The good, the bad– and the Camaro!
Now that GM chairman & CEO Rick Wagoner is out of the picture after a 30-plus year career–and a $20-million retirement package, we might as well add– the Obama Administration is getting down to brass tacks on exactly how they intend to breathe some real life back into America’s wheezing auto giants.
Turns out the answer may lie in applying the whole “bad debt bank” model to Detroit. That’s what The Wall Street Journal is reporting on its Auto Industry Tracker blog.
So, reports WSJ, the federal plan to fix GM and Chrysler LLC would use bankruptcy filings “to purge the ailing companies of their biggest problems, including bondholder debt and retiree health-care costs,” and essentially split both firms into their “good” and “bad” halves. Once that’s done, according to “people familiar with the matter,” the goal would be for the “good GM”– featuring such winning brands (says me) as Chevrolet and Cadillac (and I’d add Buick and GMC in there, too) to emerge as a stand-alone manufacturer, while the “good Chrysler” operation (which I hope will include Dodge trucks!) would be (hopefully) sold to Italy’s Fiat SpA.
And if all that doesn’t pan out, they can try my idea– which I floated last year for crying out loud!– of creating a USA Motors… out of all the best brands left rolling.
2010 Chevy Camaro convertible: Now we’re talking the heartbeat of America!
No matter how this all turns out, I am pulling for Detroit. American workers needs automotive jobs and American truckers need automotive freight and they need the trucks built by GM, Chrysler and Ford, too. What’s more, foreign transplant auto firms, Honda, Toyota etc., all need the extensive supplier base that is so dependent on our Big Three for them to build cars here.
And, yes, I think America– and the world– needs American cars, too. Geez, if you are not convinced at least of that, take a look above at what just hit dealer showrooms!
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Related Topics: Regulation, OEMs, Management, Equipment, Fuel Economy, Running Green, Heavy Trucks, Midrange Trucks, Engines, David Cullen, Emissions, Freight, Light Trucks, Drivers, Trucking
April 1st, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Clearly you do not understand the concept of brand loyalty and monopoly when you suggest a unified USA Motors! Heck let’s go to a one world currency, government and military while we are at it. If companies want to work together and share designs and suppliers to benefit each other (many joint venture programs have been done) than so be it. But it’s people like you who really scare me when you can publish a voice like this without thinking about and understanding the whole picture and its complexity.
April 1st, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Cheezer,
Thanks for your comment and, in my defense, allow me to suggest that you consider that much of what I prattle on about in this blog o’ mine is written with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek.
Sincerely yours in good humor,
David
April 17th, 2009 at 10:24 am
I love your choice of car. My first love was a 68 Camaro driven by my cousins boyfreind. I currently own 2 Camaro’s and intend on buying the latests model when they hit the used market. (to broke to by new) While I have owned mostly Gm products I don’t consider brands when I buy a vehicle. I have owned Ford cars like the Escort and Tarus that were excellent vehicles for the money and suited my needs perfectly. I have a Ford F150 as a company vehicle and it has 325,000 miles on it. If you limit your choices you can miss some very good things. Buy American but only if the product is as good as the foreign counterpart. If companies think you will buy whatever they sell then they will get lazy. We have many examples of this in the automotive industry. Buy the way I ve never owned a foreign car.
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Between the Lines: David Cullen offers his take on how actions taken by government agencies, industry suppliers and other trucking stakeholders impact truck fleet owners. Executive Editor of FleetOwner, Cullen has been covering trucking since 1981 and has been on the staff of FleetOwner since 1989. He does not claim to be an expert on trucking, but will admit to being a writer-- and hoping to be regarded a journalist.Advertisement
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