84 / 140
82
S
eptember
2009
www.read-tpt.com›
G
lobal
M
arketplace
Automotive
Do not depend on Uncle Sam,
the president tells car companies
“It was the right thing to do,” said President Barack Obama, on 14
July, in reference to Washington’s bailout of the US auto industry.
The occasion was Mr Obama’s first visit to Detroit since the
controversial advance of more than $50bn in federal loans that kept
General Motors and Chrysler from going under.
GM’s emergence from bankruptcy in the previous week enabled the
president to take a few jabs at the sceptics who had held that he
and his Auto Industry Task Force were wasting their concern and
the taxpayers’ money on a moribund industry.
But Tom Walsh, writing in the Detroit Free Press, noted that the
president is now also “chief executive officer of the outfit that owns
most of General Motors” – the American public. And the new CEO
made plain to the car makers that he will be looking for shareholder
value. Moreover he expects the leaner companies, under new
management, to go forward under their own power, without any
more support from Washington. (“Obama’s Sobering Message to
Detroit,” 15 July.)
The bailout, which seemed a tortuous process at the time, has
in fact been completed in record time, and the key players are
declaring victory and going home. Steven Rattner, who led the
White House bailout team, has already returned to private life. And,
on the same day Mr Obama spoke in Detroit, Harvey Miller – the
lawyer who pushed GM through bankruptcy in only 40 days – told
Bloomberg TV that he expected the auto task force to disband in six
weeks’ time.
Of course, the test of all this velocity will be the success of the
relaunched GM and Chrysler-Fiat, and the revival of the fortunes
of the auto parts suppliers. Even while avoiding the word failure,
the US president strongly conveyed to the car makers that
Washington had rescued them from their difficulties for the first
and last time. The Freep’s Mr Walsh spoke for many, in Detroit
and elsewhere, when he wrote, “Let’s hope that resolve doesn’t
get tested.”
Elsewhere in automotive . . .
›
In its biggest recent investment, General Motors Corp is directing
$1bn to the development of two new car models in Brazil, where
GM sold 580,000 vehicles in 2008 – its best year in the country.
Jaime Ardila, the president of GM’s Brazilian operations, said on 15
July that his unit would provide about half the investment outright,
borrowing the rest.
The new cars, one small and one medium-sized, are expected to be
in production at the company’s Gravatai plant in southern Brazil by
2012. Mr Ardila noted that GM Brazil has avoided the problems of
its parent company in the US because of strong demand for autos in
Latin America’s largest economy.
Dorothy Fabian
, Features Editor (USA)
A step ahead
technology
1 machine
=
3 applications
tel +33 475 575 070 - commerce
@
axxair.com
w w w . a x x a i r . c o m
GLOBAL PROCESS
V A L C O M . f r
-photoDanielLattard
ORBITAL
WELDING
ORBITAL
BEVELLING
ORBITAL
CUTTING
C
M
J
CM
MJ
CJ
CMJ
N
Ap_260x87_AXXAIR_GB.eps 10/04/09 9:10:07
Welding & Cutting Show – Essen – Germany
From September 14. to 19. 2009 –
Hall 6
–
Booth 609