Free Republic

The IRS scandal that revealed targeting of conservative groups by the Treasury Department has reopened speculation that the Obama-orchestrated auto bailouts unfairly targeted Republican-leaning dealerships for closure. Republican Congressmen Mike Kelly (PA) and Jim Renacci (OH) have penned a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew requesting documentation so that an investigation can determine what criteria was used to shutter dealers that appear to have had one thing in common: their political affiliations. The outrageous behavior of the IRS in targeting non-profit organizations with conservative roots, like the Tea Party, for extra scrutiny came at around the same time that General...

Is Motor City getting its mojo back? After years of losing loyal customers frustrated by quality and reliability problems, domestic automakers are showing a new-found focus on customer service that is winning back skeptics – boosting sales, market share and profits.

Fiat may now be producing electric vehicles, but CEO Sergio Marchionne apparently doesn't think they represent the future for the automaker just yet -- or, at least, the only future. Speaking at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit yesterday, Marchionne said that his company is losing $10,000 on every 500e car sold (a figure he first offered fully two years ago), and added that "doing that on a large scale would be masochism in its extreme."Those comments came as part of a larger point he was making about the push towards electric vehicles, and what he described...

When the state-imposed manager of Detroit, Kevyn Orr, starts the job on Monday he will wade into a city of crumbling neighborhoods where police fail to respond to some calls, arson fires burn out of control and residents scour charred buildings for scrap metal to sell. Except for the business district and a cultural area including a university, museum and some theaters, the city of Detroit, population 700,000, is in bad shape. Orr, a Washington, D.C.-based bankruptcy lawyer, will have the official title of "Emergency Financial Manager." But his remit as an unelected administrator will range far beyond money. His...

Chrysler is reportedly having a hard time ramping up production of its 2013 Ram 1500. According to The Detroit News, only 16 of the 58 trucks built at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant during the model's first hour passed final inspection. While quality eventually improved over the course of the day, just over half of the units built on Thursday were approved for shipment. Even with workers ordered to stay late to fix their mistakes, some 1,078 units remained outside the facility with defects. The problem, according to workers at the plant, is morale.

(WXYZ) - Every year the automakers produce some of the most talked about ads that are aired during the Super Bowl. This has been especially true over the last few years, where Chrysler produced ads featuring both Clint Eastwood and Eminem to highlight their progress as they emerged from bankruptcy.

Fiat has been talking about Alfa Romeo’s return to the U.S. for more a decade—check out the timeline—but CEO Sergio Marchionne has finally made the decision: After nearly 20 years away, the brand will start selling cars here again in 2014. (We’ll believe it when we see it, but let’s play along for now.) The return to the States is part of a large revamp of the brand that will see a number of new models introduced in the U.S., Europe, and around the world, and this Alfa renaissance will lean heavily on alliances with Fiat, Chrysler, and Mazda. Read...

This article analyzes the history of labor union violence, and how Rep. Capuano's comments are a perfect continuation of this historical truth. Labor Unions: A History of Murder and Sabotage The New American 28 February 2011 The raging union-led protests in Wisconsin have resulted in many Americans taking a closer, more critical look at labor unions and their political clout and influence in shaping policy. With the ubiquitous announcement from AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka that he is granted an audience at the White House “nearly every day,” the American people have become more skeptical of unions and the role...

DETROIT (WJBK) - Two years ago Fox 2 Problem Solver Rob Wolchek got a tip from someone inside Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly plant about what some workers were doing at the park on their lunch break. For several days our TV crews followed some of these workers. Play the video above to see what these guys were doing before they went back to work in the factory in 2010. When we showed the video to executives from Chrysler they were embarrassed. The company had just been bailed out by the government and president Obama stood on the floor of the...

Two years ago Fox 2 Problem Solver Rob Wolchek got a tip from someone inside Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly plant about what some workers were doing at the park on their lunch break.

The Ram 1500 has been named 2013 Truck of the Year by Motor Trend magazine. The magazine's editors were impressed by the truck's fuel economy and posh interior. "The 2013 Ram 1500 SLT is essentially like driving a Chrysler 300 with a bed," says the story that appears in the magazine's February issue. The Ram is made by Chrysler Group, which also makes the 300, a car known for its relatively upscale interior. Chrysler recently split off the Ram truck division from Dodge, so the trucks no longer carry the Dodge name. To be eligible for the Truck of the...

