Oracle of Delphi

If y'all remember, GM wanted Chrysler before Cerberus won out the last time.

Cause they are Mavericks, just like the Ford Maverick, and you know what happened to it. Giddy yap little Doggie!

Affair

Aren't you the smart boy! I've said for over a year, GM needs to have Jeep.

Come to Delaware, home of tax free shopping.

QFT Talk about patting yourself on the back.

Amy Wilson Automotive News October 11, 2008 - 12:01 am ET DETROIT -- In a bid to conserve cash, General Motors is giving itself more time to pay its North American non-production suppliers. Effective Oct. 1, GM says it is paying its "indirect" suppliers 60 days after receiving goods or a valid invoice, GM spokeswoman Deborah Silverman said yesterday. The company previously paid those vendors on a "second day, second month" basis or within about 35 days, she said. Despite the longer terms, payments will be made more frequently -- on a weekly basis, rather than once a month. GM has about 10,000 indirect suppliers in North America. They provide services and non-production materials such as paper products. About $22 billion of GM's $94 billion annual global purchasing budget is spent on indirect suppliers. Suppliers were sent a Sept. 26 letter telling them of the changes. A report about the policy change and a copy of that letter was posted Thursday on the Web site, www.thetruthaboutcars.com. Silverman said there is no plan to lengthen the payment terms for GM's direct suppliers, the companies that make parts for vehicle assembly. "The dollar value (spent with direct suppliers) is a lot larger, so it makes it more complicated to do it," she said. GM has about 3,600 direct suppliers in North America. Many of those parts makers are struggling financially, too. Slower payments would hurt their own turnarounds, and those companies might be more likely to fight such a policy change. The new payment terms will help GM stretch out its cash, a key priority for the financially strapped automaker as vehicle sales collapse. "Obviously, I think it's being done to conserve cash," said Erich Merkle, an analyst with Crowe Horwath in Grand Rapids, Mich. GM lost $15.5 billion in the second quarter. It is burning through about $1 billion in cash every month. At the end of June, GM had $21.0 billion on hand. Running out of money in the next year is a real risk for GM, many analysts are saying. On Thursday, Standard & Poor's put GM's credit rating on review for a downgrade, saying it could cut it further into junk territory. On Friday, Barclays Capital analyst Brian Johnson said GM needs to raise $10.3 billion of cash through 2009 to maintain adequate liquidity. The slowdown in auto sales overseas further threatens GM's turnaround, Merkle said. "The markets they had depended on for profits to offset the weakness in the United States, they're just not going to be able to depend on," he said. Link: http://www.autonews.com/article/20081011/A...paign_id=alerts

Fred

I like the fact that I will now be able to to buy a Jeep with my employee discount, but it's a hell of a way to get a new minivan.

What would you say if there were discussions to spin off GME, GMDAT and GM Holden? Or to close GMNA down altogether?

Give it a chance enzl. There are worse alternatives.

