 list based on their annual sales figures but none in the top 100.

What about Ford?
Ford has also preformed well moving from 10th position to 9th with its 2011 revenue increasing by 6% to US$136.3 billion from 2010.

Is this good news for the auto industry?
It maybe too early to say but the signs are very encouraging. There have been some interesting comments coming from Fortune magazine about GM and Ford.

“Since emerging from bankruptcy in 2009, GM has also curbed costs to the point where it makes money when the US car market reaches 10.5 million units. That’s a remarkable five million units below GM’s old profitability threshold.”

Talking about Ford’s performance, “Ford profits jumped 208% last year, growth that’s in league with the world’s oil and tech giants, not other car makers.”

While the improved Fortune 500 listings are good news for both General Motors and Ford, recent sales figures suggest the 2012/2013-year could prove to be more of a challenge. Only time will tell the full story.

Chrysler Group, the third of the Detroit carmakers, is owned by the Italian carmaker Fiat. This explains why Chrysler does not appear on the Fortune 500 listings.

Who is at the top of the list?
Exxon Mobil, the oil giant, moved into the top spot with profits of over US$41.1 billion and revenue of US$452.9 billion. This meant that Wal-Mart Stores are now bumped back to the second spot while Chevron, the other oil giant held onto third position.

Most technology companies improved their positions on the ladder with Apple moving to 17 position, up from 35, Microsoft moving to 37 up from 38 and Google at 73 up from 92.

June 2012