Ford

South Korea Free Trade Agreement Goes South

Some good news for U.S. workers. Obama's negotiations with South Korea for yet another NAFTA styled trade agreement failed. There will be no new trade agreement. This one was a battle of the businesses, the labor arbitrage loving statistical spin machine U.S. Chamber of Commerce against U.S. auto makers Ford and Chrysler.

President Barack Obama won’t be returning from his Asia trip with a renegotiated free trade agreement between the U.S. and South Korea. Concerns over barriers to American automakers selling more vehicles in that country remain a point of contention.

The Obama administration had hoped to reach a deal on the free trade agreement first settled in 2007. That deal was never formally approved by either nation, and congressional Democrats – particularly those in the House – had balked because of concerns that U.S. automakers still couldn’t compete on equal footing in South Korea.

This week, Chrysler Group LLC joined Ford in opposing the deal as written. Last week, Ford took out a full-page ad claiming that for every 52 Korean cars sold in the U.S. only one American car is sold in South Korea.

Of course the Obama administration is pledging to keep at it, but the House, including the new Republicans might have some different ideas.

In a joint statement, current House Ways and Means Chairman Sander Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat, and his presumptive replacement, Republican Dave Camp of Midland, said “Further negotiations will succeed only if South Korea adopts concrete steps to open its market to U.S. exports” including autos.

Now Bush is "Considering Orderly Bankruptcy" for the U.S. Auto Manufacturing Sector

U.S. auto manufacturing being hung out to dry? It sure looks that way!

Today Bush said he is considering an 'orderly' auto bankruptcy.

Uh huh. Anyone know of an orderly bankruptcy that didn't cause thousands of job losses? The automobile manufacturing supply chain is heavily OEMed. This means an entire chain of businesses, suppliers are involved in making cars and trucks.

Bush:

Bush Now Says Big 3 Auto Can Get Some of the $700 Billion Bail out money

Now why could through all of that hell, have the Senate crush hope, only to turn around and say the Big 3 U.S. auto manufacturers can get some of the bail out money already approved?

The Bush administration dropped its opposition to using the $700 billion bank bailout fund to provide financing for U.S. automakers after the Senate yesterday failed to approve emergency loans

Senator Chris Dodd Calls for GM CEO's Firing

Off with His Head! That's what Senator Chris Dodd is now saying.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd said General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Richard Wagoner should be replaced as a condition of federal aid and Chrysler LLC may have to merge to survive.

“You’ve got to consider new leadership,” Dodd said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Wagoner, he said, “has to move on.”

Asked if a change in leadership should be a condition of a bailout, Dodd who is helping to write the legislation, said, “I think it is going to have to be part of it.”

“Chrysler, is, I think, basically gone, probably ought to be merged,” Dodd said. Ford Motor Co. is the healthiest domestic automaker, he said.

Below is the Face the Nation video clip with Dodd.

Auto Sales Plunge

We all expected auto sales to be anemic but this is pretty god awful. In Auto Sales down over 30%, CNN reports:

Ford: 31% down from 1 year ago in November, 7% down from October, last month. Worst sales in 25 years.

Toyota: 34% drop from last year and a 14% drop from last month.

GM: 41% down, 44% cars, 39% light trucks.

Chrysler: 47% drop. A whopping 57% on cars and 42% on trucks.

These numbers are worse than analysts expected.

AP on GM details.

CBS Market Watch on Chrysler Sales.

Senate To Try to Pass Auto Bail Out

The Senate is going to try to push through a bail out package for the auto industry.

The plan details are unclear and there is a test vote on Wednesday.

CQ Politics has a few more details on what might be in the bill.

Sen. Carl Levin , D-Mich., has been working on legislation to provide $25 billion in “bridge loans” to the “Big Three” automakers. House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank , D-Mass., has been heading efforts to draft bailout legislation in that chamber.

House and Senate leaders have said any legislation must include the same type of restrictions and taxpayer protections as the larger financial industry bailout plan Congress cleared in October, including limits on executive compensation.

65 mpg from Ford- Not for US

Americans don't do diesel, or so we've been told. At the same time that hybrids have become the darling here in the United States, cars with even more impressive fuel efficiency and no need for battery packs are being produced by the big three in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

The new diesel version of the Ford Fiesta being sold in the UK gets 65 mpg. But it's not for us.

Yet while half of all cars sold in Europe last year ran on diesel, the U.S. market remains relatively unfriendly to the fuel. Taxes aimed at commercial trucks mean diesel costs anywhere from 40 cents to $1 more per gallon than gasoline. Add to this the success of the Toyota Prius, and you can see why only 3% of cars in the U.S. use diesel. "Americans see hybrids as the darling," says Global Insight auto analyst Philip Gott, "and diesel as old-tech."