WheelTronix

General Motors Co. on Wednesday forsook a months-long attempt to gain European government assistance for reconstituting its Opel and Vauxhall operations, alleging that it required to move ahead and would fund the redevelopment itself.

A week after Germany declined its petition, GM said it was backing away applications for loan guarantees totalling euro1.8 billion ($2.2 billion) from a number of European countries. The car manufacturer said its own bettered finances were an element in the decision.

GM has obtained approximately $50 billion in financial aid from the U.S. Treasury and $9.5 billion from the Canadian federal and Ontario provincial governments. It has paid back $6.7 billion to the U.S. and $1.4 billion to the Canadian governments and the remainder converted to equity in the car manufacturer.

Rainer Bruederle the German Economy Minister, cited GM’s ameliorated finances in refusing its aid application, greeted its determination to give up seeking aid. He stated that, “I feel vindicated in my assessment that General Motors has the funds for an Opel restructuring,” Bruederle said. He hailed that GM “seems ready to take its full responsibility as an owner toward its 100 percent subsidiary Opel.”

General Motors (GM) is waiting to develop an electric car for India on its own. It had to cast off its plan for the electric Spark after a break-up with Reva.

Ankush Arora who is the vice-president (marketing, sales and after sales) GM India, said “The country is still not ready for such plug-in hybrid vehicles. The expensive Chevrolet Volt may get few Indian buyers, who are fascinated to drive a green car. It will certainly not be a huge success in a sensitive market such as.”

Arora still further stated that “if India wanted to become a big player in electric vehicles, it needed to increase its supply of batteries. It’s not the technology; it’s the battery that is the key to making an electric solution commercial. We have the technology and will explore every possibility to launch something made for India.”Karl Slym who is the president of GM India said “it made little sense to continue working with Reva after it sold a 55 per cent stake to Mahindra & Mahindra. Because of Reva having (a new) owner, there really is no value for us in doing this India-specific exploration (with it).”

The Treasury Department of the United States is adjusting things in apparent motion to make General Motors public.

The government has borrowed New York-based investment bank Lazard Freres & Co. to assist in the smooth progress of an IPO (initial public offering) for which it will be compensating a respectable $500,000 per month fee if Lazard Freres is competent to take the company public within 12 months. Or else, the periodical fee will be cut in half. The investment bank’s services had antecedently been used by the United Auto Workers union to review GM’s books back in 2007.

Chris Liddell, GM’s CFO said that “Certainly over the next year, there’s a possibility we could do an IPO, but the market’s got to be ready, the automobile industry has to continue to improve and we have to continue to improve.”

When GM went insolvent last year, the U.S. government had furnished it with bailout finances and thus was left as the widely held owner. The U.S. Treasury rendered $50 billion to GM, out of which it refunded $6.7 billion and the balance was changed to 61 percent ownership of the new GM after the auto manufacturer came out from failure last year.

GM may be detaching its bad assets, but it will have to do away with something else also and that is its title as the top-selling brand in America.

This is because Ford is likely to take the first place as the top selling brands in America.

A report from Bloomberg states, “Ford Motor Co., gaining ground on its distressed domestic competitors, may surpass General Motors Corp. this year to become the top-selling automaker in the U.S. for the first time since 1931.”

The Street reported as “Ford reported its smallest sales decline in 11 months, making it the country’s No. 2 automaker in June and raising the possibility that it could move to the top spot.  Ford sales decreased by 11%, while Toyota sales decreased by 33% and at General Motors sales decreased by 34%.”

Some forecaster remark that demand is expected to increase in the approaching weeks as consumers look to take advantage of the government’s Cash for Clunkers program.

Fiat is planning to take over GM Europe which would result in job losses and this has been warned by industry experts.
Fiat at present has losses which amount to around £7 billion.

Even though Vauxhall factories at Ellesmere Port and Luton have undergone foremost reformation and efficiency savings, it is said that more could follow under Fiat ownership.

