The rating on TRW Automotive Inc. reflects Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' assumption that a still-weak global market for light vehicles in 2010 could cause TRW to use cash, but the company's liquidity is adequate to fund this cash use. We expect light-vehicle sales to rise about 8% in 2010 to 11.1 million units (still well below the 2008 level of 13.2 million), following our estimated 2009 year-over-year decline of about 22% in North America to 10.3 million units. We also expect auto registrations in Europe to decline in 2010, partly because of the cessation of various national scrappage programs, which boosted 2009 sales. These schemes are typically followed by a decline in future sales, and we expect registrations in
