There is a lot going on in the automotive world today, Monday, April 6, 2009. Here’s what’s happening:
Obama’s Top Auto Industry Troubleshooter – New York Times article. After 26 years as one of the most politically connected investment bankers on Wall Street, Steven Rattner finally took a job in Washington — only it is not quite the one friends and business associates thought it would be.
Auto makers and the dinasourses – The US car makers ,especially GM and Chrysler, have caused self inflicting injuries on their operations and other orgnizations that work with them and for them…
Bad economy holds highway deaths to 1960s levels – Less money in the pockets of Americans means fewer highway deaths. As the economy slid deeper into recession and gas prices reached $4 a gallon last year, the number of people killed in auto accidents hit its lowest level in five decades.
David Gregory Tries To Union Bust Auto Companies; GM CEO Refuses To Play Along – View the video – “Unlike David Gregory, I have never held a job that benefited from union representation. And in some of those jobs (real estate development comes to mind), I’ve felt that lack of collective bargaining, when it became patently obvious that my employers had little regard for equal pay, fair work hours (one job I had felt it was okay to make me work seven days a week, as long as my total weekly hours totaled 40) and even job safety.”
March auto sales – Light vehicles sold in the U.S. last month were down 37% from March 2008, whereas February sales had been 41% below year-earlier values. Does a February-to-March increase and smaller year-over-year drop mean that we’ve turned the corner?
Susan Helper: Understanding the U.S. Auto Industry – Just before leaving office, the Bush Administration loaned $17 billion to GM and Chrysler, and $7.5 billion to the two automakers’ credit affiliates (GMAC and Chrysler Financial). Further assistance depended on the companies’ submitting plans that showed how they were going to become “viable” companies.
2010 GMC Terrain at 2009 New York Auto Show – “GM has sworn to stop rebadging, yet here is the Terrain, GMC’s version of the recently announced 2010 Chevy Equinox SUV. We wouldn’t call this just a rebadging; it seems GM has changed every piece of sheet metal on the Terrain to make it stand out. And stand out it does.” Check out the 2010 GMC Terrain.