It is being suggested that President Obama's reelection was at leaset in part helped by the auto industry bailouts , or more accurately, the portrayal of the bailouts by the president and the media. It is therefore important to surmise that the precedent setting auto bankruptcy proceedings saw billions of taxpayer dollars used to not only help the industry, but to fund the reelection of the sitting president that orchestrated the process. The greatest travesty of the 2012 election campaign may have been that the auto bailouts were never properly debated. The main point should not have been whether or...

Below there is a UPI.com thread (Chrysler Exec slams Trump on China tweet") that you can read where a Chrysler exec slammed Trump over something that the UPI.com article said Trump tweeted. Should Romney stand with Trump and back up what Trump said? Or should Romney take Trump to task and/or distance himself from Trump?

Detroit, Nov. 3 [35 minutes ago] (UPI) - A Chrysler executive has apologized for his language but stands by a tweet calling out Donald Trump for saying U.S. Jeep production is moving to China. Ralph Gilles, Chrysler Group LLC vice president for product design, was responding to a Trump online posting that said "(President Barack) Obama is a terrible negotiator. He bails out Chrysler and now Chrysler wants to send all Jeep manufacturing to China -- and will!" ... The company said it plans to produce Jeeps in China for sale in China, but is expanding Jeep production in the...

General Motors is criticizing Mitt Romney for running an ad that says GM cut 15,000 jobs under the Obama Administration. The Detroit Free Press reported that GM spokesman Greg Martin (speaking about the Romney ad) stated, "No amount of campaign politics at its cynical worst will diminish our record of creating jobs in the U.S. and repatriating profits back to this country." Leaving aside for a moment the bigger issue of a taxpayer-supported entity improperly inserting itself in an election, lets examine the facts. A look at GM's annual SEC filings gives a clear picture of how many people were...

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne discussed, in limited detail, some of the Italian company's plans for future production of its vehicles, including the Chrysler and Jeep brands, during an earnings conference call yesterday. There has been much recent speculation on the possibility that some of the once American-owned Chrysler Jeep vehicles will be outsourced and produced overseas. It was confirmed that at least some Jeeps will be manufactured outside the US in the near future. The plan is to produce a new, smaller Jeep in Italy that will be sold in Europe and also exported to America. The question now...

There is nothing like having unbiased media coverage of the all-important presidential campaign leading up to next week's election. And the media is nothing like unbiased. We see this playing out again as Mitt Romney is now being accused of misrepresenting a story that Bloomberg.com reported on Chrysler's potential outsourcing of Jeep manufacturing to China. A look at the original comments from the article gives evidence as to how unfair the criticism is and just how right Romney was for pointing out the likely future outsourcing of Jeep manufacturing. According to the Detroit Free Press, Romney stated during an Ohio...

In another potential blow for the president's Ohio reelection campaign, Jeep, the rugged brand President Obama once said symbolized American freedom, is considering giving up on the United States and shifting production to China. Such a move would crash the economy in towns like Toledo, Ohio, where Jeeps are made and supplied, and rob the community of the economic security they thought Obama's auto bailout assured them. Fiat SpA (F), majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC, plans to return Jeep output to China and may eventually make all of its models in that country, according to the head of both...

American taxpayers should prepare themselves for another slap in the face, courtesy of the much-ballyhooed Obama auto bailouts. After spending about $85 billion to bail out Chrysler, General Motors and Ally Financial (formerly known as GMAC), taxpayers are being rewarded by Chrysler's parent company, Fiat, announcing that it is preparing to build its Jeep brand vehicles in China. In addition, according to a Bloomberg report, Fiat may end up building all of its vehicles in China , threatening the loss of more manufacturing jobs should the decision be carried out to move Chrysler manufacturing out of America. Italian automaker, Fiat,...

Once, not all that long ago, Lee Iacocca was courted as a possible presidential candidate. But on Thursday, the 88-year-old former Chrysler chief executive put his weight behind Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Business icon Lee Iacocca (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife) Iacocca has voiced his support for Romney in the past, notably on an appearance last year with Charlie Rose. His endorsement came in a statement issued by his California office and reported by the Detroit Free Press. He said Romney has “dozens of years of experience in the public and private sectors” and a plan that “will...

