President Obama's Auto Advisors Visit Detroit
March 09, 2009
DETROIT -- Representatives of President Barack Obama's automotive task force are visiting
Detroit Monday. Their trip includes a tour of a Chrysler assembly plant and General Motor's Technical Center and a test-drive of the Chevrolet Volt.
All the while, auto company executives will try to convince them further federal assistance is a worthwhile investment for taxpayers.
Their visit comes as Republicans cranked up the volume on their opposition to support Detroit automakers and yet another survey showed the American public generally is opposed as well.
Obama auto advisers Ronald Bloom, a former United Steelworkers union adviser and previously a vice president at Lazard Ltd., and Steven Rattner, co-founder of private-equity firm Quadrangle Group LLC, are the top-ranking members of the task force visiting Detroit. They will test-drive the Chevrolet Volt, visit the Dodge truck factory and meet with company executives as well as United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger.
Their visit follows the last few weeks of meetings with auto executives from GM, Ford, Chrysler as well as proposed Chrysler partner Fiat. Also appearing before the panel were suppliers, dealers, analysts, government officials and others while they review the viability plans submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department by GM and Chrysler last month. Toyota's top-ranking U.S. executive Jim Lentz is scheduled to talk to the task force this week to give a state of the industry as Toyota sees it.
More Vocal Republican Opposition
Meantime, U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain of Arizona, House Minority Leader John Boehner and the ever-popular Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama -- home of Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai plants, who as the top-ranking Republican on the Banking Committee raked the Big Three over the coals last fall in Congressional hearings, expressed their opposition to more government support for Chrysler and GM on Sunday news programs.
"The best thing that could probably happen to General Motors, in my view, is they go into Chapter 11," McCain said on Fox News Sunday. The automaker could reorganize and renegotiate its labor contracts to come out "stronger, better, leaner," McCain said.
Shelby told ABC's This Week that "subsidization of anything for very long never works. I've suggested they go into Chapter 11. That's where they belong. And they could reorganize."
Boehner, of auto-heavy Ohio, said on CBS's Face the Nation that the government shouldn't give GM any more money until GM proves it can be viable. "Anything short of that is just throwing good money after bad," Boehner said.
Losing Public Support
At the same time, yet another survey of Americans showed lessening support of GM, in particular.
According to a Rasmussen Reports poll, GM's approval rating fell to 32 percent, down from an approval rating of 42 percent last month and 69 percent in a survey done two years ago. The survey also found 64 percent of Americans oppose additional loans to GM.
About 33 percent of those surveyed have a favorable view of Chrysler, down from 36 percent a month ago.
Ford, which hasn't received federal funds, is trying to get the word out that it is different from GM and Chrysler in that regard and showed some success in achieving that goal. Ford's favorable opinion was 51 percent, up from 49 percent last month.
The survey included 1,000 adults questioned from March 5 to March 6.
Photo by GM
Members of President Barack Obama's automotive task force were to get a ride in the Chevrolet Volt Monday.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:59 AM under Business , Commentary , Companies , Ford , GM , Personalities , Technology , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
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