Chapter & Verse on the General Motors Bankruptcy

I read the news today, oh boy. by Alana M. Layer
I read the news today, oh boy. by Alana M. Layer

Like many in Michigan, I felt a profound sense of shock and unreality at yesterday's filing by GM for bankruptcy. It will probably come as a surprise to no one that Michigan will feel the brunt of the effects:

In the latest round of cutbacks, announced Monday as part of GM's historic move to file for bankruptcy, an estimated 8,900 jobs will be lost at GM facilities in Pontiac, Orion Township, Livonia, Flint, and Ypsilanti Township. The cuts will follow the closure of a Grand Rapids stamping plant on Friday that employed hundreds more. Nationwide, GM plans to eliminate 21,000 jobs at 14 plants, plus three warehouses, in eight states.

Michigan's share of the total job loss: 42 percent. And that doesn't count the trickle-down impact on suppliers, stores, real estate and other segments of the state's economy.

descent by b.plus
descent by b.plus

Your source for information on the Carpocalypse, Jalopnik, has a map of GM plant closures and a list of the 10 vehicles they think bankrupted GM. The Detroit Free Press lists what we know and what we don't, and Tom Walsh looks at the GM that might emerge from bankruptcy. Bloomberg looks at how little the nation appears to care about GM's bankruptcy and says that although the 2 month strike on GM in 1970 had major impacts, the nationwide effect of this filing will probably be a lot less:

...GM has been reducing payrolls for three decades. Its U.S. employment peaked in 1979 at 618,365, when it was the nation's largest private employer and auto manufacturing accounted for 4.1 percent of GDP. At the end of this year's first quarter, autos were 1.5 percent of the economy, and GM had 88,000 U.S. workers.

In Requiem for the General, Jack Lessenberry muses about General Motors' Albert Sloan and his slogan "a car for every purse and purpose" and that he doesn't think that any of GM's most vocal critics like Ralph Nader and Michael Moore ever through they'd see this. Of course Raph Nader and Michael Moore have something to say that I think you will find interesting and perhaps a little unexpected.

The Wall Street Journal headline blares GM Collapses Into Government's Arms and notes that General Motors will be removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average (to be replaced by Cisco). The New York Times looks ahead with the ad campaign for the "new" GM which is already under way. They had a link to a YouTube video which appears to have been removed. You can see the video (replete with iconic imagery) and also read GM's FAQ on their bankruptcy at GMreinvention.com.

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This entry was written by farlane and posted on June 2, 2009 at 7:23 am and filed under Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations, Articles, Blogs & Forums, Business, Cars, Trucks & Other Vehicles, Dig Michigan, Industry & Manufacturing, Jobs & Employment, Media, Michigan, Newspapers, Television & Internet Video, The Michigan Pages. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

13 Comments

  1. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 2, 2009 at 1:46 pm | Permalink

    Granholm: GM Bankruptcy - Michigan Hits Bottom

    Bankruptcy for General Motors means the state is finally starting to hit bottom, a grim Governor Jennifer Granholm said Monday. While the action means more job losses for the state, Michigan can take some comfort in the idea that a viable auto industry will remain in the state once GM and Chrysler complete their bankruptcies, she told reporters.

    But there is no escaping the reality that "this is a very tough day for Michigan," Granholm said.

    Continue reading: mitechnews.com

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  2. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 2, 2009 at 3:33 pm | Permalink

    GM deals Hummer to Chinese buyer

    "I'm confident that Hummer will thrive globally under its new ownership," said Troy Clarke, president of GM North America, in a press release. "And for GM, this sale continues to accelerate the reinvention of GM into a leaner, more focused, and more cost-competitive automaker."

    GM also said that the deal should protect more than 3,000 jobs in manufacturing and engineering, and at dealerships "around the country."

    The sale of the Hummer brand to a Chinese company will not impact the production of U.S. military vehicles. Military Humvees are produced by a different company, privately held AM General, based in South Bend, Ind.

    money.cnn.com

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  3. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 2, 2009 at 3:49 pm | Permalink

    Lansing-made Buick Enclave sales rise

    For the first time in 10 months, a General Motors Corp. vehicle made in Lansing has posted a monthly sales gain over the previous year's figures.