TORONTO - The Canadian Auto Workers union said negotiating with the big three automakers - General Motors, Chrysler and Ford - before Monday's midnight strike deadline is like juggling "a lot of balls up in the air." If the CAW, which represents 21,500 members in the three companies, doesn't reach a settlement with the big three, it could mean a walkout could start at 12:01 a.m. Monday. "It's a little tough to tell at this point in time what the impact will be because it depends upon status of bargaining with each of the three companies," CAW secretary treasurer Peter Kennedy said...

The Canadian Auto Workers union is turning up the pressure in contract talks with the Detroit Three auto makers, saying it is prepared to go on strike against all of them at the same time if no deal is reached by the Sept. 17 deadline. “The corporations are refusing to add any costs whatsoever – instead they insist on cutting costs from our existing agreements,” the CAW said in a leaflet distributed Wednesday at Canadian plants operated by Chrysler Group LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. “None of the three companies have demonstrated that they are serious about...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department has said the auto industry bailout will cost taxpayers $3.4 billion more than previously thought. Treasury now estimates the 2009 bailout will eventually cost the government $25.1 billion, according to a report sent to Congress on Friday. That is up from the last quarterly estimate of $21.7 billion. Since the $80 billion bailout of the auto industry, Detroit's big automakers have moved from crisis to profit. GM and Chrysler were put through government-funded bankruptcies that slashed costs and debt. Treasury has so far recouped about half of what was extended in grants and...

Considering the way the Obama campaign has decided to blame Romney and Bane capital for the death of a man's wife, I have decided to begin a campaign of listing the people Obama is responsible of killing. When you think of all those GM & Chrysler dealerships that were forced to close, I would bet we can find many who will be willing to blame Obama for the untimely death of their loved ones. Just consider if you will, the many lives Obama is responsible for in "Fast and Furious" alone. Besides the death of an American Border Agent, his...

The Obama Administration has become quite the expert on bankruptcy filings. The Detroit Free Press reports that the third auto bailout partaker, Ally Financial, has filed bankruptcy for its mortgage subsidiary, ResCap. The government still owns 74% of Ally, and now has an 0 for 3 record on restructuring bailed out auto-related companies outside of bankruptcy. Three years ago the Obama Administration, particularly the Auto Task Force, had a mission to restructure General Motors, Chrysler and GM's lending arm, GMAC. The stated goal was to restructure the auto industry players outside of bankruptcy. This stated goal turned out to be...

After 36 years, the Dodge Dart is back, and it's no retro model. The 2013 Dart five-seat sedan is modern and stylish, with European handling and heritage, fun features, 10 air bags and fuel-thrifty engines, including two turbos. And smart design and attention to detail inside the Dart successfully groups the information from the gauges with the controls in the center of the dashboard better than any car — Dodge or otherwise. The slew of features, standard on some models and optional on others, include denim material seat inserts, heated steering wheel and a 8.4-inch touch screen with touch screen...

Democrats and Republicans have slammed Mitt Romney for his 2008 view that Detroit should "go bankrupt," but the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said Monday his views played a big part in the auto industry's recovery. "I'll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry's come back," Romney told WEWS-TV in Cleveland. Speaking after a campaign stop at a metal stamping facility in nearby Euclid, Romney said the industry needed to enter a "managed bankruptcy" process in order to fully recover – and that was what eventually helped American automakers get back on their feet.

One of Mitt Romney's top advisers said Saturday that President Obama's decision to bailout Chrysler and General Motors was actually Romney's idea. "[Romney's] position on the bailout was exactly what President Obama followed. I know it infuriates them to hear that," Eric Fehrnstrom, senior adviser to the Romney campaign, said. "The only economic success that President Obama has had is because he followed Mitt Romney's advice."

As if we needed another reason to never buy a Chrysler...

Briefly noticed a small "Driving America" logo in the upper right hand corner of my TV last night during a Chrysler ad and shook my head in dismay.