Happy Birthday

Fantasy Island

DETROIT — General Motors is in preliminary talks about a possible merger with Chrysler, a deal that could drastically remake the landscape of the auto industry by reducing the Big Three of Detroit automakers to the Big Two. The talks between G.M. and Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm that owns Chrysler, began more than a month ago, and the negotiations are not certain to produce a deal. Two people close to the process said the chances of a merger were “50-50” as of Friday and would most likely still take weeks to work out. A merger would be a historic event, with two of the most iconic names in American industry coming together to survive in an increasingly difficult environment. Both have roots dating back decades in Detroit and, with Ford, long dominated the auto industry — until Japanese and other foreign car makers began making inroads into the American market. The auto industry is being pummeled from all sides — by high gas prices that have soured consumers on profitable S.U.V.’s, by a softening economy that has scared shoppers away from showrooms, and by tight credit that is making it difficult for willing buyers to obtain loans. Both G.M. and Chrysler have been struggling with product lineups that are out of sync with consumer demand for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. General Motors’ stock has fallen from more from more than $42 a share last year to less than $5, and it is burning through its cash hoard at a rapid rate. Chrysler, as a private company, no longer needs to report its finances. The meetings between General Motors and Cerberus began more than a month ago, said people familiar with the discussions, and the companies have held several talks involving their most senior executives. Given that both G.M. and Chrysler are struggling, the two sides may determine a merger may not be in their best interests. The exploratory talks have included debates over various calculations of the savings that would result from a merger, these people said, but neither side has yet to dig into each others’ private financial books and records. At the same time, Cerberus is continuing to hold talks with other automakers including Nissan and Renault, said people familiar with the discussions. It is unclear at what stage those discussions have reached. Speculation about a possible bankruptcy filing by G.M. has mounted in recent weeks because of the automaker’s dwindling cash reserves. The automaker had $21 billion in cash on hand at the end of the second quarter, but it was burning through more than $1 billion a month. The credit rating firm Standard & Poor’s put G.M. on negative credit watch on Thursday. But G.M. has said it is confident that it can increase its liquidity, and emphasized in a statement released Thursday that it was not considering a bankruptcy filing. G.M. once commanded about 50 percent of market, but its share so far this year has fallen to 22 percent, according to the research firm Autodata. Chrysler had a market share of about 15 percent before acquisition in 1998 by Daimler, but its share this year has dwindled to 11 percent. How government and labor react to a potential merger of G.M. and Chrysler is unclear. There could be antitrust questions raised, but political issues could be overshadowed by the precarious financial prospects of both automakers. If G.M., the nation’s largest automaker, combined operations with Chrysler, the smallest of Detroit’s Big Three, they would create an auto giant that would surpass Japan’s Toyota Motor Company, which recently has been battling G.M. for bragging rights as the world’s largest automaker. A G.M. spokesman declined to comment on any specific talks with Chrysler. “Without referencing this specific rumor, as we’ve often said G.M. officials routinely discuss issues of mutual interest with other automakers,” said the spokesman, Tony Cervone. There was no immediate comment from Cerberus. People briefed on the deal said the talks started as an exploration of possible joint venture opportunities between G.M. and Chrysler. Cerberus acquired an 80.1 percent stake in Chrysler in August 2007 for $7.4 billion from the German automaker Daimler AG. Under the terms of the deal being discussed, Cerberus would end up owning an unspecified equity stake in G.M.-Chrysler, according to people briefed on the talks. The ramifications of the merger would be enormous in the global auto industry. G.M. and Chrysler together would control more than 35 percent of the United States vehicle market, and be by far the dominant producer of pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and minivans. It would also marry such iconic American brands as G.M.’s Chevrolet and Cadillac with Chrysler’s Jeep and Dodge divisions. However, the potential merger carries enormous risks. Both G.M. and Chrysler are struggling mightily in what is the worst market for vehicle sales in the United States in 15 years. People close to the discussions said that if the prospective deal did not happen, Cerberus would probably look to Nissan and Renault. But the marriage of G.M. and Chrysler has far more potential than hitching Chrysler to a foreign automaker. While G.M. and Chrysler may be hamstrung by labor contracts from cutting jobs, the two companies could combine dealers, product lines and advanced vehicle technology. link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/business/11auto.html?hp

NEW YORK - A person with knowledge of General Motors’ plans said Friday that the company is likely to announce more production cuts and possible plant closures as early as next week. The person did not want to be identified because plans are not finalized. GM has said previously it would make cuts in engine, transmission and metal stamping operations to correspond with four pickup truck and sport utility vehicle plant closures announced in June. Shares of GM hit their lowest price since 1949 in the opening minutes of trading on wall Street Friday as financial turmoil and a weakening global auto market heightened worries that the automaker may be unable to pull out of its nosedive before it runs out of cash. The company’s shares lost nearly one-third of their value Thursday, plunging to their lowest level in more than 58 years, after Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said the automaker’s credit could fall further into junk status, making it even tougher to borrow money. The drop marked the first time GM shares hit the $4 mark since Nov. 16, 1949, according to the Center for Research in Security Prices at the University of Chicago. GM issued a statement Friday saying that while it faces “unprecedented challenges” related to the ongoing problems in the financial markets and weakening economies across the globe, it still doesn’t consider bankruptcy protection as an option. “Bankruptcy would not be in the interests of our employees, stockholders, suppliers or customers, and we believe speculation about a possible filing is exaggerated and unconstructive,” GM said. David Healy, analyst for Burnham Securities, called S&P’s GM warning “shooting at the life boats.” But given the perilous credit situation, he added the best step for the automaker is to conserve liquidity and focus on its most important model changes. It’s time to “keep their powder dry,” he said. “They’re limited on what they can borrow anyway,” Healy said. “They have some liquidity. They have some contractual borrowing power from the banks, which doesn’t depend on ratings. They also have some assets they can sell.” GM announced a plan in July that calls for cutting $10 billion in costs and raising another $5 billion through asset sales and borrowing through 2009. The Detroit automaker had $21 billion in cash and $5 billion available through credit lines at the end of June for total liquidity of $26 billion, but it has been burning through cash at a pace of more than $1 billion a month and needs about $11 billion to $14 billion on hand to keep operating. GM shares plummeted $2.15, or 31.1 percent, to close Thursday at $4.76 after falling as low as $4.65 — the automaker’s lowest trade since March 15, 1950, when the Korean War was three months away from beginning and gasoline cost 27 cents a gallon. Ford Motor Co.’s stock fell 58 cents, or 21.8 percent, Thursday to close at $2.08. It had fallen as low as $2.03 earlier in the session, it’s lowest price since June 1, 1983. Friday morning, Ford shares rose 27 cents, or 13 percent, to $2.35, after initially dropping to $2.05. Analysts have voiced concerns that the ongoing slump in U.S. vehicle sales could last longer than they previously expected and could spread to other parts of the world, particularly Europe. U.S. auto sales are down 13 percent through September compared with the same period of 2007, and J.D. Power and Associates on Thursday reduced its sales projections. It now expects U.S. new vehicle sales to total 13.6 million this year and 13.2 million in 2009, down from 16.1 million units in 2007. Overseas sales in growing markets like Russia and South America been a bright spot for GM as U.S. sales slumped. GM said Thursday, however, that sales of its Opel and Vauxhall brands dropped more than 6 percent in Europe during the first nine months of the year — a sign that the downturn is hitting economies globally and taking worldwide auto sales down with it. The rapid growth of auto sales in China, the world’s second-largest auto market after the United States, also has slowed sharply. In addition, the three-week ban on short selling some stocks — including GM and Ford — expired late Wednesday. Short selling involves borrowing a company’s shares, selling them, and then buying them back when the stock falls and returning them to the lender. The practice allows investors to profit from the decline in a stock’s value. Healy said it’s possible that the expiration of the short-sell ban hurt the automakers’ stocks, though there is no way to know for sure. “Both stocks have been favorites of the short-sellers” he said. “These are volatile stocks. They go down 10 percent when the market goes down 5 percent, and vice versa.” Shares of GM have withered since peaking near $94 in 1999 and 2000, and they’re down 88 percent from their 52-week high of $43.20 set a year ago Sunday. The precipitous drop in GM’s market capitalization — $2.7 billion at Thursday’s close — makes a takeover conceivable, said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor. “Absolutely,” he said when asked about the possibility. “Except for one thing: lots of debt. And most people are very reluctant. It’s not just the current equity, it’s the debt that you have to absorb at the same time.” At the end of June, GM reported more than $32 billion in long-term debt, and since then it has exercised $3.5 billion of a $4.5 billion line of credit. Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27101859/

