While President Obama and General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson are both expected to hold press conferences today, officially GM has already filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection.
Once the world's largest automaker and a symbol of the success of free market economics, GM is now a symbol of failure. In the 1950s it employed over 500,000 people and produced more than half of all the vehicles sold in the United States. Now it also holds the dubious title of the world's third-largest bankruptcy - and the largest bankruptcy for a manufacturing company.
General Motors, backed by yet another government loan from the U.S. Treasury is expected to get the same fast-tracked bankruptcy proceedings as the smaller U.S. automaker Chrysler - which filed for Chapter 11 just one month ago and which already appears to be emerging. Just yesterday a judge approved the sale of Chrysler's assets to a group comprised of Fiat, the U.S. government and the UAW. The Chrysler Chapter 11 proceedings were seen by many as a practice for the much larger General Motors corporation.
As a part of the Chapter 11 filing GM will receive $30 billion from the Obama administration, giving it a 60 percent stake in the once-great automaker. The Canadian government will take a 12 percent stake by providing an additonal $9.5 billion, while the UAW gets a 17.5 percent share and bondholders get 10 percent.
The Chapter 11 proceedings are expected to take anywhere from 60 to 90 days but the future of General Motors is anything but certain. In the short term the automaker will most likely push ahead, but the big question mark is if it can become financially viable and build cars that people want to buy - something which is further complicated by the government's involvement.
While the Obama Administration was reluctant to get involved it almost had no choice as without government help both General Motors and Chrysler were doomed to failure - at a time when the U.S. economy already has enough troubles. But now that the government is involved it doesn't appear to be willing to part with its economic engine. Even when GM and Chrysler emerge from bankruptcy, the government's Autos Task Force will continue to be involved in the future of both companies.
With a 60 percent stake in General Motors and a political agenda, will the Obama Administration work with GM and Chrysler to ensure both companies build cars people want - or build cars it wants people to want?
And they were also removed from the DOW with their share price at $0.75.
The new GM will be known as Government Motors and if you won't buy the cars the Government decides to make don't be surprised if they create laws in an attempt to force you to buy.
And they were also removed from the DOW with their share price at $0.75.
The new GM will be known as Government Motors and if you won't buy the cars the Government decides to make don't be surprised if they create laws in an attempt to force you to buy.
Pat
Don't blame the Government, GM had this coming a long time.
Mr. B.O. is now running the "GOVERNMENT MOTORS CORP OF AMERICA". He has never run a shoe shine stand or anything else. More unemployment etc. Nice DEPRESSION we are all in.......caused by the US of A worldwide.
Mr. B.O. is now running the "GOVERNMENT MOTORS CORP OF AMERICA". He has never run a shoe shine stand or anything else. More unemployment etc. Nice DEPRESSION we are all in.......caused by the US of A worldwide.
Yes, Mr. B.O and the Government was the one who made the Pontiac Azteck, made a deal witht the UAW ten years ago, produced gas guzzlers that nobody wanted. Mr. B.O and his Government is the one who will be shutting down GM plants and putting workers on the streets, oh GM had nothing to do with this, they are just another victim of the Government, even after burning through billions of dollars in bailout money. Without bankruptcy, without bailout money, without the Government, GM would be gone by the end of this summer.
GM should have filed Bankruptcy, restructured and kept GM as it was, a private corporation. Instead, they took the Government handout and now are owned by Obama & Co. and still are filing for Bankruptcy. So what the heck happened to the bailout money that was supposed to inject life into GM and prevent this from happening? This was an agenda by the administration to force us into purchasing teacups on wheels that get 60mpg which is the answer to the question in the original post. We will be forced because we would have no choice. It would be either that or paying $10 a gallon to fill our gas guzzlers that get 28mpg. All of this to promote Government dependence and control of its people. I plan on keeping my paid-for 2003 ZO6. It will be a classic sooner then I had expected.
In the meantime we should sacrifice for the next generation, for our children.......whom will already be in debt when they are born. We need to return this country to its rightful owners, the middle and lower class whom pay the least amount of taxes in the big picture.
I will be quiet now and put on a happy face.
__________________
You'll never soar like an eagle, if your surrounded by turkeys.
Ford, under Mulally, was smart and/or lucky enough to mortgage EVERYTHING before "the crunch" arrived. They've avoided, for the moment anyway, the sword AND stench of "bailout"...
Seems to me the bailouts are like chemo...a good thing if they "kill" the disease but, in and of themselves, could kill the patient outright all on their own...unintentionally of course...
80% of the vehicle-buying market could care less (they shop elsewhere, anyway..."quality", you know...), the few diehards "would buy a Yugo with a GM 'Mark of Excellence' tag attached", and most of the rest seem so p/o'd by all this that NO amount of P.R. will save the Good Ship regardless...
We have Canadians who will NEVER buy GM again...because the Oshawa Truck Plant was "sacrificed" even though it was demonstrably THE Highest Quality Light Duty Truck Plant GM's "World"! And THAT would indicate the future of GM is NOT based on "quality", or "product"...it's based on politics.
Canadian governments added 16% (roughly 2X per capita) in bailout monies to what GM was offered by the Feds, to save now-10% of GM's North American Production. GM Canada has NOT had a money-losing year since 1992, has the Gold Medal-winning Quality of Oshawa Car AND Truck Plants, has now lost the Truck production but avoided going "banko" today...lost 40% of its Dealers, here, 12 days ago with the slice of a scalpel "just to keep up with what's going on elsewhere"...
