Filed under: Government/Legal , GM , Earnings/Financials Earlier this month, General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson said in reference to the possibility that the automaker may move its headquarters from Detroit : “We’re looking at, frankly, everything within our business, but it’s not like we have that queued up at the top of our list. We don’t have any such plan… but if we did it would be motivated by business rationale, which would be cost, efficiency and speed.” Apparently, Jim Fouts, …

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Autoblog

Topics: governor, rencen, gmheadquarterswarren, detroit

Filed under: Government/Legal Impaired driving kills thousands of motorists each year, and ad campaigns and increased police enforcement have done little to stop it from happening. When we say “impaired driving,” most think about alcohol. But marijuana usage prior to getting behind the wheel can be just as dangerous. Professors from Israel’s Ben Gurion University wanted to see which was worse; drink driving or stoned driving. The university chose 14 students to participate in the study, which consists of …

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Autoblog

Topics: wheel, drunkendriving, alchohol

GM’s vice chairman Bob Lutz said Thursday that he hopes that the White House auto industry task force becomes a permanent entity in some form. “It’s the first time in a long time that the industry has had the ear of the administration.” Lutz noted that China has an auto industry ministry and that Europeean countries, Korea and Japan have industrial ministries with auto industry sections. The vice chairman, who is retiring this year, said “it’s not as …

David Kiley

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Auto Beat - BusinessWeek

Topics: safety, white, auto

Filed under: Trends , Government/Legal , Earnings/Financials , Rumormill Despite today’s word of coming to terms with its major shareholders on a debt-for-equity swap, Bloomberg is reporting that General Motors will join Chrysler in filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday. The move is widely expected, but the news agency is adding a bit of flesh to the story, suggesting that what promises to be the third-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history (after Lehman Bros. and Worldcom) will indeed result…

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Autoblog

Topics: chapter 11, image, bankrupt, widely-expected

Filed under: Trends , Government/Legal , Plants/Manufacturing , Ford , Earnings/Financials According to Automotive News , Visteon Corp. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Michigan-based tier-1 supplier was spun off from the Ford Motor Company back in 2000, and it has struggled ever since. The filing took place in a Delaware courtroom, where the company has listed total assets of $4.58 billion and total debt of $5.3 million. Visteon’s struggles have been well documented, with…

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Autoblog

Topics: breaking, bankruptcy, blue oval, automotive, ford

In Japan, it’s getting difficult to make the case that hybrids are a niche for drivers keen to demonstrate their environmental credentials. In April, Honda’s new Insight, which want on sale in February, was the country’s best selling car (excluding 660cc minicars). Toyota, meanwhile, received a record 80,000 orders for the third generation Prius, which was launched last week. The previous record, held by a Toyota compact, was 47,000. Those numbers suggest, at least in Japan, hybrids are heading for the mainstream. Just as telling: Honda …

Ian Rowley

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Auto Beat - BusinessWeek

Topics: japan, toyota, country, insight

General Motors is on a collision course for bankruptcy. The company said this morning that it didn’t get 90% of its bondholders, who collectively hold $27.2 billion in GM debt to take stock for their bonds. Since the Treasury Department has required GM to get 90% of that debt converted to stock to merit more tax dollars and avoid bankruptcy, a court filing seems inevitable. The only thing that would stop it is if GM sweetens an offer to those creditors and gets 90%…

David Welch

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Auto Beat - BusinessWeek

Topics: finance, chevrolet, treasury

Filed under: Time Warp , Government/Legal , Green , Hyundai , Lifestyle , UK Governments all over the world have introduced Cash-For-Clunkers-style programs that are nothing if not controversial. While the stated intent of each of these schemes is to increase new car sales and remove older, dirtier and less fuel efficient vehicles from the road, some powerful organizations have voiced concerns that untold numbers of classic machinery may be lost forever for no good reason. Could it be that both …

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Autoblog

Topics: green, entry, scrapcar, scrappagescheme, ukscrappagescheme

Filed under: Etc. , Government/Legal , Green , Safety , Videos , UK Click above to view the video after the jump On AutoblogGreen, we regularly promote the idea of parking your car and using an alternative form of transportation whenever it’s practical. For those living in urban environments, cycling is a common and often faster approach compared to driving, and congested cities the world over have been working to make pedaling more viable in recent…

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Autoblog

Topics: borisjohnson, londonmayor, london, video, green

Filed under: Government/Legal , Chrysler, LLC. A story in the New York Times shines a light on some reasons for the Committee of Chrysler Affected Dealers to challenge the car company’s bankruptcy efforts. The element common to all of the dealers profiled is that they did extraordinary things Chrysler asked them to do, such as buy too many cars and combine franchises at their own expense, only to find out they had been chosen…

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Topics: dealers, chrysler dealers, chryslerbankruptcy, entry, chryslerdealers