General Motors

NEW YORK -- "For years," said Charles ("Engine Charlie") Wilson to a Senate Committee in 1952, "I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors, and vice versa."The comment became an instant cliche, with at least enough feeling of truth that it has endured long after Mr. Wilson, a former defense secretary and GM president, has been forgotten.Whether it is still true today once again has become an issue as General Motors and the other two major domestically based automobile manufacturers shudder through troubled times.

General Motors Shares fell $2.48, or 8.5 percent, to $26.79, the biggest drop in more than two years on concerns that 2008 industry sales may slide and the U.S. may adopt tougher fuel-economy standards for light trucks.

Veteran American Indian actor and environmentalist Oskie "Iron Eyes" Cody, famed for playing braves, medicine men and warrior chiefs in an 80-year film career, died yesterday in Los Angeles, associates said. He was 94.Mr. Cody died at his home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles after returning from a visit to a doctor's office, a close friend, Belen Escarano, said.Although he appeared in such films as a "A Man Called Horse" and "Wild Bill Hickok," it was a television commercial that won him the most fame.

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp., the world's largest automaker, has backed away from a plan to buy and run as many as 770 dealerships throughout the United States, after the company's dealers mobilized against the plan.GM and Ford Motor Co. have tried to take greater control of their dealer networks. All automakers want to streamline vehicle distribution and selling, which analysts say account for as much as 27 percent of a new vehicle's price.Dealers fought GM's initiative, viewing manufacturer-owned dealerships as a threat to their survival.

EPERNAY, France -- Herb Fishel, the executive director of General Motors Motor Sports, sat looking out over the vineyards in the heart of French champagne country, talking about Cadillac's coming return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.Yesterday, he watched as GM's Corvettes paced the start of the 67th Le Mans race that was to end early this morning, and through the days leading up to that start, he would study what it took to really win.He'd take notes on inspections. He'd watch practices. He'd note fuel economy, the number of stops cars make, the number of driver changes and any other detail that might make a difference.

A HUGE "millennium clock" that measured each passing day of the 20th century was moved from Annapolis' historic State House months ago because it was considered too garish. But Gov. Parris N. Glendening and the state of Maryland can't so easily avoid another ominous countdown that began last July.That is the one set by John F. Smith Jr., chief executive officer of General Motors Corp., when he told the governor and others that the automaker's plant on Broening Highway in east Baltimore would remain open for at least two more years.

Here is an excerpt of an editorial from the Los Angeles Times, which was published Wednesday.A CALIFORNIA jury recently handed down a $4.8-billion punitive damage award against General Motors in an auto accident in which passengers were horribly burned. Obviously, and understandably, the jury acted both out of sympathy with the victims and outrage against the auto maker. But it is virtually certain that any award of this size will be drastically reduced by either the trial judge or on appeal.

AS ONE observes the unfolding wretched excesses of liability lawsuits, a question arises: What next?The most recent answer to that query is the case in which Daimler Chrysler was sued for producing cars with allegedly defective seatbacks --- even though the injured party never owned a vehicle made by the company.The allegations against Chrysler have been thrown out, and the corporation is currently counterattacking by suing the lawyers involved for bringing a "frivolous" suit. Chrysler has gotten all fired up on this idea of fighting back in part because last year a judge threw out a class-action suit by Jeep Cherokee owners whining that their engines were too noisy.

In days of old, many young boys spent the weekend toiling with Dad under the hood of the old Cadillac. But with cars becoming more like computers-on-wheels, those days may be gone.And nobody is more nervous than the auto industry, whose representatives came to South Carroll High School in Winfield yesterday to launch a new education program there to train mechanics.The nation's major car manufacturers are facing a shortage of 60,000 mechanics at their dealerships. Their answer is Automotive Youth Educational Systems (AYES)

With a big boost from its North American auto operations, General Motors Corp. reported record fourth-quarter earnings yesterday that were considerably higher than analysts expected.For the three months that ended Dec. 31, GM reported net income of $1.8 billion, equal to $2.64 a share. That compares with restated net income of $1.6 billion, or $2.29 a share, for the same period in 1997.Earnings from continuing operations, which analysts say offer a more accurate picture of the company's overall performance, rose 55 percent in the final three months of 1998.

General Motors Co.'s deal to sell Saturn to the Penske Automotive Group has fallen through, forcing the automaker to shutter the brand altogether. The sale had been expected to be completed as soon as this week. "Penske Automotive Group ... has decided to terminate discussions with General Motors to acquire Saturn," GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said in a statement. As a result, "we will be winding down the Saturn brand and dealership network." The news is a blow to GM, which had made selling three of its brands, along with shutting Pontiac, a key component of its post-bankruptcy restructuring efforts.

