Archive for the ‘North America’ Category

Today Detroit News columnist Daniel Howes dispenses with pretty grim predictions for General Motors based on cold, hard numbers. What was GM's "base case," a prediction of 12 million U.S. light vehicles sales in 2009 (the number they gave to Congress in December's hearings), has now fallen to just 10.5 million units. Worse yet, overseas revenues should drop as well; sales worldwide are forecast to be down 15 percent in '09. It seems there's not a good sales story to be found for GM anywhere in the world, and Howes feels strongly that Chapter 11 is looming with increasing certainty.

Why Chapter 11? Won't that tarnish the automaker's image...

President-Elect Barack Obama pledged during his campaign to overturn the Bush administration's denial of California's requested waiver to navigate past EPA guidelines, which would allow it and 17 other states to move forward with new laws that further limit vehicle emissions in the fight to curb vehicle emissions and global warming. Obama EPA nominee Lisa Jackson promised quick work to a Senate committee on Wednesday: "if I am confirmed I will immediately revisit the waiver, looking at the science and the rule of law, and relying on the expert advice of EPA's employees in making a determination."

This marks one of the stark differences...

Got a '79 Chrysler Cordoba (RIP Ricardo Montalban) with cracked corinthian leather gobbling cash at the pump and spewing hydrocarbons from its ill-tempered carburetor? Congress is considering a proposal that would reward Americans up to $4,500 if they yield their inefficient cars to scrapping companies and buy a high-mpg modern car instead.

Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein of California believes such a move might stimulate new car purchases from the Big Three, helping to get the bleeding U.S. auto industry on the mend and towards profitability. Bill co-sponsor Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from California, also feels that the...