Ally Financial seldom gets mentioned when the auto bailouts are discussed. The company was formerly known as GMAC and the 17 billion dollars that taxpayers sunk into the company was crucial for the perceived success at both General Motors and Chrysler . We now learn that Ally Financial has failed a government stress test and, according to Reuters, "fared by far the worst of 19 banks examined." Years back, GMAC changed its name to Ally Financial to dissociate itself from GM. Just changing a name can not negate the fact that the $17,000,000,000 Ally Financial received from taxpayers went...

The Detroit News reports that Mitt Romney wants a reexamination of the General Motors' bankruptcy proceedings. Mr. Romney is quoted as stating, "I think it's important for us to go back and look at what happened and take apart this bankruptcy process. See to what extent the finger of politics was placed on the scales of justice and see if we can't be more fair to the people involved in this process." I agree with the sentiment, but I do have to ask, where were the Republicans on this issue over two years ago? Three years ago I served...

Did you know that there are no Volkswagen manufacturing plants in the Detroit area? Or Mercedes-Benz? Or Kia? Or Hyundai? Or BMW, for that matter? The Motor City has a well-earned reputation for having the greatest auto workers in the nation, yet honorable Michiganders largely build cars for only three companies. Apart from having their cars assembled in Michigan, it turns out that those three companies have something else in common: the United Auto Workers union (UAW). It also turns out that every other car manufacturer has something in common, too: not wanting the UAW to do to them what...

Clint Eastwoods Halftime in America Chrysler propaganda commercial is taken apart by the great one. Mark Levin.

Amid the controversy over Chrysler’s “It’s Halftime In America” Super Bowl commercial, a glaring question remains: if Chrysler is back on top and so strong, then why hasn’t it repaid taxpayers the $1.3 billion it still owes them?

Clint Eastwood says his recent Super Bowl commercial wasn’t about politics. Chrysler Group LLC aired a two-minute television commercial called “It’s Halftime in America” during Super Bowl XLVI that featured the veteran actor and director. Some pundits have argued that the tone seemed to favor the re-election of President Obama.

It is mostly unanimous that Clint Eastwood's Super Bowl ad appearance was a stirring and emotional tribute to America and Detroit. The ad was heartfelt, despite the fact that bailed out Italian-owned auto company, Chrysler, paid for it. Unless NBC offered some significant discounts to their ad rates, the ad cost Chrysler about $14 million. Considering the political nature of the ad and the fact that Chrysler vehicles were not touted in the ad, I must ask the cynical question; what's in it for Italian-owned Chrysler? Chrysler CEO, Sergio Marchionne, is a pretty smart guy. I don't think he...

Clint Eastwood and Chrysler ticked off plenty of conservatives who usually back the actor and director. The ad’s message is that everything is peachy keen now that taxpayers bailed out Chrysler for a second time. It is halftime in America, the ad said. That ticked off conservatives. Saying it is halftime in America is echoic of Ronald Reagan’s morning in America and is seen as a political ad for President Obama’s re-election. From Mark Steyn: “Do you know who owns almost 60% of Chrysler, this great American institution? Fiat! Yes, nothing could be more American than an Italian company that’s...

If you are keeping score at home it’s Chrysler $12.5 billion, NBC $12 million, with a taxpayer loss of $133 billion. Oh, and the city of Detroit is just minutes away, literally, from being more broke than Greece. Look, I’m a sucker for marketing as much as the next guy, but I have a lot of friends who were rightly outraged by Chrysler’s political ad for the auto bailout that starred Clint Eastwood and aired at halftime on NBC during the Super Bowl. It was more than just the subverted boosterism for Obama that was outrageous. There were many levels...

If Clint Eastwood narrated “The Cat in the Hat,” the words of Dr. Seuss would instantly take on a menacing authority. He could read the latest worthless United Nations condemnation of Syria and make Bashar Assad tremble. So if you’re Chrysler and want to air a propagandistic advertisement implicitly touting your government bailout as what’s best about America, Eastwood is a natural frontman. The movie tough-guy and former Republican mayor of Carmel, Calif., will make everyone take notice. He will dare you not to believe him. He will invest a sugarcoated narrative of Detroit’s comeback with every bit of his...

Following the fall out over the controversial Chrysler Super Bowl halftime ad, Clinton Eastwood spoke exclusively with O’Reilly Factor producer Ron Mitchell…"I just want to say that the spin stops with you guys, and there is no spin in that ad. On this I am certain. l am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK....

