Autoblog

In the wake of GM's restructuring announcement, some observers are beginning to talk about government assistance to get automakers through tough times. President Bush has quickly shot down the idea of assitance for US automakers, saying that the government shouldn't be "bailing out companies." GM spokesman Greg Martin said the General isn't looking for a free pass from Uncle Sam, instead insisting the company is going to take care of itself.

While it's nice to see GM taking care of its own problems, there really isn't much else the Detroit automaker can say. Admitting that it needs help would be an admission of doom, which would further deplete its stock while signaling to customers that bankruptcy is near. A company in bankruptcy protection can go under, and companies that expire don't (theoretically) honor warranties or have parts available for repair.

As for President Bush's comments, it deserves noting that few industries are subject to more government oversight than the automotive sector, and no industry is more vital to reducing America's reliance on foreign oil.

[Source: Detroit News Photo: Getty/Luke Frazza]

The U.S. Congress isn't the only ruling body proposing new measures to curb the nation's reliance on foreign oil. The EPA is currently in the process of writing up new rules that it hopes will limit fuel consumption, and is currently gathering 75 regulators to help implement George Bush's '20-in-10' plan, which would see fuel consumption drop 20% in ten years.

Such a move would have the setting of fuel economy standards move from traditional transportation officials to the environmental regulators, and has only come about because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The EPA has been in charge of regulating auto emissions for years, but this would be the first time its policies would have an effect on the levels of fuel consumption.

Under the stipulations of Bush's original 20-in-10 plan, manufacturers would have to improve the mileage of cars by 4% a year between 2010 and 2017 and the same 4% a year for trucks between 2012 and 2017. As expected, automakers consider such a proposal as being too harsh, citing the fact that cars would have to average 32 mpg in just 10 years ,when today's average is just 24mpg.

[Source: Automotive News - Subs. Req'd]

Most people just have a spare tire or a can of fix-a-flat and an auto club card when they hit the road. But as we all know, they do things bigger in Texas, so when some guy from Texas goes for a drive around Rome, he brings along a spare stretch armored limo!

As President George Bush and his entourage approached the US Embassy in Rome this weekend, his custom Cadillac DTS limo decided to pack it in. .After attempting to restart, Bush ultimately got out and walked through the embassy gates, later using the backup limo for the rest of his appointments.

The video after the jump shows the crowd's reaction to Bush's limo breaking down, which was comprised mostly of laughter when the driver attempted to restart the car without success. Nevertheless, the President was cheered when he ultimately exited his stage coach and began to hoof it.

[Source: Reuters via OmniAuto.it]

GM Vice Chairman and blogger extraordinaire Bob Lutz used the spotlight of the New York Auto show to talk about the Bush Administration's plan to raise fuel economy standards four-percent per year through 2017. Mr. Lutz placed a tab of $5,000 per vehicle for the fuel economy initiative, which is a heavy price to pay for an OEM in Aerospace, much less the auto industry. Lutz' comments came in response to a recent Supreme Court decision that the EPA has the express right to regulate carbon dioxide emissions.

A Bush administration analysis of the initiative placed an industry cost of $117 billion between 2010 and 2017, with over $40 billion coming from GM alone. The plan, which aims to decrease US oil dependency by 20% by 2017, is focused on several industries, but the car and light truck market could be hit extremely hard. Lutz and other industry leaders are keen to the idea of better-utilizing E85 instead of what Blogger Bob calls an "unaffordable solution". Currently, there are only 1,100 E85-capable gas stations out of 170,000 in the US.

We'd be more than happy to get 20% better fuel economy on our cars, but we probably wouldn't be happy paying an extra $5,000 for it.

[Source: Detroit News]

In spite of rule changes meant to negate some of the advantage Audi gained from the superior fuel economy of their turbo-diesel V12, they again dominated the Twelve Hours of Sebring. A Pennsylvania EV advocate is running a DIY workshop on converting your car to run on batteries. Get some information on what tax breaks are available to buyers of hybrid vehicles.

• Twelve Hours of Sebring: Audi R10 Diesels win again!
• Electric car conversion workshop teaches EV modding
• Tax guide for hybrid and alternative fuel car buyersVideo: Rick Wagoner on GM's commitment to energy diversity. And new E-Flex concepts soon?
• Voller runs prototype fuel-cell on compressed natural gas
• Anthony J. Gerst from Planetsave.com gives his opinions on hemp's suitability as a fuel source
• Danish company to build fuel-cell pilot plant
• Bosch signs environmental pact with Bavaria
• Honda Civic Hybrid named U.K.'s greenest car again
• President Bush will tout fuel-economy plan at Kansas City auto assembly plants

President Bush will be addressing his first State of the Union to a Democratic-controlled Congress in about a half hour. At that time, many people in the country will be in a bad mood because their favorite TV show on Tuesday night was just preempted. Many will change the channel to watch something on cable, but some will stay to watch the president speak, and energy is one topic that will surely be discussed.

We already know what he's going to talk about because Joel Kaplan, the White House deputy chief of staff (that would be Josh Lyman's position) told us today. The big, bold move Bush will make on energy tonight will be to call for Americans to reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent by 2017. A fine idea for sure, though the new Congress will disagree with President Bush on how to achieve the goal.

The administration basically has a two-pronged strategy. The first is a new mandate proposing we increase the amount of alternative fuels blended into the national fuel supply to 35 billion gallons by 2017. These fuels would now also include biodiesel, methanol, butanol and hydrogen, in addition the politically popular ethanol. The second strategy is to further revise Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards by applying the same revisions to mileage standards used recently on trucks to passenger vehicles. This is where the President and the new Democratic-controlled congress will likely butt heads the most. The Dems simply want to raise CAFE standards for passenger vehicles from the current 27.5 miles per gallon, while the administration's sliding scale applies different standards based on a vehicle's footprint or size. It's all very technical and boring, which is what we imagine the SOTU address will be tonight, but we'll watch anyways 'cause the Commander in Chief's gonna talk about cars, and we're always up for some car talk.

Feel free to post your thoughts on the SOTU in the comments, but keep it civil or we'll have to turn the comments off on this post. Thanks.

[Source: AP]

Bill Ford, Rick Wagoner and Tom LaSorda have been twiddling their thumbs since May waiting for the White House to confirm a date for the Detroit trio to meet with George Bush, the D.C. decider. Tentative times have come and gone, and as each one passed, the perception that the current administration cares little about the challenges facing domestic automakers continued to grow. In reality, those challenges that include health care costs and the price of imported raw materials like steel, just didn't make for good pre-election prattle.

Not a day after the midterm elections have passed, the White House has announced that George Bush will meet with Ford, Wagoner and LaSorda next Tuesday. No additional details were given about what time the meeting would take place or if an agenda of talking points had been set.

Most of us on the Autoblog team are apolitical when it comes to cars, but since the Republicans have lost control over both houses of Congress, we can't help but wonder if Detroit should instead sit down for a chat with someone like N ancy Pelosi (D - CA), the presumptive Speaker of the House, or Harry Reid (D - NV), the soon-to-be leader of the Senate's majority.

BTW - if you'd like to talk politics in the comments, feel free. Keep it civil, though, or we'll be forced to turn the comments off.

[Source: The Detroit Free Press]

In the never-ending saga between the Bush administration and Detroit's automakers, a tentative date has finally been set for a meeting.

During a radio interview, President Bush's political advisor Karl Rove confirmed that a discussion between GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler would take place in mid-November. A specific date was not mentioned, mainly to allow the White House flexibility in it's scheduling.

A sit-down was originally planned in June of this year, with the conversation to center around health-care costs and alternative fuels. GM's Rick Wagoner and others in the industry have made it clear that a 'bailout' is not in the cards.

Related Posts:

• Bush calls Bill Ford
• UAW chief flames Bush for failure to help automakers
• President set to address automakers, again
• Wagoner critical of fed's lack of action
• Bush and automakers delay meeting
• "Big 3" bigwigs headed to White House
• President Bush speaks out on GM & Ford difficulties

[Source: Automotive News (Sub. Req.) and Detroit Free Press]

Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers union, took a shot at President Bush Tuesday for his failure to put forward a national industrial policy addressing issues affecting U.S. automakers, ranging from out of control health care costs to Asian monetary policies.

Speaking at the Reuters Auto Summit in Detroit, Gettelfinger said it was "humiliating" that Bush found time to meet with TV "American Idol" Clay Aiken, but has put off meeting with auto industry executives until after the November election, going on to accuse Bush of "...walking away from the industry that does more for our economy than any other."

[Source: Reuters]

It came as a surprise to read on Bloomberg's website that "the President and Mr. Ford are friends." We don't know why this made us do a double take, but it's nice to know that some form of direct communication is taking place between Washington and an automaker.

According to the article, President Bush phoned Mr. Ford while in route to a fund-raiser in Detroit and although Bush's spokesperson wouldn't elaborate on what was discussed, she did say that the phone conversation only lasted a few minutes. We think it's safe to assume that the topic at hand was FoMoCo's recent personnel changes.

We reported earlier on an uproar among the heads of the Big two-point-five, when they discovered that Bush would be making a campaign appearance in their home town, but had not (re)scheduled any meetings with the automakers. Judging by the information revealed to Bloomberg, the conversation between the two men sought to solidify the administration's promise of a meeting after mid-term elections.

We're eagerly anticipating the outcome of that meeting, if and when it happens.

Related Links:

• Bill Ford Jr. calls for energy summit
• Bush and automakers delay meeting
• Wagoner critical of fed's lack of action
• President set to address automakers, again

(FYI - Due to the unfortunate comments made by some readers in a related post, comments have been disabled for this article. Our apologies to those of you that enjoy a civil exchange of ideas.)