Obama's GM outsourcing to China

Nothing like bailing out and taking over a company that then goes to China.

From the Argus

SHANGHAI — Detroit-based General Motors Co. plans to open four new assembly plants in China by the end of 2015, export more vehicles from China, and grab market share in the sport utility and luxury segments, executives said.
The automaker said it would increase its production capacity by 30 percent to 5 million units per year. The company also said it would add 6,000 jobs in China in connection with its expansion plans, which include four new assembly plants and four new powertrain plants, GM Chinese President Bob Socia said.
Socia declined to say where the plants would be located, but GM will need approval from the Chinese government to move forward.
He also said the company hasn’t ruled out exporting vehicles from China to the United States.
“It could very well happen,” Socia told reporters after a news conference near the Shanghai auto show last week. “I’m not sharing any plans with you, but we try to keep open as to what makes sense. … There’s no reason why we can’t be exporting to the states.”

Of course this was after the 2012 election.

Barack Obama enables outsourcing of auto industry (Chrysler)

I'll start out with saying this. I'm from a Ford family. I own and drive Fords. Always have, and probably always will. I'll also never own a foreign car. That includes foreign cars built here as profits go overseas. That also includes Big 3 cars built outside the US. Ford Fusion's in Mexico to me is the same as a Toyota. When my parents took advantage of cash for clunkers (mostly helped foreign cars) Fusions were out. No Mexican cars allowed. This goes beyond partisan politics here. I root for the Big 3 to do well - as long as the jobs stay in the US, particularly Michigan.

One of the biggest myths that gives Obama a good chance to hang on to win in Michigan (not if I have anything to say about it) and  Ohio is that he supposedly saves the auto industry. Bullshit. Romney wrote an editorial calling for reorganization and the NY Times editors gave it the headline "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." Here's the little secret. GM and Chrysler DID go bankrupt - even after the Bush and Obama bailouts. I'm going to repeat that. GM and Chrysler DID go bankrupt. They went to bankruptcy reorganization. Obama and Romney both aren't far apart on that. Romney supported loan guarantees, similar to Chrysler in 1979.  As a Big 3 supporter and owner, they could have been better on this, but they could have worse, like Bob Corker, Gary Ackerman, Michael Cupano, Richard Shelby, and Henry Waxman. Shelby I understand because his state had foreign car plants. I don't like it, but I understand it. Corker I don't get his deal with Saturn being from his state. Nissan has plants in Tennessee, so that's also an influence. With the dems, it's the progressive movement's religious jihad against the Automobile Industry in the name of global warming going back to Al Gore's push to ban the internal combustion engine. John Dingell, hardly a conservative, was pushed off of commerce chair because he supports the auto industry.

The industry will survive, but it isn't what it was. At least 50,000 direct jobs were cut, not counting the suppliers. The Hummer was agreed to be sold to China. Saturn is gone. Pontiac is gone.

I'm not going to say that Romney is as good as Joe Knollenberg, Thad McCotter, or John Dingell when it comes to the domestic auto industry, but he's not a Corker. Obama isn't as bad as Waxman, but he's not Dingell - however there's one real nasty part of Obama's team and its reorganization demands regarding Chrysler. Obama put Chrysler under. foreign control and ownership - to a company that has never been able to break through in the US. Fiat.

From 2009 - Forbes.

Chrysler must become friends with Fiat pronto.
The U.S. government has threatened to suspend federal aid for Chrysler unless it secures a deal with the Italian carmaker within 30 days, senior administration officials told Forbes.

The repercussion of Obama forcing Chrysler to go to Fiat  is right here.

From Bloomberg news.

Fiat SpA (F) Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne set a target two and a half years ago to sell 6 million cars annually by 2014, a goal that analysts and industry observers at the time deemed impossible to achieve. They were right.

Marchionne, who runs both the Italian automaker and Chrysler Group LLC, has said he will revise his forecasts when the two companies announce third-quarter results tomorrow. Analysts estimate his sales target will need to come down by 15 billion euros ($19 billion).
“Marchionne was too optimistic in 2010,” said Giuseppe Berta, a professor at Bocconi University in Milan who has written several books on Fiat and has worked as a company historian. “Fiat and Chrysler can’t grow by self-propulsion to the famous 6 million-car target.” 

And here's the devil in the details.

