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DETROIT (AP) -- In exchange for an agreement to create 5,100 union jobs in the U.S., General Motors will hire thousands of less expensive employees and try to replace some longtime workers. The offer is part of a tentative new contract between the automaker and United Auto Workers that union leaders recommended to their membership on Tuesday. Now, nearly 50,000 workers at GM must vote to accept or reject the four-year contract. The contract also includes a $5,000 signing bonus and profit-sharing checks if GM earns a minimum of $1.25 billion in North America annually. Those payments, and others, will...

In a bid to boost flagging auto sales, the federal government will pay for any warranty repairs on a General Motors or Chrysler vehicle if either company can't because of financial problems or a bankruptcy filing, President Barack Obama said on Monday. "Let me say this as plainly as I can. If you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired just like always," Obama said in a speech. "Your warranty will be safe. In fact, it will be safer than it has ever been. Because starting today, the...

General Motors Co. is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit over a suspension problem on more than 400,000 Chevrolet Impalas from the 2007 and 2008 model years, saying it should not be responsible for repairs because the flaw predated its bankruptcy. The lawsuit, filed on June 29 by Donna Trusky of Blakely, Penn., contended that her Impala suffered from faulty rear spindle rods, causing her rear tires to wear out after just 6,000 miles.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the House committee holding hearings on the auto bailout process wants clarification from former head of President Obama's Auto Task Force, Ron Bloom, regarding testimony he gave about a statement he allegedly made at a 2009 celebratory dinner. According to a news article written at the time and fellow ex-car czar, Steve Rattner, Bloom stated that he "did this all for the unions." Bloom denied making the statement while under oath. The congressional panel isn't buying it and has written a letter to Bloom requesting that he amend his testimony.Given Bloom's union background...

New emails obtained by The Daily Caller contradict claims by the Obama administration that the Treasury Department would avoid “intervening in the day-to-day management” of General Motors post-auto bailout. These messages reveal that Treasury officials were involved in decision-making that led to more than 20,000 non-union workers losing their pensions. Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/22/private-emails-detail-obama-admin-involvement-in-cutting-non-union-worker-pensions-post-gm-bailout/#ixzz1Q6OOKOsu

New emails obtained by The Daily Caller contradict claims by the Obama administration that the Treasury Department would avoid “intervening in the day-to-day management” of General Motors post-auto bailout. These messages reveal that Treasury officials were involved in decision-making that led to more than 20,000 non-union workers losing their pensions. (General Motors not eager to be political talking point in 2012) Republican Reps. Dan Burton and Mike Turner say that during the GM bailout, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner decided to cut pensions for salaried non-union employees at Delphi, a GM spinoff, to expedite GM’s emergence from bankruptcy. At a Wednesday...

Government Motors has become yet another mouthpiece for the Obama administration. General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson told the Detroit News Saturday that he wants a $1 per gallon hike in the gas tax. Consumers already facing nearly $4 a gallon prices at the pump aren’t going to be pleased to see that figure jump overnight to $5, but the left and its crony capitalist allies don’t care what the public thinks. Mr. Akerson wants to use the power of government to make buying a Chevy Volt, GM’s entry into the electric car market, more economically attractive. Such marketplace intervention...

Detroit — General Motors Co. CEO Dan Akerson wants the federal gas tax boosted as much as $1 a gallon to nudge consumers toward more fuel-efficient cars, and he's confident the government will soon shed its remaining 26 percent stake in the once-bankrupt automaker. "I actually think the government will be out this year — within the next 12 months, hopefully within the next six months," Akerson said in a two-hour interview with The Detroit News last week. He is grateful for the government's rescue of GM — "I have nothing but good things to say about them" — but...

Proud of losing $14BRich Lowry Last Updated: 3:15 AM, June 4, 2011 It's a sign of grim times indeed when the Obama administra tion is touting a potential $14 billion loss to the taxpayers as a great economic success. The White House is running on its auto bailouts as courageous acts that saved the industrial Midwest. It's a telling point of pride. In bragging about the bailouts of GM and Chrysler, the administration is boasting of a process shot through with lawlessness and political favoritism -- not to mention reckless disregard for taxpayer dollars. The administration believes it trumps all...

Automobilemag.com reports that General Motors has responded to my report questioning whether dealerships are gaming Chevy Volt tax credits. Chevy Volt spokesperson, Rob Peterson, states that "NLPC is confused." He then goes on to confirm that the dealerships purchasing Chevy Volts and reselling them as used vehicles are entitled to the $7,500 tax credit. Clearly, it is GM that is confused, considering that this was the main point of my report. GM does not deny that Chevy dealerships are selling Chevy Volts to other dealerships, including a KIA dealership, for resale. At the same time, Peterson also touts the high...

