Archives for April 2014

Wednesday morning car news roundup, April 30, 2014

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Tuesday morning car news roundup, April 29, 2014

Tuesday - Picture courtesy blogspot.com

This morning: Toyota to Texas, VW profits, GM fall-out, more

Toyota to Texas aftermath:

Our daily GM:

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Monday morning car news roundup, April 28, 2014

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The big news today of course is Toyota’s move to Texas. Toyota HQ in Tokyo maintained radio silence all day, though.

Friday morning car news roundup, April 25, 2014

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Thursday morning car news roundup, April 24, 2014

Thursday - Picture courtesy happyhealthylonglife.com

Dominating the news this morning: GM results:

 

In other news:

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Does Beijing-Shanghai Tension Spell Trouble For GM and VW?

Jiang Zemin and the Communist Youth League, in happier times.

Jiang Zemin and the Communist Youth League, in happier times.

 

Ever since the dramatic 2012 downfall of the colorful Chongqing party leader Bo Xilai, the Western press has been fascinated with China’s “princeling” plutocrats and the Central Government’s efforts to restrain them. No wonder: the battle is China’s basic political division, pitting the bureaucratic and ideological power of the Beijing Central government against the economic power of Southern Chinese entrepreneurs centered around Shanghai. Under former Shanghai mayor Jiang Zemin, China opened rapidly to the foreign investment that spurred decades of florid economic expansion… and sowed the seeds of China’s major political problems, corruption, inequality and environmental ruin. The downfall of Bo Xilai, a protege of Jiang Zemin’s Shanghai clique and member of its successor “Princeling” clique, was taken as a sign that Xi Jinping is serious about continuing Hu Jintao’s campaign against the ill-gotten gains of the Shanghai boom… a signal that is growing louder as the investigations widen.

Why the ten-cent lecture on Chinese politics? Shanghai’s automotive star rose alongside Jiang Zemin’s, and the city with which the he is synonymous has become one of China’s biggest automotive players and partner to the two biggest foreign presences in China, Volkswagen and GM. If Xi Jinping’s reform movement continues to target Shanghai and  its Princelings, and especially if the investigations draw closer to Zemin himself, automakers could find themselves on awkward ground. Caught between the guanxi (connections) culture of the world’s new largest market for cars and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of what is still the most profitable market for cars, automakers with Shanghai exposure have reason for concern.

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Wednesday morning car news roundup, April 23, 2014

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Very mixed bag so far this morning:

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Tuesday morning car news roundup, April 22, 2014

Tuesday - Picture courtesy blogspot.com

Making headlines this morning: Beijing, Mulally, UAW, and more.

Beijing Show:

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