Hi anksm22,

This SC includes an "intervening phrase" (....,in order to conserve cash,...); you should be able to remove this phrase from the sentence and still have a full, grammatically correct sentence left over. This should help you to eliminate some of the answer choices (which would not make sense once you remove the intervening phrase).

1) Ignoring the intervening phrase, we would have:

"...several industry analysts expect automakers...."; here, what follows should be a verb ("to ____" makes sense; "that" does not). Eliminate D and E.

2) Modification: the word "conservatively" or "conservative" shows up in each answer. Based on the place of these words, the answers are telling us that either the automakers are supposed to be more conservative or the dividends are supposed to be more conservative. Dividends don't exist on their own - they're the result of someone making a decision - so its the automakers who are supposed to be more conservative in their decision-making (about the dividends). Eliminate A and B.

Final Answer: C

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich