Ron Bloom, the defacto head of the government’s auto restructuring task force (or what’s left of it), tells Reuters that the government wants to hurry up a GM IPO in order to get out of the “investment” as soon as possible. And as we’ve predicted, this means taxpayers will be getting the fuzzy end of

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Bailout Watch 572: Government Fast-Tracking GM IPO, Taxpayer Screwing Confirmed

Despite allegedly falling quality, magical accelerator pedals, Hyundai snapping at their heels, depressed stock price, management musical chairs and Volkswagen taking their “world’s biggest car maker by volume” title you’d think Toyota would have little to smile about. Or not. Reuters reports that even in this creaky economy Toyota managed to post a 5% increase

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Toyota Global Sales Headed Up

The engine in question is Fiat’s 1.4 liter “Fire,” planned for use in the Fiat 500 as well as planned Dodge and Chrysler B-segment hatchbacks. Automotive News [sub] reports that the Michigan Economic Growth Authority has authorized ten years worth of employment tax credits if Chrysler builds the engines at an unused plant in Dundee,

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Fiatsler’s Dilemma: Build Engines In Michigan Or Mexico?

Responding to TTAC commentator Ohsnapback, Ford’s Communications rep defended his employer’s turnaround plan. “At Ford we have never said that we have won the battle already,” Jay Ward wrote. “Just that we are making considerable progress against our plan. You are right that the job is not done, but the evidence so far is overwhealmingly

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Ford PR: “We are also going to pay back our loans unlike other companies”

Next up in today’s series “Selections from the GAO report on the auto bailout which closely resemble TTAC editorials of a year ago” we have the report’s discussion of a possible exit strategy. Or rather, the report’s disclosure that there’s so not an exit strategy it hurts. From the report’s conclusions: While Treasury has stated that

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Bailout Watch 569: Exit Strategy? What Exit Strategy?

More new information from today’s GAO post: Moreover, whether enough time has passed for the impact of the structural changes to be seen is unlikely, especially given that the automakers have not completed restructuring, the economy is still recovering, and new vehicle purchases remain at low levels. For instance, although the federal Car Allowance Rebate System

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Bailout Watch 568: Cash For Clunkers Hurt Bailout Exit Strategy

From the just-released GAO report (PDF) on the auto bailout: Chrysler’s shareholders, including Treasury, have agreed that  Fiat’s equity stake in Chrysler will increase if Chrysler meets certain benchmarks, such as producing a vehicle that achieves a fuel economy of 40 miles per gallon or producing a new engine in the United States. Treasury officials stated

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Bailout Watch 567: Feds Mandate Chrysler Green Car

Well, it turns out that October sales won’t be released until tomorrow, but luckily we have a hot-and-sweaty-fresh report by the Government Accountability Office (PDF) to keep things interesting. And we’re learning all kinds of new things about the auto bailout. To wit: Chrysler must either manufacture 40 percent of its U.S. sales volume in the

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Bailout Watch 566: Bailed Out Automakers Must Meet US Production Quotas

Car dealers are some of the most politically connected people in America. As we reported yesterday, more than a few axed GM store owners demonstrated their political muscles by forcing the nationalized automaker to rescind their franchise terminations. Further back in time, we highlighted the Obama administration’s “stealth” dealer bailout: a car dealer-specific Small Business

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Bailout Watch 565: Small Business Adminstration Dealer Bailout Grows

The WSJ reports that GM will draw “north of $2.5b” from its government escrow account to fund its own bailout of its major supplier, Delphi. Considering GM has committed $1b in debt assumption, $2b in forgiven claims and $1.75b in investments, we can assume the amount will be well north of $2.5b. But how much

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GM To Draw On Government Funds For Delphi Rescue