A year ago, when a group of GM executives came to The Baltimore Sun to meet with the editorial board, they couldn't stop talking about the Chevy Volt. Still in the conceptual stages, the plug-in electric hybrid was their answer for the future and repentance for years of gas-guzzling SUVs that, at the time, had been made unattractive by sky-high fuel prices. They seemed to pine for it, like a baseball team trailing badly in the bottom of the ninth might wish for a six-run homer. A lot has changed since then.

Legendary automaker General Motors Corp. on Monday became the largest U.S. industrial company ever to file for bankruptcy-law protection, in a restructuring that puts it under unprecedented government ownership and jump-starts a plan that will include plant closings and thousands of job losses, but that the company hopes will return it to profitability. The transmission plant in White Marsh will remain open, but a Wilmington, Del., plant that has many workers who live in the Baltimore area will shut down July 31. The bankruptcy reflects the downfall of what was once an icon in the auto industry whose management problems were exacerbated so badly by the global recession that the Obama administration stepped in to take over.

A day after President Barack Obama threw down the gauntlet for the American auto industry, General Motors Corp. began once again the work of selling cars. On Tuesday, even as its new chief executive acknowledged the growing possibility of bankruptcy, the ailing carmaker announced an incentive plan that, in part, will cover car payments for customers who lose their jobs. The program, which GM is calling "Total Confidence," is designed to lure American back into the showroom. "Consumers right now are looking for corporations to be sympathetic with what they're going through," said Jeff Goodby, co-chairman of Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, an ad agency that promoted a similar program by Hyundai Motor Co. The White House has given General Motors 60 days, and Chrysler 30 days, to work out their structural problems before the federal government yanks financial support.

President Barack Obama says he is committed to a reorganized and downsized American auto industry, but whether that goal is doable remains to be seen. The president's auto task force, which demanded and received the resignation Sunday of Rick Wagoner, General Motors chairman and CEO, is expected to recommend more short-term aid for GM and Chrysler on Monday with a 60-day deadline on getting needed concessions from union workers and creditors. Continuing to pursue a plan to save GM short of bankruptcy is the right course.

Francis "Jerry" Golebieski, a retired General Motors Corp. worker who also had owned and operated a general contracting firm, died of a heart attack Tuesday at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He was 69. Mr. Golebieski was born in Baltimore and raised at Lombard Street and Broadway in East Baltimore. After leaving Patterson Park High School in 1957, he enlisted in the Air Force, where he served until being discharged in 1965. Mr. Golebieski, who had earned his high school equivalency certificate while in the service, became an assembly line worker at General Motors' Broening Highway plant in 1965.

Slammed by crashing sales, General Motors Corp. said yesterday that it lost $9.6 billion in the fourth quarter and $30.9 billion for all of 2008, its second-worst year on record. The results, which more than doubled dismal analyst expectations, were further evidence of the dire situation the Detroit automaker finds itself in. It has received $13.4 billion in government loans to stay afloat, and this month requested an additional $16.6 billion in taxpayer-funded bailout cash. The money is needed, the automaker said, because it is losing money at such a fast rate that it would soon be unable to fund operations and become financially insolvent.

LONDON -Swedish automaker Saab filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday and is looking to attract new investors after its troubled owner, General Motors, said it would cut loose the money-losing division as part of its vast restructuring. Saab said it is seeking funding from private and public sources and that the reorganization, pending court approval, will be executed over a three-month period. "We explored and will continue to explore all available options for funding and/or selling Saab, and it was determined a formal restructuring would be the best way to create a truly independent entity that is ready for investment," Saab Managing Director Jan Ake Jonsson said in a statement.

James S. Brennan, a retired supervisor for General Motors who also served in the Air Force during the Korean War, died Dec. 21 in his Severna Park home after a lengthy battle with lung cancer. He was 75. Mr. Brennan was born in Baltimore. He graduated from City College in 1951 and attended the University of Maryland, College Park. He enlisted in the Air Force and fought as an airman first class in the Korean War. He then returned to Maryland, where he worked as a supervisor for General Motors for more than 20 years.

Gerald J. Stautberg, a longtime auto dealer whose TV advertisements - "For the best deal anywhere, you just gotta come to Jerry's" - wooed generations of car buyers to his Parkville dealership, died Sunday of pneumonia at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Monkton resident was 79. "Jerry was one of the first dealers to use radio and TV advertising in this market. He was a real pioneer," said John Sophocles, former general manager of Jerry's Chevrolet, who is now president of TASCO, a telemessaging company that Mr. Stautberg has owned since 1988.