Fiat’s problems are bigger than many rivals’ because its troubled home country accounts for half its sales in the region. Its plants in Italy, where car sales are on pace to plunge this year to the lowest level in more than three decades, are running at 50 percent of capacity, far below the 80 percent threshold typically considered profitable.
To counter the severe slump in European sales, Marchionne is considering building Chrysler models in Italy, including Jeeps, for export to North America. The Italian government is evaluating tax rebates on export goods to help Fiat. Marchionne may announce details of his plan as soon as Oct. 30, the people said.
“This makes sense on multiple levels” as it will boost plant utilization and would cap “Chrysler’s own potential, limiting the likely cost to Fiat shareholders of buying out the Chrysler minorities,” Stuart Pearson, an analyst at Morgan Stanley in London, said in a note to investors today. “However we see no quick answers, and fear debt could surprise negatively first,” said Pearson, who rates the stock underweight with a target price at 3.90 euros.

Jeeps built in Europe to be imported here? Jeeps outsourced? You got to be kidding me. That's an American icon. Keep in mind that it was Obama's demand that Chrysler goes to Fiat.

Romney's getting heat for his comments and ad about outsourcing, but Bloomberg's story here shows that he's not off the mark. GM and Chrysler DID go bankrupt under Obama, and Chrysler WAS put under foreign control with outsourcing, and Chrysler's manufacturing may very well go to Europe, if not necessarily China.  

If the Peter Principle in Chief Obama wins a second term thanks to being lucky that reorganization happened when he was CEO (so he can portray himself as the hero he isn't), he's not going to have to worry about this anymore. I expect Marchionne to announce the outsourcing to be official November 10th or so, no matter who wins. Election cover.

Buy American! Buy Big 3! Buy Ford!

Everytime something happens with a Big 3 automobile, we get a lot of crap thrown away by the Big 3 haters. Outside of wear and tear, I haven't have any major problems with my 2002 Ford truck built in . Same goes for my 99 and 93 that I used to have.

From the AP

WASHINGTON – Toyota suspended U.S. sales of some of its most popular vehicles — including the best-selling car in America, the Camry — to fix sticking gas pedals that could make the cars accelerate without warning.
In another blow to the world's No. 1 automaker, Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday it would halt some production at six assembly plants beginning the week of Feb. 1 "to assess and coordinate activities."
The company said it would stop selling eight models of cars and trucks, a significant portion of its fleet. The suspension comes after a recall of the same models last week involving 2.3 million vehicles.
Toyota has said it was unaware of any accidents or injuries due to the pedal problems associated with the recall, but could not rule them out for sure.
"This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized," said Bob Carter, Toyota's group vice president and general manager.

The ultimate brand name in reliability takes a whack. The Camry. I was hoping the Toyota Pious would be mentioned as well, but that wasn't listed.

If you're looking for quality in vehicles, I'd look at Ford (outside of the Fusion which is a foreign car built in Mexico....thanks NAFTA). If you want cars with good gas mileage, Ford has it.  They may not be able to deliver a good football team, but in 16 years of driving, I haven't have any major problems with a vehicle that wasn't over 10 years old. They were also all built here in America, from companies based here in Michigan keeping our jobs here at home where they belong.

The Hummer to soon be a foreign truck?

Well, I won't be buying one of these anytime soon. If true, Hummer is no longer an American car company.

From the AP?

DETROIT – General Motors Corp. took a key step toward its downsizing on Tuesday, striking a tentative deal to sell its Hummer brand to a Chinese manufacturer, while also revealing that it has potential buyers for its Saturn and Saab brands.

GM has an agreement to sell its Hummer brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. of China, said a person briefed on the deal.

The Detroit automaker announced Tuesday morning that it had a memorandum of understanding to sell the brand of rugged SUVs, but it didn't identify the buyer. A formal announcement of the buyer was to be made Tuesday afternoon, said the person briefed on the deal. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the details have not been made public.

Sichuan Tengzhong deals in road construction, plastics, resins and other industrial products, but Hummer would be its first step into the automotive business.

Government's war on the auto industry

Right now, the biggest enemy to our auto industry is the government. First of all, I titled this "Government's war on the auto industry." I did not title this the Obama Chicago Mob war on the auto industry, or even the democrat war on the auto industry. They are some of the biggest villans, but they are one of many.

The first Bush was not a friend of the industry. Clinton was not either. He signed NAFTA and GATT. Ross Perot warned us of a giant sucking sound of jobs with the passage of those two trade agreements. He was right. Al Gore wanted to outlaw the internal combustable engine. Bush basically sat on his hands and then bailed out Wall Street along with his parters McCain and Obama on this. Both McCain and Obama lectured us about manufacturing and threw the auto industry under the bus. Obama was the only reason I voted for McCain. Only reason.