Nope...no amount of shekels will keep the bi-polar patient away from the life-support machine for very long...
__________________ PowerPro01 sez "STAY TUNED"................ GarettO's the SigGod! "NOTHING Matters...until you CARE..." Bob Gibson If RACING was EASY, they'd call it WINNING ! Anonymous
Last edited by PowerPro01 : 06-01-2009 at 12:03 PM.
Yes, Mr. B.O and the Government was the one who made the Pontiac Azteck, made a deal witht the UAW ten years ago, produced gas guzzlers that nobody wanted. Mr. B.O and his Government is the one who will be shutting down GM plants and putting workers on the streets, oh GM had nothing to do with this, they are just another victim of the Government, even after burning through billions of dollars in bailout money. Without bankruptcy, without bailout money, without the Government, GM would be gone by the end of this summer.
I always smile to myself when I see the notion that "... produced gas guzzlers that nobody wanted ..." perpetuated. It simply isn't true.
Where's the Aveo, Prius, Mini-Cooper, Smart car, etc. ? None of them are even in the top ten. Heck, 2 out of the top 3 are full size pick-ups.
This whole concept of building smaller more fuel efficient cars is a complete red herring. The cars already exist, the masses don't want them! (at least until the price of gas gets over $4/gallon again.
GM's problem is that they can't make a profit on the smaller cars with their current cost structure. They were being artificially kept afloat by the high margin SUV's and when that market declined, so did their only profit generating segment and it exposed the real weakness in GM.
The solution for GM going forward is have a broad base of vehicles (large and small so that people have a choice) and be able to make a profit selling each vehicle. Dumping legacy costs and a revised UAW contract will help make that possible. However, if Obama try's to social engineer the auto business by forcing more "small, fuel efficient cars" and ignores what the masses are really interested buying, they are doomed to fail again.
Where's the Aveo, Prius, Mini-Cooper, Smart car, etc. ? None of them are even in the top ten. Heck, 2 out of the top 3 are full size pick-ups.
This whole concept of building smaller more fuel efficient cars is a complete red herring. The cars already exist, the masses don't want them! (at least until the price of gas gets over $4/gallon again.
GM's problem is that they can't make a profit on the smaller cars with their current cost structure. They were being artificially kept afloat by the high margin SUV's and when that market declined, so did their only profit generating segment and it exposed the real weakness in GM.
The solution for GM going forward is have a broad base of vehicles (large and small so that people have a choice) and be able to make a profit selling each vehicle. Dumping legacy costs and a revised UAW contract will help make that possible. However, if Obama try's to social engineer the auto business by forcing more "small, fuel efficient cars" and ignores what the masses are really interested buying, they are doomed to fail again.
This is not the stats for the last five years total which will tell a different story but rather stats for the CURRENT months, but lets break it down. #1 vehicle is Accord, followed by the Ford F Series which can be misleading. The Ford F Series IS THE #1 SELLING VEHCILE IN THE WORLD for the last decade, it took a nose dive early 2008 in sales due to high gas prices but with the 2009 model introduced, Ford gave incentives including $9k off and 0% financing and with gas prices dropping, the F Series made a comeback this year. Third place is the Silverado which would have not made the list without all the incentives from GM, the rest are followed by smaller cars that had no incentives from their manufacturers.
Same dealer that had the $15K mark-up or "market adjustment" according to them on the Dodge Challenger.
What everyone forgot to realize is GM actually started the bankruptcy process in 1990 when they signed the agreement with the AUW, today they just made it official by submiting it to court.
This is not the stats for the last five years total which will tell a different story but rather stats for the CURRENT months, but lets break it down. #1 vehicle is Accord, followed by the Ford F Series which can be misleading. The Ford F Series IS THE #1 SELLING VEHCILE IN THE WORLD for the last decade, it took a nose dive early 2008 in sales due to high gas prices but with the 2009 model introduced, Ford gave incentives including $9k off and 0% financing and with gas prices dropping, the F Series made a comeback this year. Third place is the Silverado which would have not made the list without all the incentives from GM, the rest are followed by smaller cars that had no incentives from their manufacturers.
The reality is big cars are popular. The F and Silverado are consistently top sellers.
All I'm trying to point out is that it's just not true that the masses are demanding fuel efficient cars that don't exist. They do exist, they just aren't as popular.
And when it comes to smaller or mid size vehicles, quality and value are top concerns. Whether its deserved or not, the american brands just don't have that reputation. GM did that to themselves, not the economy.
I know I'll get flamed for this, but if I were in the market for a mid size family sedan, I'd never dream of buying American (this coming from the person with 3 GM vehicles sitting in my driveway).
It is easy to blame others for GMs failure. Americans are great at pointing the finger at someone else. Let's face it, besides our Corvette what does GM produce that actually sells out each year? Zippo. Have you seen the new Camero? Are any of you jumping at the opportunity to purchase a 4000 pound ponycar? You can say what you want about economic cars but if GM had the Volt ready to sell last summer they could have sold every one they could make. Instead they focus on vehicles like the Successcolade.... 5000 pound + blingmobiles.12-15 m.p.g. on a good day. I could go on...
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Re: General Motors Bankruptcy Official
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