While the Congress frets about the millions of Toyotas on the road that probably shouldn’t be, our grease-monkey brothers at Consumer Reports were busy getting domestic. They just released the list of their Top Picks for vehicles put out by American car companies. [More]
Consumer Reports Gets Patriotic, Names Best American Cars For 2010
By February 26, 2010
GM Gives In To Good Taste, Closes Hummer Division
By February 24, 2010
Auto decal makers and window-tinters of the world are in mourning this afternoon, following an announcement from General Motors that — after several months of trying to unload their Hummer brand of gas-guzzlers on the Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Company — they’re stopping production of the controversial phallic stand-ins. [More]
New General Motors CEO To Receive $9 Million Compensation Package
By February 20, 2010
Ed Whitacre, new CEO of General Motors, will receive a $1.7 million salary and $9 million total compensation package. That’s about twice what his predecessor Fritz Henderson received. Don’t cry for Henderson, though–he’s making almost $3,000 per hour consulting for GM for twenty hours a month. [More]
Chevy Resurrects John Mellencamp "Our Country" Ads For Olympics
By February 16, 2010
If you’ve been having flashbacks to the fall of 2007 while watching the Olympics on NBC this week, you might want to blame Chevy, who decided to dust off their love-it-or-hate-it “Our Country” ad campaign for the winter games in Vancouver. [More]
How Epic Bureaucracy Led To GM's Doom
By November 13, 2009
Have you ever wondered how a profit-seeking entity could have possibly produced the Pontiac Aztek? The answer lies in GM’s century-old bureaucracy. Like all good bureaucracies, it helped to stifle innovation, squash dissent, and perpetuate bad ideas.
Government Orders Pay Cuts For Bailed-Out Firms
By October 22, 2009
The huge salaries and bonuses paid to executives of banks and other firms that received government bailout funds have been the subject of a lot of taxpayer rage. The Obama administration listened, and will order pay cuts.
GM's Money Back Guarantee Comes With Lots Of Fine Print
By September 25, 2009
GM’s new 60-day money back guarantee (good through November 30th, 2009) on new car purchases sounds pretty straightforward—if you don’t want the car for any reason (it doesn’t have to be a good reason), you can bring it back. But it has a few rules that you should be aware of before your purchase, notes the Associated Press.
Does Living In California Make You A Higher Credit Risk?
By September 21, 2009
Paul Smith, who lives in San Diego and has a credit score of 751, had his HSBC credit card limit lowered from $7,000 to $1,400 recently for mysterious reasons. He called HSBC to find out why.
Taxpayers Unlikely To See Much Auto Bailout Money
By September 9, 2009
A new report by the Congressional Oversight Panel — an independent, yet totally powerless, group appointed by the Senate to review the results of the recent government bailouts — states that we’ll get a few bucks back from the automakers, but shouldn’t count on it to cover our car payments:
General Motors May Sell Cars Through eBay
By July 11, 2009
General Motors is considering a partnership with eBay to make it easier for consumers to impulse-buy new vehicles, the recently solvent car maker announced yesterday. Though the deal isn’t yet finalized, General Motors would like to sell their vehicles both through traditional auctions and with a “Buy It Now” option.
What Should You Know About The Reborn General Motors?
By July 10, 2009
Cupcakes all around! Government General Motors emerged from bankruptcy today, and the shiny new version of GM is now leaner, in charge, and ready to manufacture cars that people actually want to buy. Maybe.
By July 6, 2009
General Motors is dead. Long live General Motors! The U.S. bankruptcy court has approved the sale of General Motors to the new General Motors, which is owned by the U.S. and Canadian governments, the provice of Ontario, a United Auto Workers benefits trust fund, and bondholders of the former GM. Consumer Reports Cars]
Hey, New Stockholders – What Kind Of Cars Should GM Make Now?
By July 3, 2009
The U.S. and Canadian governments now own a substantial portion of General Motors. If that means that us taxpayers are the real owners. So Consumer Reports Cars wants to know: what do you think GM should make?
G.M. Agrees To Remain Responsible For Shoddy Cars After Bankruptcy
By June 28, 2009
General Motors has reached an agreement with the government to let consumers file what are known as product-liability claims after the company escapes from bankruptcy protection. The big win for consumers means that if a manufacturing defect in an old G.M. causes injuries in the future, consumers will still be able to sue G.M. in state court.
GM Files For Bankruptcy Today
By June 1, 2009
After failing to get its debt-for-stock offer approved last week, and missing the June 1st deadline for concessions from creditors and its union, GM will file for bankruptcy later today. Reuters notes that its filing will be the third-largest in U.S. history, after Lehman Bros and Washington Mutual, and the largest ever in manufacturing.
In GM Bankruptcy Plan, Government Will Select New Board Of Directors
By May 28, 2009
Let’s say the U.S. has poured billions of dollars into a failing company. How strongly should it try to protect that money once the company files for bankruptcy? The Washington Post is reporting that the plan for GM—which may go belly up as early as Monday—is for federal officials to select 5 or 6 of the company’s new board members, and have a say over which 6 of the existing board will remain. The UAW gets to choose another, and Canada might possibly be given one slot to fill. The rest of us will probably just get t-shirts or a souvenir mug.
GM Bondholders Say No To Debt-For-Stock Offer
By May 27, 2009
GM’s debt-for-stock offer to its bondholders expires tonight. The company needs 90% of the bondholders to agree but has a fraction of that, notes CNN, which almost assures a bankruptcy filing in the coming days. We say “almost” because it’s possible the Treasury Department will extend talks with bondholders until June 1st, when GM’s other deadlines hit.
Sorry, GM's Lots Are Too Full To Take Your Lease Back
By April 29, 2009
Nearing the end of his lease on a Chevy Equinox, Tom wanted to turn the vehicle in before he used up his allotted miles, and drop it from his insurance as soon as he could. The dealership he leased it from, their lot clogged with cars and trucks that nobody particularly wants to buy, wasn’t really keen to take it back. So Tom got creative.