It’s a general rule of thumb that whenever a politician says something negative about their opposition, they better not be guilty of the same thing, otherwise they would end up looking incredibly foolish. The latest pol to suffer from this is Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Since she began her tenure as head of the DNC, Wasserman Schultz has gone on the offensive against the Republicans. She accused the GOP of “waging war on the unemployed” and slammed their budget proposal as a “path to poverty.” But her latest attack on the opposition backfired in a major way....

President Obama and two of his biggest union allies -- the United Auto Workers and the United Steelworkers -- plan to make the automotive bailout "a central issue" in the 2012 election, Politico reports. Republicans should view this as an opportunity. No issue better illustrates the deception, cronyism, disregard for the rule of law, and bad economic decisions of this White House than the auto bailouts. On Tuesday, Obama announced that Chrysler had paid back all "outstanding loans to the U.S. Treasury and American taxpayers." This is highly misleading. American taxpayers still own a 6.6 percent stake in Chrysler, which...

Billed as the “sum total of all the law enforcement community has learned about patrol cars to date”, the PPV boasts a 6.0L V-8 engine with 355 horsepower, 18-inch steel wheels, and a host of gadgets that puts any Hollywood squad car to shame. The Caprice, which replaces the long-used Ford Crown Victoria, is equipped with an infrared night vision camera, automated license plate scanner, and a touch-screen center console that replaces the older computers traditionally used by officers. In addition to horsepower and firepower, the cruiser is also outfitted with the latest in information technology, with ethernet, Wi-Fi and...

In an attempt to go green, the U.S. government will be purchasing 116 new plug-in electric vehicles for use in the federal fleet — but according to The Detroit News, the majority of that order consists of 2012 Chevrolet Volts. By the start of 2012, the General Services Administration, which oversees the purchase of two-thirds of the federal fleet, will take delivery of 101 new Volts, 10 Nissan Leafs, and five Think City EV plug-in electric vehicles. While the purchase will help to reduce the agency’s carbon footprint, it will not increase the size of the federal fleet, as the...

It's designed to protect the President from terror attacks but Barack Obama was left red-faced after one of his armour-plated Cadillacs was brought to a halt as it left the U.S. Embassy in Dublin. The gigantic bomb-proof General Motors vehicle, with eight-inch thick steel on its door, didn't even make it as far as the road outside the consulate. The car had to be abandoned after the collision in front of waving crowds while Mr Obama and his wife were en route to his ancestral home in County Offaly. Embarrassing: One of Barack Obama's fleet of armoured cars gets stuck...

DUBLIN (Reuters) – The Presidential Cadillac, nicknamed "The Beast" for its bomb-proof features, failed to make it out of the U.S. Embassy in Dublin on Monday when it became stuck on a ramp. Barack Obama and his wife, en route to his ancestral home in County Offaly, had to abandon the car after the collision in front of waving crowds in Dublin.

US President Barack Obama's heavily armoured Cadillac, nicknamed "The Beast", became stuck on a ramp at the US embassy in Dublin, RTE state radio reported Monday. The first cars in the presidential motorcade emerged up the ramp from the car park beneath the complex in Ballsbridge and passed through the gates without incident, but The Beast quickly ran into trouble and got beached. "The Beast was coming along and suddenly there was a loud kind of bang, metal-on-metal, grinding, crunching noise and the car was stuck," an RTE reporter said. The reporter said that as it drove out, the car...

The Car That Thinks It's A Tank: Inside Obama's 'Beast' Cadillac that is being flown from the U.S. to drive down the Mall By CHRIS GREENWOOD and REBECCA ENGLISH 23rd May 2011 An extraordinary entourage will accompany President Obama and his wife Michelle when they sweep into London tomorrow. The team of at least 500 will include White House aides, a six-doctor medical team and a squad of personal chefs. There will be more than 200 secret service agents, many of them armed. The President will travel in ‘The Beast’, his gigantic bomb-proof General Motors Cadillac with eight-inch thick armour-plating...

~ EXCERPT ~ The U.S. government plans to sell a significant share of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. this summer despite the disappointing performance of the auto maker's stock, people familiar with the matter said. A sale within the next several months would almost certainly mean U.S. taxpayers will take a loss on their $50 billion rescue of the Detroit auto maker in 2009. To break even, the U.S. Treasury would need to sell its remaining stake—about 500 million shares—at $53 apiece. GM closed off 27 cents a share at $29.97 in 4 p.m. trading Monday on the...

Bureaucrats can’t run a car company, let alone the whole country Ford Motor Co. beat General Motors in March sales, another small but significant victory of private enterprise over government micromanagement. Since the 2009 government takeover of GM, competition between the two leading domestic auto manufacturers has taken on strong ideological overtones. It serves as an ideal test case, a microcosm of the competition between two worldviews, the automotive equivalent of North vs. South Korea. Right now, the good guys are winning. Ford has been giving GM a run for its money since the competition began. In October, Ford recorded...