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Trying to head off a potentially embarrassing state ethics report on GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, campaign officials released their own report Thursday that clears her of any wrongdoing. Sen. John McCain's running mate is the subject of a legislative investigation into whether she abused her power as governor by firing her public safety commissioner. The commissioner, Walter Monegan, says he was dismissed in July for resisting pressure from Palin's husband, Todd Palin, and numerous top aides to fire state trooper Mike Wooten, Palin's former brother-in-law. The move came hours after the state Supreme Court refused to halt the ethics investigation. Lawmakers were expected to release their own findings Friday. Campaign officials have yet to see that report — the result of an investigation that began before she was tapped as McCain's running mate — but said the investigation has falsely portrayed a legitimate policy dispute between a governor and her commissioner as something inappropriate. "The following document will prove Walt Monegan's dismissal was a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashes with Governor Palin and her administration," campaign officials wrote. "Trooper Wooten is a separate issue." Monegan said Thursday that he doesn't know what to expect from the legislative panel's own report. "I just hope that the truth is figured out," Monegan told The Associated Press on Thursday. "That the governor did want me to fire him, and I chose to not. You just can't walk up to someone and say, 'I fire you.' He didn't do anything under my watch to result in termination." Palin's critics say that shows she used her office to settle family affairs. "When you're the governor, you leave your household hat at home and you become governor," said state Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican who has frequently clashed with Palin. Campaign blames former opponent The campaign's report instead blames former campaign opponent, Andrew Halcro, who has a blog, of conspiring with Wooten to pin Monegan's dismissal on the family's dispute with Wooten. Three days after Monegan was fired, they say, Wooten told his ex-wife, Palin's sister, that: "You guys are going down. Get ready for the show." Two days after that confrontation, they say, Halcro and Wooten met at a hotel bar in Anchorage for more than three hours — and that evening, Halcro posted the first accusations on his blog that Monegan had been fired because of a vendetta against Wooten by the Palin family. "It is tragic that a false story hatched by a blogger after drinks with Trooper Wooten led the legislature to allocate over $100,000 of public money to be spent in what has become a politically driven investigation," the 21-page report concludes. Although the report describes Wooten as a separate issue, the McCain campaign goes into great detail about the "rogue" trooper and his "long history of unstable and erratic behavior." The campaign describes allegations of violence, including threatening Palin's family and shooting his stepson with a stun gun. The report also includes allegations that Wooten cheated the workers' compensation system. Todd Palin has said he had numerous conversations with government officials about why Wooten was allowed to stay on the job. "The Palins make no apologies for wanting to protect their family and wanting to bring attention to the injustice of a violent trooper keeping his badge and abusing the workers' compensation system." But Todd Palin said he never pressured anyone, including his wife. The McCain campaign says the investigation has become "muddied with innuendo, rumor and partisan politics." Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27105917/

I don't have that power on this board. I am just a regular member, and proud to be so.

