by Ken Zino | Feb 25, 2009
Does America want to be a manufacturing nation or not? If you ask James Harbour, a leading analyst and founder of The Harbour Report on auto productivity, the answer is clearly “no.” Decades of U.S. Congressional and Presidential economic policies have...
by John DeCicco | Feb 25, 2009
In what some observers are calling this year’s real “state of the union,” President Barak Obama challenged Congress and the country to join in a national recovery effort. While he covered many areas as he ranged from criticizing the nation for...
by Marty Bernstein | Feb 25, 2009
The automotive business stinks. Thousands of jobs lost with more cuts to come. Factories closing almost daily. People hurting. Benefits cut or eliminated. Dealers dropping retail flies. Hubris, excess, arrogance and denial in the executive suites — and in...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Feb 25, 2009
“The nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it,” declared President Barack Obama, during a speech to the joint houses of Congress, Tuesday night. The 52-minute address, effectively the new President’s first State of the Union, covered a broad range...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Feb 25, 2009
The upcoming Geneva Motor Show is likely to be a busy event for Aston Martin, the former Ford Motor Co. division that is expected to mark its independence with the introduction of several critical new products. For now, the company, owned primarily by Kuwaiti...
by Ken Zino | Feb 24, 2009
The co-founder of a private equity group with long-standing political ties to the Democratic party is joining the U.S. Treasury Department to head the team that will recommend whether or not Chrysler and General Motors should continue to receive government loans or be...
by Joseph Szczesny | Feb 24, 2009
With a dismal financial earnings report due this week from General Motors and an equally dismal sales report due next week, speculation that GM and Chrysler are being pushed towards bankruptcy continues to circulate in Washington, Detroit and New York. GM officials...
by Ken Zino | Feb 24, 2009
Last week as General Motors and Chrysler were submitting their latest recovery proposals to the U.S. Treasurer Department, Congressional leaders who excoriated Detroit-based executives for their management abilities and business practices continued using your tax...
by Detroit Bureau | Feb 24, 2009
Kia will show an all-new MPV concept, No 3, plus a range of Idle Stop & Go cars already on sale in Europe, and what it terms an “innovative” hybrid at the Geneva show. The new No 3 Concept Car is much smaller, a scant 159 inches in length, than the Sedona minivan...
by John DeCicco | Feb 24, 2009
The White House energy and climate czar, Carol Browner, has just given the clearest indications to date that the Obama Administration plans to press ahead on both regulating CO2 emissions under the Clean Air Act and on developing a stronger program for reducing...
by Marty Bernstein | Feb 24, 2009
The nominees in the annual Academy Awards non-category of “car brand in a supporting role” for the star-studded arrivals at dinners, parties and the event itself are Audi, BMW and Toyota. A vote by the members of the media in Lalaland was determined by the presence...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Feb 24, 2009
Ford Motor Co. could save billions in much-needed cash as the result of a new agreement with the United Auto Workers Union. The union has agreed to let Ford cover half of the $9 billion it owes an employee health care fund, known as a VEBA, using stock, rather than...
