“Gotta ask for the bail – I mean sale, ha-ha,” Red-Ink Rick Wagoner told his man in Germany. That would be Hans H. Demant, VP Developent of GM Europe and Managing Director of Opel Germany. Wagoner instructed Demant to ask the German government for €40b, or make that a cool $50b. “What should happen, Hans? The worst thing Angela can say is no.” Demant didn’t want to go eye-to-eye with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Instead, he wrote a letter, to be co-signed by Klaus Franz, the head of Opel’s Workers Council. Usually, Demant avoids signing any paper that has Franz’s signature on it, but the situation was dire, and the message to be sent was “jobs, jobs, jobs.” In the letter, GM Germany’s unlikely duo applied for loan via the European Investment Bank, as soft as marshmallows. While they were at it, they also suggested cheap credit to buy new Opels cars, and cash into the hand of each upstanding German citizen who feeds his Opel car older than 10 years into the shredder, along with a tax credit to reward the purchase of a new car. “That should do it” said Demant. Both signed, and the urgent enquiry for Euros was expressed to Berlin.
“They’ve got to be kidding us” said Frau Merkel (not in public) and instructed her spokesman to deny the request, politely pointing out that there is already a prop-up package for the whole industry afoot. Forget any special goodies for GM. She left the public flogging to Peter Ramsauer, himself head of the CSU faction in Germany’s parliament. “The Opel-guys must have lost their mind,” ranted a rambunctious Ramsauer. ”They can stick that whole program up their — hat.” We aren’t making it up, it says so right there in the Handelsblatt. (Knowledge of German required. Or take our word for it.)
The “gotta ask for the bail” letter may have blown the chances for a German tax relief for new car buyers. The same day Opel’s shit hit their unusually unsympathetic fans in Berlin, noises emanated from Germany’s capital that the green washed no-tax-on-new-cars-program may already be dead in the water. It may not even leave the cabinet alive. If it does, the package will be thrown to the wolves in the parliament, who most likely will rip it to pieces. Hans and Rick are not very popular these days amongst Germany’s auto makers. Fried minds want to know: Where else in the world is GM going begging?
UPDATE: Tuesday-Night-In-Germany-Flash: Berlin got over it. They met and agreed to the tax reduction after all. If you are in Germany and buy an environmentally sound car in the next six month, no car taxes will be due for the next two years. A cash handout for those who dispose of their old clunker may also be considered. Not even a mention of Opel.
A little correction:
It wasn’t Röttgen who politely pointed out the flaws of a bailout, but his Bavarian counterpart Peter Ramsauer from the CSU.
Not that it matters to anyone in here…
Fried minds want to know: Where else in the world is GM going begging?
Hasn’t the English auto worker Union already stated that they want to see money go the General’s way in order to save British jobs? So there could be the next door for GM to knock on…next on the list would be Australia, but that won’t go anywhere either…
The only chance is probably to bribe convince the Council of the European Union to help them, but with so many member countries having different objectives, I don’t see that going anywhere either.
I wonder what Holden will end up doing if/when GM folds? With the Aussie tax payers end up footing the bill down under?
Tom: Right you are. Being corrected.
And also correct that it will be a nippy day in hell before the EU will bail out GM. Most countries in the EU don’t even have an auto industry.
where does one find all these perfect pictures for the articles?
at least the bad news comes with some comedic relief…
Bertel,
the poor guys name is still Hans DEMANT not Hans DERMANT.
Not that anyone cares. The pure fact that I even write this comment shows just how sorry I feel for him (and the whole GM crew).
Tom,
In Australia it has already happened.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,24628942-5018011,00.html
“Car companies welcome Rudd’s $6.2bn bailout”
“Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the package – which includes $4.7 billion to help auto makers produce greener vehicles – would safeguard the industry’s future and reduce carbon emissions.
Mr Rudd defended his moves to use taxpayers money to assist Toyota, Ford and Holden, saying the industry employed more 60,000 people was too important to let wither under the weight of the financial crisis.”
Sounds familiar, like tv shows which copy other tv shows scripts.
I was under impression that Opel does sell cars in Europe. At least I saw a good amount of them on roads. Of course they could be selling them at loss, but what’s new with GM? If they can’t sell cars anywhere, why this company should survive to waste tax donation? I see much cheaper way to socialism: close those stupid factories and pay union members their wages till they die. This will be much, much cheaper then solving GM problems worldwide.
How quaint, GM’s executives are now essentially millionaire panhandlers. Actually, panhandler may not be the right word. What would you call someone who conspires with the government to take your money?
What’s interesting is that both GM and Ford is still percieved as transplants in Europe, even after 70 years or so. To the eurpeans, domestic car companies are companies like BMW and Mercedes, Citroen, Renault, Fiat and such. The idea that the europeans should bail out american owned car companies is simply preposterous. And GM is clueless, as always…
@Ingvar:
Don’t know if I agree there…I’d say that while most people know by now that Opel is owned by GM, they still see it as a German company…and Ford is at least locally considered to be domestic…in England or parts of Germany.
Next bailout: The Malls. What will we do with out Malls?
No. 2 mall operator warns of bankruptcy
http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/11/news/companies/general_growth/index.htm?postversion=2008111115
Shh, don’t tell those European politicians where GM profits go … they may get the wrong idea about transplant automotive factories. Quiet now class!
@germanguy: Richtig! My bad. Demant mustabeen too close to dementia for my keyboard. Anyway, shall be fixed as soon as our Dear Leader awakes. There is still a Ramsauer/Röttgen boo-boo, shall be cleaned-up also. Hectic news night yesterday.
@tom: Spot-on as always. I would venture the guess that many Germans don’t even realize that Opel is being owned by GM. Opel is viewed as a purely German brand – as they were. The Police in Opel’s state Hessen proudly (or maybe not) drives Opel. GM’s attempts to introduce other more ‘merican brands to Germany were a dud.
Ford is likewise regarded as a local. Hey, there’s ample history. Other than with Opel, people know that Ford is American, but it didn’t hurt them.
Ford and Opel were always members in the German auto club. It was the Japanese and later the Koreans they tried to keep out – to no avail. German automakers are a incestuous breed. Folks wander from Volkswagen to BMW, to Mercedes, and back. If you go work for Toyota, don’t even think of applying for a job with “the family” again. (Well, maybe in QA.)
When I started working for (not at) VW in 1973, they just had assimilated a whole gang from Ford Germany who had left in protest when their powers were curtailed. They were long called the “Ford Mafia” in Wolfsburg. Piech’s activities in hiring talent and know-how from GM/Opel are legend and notorious. Garcia Sanz, who started his career at Opel and was an understudy of Lopez, sits on the BOD of Volkswagen AG.