If it comes to OZ as a Chevy, there's a message in that, just remember Chevy is the world brand.

Yes just a coincidence, think Delta II.

Christmas

Maybe not, it didn't happen with Bush.

You should post pics of the Jimmy too, I would like to see it. Was it built in Linden, NJ? Oh by the way, they still make the old Blazer in South America.

By JOHN MELLOR 8 October 2008 LEAKS from union sources that Holden is planning to build a small car at the Elizabeth plant in Adelaide have sparked speculation as wide apart as a return of the Torana to the installation of the successor of the Astra/Viva to take on an Australian-made Ford Focus. The latter, which would be based on the Chevrolet Cruze unveiled at the Paris motor show last week, has more legs because it has been revealed that the Holden design centre in Australia, along with design centres in the US, Europe and Korea, were co-operatively engineering the car. News of the car came as GM Holden was negotiating an enterprise bargaining agreement with the AMWU. It appears that Holden outlined to the union the potential business case for building a smaller car than the Commodore in Adelaide. Unable to contain their excitement, union leaders leaked the news to Adelaide media. But GoAuto understands that building a smaller second car in Adelaide is a mere glimmer in the eye of some planners at this point and has many hurdles to clear before it is seriously presented to GM regional headquarters in Shanghai. Nevertheless, Holden is uniquely placed to build a second car line because it still has the Vectra assembly line in place from the ill-fated venture to sell locally-made Vectras in the late 1990s. So Holden can physically make a second car. With Commodore sales in Australia under pressure, it would make sense for Holden to spread the risk of its manufacturing operations into another market segment and offer Australians an alterative-sized car from its plant. Such a move would help guarantee the future of Holden manufacturing in Australia if Commodore volume is further affected both locally and in export markets. But what car? The poster boy for the Holden tribe would be a compact VE Commodore – the Torana. Such a car is known to be favored by GM product Tsar Bob Lutz as it would certainly appeal in the US market, where downsizing will remain a focus. And with the Australian dollar returning more exporter-friendly levels, it could make a lot of sense in the US and in the Middle East. The global V6 engine can be run at 2.8 litres, GM knows how to do cylinder deactivation and Alfa Romeo sells a turbocharged version of the engine that is made in Australia. But there is a catch. For a start, if they tried to build a smaller car off the Zeta architecture, it may not be small enough. In addition, the cost of making a compact Commodore would not be much less that making a full-sized Commodore. Yet, if the car was going to compete in a lower segment, it would have to sell for roughly $10,000 less than a Commodore. That simply leaves too little money on the table to make it financially viable. Holden would most likely steer clear of a Vectra-sized car given that the medium car market is such hard work. The fact that Holden only ever sold a maximum of 9500 Vectras a year (both locally-made and imported) during the heyday of its local production of the car indicates a certain reluctance would set in around the boardroom table if that one was ever floated again. More likely, Holden would favour the Delta platform on which the recently shown Chevrolet Cruze, the next Astra and the next Holden Viva are based. Astra had a very good track record in Australia, with between 26,000 and 33,000 sales a year between 2001 and 2005. With the local market swinging to smaller cars and Ford moving to make the Focus here, Holden would have a foot in that market and also have Ford’s measure. There is also increased export potential for Holden in the region. New Zealand is obviously in the mix, but India (which has a tariff rate of around 110 per cent) and Japan (which effectively bars imported cars) are out. But, unlike the Commodore, which is prevented by regulations from penetrating the Thai market, in spite of the free trade agreement with Australia, this smaller car could be exported to Thailand in significant numbers. And, if GM can generate export credits from South Africa, it would, like Ford, be able to send Australian-made cars into South Africa duty-free. By 2011, when all this would come about, South African import duty would be around 25 per cent. This would give an Australian-made Astra/Viva some headway in that market. Link: http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf...A2574DC000FA10A

