WASHINGTON – Speaking to the American people from a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, President Obama commended the work of America’s dedicated autoworkers, who have helped reinvigorate the domestic auto industry. Each of The Big Three automakers is now turning a profit, and the domestic auto industry continues to add shifts and create new jobs across the country. When President Obama decided to lend a hand to the American automotive industry shortly after taking office, it was with the understanding that these great manufacturers would have to restructure, modernize and position themselves to thrive in a competitive global marketplace. Now, just a few years after the American auto industry teetered on the brink of collapse, America’s great manufacturers of yesterday have emerged as some of the great manufacturers of today.
Showing posts with label Chrysler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chrysler. Show all posts
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
President Obama's Weekly Address 5/28/11: Vice-President Biden on the American Auto Comeback
Vice President Joe Biden delivers the Weekly Address, celebrating the success of the American auto industry in the wake of Chrysler paying back their loans.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Judge Clears Sale of Chrysler to Fiat
NY Times-
A federal judge on Sunday night cleared a path for Chrysler to exit bankruptcy by approving a sale of most of the carmaker’s assets to a new entity to be run by Fiat of Italy.
Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved the government-backed plan after three days of marathon hearings on the proposal. On Friday, testimony and arguments in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan lasted nearly 12 hours.
With the approval, a newly reorganized Chrysler could come out of bankruptcy as early as this week, about a month after seeking protection, an extraordinarily short amount of time for a reorganization.
READ MORE >>> Here
A federal judge on Sunday night cleared a path for Chrysler to exit bankruptcy by approving a sale of most of the carmaker’s assets to a new entity to be run by Fiat of Italy.
Judge Arthur J. Gonzalez of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved the government-backed plan after three days of marathon hearings on the proposal. On Friday, testimony and arguments in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan lasted nearly 12 hours.
With the approval, a newly reorganized Chrysler could come out of bankruptcy as early as this week, about a month after seeking protection, an extraordinarily short amount of time for a reorganization.
READ MORE >>> Here
Thursday, January 22, 2009
SEN. MENENDEZ SEEKS ASSURANCES THAT FEDERAL LOAN IS NOT USED TO PROP UP FOREIGN AUTO MAKER
Member of Banking and Finance Committees asks President Obama to require that Chrysler repay TARP loan should Fiat take majority ownership
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today asked President Barack Obama to institute a policy to prevent auto company rescue funds from going to foreign auto companies. With Italian carmaker Fiat in a deal to purchase 35 percent of Chrysler and with news reports citing the possibility that it could eventually own up to 55 percent of Chrysler, Senator Menendez is asking that Chrysler be required to pay back loans from the Troubled Asset Relief Program should Fiat become the majority owner of the company.
Read Senator Menendez's letter to President Obama>>>HERE
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today asked President Barack Obama to institute a policy to prevent auto company rescue funds from going to foreign auto companies. With Italian carmaker Fiat in a deal to purchase 35 percent of Chrysler and with news reports citing the possibility that it could eventually own up to 55 percent of Chrysler, Senator Menendez is asking that Chrysler be required to pay back loans from the Troubled Asset Relief Program should Fiat become the majority owner of the company.
Read Senator Menendez's letter to President Obama>>>HERE
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
How to Fix a Flat
NY Times Op-Ed Columnist Thomas L. Friedman rants on about the proposed bailout of the Detroit auto industry in his column today. While I don't always agree with what he has to say, I am with him on this. Those of us that can remember the Chrysler bailout in the 80's remember what a big deal it was then, now we're talking all of Detroit. When will it end?
"Last September, I was in a hotel room watching CNBC early one morning. They were interviewing Bob Nardelli, the C.E.O. of Chrysler, and he was explaining why the auto industry, at that time, needed $25 billion in loan guarantees. It wasn’t a bailout, he said. It was a way to enable the car companies to retool for innovation. I could not help but shout back at the TV screen: “We have to subsidize Detroit so that it will innovate? What business were you people in other than innovation?” If we give you another $25 billion, will you also do accounting?
How could these companies be so bad for so long? Clearly the combination of a very un-innovative business culture, visionless management and overly generous labor contracts explains a lot of it. It led to a situation whereby General Motors could make money only by selling big, gas-guzzling S.U.V.’s and trucks. Therefore, instead of focusing on making money by innovating around fuel efficiency, productivity and design, G.M. threw way too much energy into lobbying and maneuvering to protect its gas guzzlers.
This included striking special deals with Congress that allowed the Detroit automakers to count the mileage of gas guzzlers as being less than they really were — provided they made some cars flex-fuel capable for ethanol. It included special offers of $1.99-a-gallon gasoline for a year to any customer who purchased a gas guzzler. And it included endless lobbying to block Congress from raising the miles-per-gallon requirements. The result was an industry that became brain dead.
Nothing typified this more than statements like those of Bob Lutz, G.M.’s vice chairman. He has been quoted as saying that hybrids like the Toyota Prius “make no economic sense.” And, in February, D Magazine of Dallas quoted him as saying that global warming “is a total crock of [expletive]....”
"Last September, I was in a hotel room watching CNBC early one morning. They were interviewing Bob Nardelli, the C.E.O. of Chrysler, and he was explaining why the auto industry, at that time, needed $25 billion in loan guarantees. It wasn’t a bailout, he said. It was a way to enable the car companies to retool for innovation. I could not help but shout back at the TV screen: “We have to subsidize Detroit so that it will innovate? What business were you people in other than innovation?” If we give you another $25 billion, will you also do accounting?
How could these companies be so bad for so long? Clearly the combination of a very un-innovative business culture, visionless management and overly generous labor contracts explains a lot of it. It led to a situation whereby General Motors could make money only by selling big, gas-guzzling S.U.V.’s and trucks. Therefore, instead of focusing on making money by innovating around fuel efficiency, productivity and design, G.M. threw way too much energy into lobbying and maneuvering to protect its gas guzzlers.
This included striking special deals with Congress that allowed the Detroit automakers to count the mileage of gas guzzlers as being less than they really were — provided they made some cars flex-fuel capable for ethanol. It included special offers of $1.99-a-gallon gasoline for a year to any customer who purchased a gas guzzler. And it included endless lobbying to block Congress from raising the miles-per-gallon requirements. The result was an industry that became brain dead.
Nothing typified this more than statements like those of Bob Lutz, G.M.’s vice chairman. He has been quoted as saying that hybrids like the Toyota Prius “make no economic sense.” And, in February, D Magazine of Dallas quoted him as saying that global warming “is a total crock of [expletive]....”
Click on to the headline to finish reading Thomas Friedman's article
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