GM's new restructuring plan seeks an additional $16.6 billion in government aid -- for now. Chrysler wants an additional $5 billion. The $30 billion that General Motors has either received or requested since December doesn't count the $8 billion it wants to develop fuel-efficient cars, and another $6 billion it's soliciting from foreign governments.
Make no mistake, there have been many bright minds in the American auto industry over the years -- at the automakers, the United Auto Workers union and the components companies. Most of them saw today's troubles coming for years, even decades."I frankly don't see how we're going to meet the foreign competition," said Henry Ford II, then chairman and CEO of Ford, on May 13, 1971, right after the annual shareholders' meeting. "We've only seen the beginning," he predicted. Regarding Americans' increasing preference for small cars, he declared: "Mini car, mini profits."
That was a couple of years before Detroit agreed to let autoworkers retire with full pension and benefits after 30 years on the job, regardless of their age. In practice, that meant a worker could start at age 18, retire at 48, and spend more years collecting a pension and free health care than he or she actually spent working.
2009 BMW 7-Series USA Press Launch Photo Gallery
2009 BMW 7-Series European Press Launch Photo Gallery
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