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AUTOMAKERS' CRISIS * USA - President faces tough choices on ailing automakers' future
Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -22 Jan 2009: -- With 10 inaugural balls and a first spin in the new presidential limousine behind him, President Barack Obama faces a series of urgent decisions affecting the future of the domestic automakers... He must approve new fuel efficiency rules by April 1 and decide whether to allow California and 13 other states to impose independent tailpipe emissions limits. His administration also must decide how $25 billion in low-cost retooling loans are awarded... And when he makes those decisions over the next four years, he'll help reshape what Americans drive -- and which companies are building those vehicles. Obama this year will choose an "auto czar" or team of people to oversee the restructuring of the domestic auto industry and decide whether to lend General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC more government money... GM has received $9.4 billion in aid and could get another $4 billion in February as part of the loan package approved by then-President George W. Bush. Chrysler got $4 billion and has said it will ask for another $3 billion, which will also be up to Obama...
* Road for autos runs through Oval Office
Detroit,MICH,USA -The Detroit News, by Daniel Howes -January 23, 2009: -- The former Michigan governor, Democrat Jim Blanchard, nailed it: "The first priority" for the Obama administration isn't enforcing new environmental rules but ensuring "the automakers are rescued because none of the regulations will make any difference if they aren't viable," he told The Detroit News... And if Detroit's automakers aren't viable, he might have added, they're collapsing into bankruptcy or dismemberment or both, making a bad jobs outlook much worse... President Barack Obama is poised to face an automotive conundrum potentially pitting him, the Detroit auto industry and the more immediate needs of the beleaguered national economy against pressure from environmentalists, fuel economy zealots and the powerful California delegation, including the two members of Congress who escorted him to his inauguration... How Obama proceeds with the automakers over the weeks and months ahead likely will have historic implications for a prominent cornerstone of American manufacturing. The new president has more power to dictate the fundamental direction of this key sector of the national economy -- and the economic future of Michigan -- than perhaps any president since FDR in the early days of World War II...
* Obama urged to uphold EPA rule
Washington,DC,USA -The Detroit News, by David Shepardson -January 24, 2009: -- Opposition is emerging to the possibility of President Barack Obama reversing a Bush administration decision not to grant California and 13 other states the right to impose their own vehicle tailpipe emissions limits... Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and the National Automobile Dealers Association on Friday urged Obama not to take action. Their separate requests came two days after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and California Air Resources Board chairwoman Mary Nichols formally asked the Obama administration to grant the state a waiver under the Clean Air Act to impose a 30 percent reduction in tailpipe emissions by 2016. Thirteen other states have adopted the California rules... The NADA said in a report Friday that the California rules would force automakers to ration deliveries of larger vehicles to comply with the requirements and that could lead to some customers buying vehicles in adjacent states without the rules. The rules "will distort the auto market and (do) nothing to decrease greenhouse gases or improve fuel economy on a national basis," the report said... Cox asked a federal appeals court Friday to reject efforts by California and the other states to impose their own limits on tailpipe emissions, which would require higher fuel economy standards because that is the primary way to reduce emissions. The District of Columbia and Bernalilo County in New Mexico have also adopted the California rules... "The auto industry is working hard to reform and retool," Cox said. "Allowing state-by-state fuel efficiency standards would be devastating to the auto industry"... Cox filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, arguing that the Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act pre-empt California from independently regulating auto emissions... "If California and a handful of other states are allowed to dictate environmental policy for the entire country on a state-by-state basis and not a uniform basis, our nation's economy will become further weakened," Cox said. "I will not stand by silently while a handful of states try to drown the U.S. auto industry in new regulation"... California wants to require passenger cars and other vehicles under 3,750 pounds to average 43.7 miles per gallon and light trucks 26.6 mpg by 2016, and automakers have lost a string of lawsuits trying to block the effort. They are in the process of drafting additional limits through 2020... Automakers say the California rules would place undue financial burdens on the industry, and drive the price of new cars and trucks sharply higher. The final barrier to implementation, a waiver from the EPA, was defeated in December 2007 when the Bush administration denied the request. California then sued the EPA, a congressional investigation was launched and during the campaign, Obama pledged to grant the waiver, if elected... "We feel strongly that under its new leadership, EPA will recognize that the decision made by the former administrator to deny California the waiver to enforce our clean car law was flawed, factually and legally, in fundamental ways," Nichols said... The Supreme Court ruled in April 2007 that the EPA has the express authority to regulate tailpipe emissions, though the Bush administration didn't exercise that authority... The NADA report noted the problems compliances poses for auto dealers. Just one county in New Mexico has adopted the California emissions standards and dealers there would lose sales to neighboring counties. The report also noted that BMW has one dealership in Vermont, which also adopted the tougher rules. That could force BMW to curtail delivery of some vehicles, if customers don't buy a balanced mix...
Labels: automakers' crisis
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