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  • General Motors sees profits surge

    BBC News - General Motors sees profits surge

    US automotive giant General Motors (GM) has returned to third quarter profitability, fuelled by a rise in sales both in the US and overseas.

    The carmaker made a net profit of $2bn (£1.2bn) in the three months to 30 September, compared with a loss a year earlier.

    Revenues at the firm, which last week unveiled plans for a $13bn share sale, totalled $34.1bn.

    GM's third quarter profit was higher than rival Ford's $1.7bn.

    GM has now reported three consecutive profitable financial quarters, as it continues to turn around its fortunes.

    Last year, GM needed $50bn in government assistance as it went through bankruptcy protection, and Washington still holds a 60.8% stake.

    However, GM has so far repaid the government $9.5bn, and aims to pay back more through a forthcoming share issue.

    For its latest quarter, GM made a strong profit in all of its global regions except Europe, where suffered a $559m loss. Its GM Europe business operates the Opel and Vauxhall brands.

    GM vice chairman Chris Liddel said the firm was continuing to make "significant progress".

    Car industry analyst Jesse Toprak of TrueCar.com said the carmaker was also benefiting from lower manufacturing costs and higher profit margins

  • #2
    If only Chrysler can follow suit for the "big 3". The Jeep Grand Cherokee can't keep the whole brand afloat!

    I'm anxious to see if the Cruze stays strong unlike the Cavalier replacement, Cobalt, that went straight into the $5,000.00 special lot a year after it's manufacture.
    "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach...just make sure you thrust upward through his ribcage."

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    • #3
      I think the Chryler bailout was in essence a private version of the WPA and the company is doomed. GM's bailout is looking like a huge succuss story. I heard they are more profitable than Toyota this year. I have a necro thread ready to recall when they pay all the money back
      Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.”
      ~Ronald Reagan

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      • #4
        Let's see GM pay back all the government loans first before we call it a success.

        The true success story here is Ford.
        "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by gunnut View Post
          Let's see GM pay back all the government loans first before we call it a success.

          The true success story here is Ford.
          I mostly agree. The thing is everyone working for GM today would be unemployed if not for the bailout. If the bar for success is what benefits we the people the bailout is looking like when all is said and done it will of been a huge success. I do agree the final verdict is 3 or 4 years out when the federal goverment is fully divested and is either even or in the black.

          I think Chrysler is a lost cause unless they have a drastic culture change. Quality issues are a result of a poisoned well from middle management/engineering/ to the shop floor. The culture of the company is broken, there design and manufacturing processes are archaic as evidenced by the failure rate. It is a huge challenge in a manufacturing enviroment to change a culture that tolerates QA escapes at the level Chrysler experiences. 25 years ago if I had one tool failure in 20 or one bad part in 20 I wouldn't of blinked. Now, a bad tool or a tool returned in a failed state means everything stops till the root cause of the failure is found and addresed. Manufacturing at Chrysler is probably exciting but, in manufacturing if it isn't boring it isn't in control and the company is bleeding money.
          Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.”
          ~Ronald Reagan

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          • #6
            Originally posted by gunnut View Post
            Let's see GM pay back all the government loans first before we call it a success.
            Not likely.

            It's Official: The Government Isn't Getting Its Money Back Out of GM - Megan McArdle - Business - The Atlantic
            I enjoy being wrong too much to change my mind.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by gunnut View Post
              Let's see GM pay back all the government loans first before we call it a success.
              they might be getting more of free money
              GM Could Be Free of Taxes for Years - WSJ.com
              "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" B. Franklin

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              • #8
                The 9.5 billion they supposedly paid back was just kiting from one gov't credit line to another. The loss carryovers are worth $45 Billion in tax revenues that won't be collected, so the taxpayer is the loser on that one too.

                The IPO? we'll see. They've already scaled it way back, and they are searching for Mid East and Asian investors to prop up the share price.

                A new $500 million plant in Mexico to build V8 engines (gas guzzlers, Obama?), and $14/hour jobs for the guys building Volt batteries using a technology that will be obsolete in 10 years at the outside.
                "We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way." -President Barack Obama 11/25/2008

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                • #9
                  It's official: GM sets stock price for massive IPO

                  $33 a share could raise up to $22.7 billion, allowing automaker to pay U.S.

                  General Motors shares could fetch $20.1 billion in the biggest U.S. initial public offering in history, pricing the shares at the top of the proposed range in response to huge investor demand.

                  GM will make 478 million common shares available at $33 each, raising $15.77 billion, as well as $4.35 billion in preferred shares, more than the initially planned $4 billion.

                  Including an overallotment option, which will be settled over the next few days, GM looks set to raise $23.1 billion — the biggest initial public offering ever.

                  The strong response to the stock sale reflects growing investor confidence that GM is moving beyond its unpopular, taxpayer-funded bankruptcy with sharply lower costs and higher profit potential.

