GM, WH and Congress expand “War on Toyota” to “War on Ford” and the US Consumer

Despite what headlines proclaimed as a GM success with May figures of a 17% increase year over year, GM’s lackluster gains landed them in 11th position out of 15 auto manufacturers’ gains in the same period. Apparently, this simply will not do for Obama’s Government Motors. So a two pronged assault on competition has been in the works. Today, federal regulators (NHTSA) has announced they are launching an investigation into Ford for sudden acceleration after verifying three complaints. Yup… I said three complaints.

On other fronts, GM China (49% share), along with their majority venture partner SAIC (aka Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation), are hosting a forum at the Shanghai 2010 Auto Expo, called ” Pathway to Sustainable Mobility Forum”. They’ve also constructed a publication called Roadmap to 2030 Blue Paper, which they will not publish for public consumption until the forum’s end in October 2010.

The infamous Pelosi little ditty INRE O’healthcare, “…we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it…” comes to mind here….

But what we *do* know about this GM led “Roadmap” is this…. it is intended to change consumer behavior, forcing them into electric cars, and will use the power of government and private enterprise in order to do so.

The “Drive to 2030”: Sustainable Urban Mobility Forum series is being held in conjunction with World Expo 2010 Shanghai to address the role of business, government, urban design, energy diversity, consumer behavior, innovation, and advanced technology in creating a balanced and better future. GM and its Chinese partner, SAIC, are the joint global automobile partner of Expo 2010.

Under the theme of “Drive to 2030,” they are introducing their vision of a future in which driving will be free from emissions, accidents, petroleum and congestion, as well as more enjoyable and fashionable than ever before.

The “Roadmap to 2030 Blue Paper” will draw together the thoughts of forum participants and highlight what needs to be done to make sustainable mobility a reality. GM is making individual chapters available online after the conclusion of each forum on its Expo 2010 website, www.gmexpo2010.com.

How wonderful… I can’t wait. But let’s go back first to the GM May numbers, and address a few facts that a glowing media opted to leave out of the headlines.

As I mentioned, 15 out 20 auto manufacturers enjoyed year over year gains in the May reports. Below, a snapshot from the AutoNews round up of May numbers.

One manufacturer not included in the 14 above that had gains was KIA, who reported a 20.6% increase, just behind Volkswagen, and slightly more than Maserati.** Get that? Even Maserati beat GM… sigh.

[**Mata Musing: Kcanova below caught my error that KIA is included with Hyundai Group numbers… so readjust that to GM being 10th out of 14 instead of 11th out of 15. Thanks for the helpful editing eye!]

Not only are GM’s numbers “not all that”, but their sales were due to runs at their Camaro muscle car, the LaCrosse sedan, and crossover SUVs like the Equinox. Ford’s numbers came from the predictable F Series trucks, and their performance Mustang.

Then, of course, there’s the highly media ignored Chrysler success, who led the American profit pack with 33% year over year numbers. But then that’s a tough one to promote… especially using taxpayer bailout dollars (albeit considerably less than GM). You see Chrysler’s increases were across the board for their not-so-envirnomental friendly brands like Rams, Caravans, Jeeps and their Challenger muscle car.

Why the run on cars when everyone is strapped for cash? In a word… incentives. Not only low to 0% interest rates, but cash back incentives. And even here, GM offered the highest incentive at $3739 per vehicle. Chrysler ($3115) and Ford ($3042) were considerably lower, but with more favorable results. Typical government… spend more, achieve less in results, eh?

Considering that most GM insiders are aware that the Volt is GM’s last hurrah, that could make or break that company’s future, it might be well to examine the realities of such a car gaining traction (pun intended) in the US market place. (See also the MSNBC story on the same).

Certainly with the May sales above encompassing everything *but* fuel efficient oriented cars, GM is going to have to depend upon China’s market for their success… and perhaps very existence…. with Volt at the onset.

The problem with that is they are still feeling lucky if they can get the price of the Volt off the assembly line at under $40K. Of course, even with a rebate, it’s still above the $30K price…. and one has to wonder about the sanity of assuming Chinese citizens, who average $6000 US dollars annually, can afford such a car made in America.

But wait… there’s *more*. With western Europe fiscally falling like dominoes, and implementing austerity legislation, just who do the think are going to be able to afford these vehicles?