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General Motors has announced that its multi-billion-dollar bailout from the US government will not prevent it from running out of cash.  GM’s auditors Deloitte & Touche have conveyed ‘substantial doubt’ that the car maker can continue as a going concern. A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing from GM has spot lit the degree of the car maker’s problems, forewarning that it may not be able to repay a $1bn bond. Deloitte & Touche’s doubts about GM’s endurance are established on sustained operating losses, negative shareholders’ equity and the helplessness to make enough cash flow through sales.

The car maker revealed that its liquidity fell below the levels needed to run its business before it began to get emergency loans from the government last December.  GM has till now received $13.4bn from the US government and has applied for another $16.6bn. It is also of the opinion that it will receive around $6bn from governments in other countries where it manufactures, including the UK, Germany, Canada, Sweden and Thailand.

General Motors has declared that it will axe 47,000 jobs and close 5 more factories.
Chrysler has also declared a job cull of 3,000 jobs and a cut in the amount of models it produces.
Both companies are going to beg the US government for an additional financial aid of £14.7bn on top of the £12.2bn they have already received. The move to shut an additional 5 factories will see GM reduce the number of its factories from the present 47 plants to just 33 manufacturing facilities by 2012.

The number of brands produced by GM will also be decreased from the present 8 to 4 with only Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC surviving.  The appeal for additional financial aid is anticipated to be lashed out by industry evaluators who consider the US automotive industry too incompetent and backward to endure the depression.

The production of Hummer H2 has been put off till March and rumors are there saying that it may never restart.

The AM general facility in Mishawaka, Indiana, has shut down the line and has axed 200 workers since demand for the huge gas-gulping 4×4 has almost come to a standstill.

General Motors has put Hummer brand up for sale, but no serious offers has yet been received by it. Production of the military-issue Hummers will not be affected.

Outgoing US president George W Bush has agreed a $17.4billion (£11.6billion) loan to two of America’s struggling car companies.

The money will be taken from the $700billion ring-fenced for the Wall Street bail-out, with $13.4billion available in the short-term and a further $4billion to follow later next year.

The loan to General Motors and Chrysler (Ford is in a less desperate situation) is contingent upon their submitting a viable ongoing business plan by the end of March 2009.
The US Senate had earlier rejected appeals from the car companies for direct aid, but Bush said that ‘these are not ordinary circumstances. In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the US auto industry to collapse is not a responsible action.’

GM and Chrysler will be expected to come to an agreement with workers’ unions over pay and benefit deals, offering packages on a par with the less generous deals given by the foreign car-makers manufacturing in North America, and to reduce their debt.

They will also be required to make concessions such as getting rid of private corporate jets and cutting executive pay and bonuses.

If the companies’ submitted survival plans do not meet with approval next March, the Senate has the power to recall the loans and, if these are not repaid, thus instigate bankruptcy procedures. The ultimate decision on this, however, will be down to President-elect Barrack Obama.

General Motors and the Environmental Protection Agency have in fact started a squabble over what in fact is GM’s forthcoming plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt? This argument will determine whether the Volt gets a jaw-dropping EPA rating of over 100 mpg which will make it the most fuel-competent car sold by a chief automaker or will it just be another Prius-like 48 mpg.

General Motors considers their Chevy Volt as an electric car where as the EPA wants to classify it as a hybrid.
PC Magazine explicates, “Its drive train is entirely electric, since the companion gas engine powers a generator, not the car itself. The Volt is not a hybrid in the usual sense, in other words. GM claims it can run 40 miles before the gas engine even kicks in.”
The car applies its batteries to render most of its ability, setting off the electric generator only when they are exhausted to a certain point. The car is so planned that it arrives to its destination at approximately 30%-35% of the battery’s status of charge.

For hybrid cars like these, you will receive a  nice discount on your insurance for your cars in many states.