This certainly turns the tables on the notion that unions are somehow “anti-business.” From USA Today: STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — The United Auto Workers union will own 55% of a restructured Chrysler LLC and its retiree health care trust will get a seat on the board if union members vote to approve contract concessions this [...]

And Pontiac will vanish. The carnage continues… DETROIT – General Motors Corp. could be majority owned by the federal government under a massive restructuring plan laid out Monday that will cut 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by next year and phase out the storied Pontiac brand. The plan, which includes an offer to swap roughly $27 [...]

Oh, and hybrids too. From NY Times: The goal, which radiates from the very top of the Chinese government, suggests that Detroit’s Big Three, already struggling to stay alive, will face even stiffer foreign competition on the next field of automotive technology than they do today. [...] To some extent, China is making a virtue [...]

After months of hand-wringing, bailouts and backlash, new GM CEO Fritz Henderson says bankruptcy is still a very real possibility: The company, he said, has until June 1 to accomplish changes sought by the government, or it will be in bankruptcy. The 60-day deadline should be enough time, but if it becomes evident that the [...]

So it’s pretty apparent people are upset that there are different rules for the automakers and banks. Well, I’m not sure what to tell you except the entire economy isn’t leveraged against the health of the Big 3. Yes, they’re vitally important and I think we should continue to help them out, but they don’t [...]

The Obama Administration has announced the Car Czar is out and an automobile task force is in. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers will oversee a new panel charged with overseeing the government bailout of GM and Chrysler. This move comes a day before the two car companies are scheduled [...]

This should be welcome news for all of you Federalists. From NY Times: WASHINGTON — President Obama will direct federal regulators on Monday to move swiftly on an application by California and 13 other states to set strict automobile emission and fuel efficiency standards, two administration officials said Sunday. The directive makes good on an [...]

Larry Burns on General Motors’ ideas for the next generation of automobiles, which include cars giving power back to the grid. We can talk all we want about how firms like GM have failed in the past couple decades, but they’re right at that point where they can really make a difference and it would [...]

I’m glad to see we learned our lesson… From CNN: After nearly a year of flagging sales, low gas prices and fat incentives are reigniting America’s taste for big vehicles. Trucks and SUVs will outsell cars in December, according to researchers at the automotive Website Edmunds.com, something that hasn’t happened since February. Meanwhile the forecast [...]

We freed up close to a trillion dollars for banks who employ mostly white collar workers, but we were unwilling to free up $25 billion for the blue collar autoworkers. Joe Scarborough and company discuss… I do think it’s shameful that the unions have gotten lambasted in the past few weeks as anti-capitalist boogeymen, but [...]

Unless we think U.S. automakers are alone in their troubles, Toyota announced today that it will see its first ever operational loss this year and has lowered net profit expectations to just $555 million. The company had initially projected a net profit of $13.9 billion. Toyota has been hurt by the financial crisis as well [...]

“Be it BMW, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi or Hyundai, the South has become a sanctuary for foreign assembly plants, for which Southern states have been paying subsidies.” – Pat Buchanan on the “Toyota Republicans” Here’s some more perspective… The $14 billion loan to the Big Three that Republican senators filibustered to death is just [...]

Of all the news that could come out of the White House regarding aid to the Big Three automakers, this is perhaps the most encouraging: WASHINGTON — The White House said on Thursday that an “orderly” bankruptcy was one option being considered to try to rescue General Motors and Chrysler, which are seeking billions of [...]

Southern Senators are crying foul at the auto rescue package, but they had no problem giving foreign automakers billions in subsidies to come set up shop in their states. From the Washington Independent: To hear Southern Republicans tell the story, the financial burdens facing Detroit’s automakers are self-made troubles to be settled by the laws [...]

I think this has a lot more to do with the fact that this has been spun as free money as opposed to giving these companies loans (GM and Chrysler) or at least access to lines of credit (Ford), but nonetheless… From Wash Post: Overall, 55 percent of those polled oppose the latest plan that [...]

If Ford declines the taxpayer money, Ford deserves the support of American car buyers. If GM and Chrysler take taxpayer money, they do not deserve the support of American car buyers. Polls show that a majority of Americans oppose taxpayer dollars being used to support the Detroit 3 bailout. Perhaps the right idea is to boycott any company that takes taxpayer funds against the wishes of the majority of American taxpayers.

After the Senate put a halt to the automaker bailout yesterday, the White House has announced today it may bailout the automakers itself with the money approved for the financial bailout. Nice to see that all the debate in Congress was just a pageant and the Bush Administration will, once again, do whatever it wants, [...]

Even 18% of Republicans supported it, and I thought that would be much lower. Of course, when you think about all the representatives from those Midwest states that need these jobs, maybe that number isn’t all that surprising. From Wash Post: The House just passed the $14 billion Detroit Big Three autos bailout bill by [...]

If you think the woes of the American automotive industry have been stressful for Americans, imagine the situation in Sweden where Saab (owned by GM) and Volvo (owned by Ford) are in danger of extinction. Now, the Swedish government is faced with the question of whether or not to provide a bailout for the two [...]

There has been plenty of talk about how the federal government can save the American auto industry by pumping in billions of dollars in loans and requiring the Big Three to conform to new government mandates. What hasn’t been as fully discussed is how current government regulations are affecting the industry. In The Wall Street [...]