                  The successful IPO means the U.S. government's stake will immediately drop to 33 percent. It could fall further if certain warrants are exercised in the coming years.

                  "You're not in GM for a three-month investment," said Tim Leuliette, a director at Visteon Corp and longtime U.S. auto industry executive, speaking at the Reuters Autos Summit.

                  "You're into GM because a critical element, a critical building block of the U.S. economy, has significantly repositioned itself to be competitive."

                  The stock sale represents a step toward taxpayers recouping a $50 billion U.S. government rescue of the 102-year-old company, which had fallen from blue-chip status to bailout basket case in recent years.

                  The Obama administration's GM restructuring angered many and critics started referring to it as "Government Motors."

                  GM earned $5 billion in the first nine months of 2010 and is on track for its first full-year profit since 2004.

                  The automaker has cautioned that fourth-quarter profit will be slimmer because of vehicle launch costs and a higher proportion of less-profitable small cars in its mix of production. GM's European unit also remains unprofitable.

                  In a road show for investors spearheaded by GM Chief Executive Dan Akerson and Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell, the automaker has emphasized both its sharply lower costs and its exposure to key growth markets like China.

                  One of the open questions remains whether GM's China partner, state-owned SAIC Motor Corp Ltd, will participate in the IPO and how much it will invest.

                  The two companies have negotiated new cooperation in areas such as electric car programs in talks that began this summer. Under a tentative deal, SAIC had agreed to invest between $500 million and $1 billion in GM pending Chinese government approval, people with knowledge of those discussions said.

                  But two people familiar with the matter said that as of early Wednesday, China's Ministry of Commerce had not approved the SAIC investment.

                  Sources previously told Reuters that sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia separately had committed a combined $2 billion to GM's IPO.

                  Treasury will remain GM's largest shareholder after the IPO. U.S. officials have said it is likely to take until the next presidential term for the U.S. government to sell off all of its holdings in GM.

                  If the IPO prices at $33 per share, the U.S. government will need to see the stock rise by 47 percent to just above $48.50 to break even on its follow-on stock sales over the next several years.

                  At that level, GM would have a market value of more than $90 billion. By comparison, its closest rival, Ford Motor Co , has a market capitalization of $59 billion after a rally that has sent its stock up 65 percent this year.

                  Obama administration officials have argued that it would represent a kind of success if the White House breaks even only on the $30 billion that it committed to GM. Just over $19 billion in funding came from the Bush administration.

                  The GM bailout spared the automaker from liquidation and saved hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs at the company and its suppliers, officials have said.
                  It's official: GM sets stock price for massive IPO - Business - Autos - msnbc.com

                  Anyone buying some shares?
                  "Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.

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                  • #10
                    as I stated in another post -- it is too political for my taste.
                    “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all” -- Joan Robinson

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by gunnut View Post
                      Anyone buying some shares?
                      Nope.

                      Won't buy another GM or Chrysler vehicle until the gov't is completely out of the car business either.

                      It's gonna be another F-150 for me, after the first of the year so I can expense it in 2011. ;)
                      "We will go through our federal budget – page by page, line by line – eliminating those programs we don’t need, and insisting that those we do operate in a sensible cost-effective way." -President Barack Obama 11/25/2008

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                      • #12
                        I got a used Ford Focus this year, an '07, it is a good car. I had driven Fords for about 20 yrs when a string of bad ones made me switch to Plymouth in 2000. I'm glad I went back now, after a little trouble with the dealer it has cleared up nicely, and the Ford meets expectations (once again). When I can afford it, if I live that long, I'll get another Mustang, to replace my long lost 71 Mach 1, maybe a 2010 GT.
                        sigpic"If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees.
                        If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children."

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                        • #13
                          I will withhold judgement until GM can prove it can :
                          1) Maintain profitability over the long haul= and pay back ALL the money.
                          2) Build and continue building better vehicles. Not looking for anything fancy, just something people can drive and not have to be towed into the shop every other month, and after putting 100K on it the vehicle would not be falling apart.
                          Removing a single turd from the cesspool doesn't make any difference.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Roosveltrepub View Post
                            The thing is everyone working for GM today would be unemployed if not for the bailout.
                            This is flat wrong. Bankruptcy proceedings would have put the company in a similar position as it is today, except those owning a share in the company would be different to a degree.
                            "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by highsea View Post
                              Nope.

                              Won't buy another GM or Chrysler vehicle until the gov't is completely out of the car business either.

                              It's gonna be another F-150 for me, after the first of the year so I can expense it in 2011. ;)
                              I was going to give it a whirl with my car last year, but I didn't try it since it would be hard to sell the idea of my Infiniti G37 being used at least 50% of the time for business reasons.
                              "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach...just make sure you thrust upward through his ribcage."

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