DETROIT – At the National Summit in Detroit yesterday, Bill Ford, Jr. called for more transparency in how the U.S. government is involved in running General Motors and Chrysler. The Detroit News quoted Bill Ford as saying, “There are issues that we just don�??t have answers to yet in terms of government ownership in our industry and what that’s going to mean.” To which I say Amen, brother Bill, we need a lot more sunshine on this whole process.
We reported yesterday that Bo Andersson, GM’s executive vice president of Worldwide Purchasing, left the company immediately last Friday to pursue other interests. Well, we now know what those other interests are. Andersson was named Chairman of GAZ yesterday, the Russian automaker that is bidding with Sberbank to buy Opel. General Motors already has a $1 billion joint venture with GAZ, and it sold its stake in VM Motori, the Italian diesel engine company to GAZ. Even so, the word in the industry is that GM is not happy that Andersson is going to GAZ. The company named Bob Socia, who ran Shanghai General Motors, to run its Purchasing operations.
GM and Chrysler’s decision to shut down a large number of its dealers has opened the door for foreign nameplates to get access to the US Market. According to the Detroit Free Press, Indian automaker Mahindra will begin selling its trucks at two former Chrysler dealers in the Detroit area. Mahindra is targeting 45,000 sales of diesel pick-ups. Pricing starts at an eye-popping $13,000.
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