GM’s range-extending Volt electricar and EcoLine hit Holden’s greenest-ever stand By BYRON MATHIOUDAKIS 9 October 2008 HOLDEN shocked the industry at the Australian International Motor Show this morning with the unexpected unveiling of the Chevrolet Volt electric car. The environmental theme did not stop there, with Holden’s announcement of its EcoLine range of alternative-fuel and new fuel-saving technology-equipped vehicles. Underlining this was the debut of Holden’s Active Fuel Management (AFM) cylinder deactivation technology in V8 automatic models, rounding out an especially green-tinged display over at the red corner in Sydney today. However, there is no sign of the AFM-equipped versions of the locally-made V6, despite the engine being available on overseas models. Leading the charge, so to speak, is the Volt, a vehicle whose concept – GM hopes – will catapult the corporation strongly into its second century. The Volt’s Sydney show debut is less than a month after GM unveiled the car at its 100-year anniversary celebration in Detroit, and a week since the press witnessed its world motor show premiere in Paris. Holden is working very hard to have the Volt on sale in Australia sometime in 2012, less than two years after the Chevrolet version is launched in North America in late 2010. Whether Volt arrives wearing Holden badges in Australia remains the subject of speculation. However, GoAuto believes this is something that Holden is striving for – in the same manner that GM’s European affiliates Vauxhall and Opel want their ‘own’ version – particularly as the Volt would represent each brand’s environmental flagship. GM hopes to sell the Volt in America for around $US40,000 ($A56,000), so the Holden Astra-sized five-door hatch will not come cheap when it gets here. A chassis of the Volt’s internal workings is also on display at Sydney to explain the point of difference between GM’s E-REV (Extended-Range Electric Vehicle) hybrid and others currently available – namely the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid. The Volt’s Sydney show debut so soon after its global unveiling reflects how vital such a car is for Holden. “It is a reflection of the importance of the Australian market for General Motors that a vehicle as significant as Volt has been provided for this show,” said GM Holden chairman and managing director Mark Reuss. “As we move forward, it will be innovative solutions such as Volt that will sustain global motoring by reducing our dependence on foreign oil.” Meanwhile, the EcoLine sub-brand kicks off in the first quarter of next year. The badge will find its way on the LPG Commodore and its derivatives, as well as the diesel-powered Astra and Epica, and the Captiva 2WD diesel (which is being pitched as the eco choice compared to the 4WD version). While most diesel-powered passenger car models qualify for the EcoLine badge, Holden has chosen not to employ it on diesel commercial vehicles. The AFM V8-powered Commodore, Ute, Sportwagon, Statesman and Caprice will also boast EcoLine. AFM technology enables a V8 to operate automatically on four cylinders in certain driving conditions, until more power is needed. Up to 1L/100km of petrol can be saved, and more in constant cruising speeds. The downside is that AFM V8s lose around three per cent of their output – or about 10kW of power – compared to the regular V8. Holden says EcoLine is an instant point of differentiation for consumers, to help them make their decision easier. On the performance front, the VE Commodore-based Coupe 60 from the Melbourne International Motor Show travelled north for the Sydney crowds, partly as a homage to the 10th anniversary showing of the historic Holden Coupe concept that wowed show-goers at the 1998 event, which eventually went on to become the reborn Monaro in 2001. Other models to make their motor show debut on Holden’s 24-model stand this morning included the recently facelifted Model Year 09 TK Barina and EP Epica, the Captiva 2WD, and the Rodeo light-truck replacement, the RC Colorado. Link: http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf...A2574DC0027A252

