G.M. and Chrysler Explore Merger?
10-19-2008, 06:23 AM
#91
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I am not too sure what Nissan would do with the Chrysler lineup, but then they may not either.
10-19-2008, 06:26 AM
#92
10-19-2008, 03:25 PM
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I don't understand some peoples thinking. They say Americans automakers suck that Americans can't assemble a quality automobile. So they Say Honda or Toyota are better and a lot of models are now assembled in the US. Shouldn't that make them just as flawed? 
They are also the one that go to the store and by the cheapest things they can not caring where its made. Then they are the first to complain when it breaks and Scream when a US company closes it doors and people loose jobs to foreign competition.
Of all the possible mergers I have Heard I would Welcome GM. I would buy a Hummer over a Toyota any day.
They are also the one that go to the store and by the cheapest things they can not caring where its made. Then they are the first to complain when it breaks and Scream when a US company closes it doors and people loose jobs to foreign competition.
Of all the possible mergers I have Heard I would Welcome GM. I would buy a Hummer over a Toyota any day.
10-19-2008, 07:19 PM
#97
You do whatever you want with your money. I choose to spend my money where I believe it's doing the most good. And in most cases that is where it's manufactured.
10-19-2008, 07:23 PM
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I could see Jeep replacing Hummer in the GM line since Hummer is already on the block. I have read over and over that Jeep is one of few assets that is really worth something. However, Chrysler is a very strong brand in China. I could see it being sold to a company who wants to expand into that market or GM may even want to hang onto it for the same reason.
10-19-2008, 08:14 PM
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I don't understand some people's lack of thinking. GM and Ford have used and abused our patriotic nature. They're not an American company they are a public company -- owned in part by whomever can buy stock. Guess what that includes the Chinese. And what's worse mostly owned by greedy people that don't give a rats arse about their employees or their customers.
You do whatever you want with your money. I choose to spend my money where I believe it's doing the most good. And in most cases that is where it's manufactured.
You do whatever you want with your money. I choose to spend my money where I believe it's doing the most good. And in most cases that is where it's manufactured.
If all else were equal..... 100 units to 100 units.......GM, Ford and Chrysler pay 34% higher taxes than their import competition. They pay those taxes to the American government. Not a foreign government.
You think you pay taxes........ you should see what the big three paid when the economy was rolling.
The big three have unionized labor, health-care, and retirement for their employees and pay on average $9 dollars an hour more to their employees than do Japanese companies that assemble their vehicles here. Those costs have to be passed along to consumers of American products.
Keep justifying your position. One day it might help you when you're looking for work with a foreign corporation.
Why do you think Daimler bailed? Hell.... they paid billions to bail!
10-19-2008, 09:27 PM
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CNN update
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/18/news...ion=2008101913
Chrylser CEO Bob Nardelli said this week that, with auto sales in free fall, conditions are ripe for industry consolidation.
GM's best option: bankruptcy
Tens of thousands of Chrysler's 66,409 employees lose their jobs as cash-desperate GM swiftly cuts redundant operations and sheds unprofitable models. Factories and dealerships are closed, and the lights go out at Chrysler's gleaming corporate headquarters campus in the northern suburb of Auburn Hills.
It's not something Andre Thibodeaux wants to think about. The general manager of Lelli's, an upscale steakhouse and Italian restaurant near Chrysler's 15-story tower, gets about half his lunch business from the automaker and related businesses.
The eatery, with roots in downtown Detroit and family owned for three generations, already has lost business as Chrysler and parts suppliers have downsized and people eat out less due to economic worries. The loss of Chrysler's corporate headquarters is almost unthinkable.
"I can't imagine moving the building or changing or selling or anything like that," said Thibodeaux. "Auburn Hills in general is built all around that building."
Although it may be unimaginable, industry analysts say GM (GM, Fortune 500) would have no choice but to slash costs if it acquires struggling Chrysler from its current owner, New York private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.