    The bankrupt Detroit-based automaker said today that sales of the Buick Enclave increased 39.6 percent last month. There were 4,103 Enclave crossovers sold in the month compared to 2,939 Enclaves sold in May 2008.

    Continue reading: LSJ.com

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  4. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 2, 2009 at 3:56 pm | Permalink

    GM tradition likely to end here for many

    Rollin Green, 24, has enjoyed the cumulative benefits of being in a General Motors Corp. family that went to work for the company in the 1940s, but that tradition may end with him.

    Green, a fourth-generation GM worker, finally started full-time at the Lansing Grand River plant last June working on Cadillac trim production after a series of temporary jobs for five years. He was laid off in December.

    With GM's bankruptcy filing Monday, the future for him is much different from the one that stretched before his father, grandfather and great-grandfather decades ago.

    The Detroit-based auto industry has created bountiful lifestyles for thousands of Michigan families that defined the state and fueled the middle class.

    Continue reading: Freep.com with video

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  5. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 2, 2009 at 6:40 pm | Permalink

    How to market cars amid bankruptcy

    After filing for bankruptcy protection, General Motors is pushing a new ad campaign promising it will emerge from its financial troubles leaner and stronger.

    Is this a good marketing approach? Will it allay consumer fears about buying from a carmaker with an uncertain future?

    Advertising experts say GM -- and fellow Chapter 11 filer Chrysler -- should move past the negative and focus on their brands as they try to get car sales rolling again. Consumers are staunchly loyal to their car brands, they say.

    GM says its brands are key to emerging from these tough times. But first it has to tell consumers how it will remake itself and what to expect, Jay Spenchian, GM executive director of corporate advertising strategy, said Tuesday.

    Continue reading: mlive.com

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  6. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 3, 2009 at 11:33 am | Permalink

    Goodbye, GM

    At the deathbed of General Motors, I find myself filled with—dare I say it—joy. Here are my nine suggestions for transforming the company.

    I write this on the morning of the end of the once-mighty General Motors. By high noon, the president of the United States will have made it official: General Motors, as we know it, has been totaled.

    As I sit here in GM's birthplace, Flint, Michigan, I am surrounded by friends and family who are filled with anxiety about what will happen to them and to the town. Forty percent of the homes and businesses in the city have been abandoned. Imagine what it would be like if you lived in a city where almost every other house is empty. What would be your state of mind?

    Continue reading: thedailybeast.com

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  7. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 3, 2009 at 11:57 am | Permalink

    The 'New GM': Layoffs, Factory Closings, Offshoring

    The trouble with the whole "Nixon goes to China" theory -- which is grounded in the calculus that big progress is made when a politician goes against type to address a seemingly intractable challenge -- is that sometimes the "bold" gesture is really just more of the same.

    This is an important reality to recognize as the major media in the United States begins to play up the reshaping of General Motors by the Obama administration's auto-industry task force as a courageous or groundbreaking "new" initiative to "save" domestic automaking.

    It's not.

    Continue reading: thenation.com

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  8. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 4, 2009 at 2:03 pm | Permalink

    Detroitosaurus wrecks

    THE demise of GM had been expected for so long that when it finally died there was barely a whimper. Wall Street was unmoved. Congress did not draw breath. America shrugged. Yet the indifference with which the news was received should not obscure its importance. A company which once sold half the cars in America, employed in its various guises as many people as the combined populations of Nevada and Delaware and was regarded as a model for managers all over the world has just gone under; and its collapse holds important lessons about management, about government and about the future of the car industry

    Continue reading: economist.com

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  9. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 4, 2009 at 4:18 pm | Permalink

    Five times ugly equals GM's automotive failures

    The causes of General Motors Corp.'s descent into bankruptcy are complex, but its failures are tangible enough in a rogue's gallery of unloved and unlovely cars and trucks.

