A Clear Test of Obama's GM Success

A Clear Test of Obama's GM Success

A Clear Test of Obama's GM Success

A mostly political weblog.
June 4 2009 6:48 PM

A Clear Test of Obama's GM Success

Chooch Test:

From a piece in

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Green Car Reports

 

 right-wing criticism--and crediting Obama with subtle mastery in rescuing Detroit:  

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If more dollars are requested, then Obama will have betrayed the principle he articulated the day GM filed . He was quoted in The New York Times saying the government would take a hands-off approach to managing GM and divest its stock as soon as possible.

Even pithier, he said his three goals were,  "To get GM back on its feet, take a hands-off approach and get out quickly." [E.A.]

I'll settle for that. If Obama doesn't request more money for GM--even if the Feds never get their $50 billion back-- and GM survives he will have succeeded. If GM needs more to survive, he will have failed, by his own lights. Good to emphasize the marker he's more or less laid down. ... P.S.: Same goes for Chrysler, although Chrysler was always pretty obviously doomed. GM was not. ...

P.P.S.: Here's the  LAT on GM's future product plans :

Among the new vehicles the automaker hopes will get the new GM off to a strong start are the redesigned Buick LaCrosse sedan; the SRX crossover and CTS sport wagon from Cadillac; the GMC Terrain and Chevy Equinox crossovers; the Chevy Cruze, GM's new global subcompact; and the reintroduction of the classic Chevy Camaro muscle car.

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Do you see any "game changers" in there? I don't. Maybe the LaCrosse will be a solid hit--at least in China! But it's a bit strange-lookin' . And how many veteran Buick owners kept on buying Buicks because they trusted the dealer down the street--who won't be there anymore? The idea that these people will switch dealers and not also switch brands may be one of the rosy assumptions underlying the bailout plan. ....

Update: Robert Farago of The Truth About Cars notes that the projections of GM's financial adviser, the ones that show a profit of $3 billion in 2011, assume "a six million new car sales jump in the next two years." That's not pessimistic! Farago flatly predicts [E.A.]:

  New GM won’t last much more than a year without a fresh federal funding infusion.

It's on. Someone will be wrong. My bet is that it's Obama. ...  3:56 P.M.

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