Both sides have been talking for months, but the pace recently has increased. Cerberus wants out of the auto business, and as the credit markets have dried up, GM, worried about running too low on cash before the U.S. auto market rebounds, wants Chrysler's currency stockpile.
A person familiar with the negotiations said Friday that the talks have advanced to the point where top executives of both companies have looked at a deal and asked for refinements. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are secret.
Deal still a long way off
In August, Chrysler said it had accumulated $11.7 billion in cash and marketable securities as of June 30. That figure remains around $11 billion, the person said, despite Chrysler's U.S. sales being down 25 percent through September, the largest decline of any major automaker.
Detroit-based GM is burning up more than $1 billion per month, with several analysts predicting it will reach its minimum operating cash level of $14 billion sometime next year. GM's sales are down 18 percent, and the company has lost $57.5 billion in the past 18 months, although much of that comes from noncash tax accounting changes.
Chrysler's money pile would help solve GM's cash problem if credit remains unavailable.
Both automakers have had to deny bankruptcy rumors in recent weeks, saying people who won't buy cars from a company that looks like it could go out of business.
According to the person familiar with the negotiations, the deal being discussed thus far calls for Cerberus to hand over Chrysler in exchange for GM's 49 percent stake in GMAC Financial Services. GM sold a 51 percent stake in its finance arm to Cerberus in 2006.
Cerberus also would get an equity stake in GM, hoping to get a good return should GM recover when U.S. auto sales bounce back from a serious slump.
Other automakers, including the allied companies of Renault and Nissan Motor (NSANY), also are in discussions about Chrysler, the person said. Simultaneously, Cerberus, which bought 80.1 percent of Chrysler from Daimler (DAI) in a $7.4 billion deal last year, is negotiating to acquire Daimler's 19.9 percent stake.
GM and Cerberus are still a long way from a deal, according to the person, and GM's board reportedly is cool to the idea.
All that GM, Chrysler and Cerberus have said about the negotiations is that automakers meet all the time. Chrysler Chief Executive Bob Nardelli said Thursday the auto sales drop has created an environment that favors consolidation.
The upside of a Detroit Two
It's the uncertainty of consolidation that worries many in Michigan, which has lost more than 400,000 jobs since 2000. Its unemployment rate in September was 8.7 percent, the highest in the nation, as GM, Chrysler and Ford (F, Fortune 500) continued to make cuts.
"Mergers usually represent job loss," Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Friday on the Public Broadcasting Service's Nightly Business Report. "We are fearful that a merger would mean more job loss, and that is the last thing we need."
Among the fearful are Chrysler workers and its roughly 3,600 dealers, who already are under pressure from the company to merge with other dealers and scale back their ranks.
"If you end up going from the Detroit Three to the Detroit Two, you don't need as many dealers representing those nameplates," said Dale Early, owner of a Chrysler-Jeep dealer in the Houston suburb of Kingwood, Texas. "With the market the way it is today, you don't necessarily have a need for three major manufacturers," he said.
The upside of an acquisition, industry analysts say, is that it would almost certainly shrink the U.S. auto industry to where it needs to be so the survivors can thrive. Many analysts are predicting that the U.S. auto market will shrink to sales of about 13 million vehicles this year. That's a drop of about 3 million from 2007, and the decline is more than Toyota's (TM) U.S. sales last year.
First Published: October 18, 2008: 1:41 PM ET
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/18/news...ion=2008101913
Chrylser CEO Bob Nardelli said this week that, with auto sales in free fall, conditions are ripe for industry consolidation.
GM's best option: bankruptcy
Tens of thousands of Chrysler's 66,409 employees lose their jobs as cash-desperate GM swiftly cuts redundant operations and sheds unprofitable models. Factories and dealerships are closed, and the lights go out at Chrysler's gleaming corporate headquarters campus in the northern suburb of Auburn Hills.
It's not something Andre Thibodeaux wants to think about. The general manager of Lelli's, an upscale steakhouse and Italian restaurant near Chrysler's 15-story tower, gets about half his lunch business from the automaker and related businesses.
