Bailout Watch 529: About Those Mysterious GM Cars From China

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Yesterday, we had a post about far-reaching plans of GM. They wanted to sell exactly 17,335 made-in-China cars in the U.S.—by 2011. And triple that audacious number (51,546) by 2014. Or so they say in a (supposedly) confidential 12-page presentation to members of Congress. Trouble is, nobody really knows who will make the cars.

Gasgoo says today, “Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (Group) (SAIC), GM’s Chinese partner, said it hasn’t got such information from GM yet.” Mei you! Never heard of it. Could it be that someone just wants to rattle the UAW’s cage? If that’s the case, then the colleagues in Shanghai blew their cover. Or, less sinister, but more likely, does the left hand have no knowledge of the actions of the right? Or maybe, the cuts are so deep that they sent the P.O. by slow boat to China?

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • PeteMoran PeteMoran on May 13, 2009

    @ 97escort Thanks for the Huffpo link. For me, this was also an interesting article; Some Auto Manufacturers Bailed Themselves Out By Switching To Wind US entrepreneurs are out there somewhere. Ha, who knew that?

  • Wsn Wsn on May 13, 2009
    Michael Karesh : May 13th, 2009 at 4:56 am On the jobs front, bottom line is that the U.S. needs to do a better job of figuring out what a viable U.S. economy would look like, and then better preparing its people for skilled work in this economy. -------------------------------------------- You are putting it too lightly. The bottom line is that car assembly is a job that doesn't require much education. Anyone can do it with very minimal training. Chinese workers will be glad to do it for US$5/hour with no benefits. Maybe African workers will do it for US$0.50/hour.
  • "scarey" "scarey" on May 13, 2009

    What is that picture ? One congressman, one auto executive, and one wall street banker ? (Obviously, not in that order.) LOL

  • A is A A is A on May 13, 2009
    Does GM want to be the Walmart of the US car industry? That would be a fantastic achievement for GM: Being the Walmart of anything. Walmart does not burn tax money.
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