It appears that U.S. gasoline prices are headed over $2 again, and before long, Americans will likely again be feeling the urgency for better fuel economy as they did in the summer of 2008. While GM is supposedly trying its damndest to début a saleable plug-in hybrid by 2010, many individuals with ingenuity around the globe have already produced their own custom made plug-in hybrids. Two college kids in Wheaton Illinois, Chris and Andrew Ewert, have constructed a plug-in hybrid by installing a lithium-ion battery in a stock Toyota Prius. The battery works in tandem with the car’s nickel-metal hydride…
Author: Noah Graff
By Noah Graff General Motors is suspending work on the $370 million factory slated to build engines for the Chevrolet Volt, but says the plug-in hybrid will appear in showrooms by the end of 2010 as promised. (www.wired.com)”It’s temporarily on hold as we assess our cash situation,” GM spokeswoman Sharon Basel told the Detroit Free Press. “I don’t think it’s any surprise that we’re studying and reviewing everything, given the position we’re in.”Come on GM, do you take us all for fools? In all of the current mess going on at the company, having the car released in 2010 already…
By Noah Graff One of the main criticisms people have of GM and Ford is that their cars are not aesthetically pleasing. Sure, they need to improve their quality on the inside too (don’t we all). But still, have you ever met a girl or guy who was just so damn hot, that no matter how annoying, stupid, or even mean they were, you wanted to give them a chance. The American car manufacturers are trying their damndest to become that hot thing that people just have to give a chance, but right now, aside from some trucks and Buicks…
By Noah Graff What would a new management team do to change the fortunes of GM if Rick Wagoner and his team were ousted? Can a new management team improve the company significantly, right away? Perhaps a high profile replacement would give a quick jolt to the company’s stock price, but would GM quickly start selling more cars and building better cars? Since Wagoner became GM’s CEO in 2000, the company has gained big concessions from the UAW, which had handcuffed the company while Toyota, Honda, and the other imports enjoyed freedom from union regulations. GM came out with the…
By Noah Graff Thanksgiving and the Friday after is when companies like to release elite news that they don’t want people to pay attention to. For instance, despite begging the U.S. government for a $25 billion bailout, Ford’s CEO Alan Mulally doesn’t want to lower his salary (he made $21 million last year). This stance was a definite public relations gaff after he was asked by congress if he would work for a dollar like the CEO from AIG, Edward Liddy. Also, news was released that GM doesn’t want public tracking of its private jet, which it had been criticized…
By Lloyd Graff What a day for Detroit. Old John Dingell, the pugnacious congressman from Motown lost his Jewel, the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee.Dingell is 82, he succeeded his father in 1955 in the House — so the Dingells have been in Congress, virtually forever.He lost his job to Henry Waxman of Los Angeles who is Mr. Environmental in Washington and a headline-hunting pain in the ass to the Detroit automakers.The odds of the Big 3 getting a Washington rescue package were fading anyway, but the Waxman ascendancy was a dagger for the rust belt. Waxman’s defeat…
By Lloyd Graff I talked to Paul Eisenstein, TMW’s resident auto guru in Detroit. He is pessimistic about a bailout for the domestic car builders. He sees the legislation caught in a food fight between the lame duck Republicans and the Democrats who find themselves defending a bailout for big business.I asked Paul if he thought a Chapter 11 bankruptcy approach would work for General Motors. He felt the stigma of a filing would kill the sales of GM’s vehicles for years. He also says that Rick Wagoner, GM’s president, does not accept the fact that he is part of…
By Noah Graff General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have asked for $25 billion in government loans to survive the economic crisis — that’s in addition to the $25 billion Congress approved in September to foster fuel-efficient technology (NPR.org). CNBC’s Dylan Ratigan, host of “Fast Money” and “Closing Bell” says the automakers don’t deserve another handout from the government.He says that capitalist economics should resolve their situation, not more charity from the government. He argues that the big three have a union problem that’s not sustainable and incompetent management, so instead of another handout from the government you say, “We’ve got…
As everyone knows, GM and Ford are suffering big time – burning billions every month, desperately begging the government for bailout money – but you might be surprised that Toyota, the “intelligent” auto company that has been showing up the Big Three for almost two decades is also in its own house of pain. Its stock dropped 20 percent last week when it announced that it will make almost no money during the second half of its current fiscal year and expects full year profit to drop by 68 percent. Much of this pain of course is the result of…
By Lloyd Graff About five and a half years ago my son Noah and I went to the Big Ten basketball championship at the United Center in Chicago. It was an early round and the stadium was pretty empty, but seated a few rows beneath us were a couple of guys I recognized – David Axelrod, and Rahm Emanuel. It is no huge leap of faith to believe that these smart young politicos were discussing how they were going to put Barack Obama into the White House.Today Axelrod is considered the genius behind the masterful Obama campaign and Emanuel is…