It’s only three years since the car industry was last rescued. Meantime, other parts of manufacturing have got on with the job of lifting productivity.
General Motors
Ford bailout reignites car manufacturing
debate
Crikey media wrap: Kim Carr’s announcement yesterday of a $103 million cash injection for Ford Australia has reignited the debate about the viability of Australia’s automobile manufacturing sector.
Bailout beneficiaries generously funding candidates
US companies such as General Motors and Chrysler that received federal bailout money are giving generously to political candidates - even those who campaigned against the bailout legislation, writes T.W. Farnam.
No more Chevy to the levee or the Chevy will die
General Motors is banning the use of “Chevy” as a nickname for Chevrolet, so as to have a consistent brand message. But since Chevy has wiggled its way into popular culture, the move mightn’t be a smart one.
Business As Usual: UK tax! Now that’s a real tax … China wants America’s bonds … Going broke the only growth sector …
General Motors is back in the black … China is still doing its bit to prop up the US deficit … Countries defaulting? Poll says it’s a chance … Going broke it just about the only growth industry in the US …
How Hummer crashed and burned
After dropping sales and a failed US$150m deal with a Chinese equipment maker, General Motors is to scrap the famed Hummer line of oversized SUVs. WSJ examines how the deal collapsed.
Saab is dead
Unable to find a buyer for the brand, General Motors is killing off Saab after 62 years of production, sending it to join Saturn, Pontiac and Oldsmobile in the big GM caryard in the sky.
Corporate coup rocks General Motors
General Motors may be struggling, but that hasn’t stopped a corporate coup from happening in the boardroom in the last few hours, with CEO of just eight months, Fritz Henderson, resigning.
Wal-Mart’s failure is the US writ large
However Wal-Mart’s sales grow, so grows the US economy — and in the past two quarters it’s been a miserable story from the retailer: some store sales have sunk, as overall retail sales have drifted lower.
Bailed-out execs face 90% pay-cut
The US government is set to order the companies that received the most money in last year’s Wall St bailout to slash compensation for their top executives.
Hummer to go “lean and green”
Hummer are planning to revamp their image as “gas-guzzling, road-hogging, oversized machines rich people buy to flaunt their wealth.” Good luck with that.
GM’s rear vision
General Motors’ groupthink at management level means the writing was on the wall years before its bankruptcy.
The billionaire who’s buying GM’s Saturn
USA Today chats to Roger Penske, racing fanatic, America’s second largest car dealer and now the man who’s buying General Motors’ Saturn brand.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Qantas responds to Crikey about inflight news censoring
Qantas does not seek to influence Channel Nine’s on air content. We do exercise this right of veto for items we believe may distress or offend our passengers, writes Michael Freedman.
GM’s 10 biggest turkeys
In pictorial form, the 10 biggest turkeys in the history of the ruined US carmaker
The long, winding road to a US turnaround
If the US recession somehow peters out this year, it will be nothing short of a miracle, writes Irwin Kellner.
Time to celebrate GM’s failure
The demise of General Motors opens up the floodgates for a sorely needed era of clean, green transport, says Aditya Chakrabortty.
What Australia can learn from the demise of GM
Australia is as dependent on coal as General Motors was on the gas-guzzling SUV. Will we learn from their example and do away with this relic of the old industrial revolution? asks Ben McNeil.
China buys Hummer
It’s the big GM garage sale, and a Chinese company has snapped up perhaps one od the greatest symbols of excessive western capitalism — Hummer.
Forget GM, focus on the future
The old adage that what’s good for American is good for GM still doesn’t make sense, despite Obama’s bailout.
I was Romania’s car czar: lessons in nationalising your auto industry
Ion Mihai Pacepa ran Romania’s car industry under the Soviet Union. With the US Government set to take over General Motors, he offers Congress some advice.
Guy Rundle: RIP Detroit, as the US goes socialist
Detroit is the first modern urban ruin, the largest city that has simply been allowed to die, writes Guy Rundle.
Lists: General Motors’ bankruptcy by the numbers
General Motors has filed for bankruptcy, but it’s only the beginning of an entirely new chapter. We crunch the numbers.
