Car Companies Take Bailout Money And Sue Government To Prevent Stricter Fuel-Efficiency Standards

It might be hard to find a better example of biting the hand that feeds you. American automakers, the subject of much attention and beneficiaries of a major financial bailout, are suing the federal government:

Late last year, when Congress was debating whether to bail out the American automakers, one question that came up was: should the car companies be able to use money they got from the taxpayers to turn around and fight the taxpayers? By that point, the auto industry had already spent several years in court battling California and other states to prevent them from imposing stricter new fuel efficiency standards.

But the Washington Independent points out that the automakers already pledged to meet the emissions standards (and bragged about how well they'll do):

Business strategies submitted to Congress, as part of a December bailout debate, by Ford and General Motors would, if achieved, make the companies compliant with California's proposed emission reforms -- the same changes the companies have opposed for years -- according to an analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group.

Ford, for example, boasted that it would raise its fuel-economy standards 26 percent above 2005 levels by 2012, and 36 percent above the same baseline by 2015. General Motors, for its part, vowed fleet-wide fuel-efficiencies of 37.3 miles a gallon for cars, and 27.5 mpg for trucks, by 2012. (Chrysler, which did not include fuel-efficiency estimates in its report, was not a subject of the NRDC analysis.)

Comments

[ferrarimanf355]

Where did my comment go?

[ferrarimanf355]

Two things.

The domestics aren't the only ones here. Honda, Toyota, Nissan and others joined in on the lawsuit, too.

Also, has anyone ever stopped to think that the CA standards they're trying to force down the automakers' throat might be their death knell?

Eco-fascists are funny... and sad...

[lmvd3]

And they will pay their lawyers using WHOSE money?

[dagdavid]

The American auto industry has resisted every innovation that has ever come along form seat belts to air bags and fuel efficiency technologies and we give them billions. And what do they do? Exactly what we should have predicted they would do. Let them fail.

[bamboozled]

So precisely how many millions of American Taxpayer dollars are the Big 3 using to sue the American Taxpayer?

We essentially handed them a stick to save them from going over the waterfall, and the moment they climbed ashore, they used the stick to beat us over the head.

[ChryslerEng]

Working as part of an engineering core dept at one of the US big three as an engineer not a VP, Director, Senior Mgr, or Supervisor, but a working level engineer I originally thought bailouts for the big three was the answer. However, what I have seen in the last month is Managers and VP’s running around seeing what they could possibly scam or pull over on the suppliers. Let’s face it they have out sourced most of the technical work to suppliers and third parties. Then sit there and demand supplier’s reduced cost further. Most of these executives are high paid swindlers’, they have been doing this for years. Up until now most of these guys got taken to lunch, get tickets to events, golf outings and still continues today. As for the increases in fuel economy numbers the big three is whining because they cannot find a competitor’s vehicle the can break down and reverse engineering to figure how they can achieve the same levels. I see this on a day to day basis, competitor analysis, not real engineering and design creation. It analysis on competitor designs, then try to emulate. The big three needs to clean house, not the working level engineering, but engineering management. These bad habits are generational.

[AirForceWx1701]

Our country needs real manufacturing, but you're right, the management of the Big 3 is rotten to the core. The bailout should've come with an enema, in the form of a salary cap of

[kurplunk]

i.e what the F did you think they were gonna do....you give a crook a handful of cash and he tells you "yeah yeah, oh whatever you say, I'll bring it back and when you see me next time I'll be a much nicer more kinder gentler CROOK!!!" Hahahahahaha....seeya, wouldn't wanna beeee ya!!

[newshawk14]

These fools never learn, simply have congress and the president threaten to take back the money,
and they'll be genuflecting to kiss Obama's ring, if not his posterior.

[FreedomAgain]

This proves that they were never serious about making changes in the first place, they were just like the banks, distorting the facts for some bailout money.

[tangerinesong]

The company's that requested and accepted the tax payer bail out has no choice but to follow this administration's requests and they know it. Now Ford is another story and would be the only bona fide plaintiff in this case since they differed any bail out money but the other two? Especially private company Chrysler? Get on it boys, the taxpayers are waiting with no time for litigation but to do what this administration has requested you do, period. Your ability to think and act independently in this regard as a private concern stopped the moment you cashed that tax payer check. So quit yer bitchen and start trottin as we the people want to see what it is we bailed out. Don’t disappoint.

TS

[Idablu]

Sick

[dgscol]

how bout 30 mpg avg in 3 yrs? what do these companies have against better mileage?

[Snwbnny9]

My guess is oil company stock.

[lmvd3]

Yep. A sweetheart deal between US automakers and US Big Oil is the only reason they won't make the fuel-efficient cars that the public wants.

[wm1066]

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!
I say nationalize the auto industry, take away the companies from the top executives.
Then the foriegn competitors wouldn't be able to survive in our market.

[michmudder]

There are two major problems with this article:
(1) The lobbying effort included Toyota, Volkswagen, Daimler, Porsche, Mitsubishi, BMW, and Jaguar/Land Rover as well as the Detroit 3. (See http://www.autoalliance.org/index.cfm?objectid=13F558B3-1D09-317F-BBB4A55F78DF68FB).
(2) Ford has not taken any bailout money.

[KillTheMessenger]

But Toyota won't have a problem satisfying the requirement when they lose the lawsuit because they have the cars that satisfy it already. Some of the other ones will be fighting for their lives.

:-)

[frogluv73]

Problem is the foreign car companies actually make an effort to build better vehicles, and they weren't asking for bailouts.

[PaloAltoPunk]

If this article is any indication of the blogosphere's quality in journalism, the New York Times has nothing to worry about.

[JoeBlough]

Our family has three Toyotas and a Nissan. We will never buy a Detroit slug. These executives repulse me.

[SueMVetforObama]

So you'd rather have your money traded on the Nikkei?

[frogluv73]

No, Joe just wants a better vehicle to drive.

[Snwbnny9]

Isn't that what a consumer driven economy is all about? "Conservatives" claim that industry does not need regulation because consumer preference forces companies to regulate themselves. They can either start building a better hybrid or I'm keeping my Toyota also.