Simple answer… they can’t. While GM is busy producing the landfills’ future hazardous waste, known as lithium batteries, out of their Detroit area factory – and rolling the first Volts off the US assembly lines – they won’t sell in China for that price tag. It’s just as unlikely to sell anywhere else in these economic times at substantial volume. Which is why GM China knows it has to build the electric cars in China, and import to the US and other nations.

The long and short of it is, the US workers get the shaft on the Volt production jobs, the IRS gets the shaft on Volt production corporate and workers’ revenue, and the US market can be flooded with cheap Chinese electric cars to advance a green agenda.

But is providing cheap Chinese product enough to change “consumer behavior”? Not if historic auto sales records hold true… we are still a nation that likes roomy (and safer) cars and trucks, all with a bit of muscle for the thrill.

Enter the “Roadmap to 2030 Blue Paper”…. which we’ll have to wait until October to see. pffffft…

Here’s the presentation in a nutshell. The forward looking environmental gurus foresee the world’s population, racing to urban centers creating more smog and congestion. Always beats the tar out of me when people don’t figure that the more congested the cities, the higher the exodus is to rural outlands… to mileage that is anything BUT friendly to electric car ownership. But I digress. This sort of logic of potential behavior doesn’t fit into their presentation very well. So in order to “save” the planet from these future critical mass urban centers, the electric car is a must.

But of course, consumers are too stupid to look ahead on their own. So the “Roadmap” forum is to work on ways to market the electric car to an unwilling consumer market… including using the force of government, as well as business. Well, we can see how government is already starting to play their dual role in the US as GM…. aka Government Motors… has already assaulted Toyota, driving their hefty market share down to 7% year over year profits in May. Next up? As I pointed out above… Ford. The investigations and media assault begins on the only US manufacturer to turn down taxpayer money, and continue to make it on their own by providing products the US consumer wants to buy.

But the US government doesn’t want Ford’s products sold… so now comes the more overt “war on consumers” as Congress mulls over how to force the US consumers into golf carts. Oh yes… that effort is considered bipartisan – at least in the Senate. HR 5442 is the creation of four House Democrats. The sister Senate bill, S 3442, is two Democrats, and one GOP member… Lamar Alexander.

[Mata Musing: Please note that as of this posting date, both bills are too fresh off the banana boat for text and summaries to appear… keep an eye on ’em.]

In H.R. 5442, proposed by Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), the Energy Department has to select five regional plans, with each one eligible to get up to $800 million.

S. 3442, from Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), would select five to 15 communities, and winners could receive up to $250 million.

The bills also offer a raft of other ideas, including tax incentives for cars and car chargers, bond authority to raise money for charging infrastructure, and requiring utilities to come up with their own estimates of how many plug-in vehicles could hit roads.

The bills are similar in another way, too: Their approach strikes some important players in the electric-car world as incomplete.

Congress is talking about anywhere from $5.25 to $7.75 billion of taxpayer dollars in subsidies for building cars that clearly the US consumer has demonstrated little interest. Has all common sense grasp of market driven mentality slipped their minds? Considering the costs of factories, just what private enterprise is going to want to enter such a limited market in these economic times?

And I haven’t even touched on the other assault front – Obama’s new CAFE standards for light trucks and SUVs, implemented thru NHTSA and EPA regs.

But of course, the winds are in Obama’s propaganda sails. Every day BP struggles to get that cap on the Horizon well, and every heartbreaking photo of a pelican (my favorite bird, BTW), turns into another talking point for the fiscally insane “green agenda” by this POTUS and his lib/prog Congress. It matters not that shutting down drilling in Louisiana results in the loss of serious state revenue, or that Spain is the perfect example of how many private sector jobs are lost with an expensive alternative energy experiment, funded by the public, helping to drive them into high unemployment and austerity measures.

Reality – like drilling in safe depths, clean coal, or shale – doesn’t stop those who worship the climate change (soon to be divorced) god known as Al Gore. The continued war on GM major competition (first Toyota, now Ford) expands via media assault and investigations. And now, GM is at the helm, advocating using government and business to force “consumer behavior” into electric vehicles… which coincidently can only be built, affordably, in China.

The agenda is clear. The question is, will the average consumer wake up and figure it out?