May 27, 2009
GM. From the "Clueless to The End" File, comes official word that not enough of GM bondholders agreed to a proposed exchange of $27 billion in unsecured company debt for 10 percent of the company stock, which means that all options have been explored and the company will file for Chapter 11 on Monday. Can you blame them? No. Was it a surprise? No. But the fact that there were some people down at the RenCen who were looking for 90 percent acceptance of this deal is the real shocking part.
Sergio Marchionne. He tells German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in meetings yesterday that he was lowering his request for loan guarantees from the German government from 7 billion euro to 6 billion euro in order for his company to be handed Opel. Gee, what a prince of a guy. Don't look now, but a new industry King of Smoke & Mirrors might be emerging before our very eyes.
U.S. Rep. John Conyers. The embarrassing has-been-who-never-was hack from Detroit, who is perpetually clueless and out of touch, now wants to call a hearing to discuss all the bad stuff going on in the auto industry especially as it applies to the disappearing car dealers. It was bad enough when we had to be subjected to his clownish wife Monica's flat-out c-r-a-z-y musings to the press on a regular basis about the city of Detroit, but if he rears his vacuous head in this mess it really will be the last straw.
The Penske Plan for Saturn. Roger Penske wants to import Renault Samsung Motors vehicles built in South Korea to be sold in the United States through the Saturn dealer network, according to Automotive News. Samsung builds four passenger vehicles, all based on existing Nissan vehicle architectures. Renault owns 80.1 percent of Renault Samsung, while South Korean credit card issuer Samsung Card owns the rest of the company. There are several major unknowns here, including fundamentals like will they be sold as Saturns or as Samsungs (Sammys?). And Penske plans to slash the number of Saturn dealers, now totaling 384, by more than half. Let's just say this is a developing situation. Zero Pollution Motors. This company is trying to sell the notion of putting cars on America's streets and byways by 2011 powered by a combination of compressed air and a small, conventional engine, even though engineers say it's one of the most least efficient ways of converting energy to work. And you thought we were kidding about "a fleet of shiny, happy, flatulence-powered balsa wood smiley cars," didn't you?Mark McNabb. He trades toiling for Government Motors for linguine and Maseratis, as he's named CEO of Maserati North America Inc. He was only a part of GM marketing for 13 months after stints at Nissan and Mercedes-Benz USA. He gets out while the getting is good. Smart move.
Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche. A funny thing happened to "The Most profitable Car Company in the World" on the way to world domination. Despite repeated denials by the company, Porsche is said to have been perilously close to bankruptcy in March. Leveraged to the hilt after its aggressive forays attempting to take over VW failed, Porsche almost ran out of cash and out of time. Now, the company is being forced to merge with VW for its very survival. We wonder how the German press will treat CEO Wendelin Wiedeking now, after calling him a "genius" in article after article? It's frankly nice to see this glorified mercenary get his Wiener Schnitzel caught in a ringer. For him it was always about the money and never about the history or the integrity or the enduring legacy of Porsche. The once exclusive maker of sports cars will now become just another division of VW, thanks to Wiedeking's greed and delusions of greatness. We call that a giant stein of Not Good.
(Digital Art by Casey Shain)
Publisher's Note: Longtime friend of AE and talented artist Casey Shain (aka "Art and Colour") imagined a "What if" Buick for GNX fans, and given everything that's going on right now we thought a little fun might be in order. Here's what Casey had to say about it: "This is a reborn Regal GN based on the new Lacrosse. Interestingly, I actually had to make it less 'coupe-like' than the upcoming sedan to replicate the '80s notch back." Enjoy. - PMD
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