Russian President attends opening of General Motors plant in St Petersburg

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=13251393&PageNum=0 ^

[leut_danz]

07.11.2008, 22.50

ST. PETERSBURG, November 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev attended the opening of a General Motors plant in the village of Shushary near St. Petersburg on Friday.

[leut_danz]

No money for the auto industry. They sold us out, no freaking freebies.

Glad my dad is dead now. My allegiance is to the Constitution of the United States, the most important document in the history of the world.

Anyone who pledges by the Constitution and the United States of America is my family. I will defend my family and my land unto the last.

[mick]

Let the Russkies lend them the money.

[truthguy]

Go Chevy Cruze!

[AMNZ]

So 700 million American dollars were spent to build a new improved plant in Russia to employ 1700 Russians. And GM announces a 2.5 Billion loss for the year. And this of course seems like sound reasoning for a 5 or 10 billion dollars investment by the American people.

Then our friends the Russians can nationalize it like Chaves did with our oil operations in Venezuala.

[truthguy]

So 700 million American dollars were spent to build a new improved plant in Russia to employ 1700 Russians. And GM announces a 2.5 Billion loss for the year. And this of course seems like sound reasoning for a 5 or 10 billion dollars investment by the American people. Then our friends the Russians can nationalize it like Chaves did with our oil operations in Venezuala.

You need to get informed. The St. Pete plant will build the Chevy Cruze. This is a world car that have been in works for a while. It will replace the Cobalt and should by all accounts be a winner. GM will market the car in Europe and the Cars from ST. Pete will go to Russia, the former Eastern Block countries and Scandinavian countries. This car will be available in Europe in Spring of 2009 as a Gas and a Diesel Model. The gas version which will be available in US later in the year will get 45-48 mpg on the hwy. The Diesel Version will get over 50 mpg hwy. GM is doing very well in Europe and Asia and even South America but lousy in US. To be competitive in auto industry you must operate all over the world. The money invested in St. Pete may not be American Dollars as you have stated. If GM didn't have the profits from overseas they would be bankrupt. The Money requested by GM is a Loan Guarantee and not a handout. If the Chevy Cruze, the Chevy Volt and a bunch of other exciting new cars are winners as they should be then GM can recover. The US taxpayer won't have to put any money into the process. You really need to learn a bit about the Auto Industry before posting silly comments.

[AMNZ]

First a Thank You for a very informative response. It is strange that the information you shared is not more widely disseminated. I see the auto companies bragging about their new 24 mpg cars maybe 30. Please share with us what sources you peruse to stay ahead of the curve in this field of interest so others can follow.

I am just very cautious about giving our money to anyone after some of the missuses that have been made of the funds we have already handed out.

[truthguy]

First a Thank You for a very informative response. It is strange that the information you shared is not more widely disseminated. I see the auto companies bragging about their new 24 mpg cars maybe 30. Please share with us what sources you peruse to stay ahead of the curve in this field of interest so others can follow. I am just very cautious about giving our money to anyone after some of the missuses that have been made of the funds we have already handed out.

Sorry about the silly comment remark. If you are on FR or blogging anywhere you will occasionally make a silly comment. I've made dozens over the years.

It might not surprise you that the main problem is the MSM. They do a terrible job of informing you what is really going on. The reason I know a little more that the average person is because I have friends in automotive industry so I get to hear some of the inside information. It's very different from what most people think.

For example do you know that GM (and Ford and Chrysler) must charge a legacy cost of about $2300 for each vehicle they sell? This is a crushing burden that they cannot make up on a small car. This is why GM focused on larger vehicles such as SUV's and Trucks. They actually make money on these vehicles. If GM sold only small fuel efficient cars and they sold as many as the market wanted they would be out of business. That's right no matter how successful the car, they lose money on each one because they can't make up the $2300 charge. Toyota and the other foreign manufacturers don't have this burden. They are structured differently from a business standpoint. It's a little more complicated than that but you get the idea.
GM (Ford& Chrysler) entered into disastrous contracts with UAW many years ago and they cannot legally get out from under these obligations. This is a huge part of the problem.

Look I could write a book on the problems of the US Auto Industry (and manufacturing in general) but I can't. Many other more knowledgeable people than me have written a lot about the subject.

GM does some exciting cars coming out in the next 2-3 years. They have changed their structure so they very likely can now make money on a smaller car. I hope so. We need the auto industry. Here's a good website where you can follow the progress of the Chevy Volt, the most revolutionary vehicle in many years.

http://gm-volt.com/

The last thing I need to say is to NEVER trust the MSM on anything other than the ball scores. They are almost completely idealogical now and almost always wrong or at least inaccurate on every subject. Learn to find information on your own. Yes it's a burden but a burden we must bear to get through these hard times.

[uglybiker]

Go Chevy Cruze-chef!

Big family car with reinforced dashboard for the banging of shoes! da!

[AMNZ]

Sounds to me like the auto industry has the same problem conservatives have. Not doing a good enough job getting their message out. That lost the election, I know people who’s jobs have gone to China because of our restrictive laws and taxing practices. We need people like your friends to publish to a fact starved public.