I have been doing some research into what GM was doing in Germany during the Nazi Years, I was surprised to say the least. I decided to post this article here in the lounge where only we members can view it and not the whole world. I was shocked on some of the things I learned. I try to have an open mind when it comes to issues involving GM, I like to see the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, of the company I work for. James D. Mooney thrust his arm diagonally, watching its reflection in his hotel suite mirror. Not quite right. He tried once again. Still not right. Was it too stiff? Too slanted? Should his palm stretch perpendicular to the ceiling; should his arm bend at a severe angle? Or should the entire limb extend straight from shoulder to fingertips? Should his sieg heil project enthusiasm or declare obedience? Never mind, it was afternoon. Time to go see Hitler. Just the day before, May 1, 1934, under a brilliant, cloudless sky, Mooney, president of the General Motors Overseas Corp., climbed into his automobile and drove toward Tempelhof Field at the outskirts of Berlin to attend yet another hypnotic Nazi extravaganza. This one was the annual May Day festival. Tempelhof Field was a sprawling, oblong-shaped airfield. But for May Day, the immense site was converted into parade grounds. Security was more than tense, it was paranoid. All cars entering the area were meticulously inspected for anti-Hitler pamphlets or other contraband. But not Mooney's. The Führer's office had sent over a special windshield tag that granted the General Motors' chief carte blanche to any area of Tempelhof. Mooney would be Hitler's special guest. As Mooney arrived at the airfield, about 3:30 in the afternoon, the spectacle dazzled him. Sweeping swastika banners stretching 33 feet wide and soaring 150 feet into the air fluttered from 43-ton steel towers. Each tower was anchored in 13 feet of concrete to resist the winds as steadfastly as the Third Reich resisted all efforts to moderate its program of rearmament and oppression. Thousands of other Nazi flags fluttered across the grounds as dense column after column of Nazis, marching shoulder to shoulder in syncopation, flowed into rigid formation. Each of the 13 parade columns boasted 30,000 to 90,000 storm troopers, army divisions, citizen brigades and blond-blue Hitler Youth enrollees. Finally, after four hours, the tightly packed assemblage totaled about 2 million marchers and attendees. Hitler eventually arrived in an open-air automobile that cruised up and down the field amid the sea of devotees. Accompanied by cadres of SS guards, Hitler was ushered to the stage, stopping first to pat the head of a smiling boy. This would be yet another grandiose spectacle of führer-worship so emblematic of the Nazi regime. When ready, Hitler launched into one of his enthralling speeches, made all the more mesmerizing by 142 loudspeakers sprinkled throughout the grounds. As the Führer demanded hard work and discipline, and enunciated his vision of National Socialist destiny, the crisp sound of his voice traveled across an audience so vast that it took a moment or two for his words to reach the perimeter of the throng. Hence, the thunderous applause that greeted Hitler's remarks arrived sequentially, creating an aural effect of continuous, overlapping waves of adulation. Reveling in the Führer General Motors World, the company house organ, covered the May Day event glowingly in a several-page cover story, stressing Hitler's boundless affinity for children. "By nine, the streets were full of people waiting to see Herr Hitler go meet the children," the publication reported. The next day, May 2, 1934, after practicing his sieg heil in front of a mirror, Mooney and two other senior executives from General Motors and its German division, Adam Opel A.G., went to meet Hitler in his Chancellery office. Waiting with Hitler would be Nazi Party stalwart Joachim von Ribbentrop, who would later become foreign minister, and Reich economic adviser Wilhelm Keppler. As Mooney traversed the long approach to Hitler's desk, he began to pump his arm in a stern-faced sieg heil. But the Führer surprised him by getting up from his desk and meeting Mooney halfway, not with a salute but a businesslike handshake. This was, after all, a meeting about business -- one of many contacts between the Nazis and GM officials that are spotlighted in thousands of pages of little-known and restricted Nazi-era and New Deal-era documents. This documentation and other evidence reveals that GM and Opel were eager, willing and indispensable cogs in the Third Reich's rearmament juggernaut, a rearmament that, as many feared during the 1930s, would enable Hitler to conquer Europe and destroy millions of lives. Hitler knew that the biggest auto and truck manufacturer in Germany was not Daimler or any other German carmaker. The biggest automotive manufacturer in Germany -- indeed in all of Europe -- was General Motors, which since 1929 had owned and operated the longtime German company Opel. GM's Opel, infused with millions in GM cash and assembly-line know-how, produced about 40 percent of the vehicles in Germany and about 65 percent of its exports. Indeed, Opel dominated Germany's auto industry. As the May 2, 1934, Chancellery meeting progressed, Hitler thanked Mooney and GM for being a major employer -- about 17,000 jobs -- in a Germany where Nazi success hinged on re-employment. Moreover, because Opel was responsible for about 65 percent of auto exports, the company also brought in the foreign currency desperately needed by the Reich to purchase raw materials for re-employment as well as for the regime's crash rearmament program. Now, as Hitler embarked on a huge, threatening rearmament program, GM was in a position to make Germany's military a powerful, modern and motorized marvel. A few weeks after the prolonged Chancellery session, the company publication, General Motors World, effusively recounted the meeting, proclaiming, "Hitler is a strong man, well fitted to lead the German people out of their former economic distress. ... He is leading them, not by force or fear, but by intelligent planning and execution of fundamentally sound principles of government." For Mooney, and for Germany's branch of GM, the relationship with the Third Reich was first and foremost about making money -- billions in 21st century dollars -- off the Nazi desire to rearm even though the world expected that Germany