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Filed under: Chrysler, LLC. , Ford , GM , Rumormill Bill Vlasic, the man who was kind enough to drop the GM/Chrysler pseudo-bombshell on us late Friday night, posted a follow-up to his remarkably unremarkable story claiming that General Motors originally had talks with Ford about a possible merger before approaching the Pentastar people. Again, the New York Times ' scribe cites two unnamed sources about the merger discussions, reporting that GM approached Ford with the proposal, only to have FoMoCo execs shoot down the idea after several meetings. The talks included GM CEO Rick Wagoner, president Frederick Henderson, Ford's executive chairman Bill Ford Jr. and chief exec Alan Mulally. According to the NYT 's shy sources, the Blue Oval boys broke off talks in September when Ford and Mulally came to the conclusion that Ford would be better off reorganizing on its own rather than being tied to another automaker. The Detroit News got in on the action yesterday, citing another anonymous...
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Filed under: Etc. , Government/Legal , Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Plants/Manufacturing , Chrysler, LLC. , GM Our heads are still reeling from one of the most tumultuous weeks on record, both for the financial world and the auto industry. But despite our best efforts to drown our concerns in Racer5 IPA, the hits keep coming and this time, it's courtesy of the New York Times . The Gray Lady is reporting that General Motors and Chrysler have been in talks about a possible merger for the past month and that two unnamed sources say that the chances of the deal going through are "50-50." With GM's stock prices ending the week below $5 a share and Cerberus - the private equity firm that owns Chrysler - grasping at straws any and all straws, including continued talks with Nissan/Renault, a merger of unequals is two parts disturbing and one part intriguing. Cerberus' people haven't been returning phone calls and the only comment offered to the NYT from the General's...
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Filed under: Government/Legal What's another $25 billion between friends? That's the argument General Motors, Chrysler and Ford's Congressional lobbyists will be making in the next few months for a $50 billion loan from the federal government. Originally, Detroit's Big Three were after $25 billion in loans from the Feds , but after lawmakers authorized a loan in last year's energy bill, the domestics now want Congress to grant loans up to $50 billion over the next three years. The loans would carry an interest rate of around four to five percent, with $25 billion being available in the first year, another $15 billion in the second year and the final $10 billion in the third. GM, Ford and Chrysler contend that the low-interest loans would be used to build more fuel-efficient vehicles, including hybrids and electrics, thus reducing the U.S.'s dependency on foreign oil, not to mention making all three automakers more competitive in a market that no longer favors big...
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Filed under: Government/Legal , Chrysler, LLC. , Ford , GM , Earnings/Financials No matter how you slice it, a proposed $25 billion loan from the Feds is a bailout, and that's exactly what Detroit's Big Three automakers are after, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Lobbyists for General Motors, Chrysler and Ford have met with White House officials, Rep. John Dingell and a smattering of Michigan Democrats to discuss the loan, with plans to unveil the proposal after Labor Day. The plan includes lending $25 billion to automakers in its first year at an interest rate of 4.5 percent (about one-third of what the companies are currently paying), with the government having the option to defer any payment for up to five years. Details are scarce, and naturally, GM, Ford and Chrysler reps aren't saying much, but if the automakers and the Feds are serious, expect more information to leak out before the proposal is officially announced. [Source: WSJ , Photo by Tracy O | CC2...
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Filed under: Chrysler, LLC. , GM , Earnings/Financials Despite recent rumblings to the contrary, both General Motors and Chrysler claim that they will not be going bankrupt any time soon. Still, as much as the two American automakers would love to quell fears of unsustainable liquidity, questions remain, especially as the pickup market in the United States continues to dwindle. In a note sent out to dealers, Chrysler's Jim Press and Steven Landry say that the automaker will focus its efforts on small cars for the rest of this year, though the current pickings from the automaker's stable seem a bit slim. Chrysler is surely banking on its alliances to bolster its line of small car offerings, which could help to dampen the blow of lost truck profits -- somewhat. General Motors , for its part, has invested heavily into its upcoming Delta platform vehicles, which will include a compact Chevrolet-branded car known as the Cruze as well as the Chevy Volt electric vehicle. [Source: Automotive...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Auction Action , Marketing/Advertising , Chrysler , GM , Lexus Way back in February, General Motors announced it would be listing all of it Certified Pre-Owned vehicles on eBay Motors, and it took until now to actually make that happen. To go along with GM, Chrysler and Lexus have also joined up, with eBay Motors making a special section of its website specifically for CPO vehicles. The new site, which can be found here , went live yesterday and is sponsored exclusively by Lexus. It's also provided at no cost to any dealer looking for another outlet to advertise its inventory. A quick check of the new hub shows that both eBay's classic auction-style listings and regular classified ads are listed together. The site's search functionality allows users to find vehicles located near their zip code, meaning it should prove awfully easy to find that brand-spanking-used Chrysler Sebring you've been foaming at the mouth for. [Source: Automotive News - sub...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Chrysler , Ford , GM Even after posting a $3.25 billion loss , General Motors won't resort to fleet sales to ease their pain. In the automotive industry, fleet sales typically represent the lightly equipped, and heavily discounted, vehicles sold to rental companies or corporations. The numbers are significant , and fleets sales of a particular model may even exceed the volume sold at retail. Often laden with special financing incentives, the sales are less profitable for the automaker, and they hurt the used-vehicle market when a large number of the same model are dumped into the marketplace simultaneously. Last year, GM sold about 700,000 units to fleet sales. In 2008, that number is projected to drop to about 575,000 units. By 2009, it will decline even further with a sales projection of just over 500,000 fleet units. GM isn't the only automaker following this path. Ford's sales to rental companies are down 16 percent from the same quarter last year...
