Auto Industry Archive

Not surprisingly, Chrysler is being as upbeat as possible about its bankruptcy filing in New York today, predicting that it won’t affect the company’s day-to-day operations. And that includes its green ENVI division, which has plans to produce at least one of the prototypes (including plug-in hybrids and two battery vehicles) it has recently shown. The most likely to reach production is the...

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President Obama did his best to throw a holdout group of Chrysler secured creditors under the bus of public opinion. “I don’t stand with them. I don’t stand with those who held out, when everybody else was making sacrifices,” the president said. He went on to call them “speculators.” Chrysler today said it would file for bankruptcy protection from creditors....

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Chrysler today will file for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, according to senior officials in the Obama Administration. Those officials characterized Chrysler’s filing as a “surgical” measure, and predicted that a reorganized Chrysler would emerge from bankruptcy in 30 to 60 days. “We worked very hard to keep this company out of...

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President Obama strongly denied he has any desire to micromanage Chrysler or GM, or to retain large shareholdings in those companies. “I don’t want to run auto companies. I don’t want to run banks,” the president said in answer to a question at a press conference, which was nationally broadcast Wednesday night, April 29. “I’ve got two wars to run,”...

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Pontiac and its legacy will be feted in the weeks and months to come, its history alive with milestones. Others are not so maudlin about the departure of the 83-year-old brand, but there is little doubt that General Motors’ Pontiac brand played a big role in auto industry history. We can point easily to the massive mistakes — who can be blamed for the Aztek, the Grand Safari and the...

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The Tesla S is going to a gala party in New York tonight, after which it will sprint across town for a quick appearance (with Tesla founder Elon Musk) on David Letterman’s show—the first drivable car so honored. The road to that party and that TV appearance is a serpentine one, qualifying the $57,400 ($49,900 with an available $7,500 federal tax credit) S for frequent flyer miles. The car,...

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Chrysler confirmed today that with just one day to go before a deadline imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department, it is still short of clearing a couple hurdles in its effort to avoid bankruptcy. Notably, Chrysler Chairman and CEO Bob Nardelli told employees that some of Chrysler’s secured creditors still haven’t endorsed a deal to accept $2 billion cash, in exchange for canceling...

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Two Japanese auto-parts suppliers appear to be the first to ask the U.S. Treasury for some of the bailout funds set aside for auto suppliers, and the irony is intoxicating. Asian imports are one of the big reasons for the fall of General Motors and Chrysler. By introducing competitive products and streamlined production methods, Japanese automakers like Toyota and Honda exposed the weaknesses...

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Cooler heads seem to have prevailed in negotiations between Chrysler and its unions. An agreement between Chrysler and the Canadian Auto Workers was announced on April 24. A tentative UAW deal was announced April 26. Those announcements seem to have cleared the way for a Chrysler agreement with bondholders that was widely reported April 28. Chrysler also announced on April 28 that is reached...

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We were supposed to be riding on a broad hydrogen highway by now, but instead it looks more like a local road that got bypassed by the interstate. The momentum appears to be behind battery electric cars and plug-in hybrids for at least the near future, though some pundits hold out hope for hydrogen as a long-term solution. Hydrogen had a powerful headwind in the 1990s and early 200s, but the...

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