Karl Rove sees politics written all over Clint Eastwood's new Chrysler ad and even compares it to "Chicago-style politics." "I was, frankly, offended by it," Rove said on Fox News Monday. "I'm a huge fan of Clint Eastwood, I thought it was an extremely well-done ad, but it is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the President of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising and the best-wishes of the management which is benefited by getting a bunch of our money that they'll never...

The Super Bowl is televised advertising’s equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival, so White House political strategists must have been smiling when what’s generally being hailed as this year’s best spot -- the Chrysler "Halftime in America" commercial -- subtly echoed the themes of President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.(snip)Just to ice the cake, the gritty two-minute spot featured actor/director Clint Eastwood, whose politics usually put him on the Republican side of the aisle. In the spot, Eastwood’s voice narrates an account of Detroit’s comeback and, then, when his unmistakably craggy face appears on screen, U.S. closes Syria Embassy,

Detroit - Factory workers at Chrysler are getting $1,500 profit-sharing checks next month, a sign the automaker’s turnaround is succeeding. About 26,000 union-represented workers in the U.S. should get the payments, according to Chrysler’s contract with the United Auto Workers union. The profit-sharing figure is based on an Associated Press analysis of company earnings, and the labor contract formula for profit-sharing. Chrysler would not say how much the workers will get. But the formula in its new four-year contract with the UAW shows that the checks will be about $1,500. The checks are based on Chrysler’s $2 billion operating profit

What's the value of a car used by Barack Obama? Apparently not $1 million. An eBay auction for a gray 2005 Chrysler 300C leased by Obama before he became president closed late Wednesday with no bids meeting that minimum asking price, after which the listing agent hinted that $1 million might have been too much to expect.

VIDEO 4:19 minutes NLPC Associate Fellow Mark Modica says it is time to end tax credits and subsidies for electric vehicles. He is interviewed by Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Network on Friday, January 6. Here's a transcript: Neil Cavuto : Meanwhile, a Fox Business Alert that is going to be a topical issue, drivers paying more to fill up. But it doesn't look like they're getting fed up with the gas guzzlers. Gasoline now at its highest price ever for the start of the year. It's still rising. But look what else is rising. Sales of really big...

Chrysler Group LLC confirmed today that its new small car, the first vehicle to feature Fiat SpA (F.MI) technology, will be called the Dodge Dart. The car, in production at the automaker's assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill., will be featured in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. With this vehicle, Chrysler will have a small-car offering in its portfolio for the first time in more than a decade. The car also will allow majority stakeholder Fiat to raise its stake in Chrysler by 5 percentage points to 58.3 percent once it is certified by the U.S....

General Motors Co. may be the largest of Detroit’s Big Three, but it is the only one to not be represented on Automobile Magazine’s ‘2012 All-Stars’ list. The magazine, which ranked the 2012 Audi 7 the best vehicle of next year, feature vehicles from Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC on the top 10 list, but left GM in the dark. Ford drove onto the list with its compact Focus, which was awarded car of the year by the magazine in 2000, and the highly-acclaimed Mustang Boss 302, which the magazine dubbed “the best Mustang ever.” January 2012 issue,...

Asian brands continue to dominate Consumer Reports' 2011 Annual Auto Survey, sweeping the top nine spots. Toyota's American brand Scion leads the pack, followed by Lexus, Acura, Mazda, Honda, and Toyota. The brands scored strong on predicted reliability tests. Of the 91 Japanese models for which Consumer Reports has sufficient data, 87 (96 percent) were rated average or better. 24 Japanese models earned the highest rating.

Chrysler is getting rid of the soccer mom staple Dodge Grand Caravan minivan, the company announced on Monday. 2013 will be the last year the Caravan is sold, despite the fact it is currently the best selling Dodge vehicle on the market. The more upscale Chrysler Town and Country minivan will continue on as the only van the company offers. Chrysler created the modern minivan in when they introduced the 1984 model year Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager models. Chrysler will replace the Dodge Grand Caravan minivan and the Dodge Avenger mid-sized sedan with a single crossover in 2013, Chrysler...