Right now the auto industry is double flanked by a significant number of pols in both parties. On the Democrat side, our industry's best ally is John Dingell. Dingell did his best, but the CULT of global warming, knocked him out for a radical in Henry Waxman. They also knocked out Joe Knollenberg, one of the two best friends of the industry on the Republican side. The other one is being targetted. Thad McCotter. McCotter is one of the few true friends of the auto industry left.

The Republicans have their own jerks. McCain was one. Bob Corker and Richard Shelby the party switcher is another. Corker got his wish with a GM bankruptcy. Guess what. Saturn's gone. Where's Saturn based? Spring Hill, TN. Great job standing up for your state, son. With "friends" like those two, we don't need any enemies. I hope both of these individuals get a nice primary challenge when they are next up for election.

The doubleflank is the global warming left like Pelosi, Waxman, Gore and Obama and anti-UAW right like Corker, Bush, and Shelby. One wants to punish the industry because they want cars banned except for the rich elite, and the other wants to unionbust at the cost of the entire company. I have mixed views on unions but I damn well don't want to see my industry destroyed.

The biggest threat is this cult of global warming. This global warming cult based on temperature data of 150 years (1860-today - and keep in mind we are coming out of a 500 year mini ige age from around 1300-1850), a microsecond of time by earth standards that is billions of years old. I'm not going to debate global warming here, except that any 150 year data set is worthless). It may exist. It may not. I'm not convinced that it is a problem even if it does exist, and I damn well am not buying any doomsday crap based on what we breathe out - CO2.

Regardless of the truth of fiction of global warming, I have a hard time with supporting government regulation over every aspect of our lives, and the rapid destruction and dismantling of our state's industry that built the middle class in our country.


What we have today and in the future was a long time coming. Many dominoes have fallen so far in the government war on the auto industry. Unless you've tuned out the news, today GM, once the largest company in the world, has filed for bankruptcy. Some of you here reading may not care. You will, when this affects your state, and your city, and it will. Believe me, it will.

Plants are closing, in Michigan and elsewhere. These people need to find work. They have families. Many are moving away to find work. Some are going on welfare. Many will take early retirement and look for other work. Dealers will close. Suppliers will close. The ripple effect will follow. Schools will have lower enrollment. Less money. Less tax money is collected because of lost jobs and at the local and state levels, relocation. The much ballyhooed services industry is losing money too. Auto workers and their families won't be spending as much money on tourism and luxuries.

In the Chrysler case, the government forced it to go under a large part of foreign ownership because Obama likes the Fiat. With its bankruptcy, so far, they are losing 25% of its dealerships. That's a lot of jobs. The UAW and the Government combined owned 65%.

In the case of General Motors, to begin with, 2100 dealers will be closed or placed on standby, as will 14 plants, seven in Michigan, including the Lake Orion plant which hits close to home in this family. GM's also off the NYSE and Dow.

This is supposed to "save" the industry? Thousands of dealers, dozens of plants, God knows how many suppliers, and all that this supports? What about the Mexico or foreign plants? GM's plant closings alone will cost 21,000 jobs.

All of that is subject to change by the courts as well. It could be worse.

Now as for the government dicates, here's a question. When has big government run anything top notch? Look at the US Senate. You will not find a bigger group of jokes on the face of the earth. From Levin and Stabenow doing nothing for Michigan, to Durbin, Obama, McCain, (formerly) Ted Stevens, Robert Byrd the pork king, Corker, Shelby, Specter, Feinstein, Boxer, Biden, and 1/2 of Obama's cabinent that came from that joke of a political body. Now the government and Obama want even higher CAFE standards, and are pushing the Big 3 away from what they do best. Trucks and SUV's.

Some of the inside stories I have heard are leaking what the Obama people have been yapping about. I am paraphrasing this to protect this individual who doesn't want his name out there. People with 30 years of auto experience in both foreign and domestic cars are being dictated to by government bureaucrats from Obama's admin, people with no manufacturing experience, no auto industry experience, no business experience, no finance experience, and no engineering experience. Big government at work.

One was telling the auto industry to make a car that was electric and liquid natural gas with enough combined fuel to go 500 miles to reduce the number of gas stations. They were quoting BTU's (energy measurement) of natural gas and battery life that they had looked up by some advocacy group.

This was nearly impossible based on the laws of physics due to the size of the car needed for that. Common sense. The number of batteries and natural gas tank would be gigantic. We'd have to drive busses. The individual mentioned the laws of phyics, and the Obama bureaucrat said that they needed to tell Congress to change that law or use an executive order. Good luck with that.

