Source: Email contribution
LETTER TO THE EDITOR (or anyone else who will listen)
Auto Industry - A bridge to survival
$40,000,000,000 to AIG, $20 billion to Citibank and billions more to other Wall street giants. They loaned money to, or insured debt of, people or companies that had no realistic chance to pay it back. Now that's bad business and extreme mismanagement. Add insult to injury the government forks over billions and these executives go off on a multimillion dollar retreat in the California sunshine.
Those same congressmen and senators and even the public are ok with that (evidence: we keep giving them more) yet they blast the American auto industry for poor management and are apparently willing to flush GM, Ford, and Chrysler with their morning constitutional.
I only wish they would deal with the issue from a basis of fact, not outdate perceptions, emotions, hyperbole, rhetoric and media and congressional politi-speak.
They ask, "Why can't you build vehicles people want and why can't you build a quality vehicle?" Well, if you haven't driven a GM product built in this century then you don't have a clue as to the quality, from drivability to fuel efficiency (the Pontiac G5 gets up to 44 miles per gallon and costs less than $15,000) to interior, to fit and finish to price.
Before some greedy speculators sent the price of oil to the moon and gas prices to over $4.00 a gallon GM was building what you wanted. To charge that they didn't adjust fast enough--NOT FAIR. Go drive the back lot of the Toyota store on Arapahoe road that is sitting with over 500 new full size Tundra pick-ups. No manufacturer was able to adapt to the unwarranted, practically overnight gouging of $4.00 plus gas prices. Before that GM, Chrysler, and Ford products represented over 50% of the vehicles purchased in the United States and a much larger percentage of the worldwide market. Not bad for vehicles nobody wants.
We lambaste the American auto industry for mismanagement while we praise anything made by foreign companies. How about toys, and dog food, and mouth wash from China...Thanks, I'll go American.
After 9-11 Chrysler, Ford and GM each contributed $10 million and by the way their employees did as well, $60 million dollars to support the victims of that heinous attack. What did Honda, Toyota, Nissan and virtually all the other import car companies, who reap billions from the U.S. economy, contribute? Not one red cent. Hey imports thanks for nothing.
Let's talk facts versus fiction for just a moment. Not approving the bridge loan the auto makers are asking for would be devastating.
Nearly 3 million jobs would be lost in just the first year alone, another 2.5 million jobs gone over the next 2 years.
Personal income in the United States would drop more than150.7 billion in the first year, another $100 billion over the next two.
The cost to local, state and federal governments would be over $155 billion in three years in lost taxes, unemployment and health care assistance.
Domestic automobile production would grind to a nearly complete halt, even by international producers, due to supplier bankruptcies.
The credit crisis that is affecting all of us is wounding the U.S. auto industry in many ways. Car makers can't get loans to restructure and produce new technology vehicles. Suppliers and dealers can't get loans for routine business and customers can't get loans to buy new cars. Banks have been given billions yet they refuse to loan the money, instead opting to either buy other banks or so just simply hoard the cash.
When the initial $700 billion bailout was announced the public was outraged and said "don't pass it." So Congress didn't pass it....a week later and a market that lost billions including many Americans 401k's and retirement funds, had those same john Q publics screaming for law makers to pass it and pass it now. It got a 2nd chance and was passed. If Congress rejects the bridge loan to the auto makers there may not be a 2nd chance, just a tsunami of economic disaster.
I urge everyone to support the loans as well as a one-time 1% tax credit for the purchase of a new vehicle and a tax write-off for interest and sales tax.
Finally, just a few more facts.
9.3 million people worldwide bought GM vehicles last year. That's more vehicles than any other automaker in the world sold. And in the U.S., which is the world's largest market, GM sold more vehicles than any other manufacturer in 2007, and it has sold more than any other manufacturer to date in 2008.
In 2008 Chevy Malibu was named North American car of the year and Cadillac CTS was Motor Trend’s 2008 car of the year. In 2007, the Saturn Aura and Chevy Silverado won North American car and truck of the year. Those awards are given and judged by automotive journalists.
Customers responded just as enthusiastically as the critics. Although total U.S. vehicle sales are down almost 15% so far this year, a number of GM vehicles enjoyed significant sales increases:
Malibu +39%
Pontiac Vibe +36%
Pontiac G6 +4%
Cadillac CTS +15%
Aura +7%
GMC Acadia +2%
Buick Enclave +88%.
From plants to parks, from dealerships to driveways, from gas stations to grocery stores, what happens in the automotive industry affects each and every one of us. In fact, the collapse of the industry wouldn't just impact the nearly 355,000 Americans directly employed by the Big Three. One out of every 10 people in America is employed in a service that is related to the U.S. auto industry. If a plant closes, so does it suppliers, the local stores, the hot dog vendor and the local restaurants.
GM has cut its payroll drastically, by 45.8% in the U.S. alone since 2000. In fact GM is far from the largest employer in the industry. With 252,000 employees worldwide, GM ranks fifth overall behind, VW, Toyota, Renault/Nissan and Daimler. Yet GM sold more vehicles worldwide last year than any other automaker.
Don't penalize a company that pays its union employees twice what non union shops pay...a company that provides health care and pensions to its employees and retirees. Don't reward manufacturers that build their products here but take the profits back to their home countries, while paying their employees far less and providing much less for them in the way of healthcare and retirement. Don't say you support the workers and the middle class and then buy an import, because you saved a couple of hundred dollars.
GM, Chrysler and Ford have supported America for nearly 100 years. They truly are the backbone of U.S. manufacturing.
I'm proud to be an American and I'm proud to be a GM dealer. I have great faith that we will survive this extremely difficult time and be stronger for it.
Mike Malin
Vice President and Owner
Grand Pontiac Buick GMC
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