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Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing , Chrysler , GM , UAW/Unions , Canada Shortly after reaching an agreement with Ford , the Canadian Auto Workers union announced the rather surprising news that it had reached tentative agreements with both General Motors and Chrysler. These deals come about four months before the deadline for a deal was to be hit and stand in stark contrast to the protracted negotiations that recently took place between the Big Three and the CAW's American counterpart, the UAW. Under the new deal, GM promises to keep its Oshawa, Ontario plant open until 2012 and offers buyouts worth up to $125,000 to workers at the Windsor transmission plant, which will soon be shut down . Chrysler, for its part, agreed to continue producing minivans at its Windsor assembly site, continue producing the 300C in Brampton, Ontario and keep its Toronto casting plant open until 2011. CAW President Buzz Hargrove calls the tentative deals "a win-win" for both the union workers and...
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Filed under: Hirings/Firings , Plants/Manufacturing , Chrysler , GM , UAW/Unions The 10-day strike between American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. and the United Auto Workers union is now threatening to idle or partially shut down 13 more GM plants as early as Monday. Although talks are underway again, even a resolution over the weekend may mean closures as it takes time to deliver inventory and ramp up production. As of now, seven assembly plants at GM have already been idled after the AA workers walked off their jobs on February 26th . American Axle supplies components to many different automakers, meaning the strike is being felt industry-wide. The strike is hitting GM particularly hard, however, as it does represent some 80% of the supplier's business. GM idled four truck plants within days. By yesterday, five GM plants, and seven suppliers were down. Chrysler may also have to idle plants in Delaware and Mexico by mid-next week if both sides don't come to an agreement...
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Filed under: Detroit Auto Show , Etc. , Audi , Buick , Chrysler , GM , Honda , Mercedes Benz , Volvo Road and Travel Magazine crowned the winners of its 2008 International Car Of The Year at 12th annual NAIAS-eve ceremony last night. Honda's newly-ginormous Accord took the coronation on the car side, while Chrysler's revamped Town and Country used its slick new features to win the truck category. RTM's judges are a veritable who's who of heavy-hitting auto journos, including Ann Job, David E. Davis, Jr., Denise McCluggage and Autoblog's own John McElroy . The pundit firepower lends real credence to the selections, even if you don't agree 100%. Results were sorted by JD Power and Associates, and General Motors had the most vehicles named to the overall list. GM was also presented with the first Earth Angel award, honoring the environmentally-friendly efforts of the automaker. The full list of winners is included in RTM's press release, posted after the jump. ...
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Filed under: Chrysler , GM , Earnings/Financials Despite losing customers in its home market, both General Motors and Chrysler have set sales records overseas during 2007. The General's CEO, Rick Wagoner, said during a Bloomberg News interview that around 75-percent of GM's sales will come from outside the U.S. within the next decade, up from 58-percent in the third quarter of 2007. Chrysler's sales abroad have risen by 15-percent over the 2006 numbers, with 238,218 vehicles sold last year, compared to almost 207k the previous year. Good news, but that's a drop in the bucket considering that sales outside the States only account for nine-percent of Chrysler's worldwide retail action. [Sources: Bloomberg, Detroit News ] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Government/Legal You might recall about this time last year, California State Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a lawsuit in Northern California's U.S. District Court asserting that automakers selling vehicles in the Golden State were liable...
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Filed under: China , Hirings/Firings , Chrysler , GM Chrysler proved once again that it will spare no expense to draw leading figures in the industry to man the helm of the it's turnaround. Today, Chrysler LLC announced that it's hired a 32-year veteran...
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