Ford getting more popular in the USA…

From Ford:

PRESS RELEASE:

Most Americans still have a much higher opinion of the one Big Three automaker who didn’t ask for a government bailout, while views of the two companies that did get bailed out continue to go down.

Ford’s reassuring statement on Chrysler filing for Chapter 11…

Today’s (1.5.09 – May 1st) announcement that Chrysler is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy is an important development during this unprecedented period for the auto industry and the global economy.

Ford + GM job cuts approaching 50% – Chrysler close behind…

Source: Bnet Australia

When you add up all the cuts, Chrysler, Ford and GM are well on their way to cutting half their employees in North America in just over five years. That’s staggering, especially since most of those cuts have taken place in just the last two years.

If Detroit 3 get bailout – should NASCAR go bye bye???

Source: Autoblog

A columnist over at Slate.com is recommending – and not lightly, he wants you to know – that with the domestic automakers enduring “Detroit’s version of The Troubles,” now would be a good time to “euthanize” NASCAR. He makes a long argument, but the crux of it is simple: if the domestics get a heap of money from the government, should that money really be used to sponsor a specialized race series that arguably doesn’t have the national pull or the return it once did?

His supporting arguments are sometimes disingenuous and occasionally slightly off-base, but the question is worth considering. If the public loans money to the automakers, who decides where that money is spent? Yet, if Ford, GM, and Chrysler were to do the same thing to NASCAR that Honda, Suzuki, Audi, and Subaru have been doing, well… that would leave NASCAR as a one-make series featuring, ta-da, Toyota. And wouldn’t that be something to see?

Green March to U.S Congress…

So the 3 respective CEO’s of the Detroit Three got in trouble after arriving to Congress in private jets. Not good for their (& their company’s) image, eh? Well Autoblog has revealed their latest plan to gain some respect back from the American public…

Mitt Romney in the NYT: “Let Detroit go bankrupt”…

Source: New York Times

Here is the controversial article which appeared in today’s New York Times:

If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go
overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

The lowdown: Bailout fund from the feds…

So here’s a breakdown of what’s going on in Congress concerning federal aid for U.S. automakers. A Senate bill expected to be voted on this Thursday would expedite funds for Ford, GM and Chrysler so that they could actually get the cash they need within 22 days after the bill becomes law – should the bill become law.

Senator calls for 50-mpg mandate for Detroit to receive aid…

From Autoblog:

“Thick and fast.” That’s the phrase that describes the opinions, pleas, advice, denunciations, and WTF? going on around the U.S. auto industry right now. Enter Congress, which is trying to figure out how to give Detroit automakers the $25 billion they were promised a few months ago. Congressmen are sounding off almost daily on what kinds of stipulations they want to attach to the loan/bailout/whatever you want to call it – and that’s just the ones who would vote for it at all.

Detroit CEO’s called to Washington…

Times are tough in the US of A, if not grueling compared to the rest of the world. But things have to be done if you are going to get through these times. That is why a meeting has been called by Congress to try and solve a current debate that is going on. This, of course, is to settle $US700 billion payout for some of Americas’ most trouble & in debt international firms – FoMoCo, GM & Chrysler are naturally included. Follow the jump to find the report…

The Big 3’s debt to be cleared?

Report from The Detroit News:

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that Congress is considering bailing out Detroit’s Big Three automakers.

“We may need to make a statement of confidence in our auto industry,” Pelosi told NPR this afternoon. “We’re not saving those companies, we’re saving an industry. We’re saving an industrial technological and manufacturing base… It’s about jobs in America.”