    Click on over to The Detroit News to view the listing and gallery...

    Oh ya and watch this - http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Jeremy-Clarksons-Detroit_196287.htm

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  10. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 4, 2009 at 5:25 pm | Permalink

    Letter sheds light on Oldsmobile's war role

    Laurie Kipp recently was going through the papers of her deceased father, Samuel F. McFarland, when she came upon a slice of local history - particularly poignant in the context of current events.
    Advertisement

    Kipp wrote: "I sincerely hope it can be a symbol of how this great corporation (General Motors) can rise again to reinvent itself."

    Kipp's "symbol" is a letter dated Nov. 3, 1944, written by S.E. Skinner, the general manager of Oldsmobile, to local members of the armed forces. The greeting implies the letter was one of a series of similar letters:

    "Dear Mr. McFarland: Greetings once more to you and all the other 2,000 Oldsmobile men who are in the fighting forces."

    Skinner begins with a glimpse of local color: "We are now seeing the last of our Indian summer, with the red and yellow leaves rapidly vanishing from the trees, and Ole Man Winter getting ready to breathe his chill breath down the backs of our necks."

    Then Skinner gets down to business: "With elections coming up and all the attendant ballyhoo filling the air, this promises to be a noisy month on the home front. Here at the plant, however, the production of munitions continues to claim our exclusive attention."

    Read Friday's Lansing State Journal for more on John Schneider's column

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  11. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 5, 2009 at 7:27 am | Permalink

    GM expects to show annual profits in 2011

    General Motors Corp. expects to return to annual profits in 2011 and estimates stock in the new company it will launch from bankruptcy will be worth as much as $48 billion, according to estimates filed Thursday in its bankruptcy case.

    The figures, the first provided by the company, show the tough haul ahead for the U.S. government to make money on its investment in rescuing the nation's largest automaker, despite a bankruptcy restructuring that will slash its debt and overhead.

    The company's financial adviser, Evercore Partners, offered projections for GM's finances in its bankruptcy case based on several scenarios. It forecasts that GM will lose $17.5 billion this year before reaching a profit of $3 billion in 2011 before taxes, rising to $7.8 billion in 2014.

    Continue reading: Freep.com

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  12. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 5, 2009 at 7:33 am | Permalink

    Engineer to reshape GM product lines

    General Motors' new global product development boss Tom Stephens is a different kind of Detroit executive: a car guy who's as enthusiastic talking about the performance of the high-m.p.g. turbocharged 1.4-liter engine that will power the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze as about the 600-horsepower V8 in his restored 1967 Chevrolet Impala.

    "This is the opportunity of a lifetime," the soft-spoken engineer said of reshaping GM's product line as the company sheds brands and cuts its North American models from 50 to 34.

    "We can concentrate our resources on fewer products and do them better," he said. "Every vehicle must be a hit. Now that we're down to four brands and 34 nameplates, we don't have room for any boring vehicles."

    Stephens, who ran GM's powertrain operations before becoming vice chairman April 1, replaces automotive icon Bob Lutz, who built a product development process that produced highly praised cars like the Cadillac CTS and Chevrolet Malibu.

    Continue reading: Freep.com

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  13. Absolute Michigan
    Posted June 5, 2009 at 1:10 pm | Permalink

    Penske buying Saturn, dealerships; GM to build vehicles for 2 years

    Detroit auto tycoon Roger Penske confirmed he has reached a tentative deal to acquire the Saturn brand and dealer network, and said he wants to eventually build vehicles in the U.S.

    Penske has signed a memo of understanding to acquire Saturn and its dealer network and the due diligence period will take 60-90 days. The deal will preserve 13,000 jobs and could close in the late third quarter, Penske told reporters this morning. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    The deal includes the Saturn brand, the service and parts operation based in Spring Hill, Tenn., and a network of about 350 dealerships.

    Penske said GM will supply the Saturn Aura sedan and Vue and Outlook SUVs on a contract basis for at least two years, after which he envisions importing vehicles.

    Continue reading: The Detroit News

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