would plunge Europe and America into a devastating war. Today, General Motors is reluctant to talk about its links with the Nazis, but a spokesman said, "General Motors finds the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime abhorrent and among the darkest days of our collective history. General Motors deeply regrets any role the company or its vehicles played in the Nazi era." Fears already recognized By the spring of 1933, the world was beginning to learn about the lawlessness and savagery of the Nazi regime, and the Reich's determination to crush its Jewish community and threaten its neighbors. Beginning in the late spring of 1933, concentration camps such as Dachau were generating headlines reporting great brutality. By June 1933, Jews everywhere in Germany were being banned from the professional, economic and cultural life of the country. As state-designated pariahs, they were forbidden to remain members of the German Automobile Association, the popular organization for the general German motorist. Hitler's anti-Semitic demagoguery and the daily, semi-official, violent attacks against Jews were discussed in the American media almost daily. GM's president, Alfred P. Sloan, knew what was happening in Germany. Sloan and GM officials knew also that Hitler's regime was expected to wage war from the outset. Headlines, radio broadcasts and newsreels made that fact apparent. America, it was feared, would once again be pulled in. Nonetheless, GM and Germany began a strategic business relationship. Opel became an essential element of the German rearmament and modernization Hitler required to subjugate Europe. To accomplish that, Germany needed to rise above the horse-drawn divisions it deployed in World War I. It needed to motorize, to blitz -- that is, to attack with lightning speed. Germany would later unleash a blitzkrieg, a lightning war. Opel built the 3-ton truck named Blitz to support the German military. The Blitz truck and its numerous specialized models became the mainstay of the Blitzkrieg. In 1935, GM agreed to locate a new factory at Brandenburg, where it would be geographically less vulnerable to feared aerial bombardment by allied forces. In 1937, almost 17 percent of Opel's Blitz trucks were sold directly to the Nazi military. That military sales figure was increased to 29 percent in 1938 -- totaling about 6,000 Blitz trucks that year alone. The Wehrmacht, the German military, soon became Opel's No. 1 customer by far. Other important customers included major industries associated with the Hitler war machine. Expanding its German workforce from 17,000 in 1934 to 27,000 in 1938 also made GM one of Germany's leading employers. Unquestionably, GM's Opel became an integral facet of Hitler's Reich. More than just an efficient manufacturer, Opel openly embraced the bizarre philosophy that powered the Nazi military-industrial complex. The German company participated in cultic führer-worship as a part of its daily corporate ethic. After all, until GM purchased Opel in 1929 for $33.3 million, or about one-third of GM's after-tax profit that year, Opel was an established carmaker with a respected German persona. The Opel family included several prominent Nazi Party members. This identity appealed to rank-and-file Nazis who condemned anything foreign-owned or foreign-made. For all these reasons, during the Hitler years, Sloan and Mooney both made efforts to obscure Opel's American ownership and control. Of course, GM's subsidiary vigorously joined the anti-Jewish movement required of leading businesses serving the Reich. Jewish employees and suppliers became verboten. Illusion for profits To conceal American ownership and reinforce the masquerade that Opel stood as a purely Aryan enterprise, Sloan and Mooney, beginning in 1934, concocted the concept of a directorate, comprised of prominent German personalities, including several with Nazi Party membership. This created what GM officials variously termed a "camouflage" or "a false facade" of local management. But the decisions were made in America. GM as the sole stockholder controlled Opel's board and the corporate votes. Among the decisions made in America beginning in about 1935 was the one transferring to Germany the technology to produce the modern gasoline additive tetraethyl lead, commonly called "ethyl," or leaded gasoline. This allowed the Reich to boost octane that provided better automotive performance by eliminating disruptive engine pings and jolts. Better performance meant a faster and more mobile fighting force -- just what the Reich would ultimately need for its swift and mobile blitzkrieg. Years after the war, Nazi armaments chief Albert Speer told a congressional investigator that Germany could not have attempted its September 1939 blitzkrieg of Poland without the performance-boosting additive. Within a few years of partnering with the Hitler regime, Opel began to dwarf all competition. By 1937, GM's subsidiary had grown to triple the size of Daimler-Benz. In 1938, just months after the Nazi annexation of Austria, Mooney, head of GM's overseas operations, received the German Eagle with Cross, the highest medal Hitler awarded to foreign commercial collaborators and supporters. On Nov. 9-10, 1938, shortly after Mooney's decoration, nationwide pogroms broke out in Germany against the Jews -- Kristallnacht. The American public was finally shocked onto its heels by the night of officially orchestrated burning, looting and mob action against Jews. By the summer of 1940, a senior GM executive wrote this assessment for internal circulation only. He explained that while "the management of Adam Opel A.G. is in the hands of German nationals," in point of fact, GM is still "actively represented by two American executives on the Board of Directors." The German-American balance of the many management entities created in the facade of control was constantly shifting during the Hitler years. But regardless of the number of members -- German or American -- on the various directing, managing or executive boards and committees, GM in the United States controlled all voting stock and could veto or permit all operations. Willing partner with Nazis For all intents and purposes, though, once war began, Wehrmacht requirements and orders determined the specifics of military manufacturing at Opel. Like any nation at war, including the United States itself, the Reich alone determined what weapons would be made by its militarized factories. That