Lastly, I'm hearing a lot of preaching by Granholm and the others in both parties about diversifying the economy. Yeah, I support that. Who doesn't. However, diversifying the economy should not mean that we throw manufacturing under the bus. We need to protect our manufacturing. We need to keep these jobs home, not in China. We need to stop throwing our blue collar heritage, culture, and manufacturing under the bus. The next person who runs his mouth about these jobs not coming back needs to be forced to drink soup for a week.

When it comes to the auto industry, the government has failed this country. It has failed with big regulations, trade agreements, micromanagement, and its jihad with the cult of global warming. The best thing the government can do is reduce the regulations, enact fair trade agreements so our manufacturing isn't dead, stop the heavy taxes and red tape, and work for energy independence in a proper fashion, by an all of the above policy including drilling and refining, as well as nuclear technology.

Who cares about the possibility of global warming if your state is being turned into an economic depresssion. It's time to put Michigan first.

Obama F's over Chrysler

Leave it to the Obama admin and his foreign car loving taskforce to force this. From Forbes magazing.

The U.S. government has threatened to suspend federal aid for Chrysler unless it secures a deal with the Italian carmaker within 30 days, senior administration officials told Forbes. (See “Obama Takes The Wheel In Detroit.”) Chrysler, along with General Motors, has already received $17.4 billion in federal loans and has asked for billions more.

So you're giving the foreign car maker all the leverage in a deal. Thanks a lot. With "friends" to America like Mr. Obama, our country doesn't need any enemies.

Washington F's over the automakers, but not the banks

I know that the auto industry has never been cool in Washington. There has been few friends among recent presidential candidates and they were long shots like Duncan Hunter and Pat Buchanan. Gore, Kerry, and their Toyota Prius/Pious crowd hates us. Bush wasn't a great friend either. Neither was McCain or Obama. All of them back NAFTA and GATT.

Flash back to last October. We had this massive crash in the financial markets that could be seen eventually a mile away. Thanks to Fannie Mae, Freddic Mac, subprime mortages, and bad decisions, it was bound to happen. After that, there was this rush from Washington and its leaders - Bush, Obama, McCain, Dodd, Frank, Pelosi, Reid, McConnell, and Boehner, to bail out the financial industry. Trillion dollars. This was in addition to the current national debt, and any budget. This bailout did nothing for reform.

Now the auto industry is in trouble and asks for a loan (not a bailout). They however get a double flank from the government. This isn't based on party as much as geography and ideology. Part of this the union leadership bringing it on themselves with their hyperpartisanship alienating some people that would otherwise support them. Part if it is the eco-wing of the democrats and their Priuses with their jihad against American auto industry. This was shown in spades when San Francisco resident and speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi got enough people to oust John Dingell off the commerce committee over the issue of the auto industry. His replacement was the totalitarian Henry Waxman from Hollywood. Part of this is Southern senators like Richard Shelby in Alabama (Thanks for making the rebuilding of the Michigan GOP that much harder you prick) beholden to foreign car plants in his state.

Now we got this micromanagement from Mr. Obama.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is sending a blunt message to Detroit automakers: To survive — and win more government help — they must remake themselves top to bottom. Driving home the point, the White House ousted the General Motors chairman as it rejected GM and Chrysler's restructuring plans.
..
New directors will now make up the majority of GM's board. Fritz Henderson, GM's president and chief operating officer, became the new CEO. Board member Kent Kresa, the former chairman and CEO of defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., was named interim chairman of the GM board.

"The board has recognized for some time that the company's restructuring will likely cause a significant change in the stockholders of the company and create the need for new directors with additional skills and experience," Kresa said in a written statement.

The Obama administration move comes amid public outrage over bonuses paid to business leaders and American International Group executives — set against a severely ailing economy.

What has Obama ever run to tell GM to do anything? This jerk's taskforce has only two people that even drove an American car.

This guy said it right.

Machine repairman Don Thompson, a nearly four-decade Chrysler veteran, said the automakers are being punished because of populist anger over the financial bailout.

"They're using us for the mistakes they've made in Washington," Thompson said.

You have this AIG bailout and those bonuses which are oh-so-outrageous now, were known when the reps voted on the bailout. As for the rest of the financial industry and the bailouts, the first one did not work. So what do we have here in Obama's proposed budget - another bailout of another trillion dollars!

It's okay if your the financial industry, but woe to those who build American cars. I'll close this out with this statement. Out of a job yet, keep buying foreign.