The mission of the National Corvette Museum is to celebrate the Corvette's invention, and preserve the legendary automobile's past, present, and futu...
As you likely know, the deadline imposed by the White House for GM to restructure is Monday, June 1, so I'll keep in touch with any GM issued news early next week.
Far below are news and quotes from this week, but also I included immediately below a press release just issued today by GM, followed by a Wall Street Journal story on it.
Have a great weekend, Amanda
FOR RELEASE: 2009-05-29
GM Announces Plans to Build Small Car in U.S. * GM to utilize and retool idled assembly and stamping facility for future production. * Additional production will help the company deliver outstanding new vehicles to the compact and small car markets and meet future fuel efficiency regulations.
DETROIT, Mich. -- General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) announced today it plans to build a future small car in the United States utilizing an idled UAW-GM facility. This vehicle adds to GM's growing portfolio of U.S.-built, highly fuel efficient cars including the Chevrolet Cruze and Volt.
"Small cars represent one of the fastest growing segments in both the U.S. and around the world," said Fritz Henderson, General Motors President and CEO. "We believe this car will be a winner with our current and future customers in the U.S."
The re-tooled plant will be capable of building 160,000 cars annually, which can be a combination of both small and compact vehicles. Selection of the site will be determined in the future.
"I would like to personally thank the UAW for agreeing to work with us to ensure our overall manufacturing competitiveness in the United States," said Henderson. "This vehicle segment, while important today and expected to be more so in the future, is extremely challenging. It takes a special effort by everyone to bring a domestically produced small car to market in a cost-competitive and profitable way - but that is what we are going to do together."
GM already has a strong manufacturing presence in the United States. Currently, about 67 percent of GM cars and trucks sold in the U.S. are built in the U.S. With this announcement, GM anticipates that U.S. production levels will increase beyond 70 percent by 2013, augmenting its already automotive industry-leading U.S. manufacturing footprint. # # #
GM Plans to Build Small Car at an Idled US Plant Wall Street Journal, by Sharon Terlep, 5/29/09 http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090529-708666.html "General Motors Corp. (GM), days from an expected bankruptcy filing, will spend $600 million to $700 million to produce what would be the only U.S.-built subcompact car, people familiar with the plan said Friday."
GM News Quotes: Barack Obama, U.S. President, 5/22/09, C-SPAN Ultimately, I think that GM is going to be a strong company. And we're going to be pulling out as soon as the economy recovers and they've completed their restructuring[.] We will see both GM emerg[ing] from this restructuring process, leaner, meaner, more competitive with a set of product lines that appeal to consumers: good cars that are fuel efficient and that look at the markets of tomorrow.
Ronald Hwang, Natural Resources Defense Council, 5/19/09, CNBCs Kudlow Report I believe they can compete. If you're looking at the products that General Motors is starting to deliver, what Ford are starting to deliver to the marketplace, you are seeing a dramatically different industry and that is -- that's driven by market, competitive issues, it is also driven by the expectations of new standards. The American workers and the American autoworkers and American companies and American engineers they can compete with any auto company in the world.
Mark Phelan, Detroit Free Press, 5/28/09, Lutz Optimistic About Smaller, Leaner G.M. http://www.freep.com/article/20090528/BUSINESS01/905290329 The new GM will be smaller, leaner, very profitable and with an outstanding product line, [G.M. Vice Chairman Bob] Lutz told the Automotive Press Association in Detroit on Thursday. Lutz heaped praise on the presidential automotive task force, calling this the first time in history the auto industry has had the ear of the president. Lutz said GM's recovery plan rests on leadership in advanced technologies and fuel economy, a newly competitive cost structure and debt load, and undisputed product excellence.
Phil LeBeau, CNBC Auto Industry Reporter, 5/28/09, NBCs NBC Nightly News This certainly should clear the path for General Motors to have a quicker, smoother bankruptcy, and the reason that's important is because the less time General Motors spends in bankruptcy, the less questions or the fewer questions that are raised with consumers as they drive by dealerships. [Consumers] will have more confidence if GM gets out of bankruptcy sooner, and that's what they're hoping at the Treasury Department, a bankruptcy as quick as what we're seeing with Chrysler.
Linda Sandler, Jeff Green, & Mike Ramsey, Bloomberg, 5/29/09, GM Bankruptcy to Be a Tale of Best of Assets, Worst of Assets http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pi ... d=azwLDwPkZ4ck&refer=home [A] new entity will emerge within three months with prized assets and a plan to revisit the best of times when GM was the worlds largest carmaker. [T]he new company, armed with vehicles from GMs Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC divisions, plans to begin making money again within 60 to 90 days, while a bankruptcy court sells or liquidates unprofitable brands[.] In creating the [new] company, the U.S. plans to speed GMs progress by turning more than $50 billion of loans into a 72.5 percent equity stake for the government, slashing company debt to about $17 billion, excluding financing obligations to suppliers and warranty programs, according to a regulatory filing yesterday.
Fang Yan and Edmund Klamann, Reuters.com, 5/28/09, In China, troubled GM enjoys small-car boom http://www.reuters.com/article/reuter ... TRE54R1MI20090528?sp=true A popular small-car lineup. Booming sales growth. A promising future. General Motors is not often described in such terms in the media these days, but in China at least, they all hold true for the No. 1 U.S. automaker.
GM News & Social Media Brief: GM Bankruptcy to Be a Tale of Best of Assets, Worst of Assets Bloomberg, by Linda Sandler, Jeff Green & Mike Ramsey, 5/29/09 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pi ... d=azwLDwPkZ4ck&refer=home They are clearly trying to clear a path for a very quick Chrysler-style case, said Stephen Lubben, a bankruptcy-law professor at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. They will use the bankruptcy code to separate good GM from bad GM.
What will a new GM look like? Detroit Free Press, by Tim Higgins & Justin Hyde, 5/29/09 http://www.freep.com/article/20090529 ... +will+a+new+GM+look+like? On Thursday, GM unveiled a proposal aimed at winning debt holders' support for its plan to create a new GM in bankruptcy out of its best parts and giving the first glimpse of what the new company could look like.
G.M. Reaches a Deal With Bondholder Committee The New York Times DealBook,edited by Andrew Ross Sorkin, 5/28/09 http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/200 ... ith-bondholder-committee/ General Motors said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it has proposed a new deal to a committee representing many of its largest bondholders, offering an equity stake of as much as 25 percent in the restructured automaker if bondholders dont oppose G.M.s reorganization plan.
GM issues paychecks early amid bankruptcy fears Reuters, reporting by Kevin Krolicki; editing by Richard Chang, 5/28/09 http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE54R0DN20090528 General Motors Corp paid about 90,000 U.S. employees three days early this week in an effort to reassure them that their wage payments would not be affected by any bankruptcy filing, a spokesman said.
Cabinet Secretaries, Obama Administration Officials to Travel Across Midwest, Discuss Federal Recovery Efforts for Auto Communities and Workers The White House Office of the Press Secretary, Released 5/28/09 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_o ... -Communities-and-Workers/ Next week, from Tuesday, June 2 to Friday, June 5, members of the United States Cabinet and Obama administration officials will travel across the Midwest to visit auto communities and discuss federal recovery efforts for auto communities and workers.