said, it was GM's decision to remain operating in Germany, to continue to subject itself to Reich military orders and answer the Reich's call for ever more lethal weapons. As anticipated, Opel's Brandenburg facilities were conscripted and converted to an airplane-engine plant supplying the Luftwaffe's JU-88 bombers. Later, Opel's plants also built land mines and torpedo detonators. The factories and infrastructure that GM built during the 1930s were in fact finally used for their intended purpose -- war. Opel-built trucks on the ground, Opel-powered bombers in the sky and Opel-detonated torpedoes in the seas brought terror to Europe. A few weeks later, in May 1941, a year-and-a-half after World War II broke out, with newspapers and newsreels constantly transmitting the grim news that millions had been displaced, murdered or enslaved by Nazi aggression and that London was decimated by the blitz bombing campaign, Sloan, then in his mid-60s, told his closest executives during a Detroit briefing: "I am sure we all realize that this struggle that is going on though the world is really nothing more or less than a conflict between two opposing technocracies manifesting itself to the capitalization of economic resources and products and all that sort of thing." By now, Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle, whose portfolio included the investigation of Nazi fronts and sympathizers in Latin America, had had enough of Sloan and GM executives. Berle circulated a memo asserting "that certain officials of General Motors were sympathetic to or aligned with some pro-Axis groups. ... that this is [a] 'real Fifth Column' and is much more sinister than many other things which are going on at the present time." Berle called for an FBI investigation. Trade or treason? The FBI's probe of GM senior executives with links to Hitler found collusion with Germany by Mooney, but no evidence of any disloyalty to America. The Aug. 2, 1941, summary of the investigation clearly listed Sloan in the title of the report, but Mooney's was the only name mentioned in the investigative results. In a separate report to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, the agent stated, "No derogatory information of any kind was developed with respect to Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr." On Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed. The United States declared war on Japan. On Dec. 11, German diplomats in Washington called at the State Department to deliver Germany's declaration of war against America. All direct communications between GM and its Opel subsidiary in Germany were necessarily severed, although historians have always wondered about indirect links through Denmark where GM operated a longtime subsidiary. Ranking GM men from Denmark were also in ranking positions both in Opel in Germany and GM in America. After Germany declared war on America, all American corporate interests in Germany or under German control were systematically placed under the jurisdiction of a Reich-appointed custodian for enemy-owned property. In practice, the custodian was akin to a court-appointed receiver. Generally, the Reich custodian's duty was not to dismember the firm or Aryanize it, but to continue to run the enterprise as efficiently and profitably as possible, holding all assets and profits in escrow until matters would be resolved after the war. In the case of Opel, Carl Luer, the longtime member of the Opel Supervisory Board, company president and Nazi Party stalwart, was appointed by the Reich to run Opel as custodian, but only some 11 months after America entered the war. In anticipation of the outbreak of hostilities, GM had appointed Luer to be president of Opel in late 1941, just before war broke out. So the existing GM-approved president of Opel continued to run Opel during America's war years. The company continued as a major German war profiteer, and GM knew its subsidiary was at the forefront of the Nazi war machine. The business of war In the wartime months and years that ensued, 1941-1945, GM built and operated some $900 million worth (about $120 billion in today's dollars) of defense manufacturing facilities for the Allies. Secretary of War Henry Stimson later explained that when a capitalist country wages war, "you have got to let business make money out of the process, or business won't work." GM also reaped the financial benefits of its relationship with the Third Reich. During the pre-war Hitler years, GM entered its Opel proceeds under "reserves" instead of listing the profits as ordinary income. Then during America's war years GM declared it had abandoned its Nazi subsidiary, and took a complete tax write-off under special legislation signed by Roosevelt in October 1942. The write-off of nearly $35 million created a tax reduction of "approximately $22.7 million" or about $285 billion in 21st-century money, according to an internal Opel document. But Opel's friendly Nazi custodian, Luer, kept on making profits for the company during those war years. Opel produced trucks, bomber engines, land mines, torpedo detonators and other war materiel, a significant amount of it by the sweat of thousands of prisoner laborers or other coerced workers; some of those workers were tortured if they did not meet expectations. Those profits and GM's 100 percent stock ownership were preserved by the Reich custodian, even though GM and Opel ostensibly severed ties with each other after America entered the war. During the Hitler years, many of those excess profits were used to acquire other companies and properties, only increasing Opel's assets in Germany. After the war, starting in 1948, GM began regaining control over Opel operations and eventually its monumental assets as well as blocked dividends. GM also collected some $33 million in "war reparations" because the Allies had bombed its German facilities. In 1953, when GM President Charlie Wilson was nominated to be secretary of defense, he was asked at his confirmation hearing if he could make a decision in the country's interest that was contrary to GM's interest. Wilson shot back with his famous comment, "I cannot conceive of one, because for years I thought what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa. The difference did not exist. Our company is too big." Indeed, what GM accomplished in both America and Nazi Germany could not have been bigger. Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...INGPHNCLHH1.DTL