Columbos 403 Peugeot
Posted on 03/14/2012 11:47:06 PM PDT by Lazlo in PA
General Motors CEO Dan Akerson sat down for an interview with Fortune Magazine’s Adam Lashinsky and admitted that the Detroit automaker might close some of its European plants.
“In the U.S., GM was able, through an extraordinary set of circumstances, to take some drastic action: you closed whole factories, you closed whole historic brands in the United States. Can you take, and will you take, drastic action like that in Europe?” Lashinsky asked.
Well, just so you understand, prior to their kind of crisis of confidence, if you will, Europeans must, uh, we in America hear about it every day, they must hear about it every morning and every evening of every day.
And is Greece going to go under? Is Italy going to go under? What’s going to happen to the euro? The banks are on stilts…it has echoes of what was going on here 2008 and 2009. Coming out of bankruptcy, [GM] did close a plant. There are only two plants closed in Europe. Fiat closed one and we closed one in Antwerp, Belgium. We laid off about 4,000 people and were were profitable for the first half of 2011 in Europe.
Now we, Ford , Fiat, Pugeot, Renault — they’ve all come out and said, ‘Yeah, we have profitability problems in Europe.’
And you’re right. We had to close 14 plants in the United States when we had our crisis.
We think we’re going to have to adjust our production levels in Europe over the next couple of years in order to get our house in order in Europe.
-SNIP-
Given the fact that even the CEO admits there are “profitability” concerns in Europe, why did the Detroit automaker, which still owes U.S. taxpayers approximately $25 billion, invest $400 million in France’s fledgling Peugeot?
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
Columbos 403 Peugeot
I will not comment on the pros or cons of Peugeot, as I have never known, much less owned one, but while in Slovakia, I had a French family that were good friends.
The head of the family was in Slovakia for setting up their new very high tech factory for producing some models of Peugeot.
I was amazed at the technology that goes into such functions as installing the glass on a car, and how fast a car went through the automated line.
Another close French friend had been sent to Slovakia to be their dealership sales manager, some years prior to opening a factory there.
I have also been guilty of bashing the French, but it should be based on individual actions or situations.
By the way, Slovakia is becoming a real name in auto production, with Volkswagen, Kia, and Peugeot.
Good old French cars, with three lug nuts and wheel covers that you bolt on with a hex-head driver. And then there’s the drivetrain . . . sixty-five whole horsepower on the 403.
The French do have an innovative and cool car company. Citroen.
They make WONDERFUL lawn ornaments as well as homes for some of Mom Nature's less fortunate creatures.
Another community benefit is that the sites of their numerous and usually spectacular breakdowns become landmarks the locals use for giving directions.
disgusting, this is corruption. They’re bailing out their friend using tax dollars
I was not speaking as “The Car Guys”, and not at all qualified to say what is good or bad.
I grew up as a GM kid, remembering the family black Buick, 1950, then the Olds 88, and I was taught to hate Fords.
Does that mean Fords stink?
I am just heralding the significant auto and electronic
factories that are in, or just starting in Slovakia.
I did not say that you have to like the brand.
My best and favorite first car was a red Volvo P1800.
I was the cat’s meow in that car. (late 60s)
Ohhh No...It was a Swedish car...shame on me?
did they ever make one of those 3-wheeled thangs that were once sold in Europe?
Do you mean this critter?
BMW Isetta
lol.
That is the car Steve Urkle used in ‘Family Matters’, right?
I’ll just admit I actually like some French cars, particularly Citroen. I made a point of renting one, whenever my business travels took me to a country where Citroen was available. I also like Renault, although their efforts in the United States fell notably short.
I’ve never really understood Puegot, though.
I didn’t read beyond the excerpt.
When I read in another article days ago of the GM (American taxpayer) $400M discard into the Peugot round receptacle the first thought was about the high fuel prices, and the fact that those people over there are better invested in shoe leather than Peugots.
I then thought about what GM did to my beloved SAABs. They ruined the cars, cheapened them terribly, and then discarded the results of their endeavors. Eliminated their competition.
Probably what they are doing with Peugots as well. I don’t see much damage they can do to the Peugots as they did to the SAABs as the Peugots are already IMO garbage, but the point is the elimination of another automobile sale other than a GM automobile sale.
Now that SAABs aren’t going to be around anymore we are looking to buy Ford. Either Flex, or Edge to have the transport capacity we want.
I will neither, but its market share in Europe is nothing to sneeze at (I'm not defending the GM purchase, either--just that some people on this thread appear to be blowing smoke).
Subsidizing foreign jobs with our tax dollars has been going on for decades. Yes, we’re aware. But hey, that’s capitalism, or at least our version of it.
It’s money laundering, period. That may have been one of the main reasons for obamacizing GM - it needed a, umm, “vehicle” to move money out of country. See also MHP and the vanishing centi-millions of dollars that you don’t hear about anymore.
Correction: MHP s/b MF Global, of Jon Corzine fame.
Europe was....... the Pacific rim is
“an R-21 (Medallion) I admit I have a soft spot in my head for Fine French Automibles”
The AMC Medallion. The Orphan car nobody wanted, that you simply couldn’t kill (or find anyone to work on.)
Had one in the early 90’s in California, that I bought for almost nothing. Found a junk yard that had two, so I always had steady supply of cheap parts for it. A cheaper version of the Audi 5000, which was another car you simply couldn’t kill.
Good mileage, and I put a blue million miles on it driving it back and forth across the country, before trading it for a Grand Cherokee in 96.
Renault made a cute little sports car (I’ve forgotten its name.) In the case of a flat tire, the tool kit contained a steel pipe that was to be inserted in the door frame. Jacking up one corner of the car without this “stiffener” could cause the body to fold at the door frame.
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