In a Related Matter… OH Gives GM $82.1m Tax Break for Chevy Cruze Production
In the rush to get a blog post ready, I often skim the end of an article, after digesting the headline. At the very tail of The Detroit News' piece on the Chevy Volt non-reveal reveal of its maybe-not-so-sexy after all design, I caught this little gem: "In a related matter, GM won tax breaks in Ohio this week to build the Cruze, which will get 45 miles per gallon, at its Lordstown assembly plant." (Nice bit of cheerleading, that hat tip on the Cruze's mpgs.) So, here's the bottom line: "The automaker won a 15-year, 75 percent state tax credit worth $77.7 million. It also won a $4.4 million tax credit to create at least 200 jobs at the plant." "Won." I like that. Anyway, while state tax breaks are de rigeur for all domestic car manufacturers these days, from Ohio-built sedans to Bubba-built Bama Benzs, how is this write-off "a related matter" to the piug-in electric – gas hybrid Volt? Will they look similarly anodyne? Should we expect state AND federal tax breaks for GM's plug-in Hail Mary? You bet we should. But that's the subject of an other story. Well, at least for us.
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Were this Nissan or Toyota, they would've located the plant in Tennessee or Mississippi, paid the non-unionized locals $12/hr, and cranked out 300k units each year. But this is GM, in thrall to its UAW overlord. GM needs every tax break it can get. Lord knows, it won't get any breaks from the UAW.
Did I miss something? According to press reports the Cruze will be sold in Europe in 2009 and in the US in 2011 as a Cobalt replacement. Does that make any sense to anyone? Doesn't GM need a competent, fuel-efficient small car in the US like RIGHT NOW?? And where is the 1.4L direct injected turbo engine coming from? I hope they've actually done some testing on the thing and not just slapped it together. And how is GM, the company that told our congress that fuel economy simply can't be improved overnight, suddenly able to go from offering a special edition 36mpg Cobalt to a 40-45mpg Cruze in one year? Does anything that come out of RenCen make ANY sense?
NETRUN-consider that the Balt typically gets 24-5 mpg overall (vs. 28-30 from the comp) on the street, and the 40-45 mpg is just estimate fluff I think we can expect the Cruze to come close to what the Toyonda is doing today. yippie limmin-the actual estimates I've seen on the transplants wages are far higher $25-35. Just saying. Bunter
It's not obvious that our Democrat Guv is helping his UAW buddies, is it? The wrongness of all of this could fill a long list.