Andy
02-17-2009, 01:11 AM
http://image.motortrend.com/f/14789867+w315/image.jpg
DETROIT - This is probably a good thing. President Obama has decided, after months of speculation on who he'd name, to drop the idea of assigning a car czar to oversee the industry's myriad problems including its lack of cash. Rather than place the future of the industry in the hands of one person, Obama instead will reportedly place Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Chairman Lawrence H. Summers in charge of the Presidential Task Force on Autos, to include leaders in the Treasury, Labor, Transportation, Commerce and Energy departments.
There's talk of hiring turnaround specialist Ron Bloom, who has previously worked on plans for the steel and airlines industries, to work on federal loan guarantees, which now total $17.4 billion in commitments to General Motors and Chrysler LLC.
This is better than a singular car czar. With a single individual, you might get support against bankruptcy filings or against granting California its CO2 legislation waiver, but not against both. A task force should take a more balance approach, though it's more likely to get bogged down in irreconcilable arguments.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal has reported that GM will get aggressive in its plan due on Capitol Hill along with Chrysler's on Tuesday. GM will propose a choice of another big government bailout or a government-backed bankruptcy, the newspaper reported online. And the bankruptcy proposal may entail filing Chapter 11 for some assets -- Saab, Hummer and Saturn, obviously -- while forming a new company to sustain Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. Sounds like something Billy Durant would have pulled 95 years ago.
If this story proves true, the sentiment toward letting GM go bankrupt on its own will intensify. And it may be deserved. On the other hand, it would provide a relatively clean break from many of GM's 6480 U.S. dealers. GM already has announced plans to cut 10,000 salaried employees free, 3400 of them in North America. And while talks broke down between GM and the United Auto Workers last weekend on more labor concessions, I'm betting on management to win that one, eventually.
The question is, which GM will CEO and Chairman Rick Wagoner lead -- the viable one, or (as GM did in naming Jim Taylor CEO of Hummer) the bankrupt one? I'd put my money, what little is left, that the GM board will assign him to the latter.
More... (http://blogs.motortrend.com/6432641/government/no-car-czar-but-maybe-a-gm-bankruptcy/index.html)
DETROIT - This is probably a good thing. President Obama has decided, after months of speculation on who he'd name, to drop the idea of assigning a car czar to oversee the industry's myriad problems including its lack of cash. Rather than place the future of the industry in the hands of one person, Obama instead will reportedly place Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Chairman Lawrence H. Summers in charge of the Presidential Task Force on Autos, to include leaders in the Treasury, Labor, Transportation, Commerce and Energy departments.
There's talk of hiring turnaround specialist Ron Bloom, who has previously worked on plans for the steel and airlines industries, to work on federal loan guarantees, which now total $17.4 billion in commitments to General Motors and Chrysler LLC.
This is better than a singular car czar. With a single individual, you might get support against bankruptcy filings or against granting California its CO2 legislation waiver, but not against both. A task force should take a more balance approach, though it's more likely to get bogged down in irreconcilable arguments.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal has reported that GM will get aggressive in its plan due on Capitol Hill along with Chrysler's on Tuesday. GM will propose a choice of another big government bailout or a government-backed bankruptcy, the newspaper reported online. And the bankruptcy proposal may entail filing Chapter 11 for some assets -- Saab, Hummer and Saturn, obviously -- while forming a new company to sustain Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. Sounds like something Billy Durant would have pulled 95 years ago.
If this story proves true, the sentiment toward letting GM go bankrupt on its own will intensify. And it may be deserved. On the other hand, it would provide a relatively clean break from many of GM's 6480 U.S. dealers. GM already has announced plans to cut 10,000 salaried employees free, 3400 of them in North America. And while talks broke down between GM and the United Auto Workers last weekend on more labor concessions, I'm betting on management to win that one, eventually.
The question is, which GM will CEO and Chairman Rick Wagoner lead -- the viable one, or (as GM did in naming Jim Taylor CEO of Hummer) the bankrupt one? I'd put my money, what little is left, that the GM board will assign him to the latter.
More... (http://blogs.motortrend.com/6432641/government/no-car-czar-but-maybe-a-gm-bankruptcy/index.html)