Maybe Corker Should Have Corked It
June 26, 2009
DETROIT -- Ah sweet revenge.
General Motors execs obviously won't admit it, but clearly politics played a part in their decision to build future small cars in Michigan instead of Tennessee.
After all, it was Republican Sen. Bob Corker from Tennessee who was among the harshest critics of GM, Chrysler and Ford when they came to testify before Congress last fall about their financial woes.
Corker insisted they should be allowed to go into bankruptcy. He scolded the automakers for doing a poor job of running their business and howled about union benefits. Their business models were unsustainable, he said.
Some noted at the time that Corker came from a state that is home to Japanese automaker Nissan's American corporate headquarters and expansive manufacturing operations. In addition, Tennessee just lured Volkswagen to build a plant there as well.
But then there is also the Spring Hill, Tennessee, plant, a massive operation established by GM in the 1990s to exclusively produce Saturns. The plant was in contention against a plant outside of Detroit, and to a lesser degree, a GM plant in Wisconsin, for future production of GM's small cars.
Politicians and residents of both states lobbied hard for the small-car plant. The states offered hefty incentive packages. But in the end, the home team won out.
In announcing that the Michigan plant had won the small-car production, GM North America President Troy Clarke said GM's decision (and he insisted President Obama's automotive task force did not weigh in on the decision) was based on business criteria that were laid out to delegations from the three states in contention. A dozen different criteria were considered, he said.
Clarke praised all three states for the efforts, however, he said Michigan made a "very, very, very good offer" that showed "creativity" that will make this program work.
But surely some politics were involved.
Photo by GM
GM Chief Designer Ed Welburn shows Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker the future Chevrolet Volt at the Detroit auto show.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 12:28 PM under GM , Personalities | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
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