By Bertel Schmitt
July 31, 2009
As time goes on, Opel's chances to be rescued by an outside investor are dwindling. A member of the German government's Opel Task Force told
Reuters on Thursday that negotiations between GM and the two competing bidders (RHJ and Magna) for Opel could drag on longer than expected. The way it looks, the deal may never close - because GM doesn't want to. There could be another rich sugar daddy: It's you.
Editorial: There May Be a New Buyer for Opel. Get a Mirror
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Posted in Bailout | Editorials | 19 comments 
By Bertel Schmitt
July 29, 2009
Did we
say the Opel sale is getting messier and messier? GM seems to be in urgent need to attend remedial reading class.
There is the German government making noises that if GM doesn't say "Ja" to Magna, the government
can't guarantee that another suitor gets loan guarantees. Which in German means, they won't. GM can't read the writing on the wall.
Editorial: GM Can’t Read
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Posted in Bailout | Editorials | 19 comments
By Ken Elias
June 1, 2009
It might be a bad day for GM but it’s a much worse one for Toyota. Really. The days (really decades) of weak domestic manufacturers shooting themselves in the foot with bad design, poor assembly, and non-existent customer satisfaction in passenger cars are coming to an end. Toyota didn’t have to outrun the bear, it just had to stay ahead of GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Years of producing huge profits in North America hit the wall for Toyota in 2009, and they’re likely not to return. Ever. The game has now changed---and it’s not good for Toyota.
Toyota’s Bad Day
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Posted in Bailout | Editorials | 103 comments
By Bertel Schmitt
May 29, 2009
Today, Berlin will re-attempt to save Opel after the
disastrous Wednesday night / Thursday morning confab. From most accounts, that meeting was a remake of
The Three Stooges, with the actors sent by central casting in Washington and Detroit. Berlin is still fuming about the "impertinence" (finance Minister Peer Steinbrück) of the junior Treasury staffer who demanded an extra $415 million more in short-term cash, above the bridge financing of $2.1 billion Berlin had been ready to sign that night. They also are still grumpy about being lied to, or handed "information with a short half-life" as the finance minister put it ever so politely.
Editorial: Opel Watch: Henderson: “We Are a Victim of Coicumstance!” Fiat: “Andiamo!” Magna: “Jetzt reicht’s!”
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Posted in Bailout | Editorials | 19 comments
By Robert Farago
May 13, 2009
The moment the Chrysler - Fiat hookup was announced, savvy pistonheads nasally ejected their coffee. Chrysler and FIAT? That's like throwing a drowning man an anvil. Ignoring the brands' history of complete crapitude, the mainstream media took the idea seriously. Their complicity/complacency has done wonders for the executives and elected officials in charge of this epic non-starter, but it does nothing to serve the public interest. After all, we've got to pay for this turkey. Now that Chrysler is about to axe dealers, permanently shutter plants, fire union workers and ditch a big ass chunk of their pensions and benefits, the MSM is beginning to consider the possibility that the deal sucks. Or, as the ever-faithful
Detroit News puts it, "After bankruptcy, Chrysler still faces uncertain future." Ya think?
Editorial: Chrysler Zombie Watch 7: Friends of the Undead
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Posted in Bailout | Editorials | 35 comments
By Robert Farago
May 11, 2009
Back in the day, I recommended Chapter 11 for GM and Chrysler. With court protection, the American automakers could ditch non-competitive union contracts, pare bloated dealer networks, terminate extraneous products and sell-off non-core brands. In '05, consumer confidence was strong. All three automakers had plenty of cash and assets. If they had filed then, they could have reinvented themselves and. . . Forget it. I was wrong. These automakers are so poorly run that an earlier bankruptcy would only have prolonged the misery. How could I think otherwise when Chrysler and GM's idea of a "surgical" bankruptcy is to swing an axe at the patient's diseased limbs, laugh at their next of kin, storm out of the operating theater, hand the case over to another doctor and repair to Aruba?
Editorial: Bailout Watch 527: Bankruptcy Sucks. Some More Than Others
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Posted in Bailout | Editorials | 36 comments
By Steve Jakubowski
May 5, 2009
Well, the initial pleadings have been filed. Chrysler's argument is essentially that it's a "dead man walking." In its
opening memorandum of law in support of its
motion to approve the sale, Chrysler argues that if the "sale" doesn't close on the accelerated timetable proposed, it will wither on the vine, resulting in "a rapid and severe loss of value." (Mem. at 10). Surprisingly, though, Chrysler's opening memorandum doesn't squarely address the issue laid bare
in my previous post and in the
preliminary objection of the dissident lenders; that is, why isn't the proposed transaction a
sub rosa plan of the kind prohibited under the law of the Second Circuit?
Chrysler Bankruptcy Analysis III: Will The “Absolute Priority Rule” Kill The Sale?
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Posted in Bailout | Editorials | 14 comments
By Robert Farago
April 26, 2009
I used to worry that TTAC was too negative. I'd publish "good" news to try and balance-out our no-holds-bared criticism of Motown's follies. At some point, I gave up trying to find a silver lining. It wasn't simply the fact that there wasn't one. Or that the news coming from Detroit became undeniably dire. It was more of a personal "come to Satan" moment, when I realized that making people happy wasn't my first, best destiny. My job: tell the messy, pay-no-attention-to-the-logical-fallacy-behind-that-PR-curtain truth about cars. But there are times like now, on the cusp of Chrysler's C11 (or worse), when I wonder what good can come of all this. Will we ever look back on this time and think that the Motown bailout was, somehow, a good thing?
Editorial: Bailout Watch 509: The Silver Lining
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Posted in Bailout | Editorials | 50 comments
By Edward Niedermeyer
April 23, 2009
Britain's
new budget, recently presented by Minister of The Exchequer Alistair Darling, contains a vehicle scrappage incentive that makes Old Blighty the final major European economy to jump on the alleged "green stimulus" bandwagon.
13 other European nations, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Poland have introduced similar measures, which provide government incentives to new car buyers who scrap an older vehicle. But will Britain's new program (which offers up to $2,900 in incentives) have the same
salutary effects on new car sales as France (March sales up 8 percent) and Germany's (March new registrations up 40 percent)? Closer to home, how will the solidified Euro-consensus on scrappage schemes affect the chances of a similar program in the US? Although the schemes have already been hailed as the saviour of European new car-sales, such plans don't always translate well across different markets. Under a critical lense, issues with the latest British plan indicate a number of problems in bringing such a program stateside.
Editorial: Britain Makes Scrappage Schemes Euro-nanimous
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Posted in Bailout | Editorials | Green | Sales and Marketing | 19 comments
By Bertel Schmitt
April 19, 2009
There are growing indications that GM's
"surgical bankruptcy" is imminent. They are already scrubbing down the surgical theaters around the world. The operation may just happen within a few weeks, and the "good brands"/"bad brands" not-so-final solution will create another mushrooming government agency that would be loath to put itself out of business. One of the many indications for rapid action: The patents tug-of-war between Opel and General Motors (or rather between the German and U.S. governments) appears to be solved.
Editorial: Opel Soon Set Free?
editorial continued »
Posted in Bailout | Editorials | 35 comments
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