The eatery, with roots in downtown Detroit and family owned for three generations, already has lost business as Chrysler and parts suppliers have downsized and people eat out less due to economic worries. The loss of Chrysler's corporate headquarters is almost unthinkable.
"I can't imagine moving the building or changing or selling or anything like that," said Thibodeaux. "Auburn Hills in general is built all around that building."
Although it may be unimaginable, industry analysts say GM (GM, Fortune 500) would have no choice but to slash costs if it acquires struggling Chrysler from its current owner, New York private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.
Both sides have been talking for months, but the pace recently has increased. Cerberus wants out of the auto business, and as the credit markets have dried up, GM, worried about running too low on cash before the U.S. auto market rebounds, wants Chrysler's currency stockpile.
A person familiar with the negotiations said Friday that the talks have advanced to the point where top executives of both companies have looked at a deal and asked for refinements. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are secret.
Deal still a long way off
In August, Chrysler said it had accumulated $11.7 billion in cash and marketable securities as of June 30. That figure remains around $11 billion, the person said, despite Chrysler's U.S. sales being down 25 percent through September, the largest decline of any major automaker.
Detroit-based GM is burning up more than $1 billion per month, with several analysts predicting it will reach its minimum operating cash level of $14 billion sometime next year. GM's sales are down 18 percent, and the company has lost $57.5 billion in the past 18 months, although much of that comes from noncash tax accounting changes.
Chrysler's money pile would help solve GM's cash problem if credit remains unavailable.
Both automakers have had to deny bankruptcy rumors in recent weeks, saying people who won't buy cars from a company that looks like it could go out of business.
According to the person familiar with the negotiations, the deal being discussed thus far calls for Cerberus to hand over Chrysler in exchange for GM's 49 percent stake in GMAC Financial Services. GM sold a 51 percent stake in its finance arm to Cerberus in 2006.
Cerberus also would get an equity stake in GM, hoping to get a good return should GM recover when U.S. auto sales bounce back from a serious slump.
Other automakers, including the allied companies of Renault and Nissan Motor (NSANY), also are in discussions about Chrysler, the person said. Simultaneously, Cerberus, which bought 80.1 percent of Chrysler from Daimler (DAI) in a $7.4 billion deal last year, is negotiating to acquire Daimler's 19.9 percent stake.
GM and Cerberus are still a long way from a deal, according to the person, and GM's board reportedly is cool to the idea.
All that GM, Chrysler and Cerberus have said about the negotiations is that automakers meet all the time. Chrysler Chief Executive Bob Nardelli said Thursday the auto sales drop has created an environment that favors consolidation.
The upside of a Detroit Two
It's the uncertainty of consolidation that worries many in Michigan, which has lost more than 400,000 jobs since 2000. Its unemployment rate in September was 8.7 percent, the highest in the nation, as GM, Chrysler and Ford (F, Fortune 500) continued to make cuts.
"Mergers usually represent job loss," Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Friday on the Public Broadcasting Service's Nightly Business Report. "We are fearful that a merger would mean more job loss, and that is the last thing we need."
Among the fearful are Chrysler workers and its roughly 3,600 dealers, who already are under pressure from the company to merge with other dealers and scale back their ranks.
"If you end up going from the Detroit Three to the Detroit Two, you don't need as many dealers representing those nameplates," said Dale Early, owner of a Chrysler-Jeep dealer in the Houston suburb of Kingwood, Texas. "With the market the way it is today, you don't necessarily have a need for three major manufacturers," he said.
The upside of an acquisition, industry analysts say, is that it would almost certainly shrink the U.S. auto industry to where it needs to be so the survivors can thrive. Many analysts are predicting that the U.S. auto market will shrink to sales of about 13 million vehicles this year. That's a drop of about 3 million from 2007, and the decline is more than Toyota's (TM) U.S. sales last year.
First Published: October 18, 2008: 1:41 PM ET