Manzullo Shows Why He's There -- Those Other Republicans Should Pay Attention! -- UPDATED WITH VIDEO

Rep. Manzullo to Geithner: Your Plan Is 'Radical'

In testimony before the House Financial Services committee that just adjourned, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner just had to defend his institutional takeover plan against charges of radicalism.

"Do you realize how radical your proposal is?" Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.) asked.

"It's not radical. . ." Geither began, before Manzullo interrupted him.

"You're talking about seizing private businesses and you don't consider that radical?" Manzullo replied, his voice rising.

Manzullo is trying to get Geithner to give details of the plan -- that's where Geithner got stung before -- but Geithner doesn't have them yet.

If the plan were not radical, Manzullo said to Geithner, "you would have answers to some of my questions, such as, what size business would be subject to this?"

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The Ticker (WaPo)

Update:  Here is the video from Rep. Manzullo's YouTube page:

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More Manufacturing Jobs Being Imported From China -- I Blame Bush!

A Washington-based brake drum manufacturer is relocating some of its machining work from China to Rockford, echoing a trend that’s becoming more common in North American factories.

The KIC Group is contracting with a new local company, Rockford Automated Machining, to make raw brake drum casings once manufactured in China. Rockford Automated Machining, created by the owners of FAC Consolidated Industries, will employ about 40 people at its 840 Airport Drive location.

John Schneider, vice president of sales for KIC, said multiple factors have eroded the Asian competitive advantage — increased ocean freight charges, the rising price of raw iron ore and the strengthening of the Chinese currency against the U.S. dollar.

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Business Rockford

Chinese Corporation Solar Cell Assembly Plant In The Works For Rockford

Wanxiang Group, the second-largest privately held Chinese corporation, wants to build a photovoltaic solar panel assembly plant at or near Chicago Rockford International Airport. The proposed 40,000-square-foot facility could be operational next year and employ 60 to start. President and CEO Lu Weiding signed an agreement with Rockford, Winnebago County and airport officials today to work out a development deal for the project. Wanxiang officials said they want to move fast, starting construction as soon as possible.
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Wanxiang Group conducted a nationwide search for the site of its assembly plant, said Janyce Fadden, president of the Rockford Area Economic Development Council. 

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RRStar

Toyota Beats GM In First Half Of Year Sales -- Chrysler Devoid Of Salable Models -- Obama To The Rescue!

General Motors Corp., pummeled by falling U.S. sales and high gas prices, lost the global sales lead to Toyota Motor Corp. in the first half of this year, but the churning market makes it difficult to predict which automaker will end the year on top.

Toyota sold 4,817,941 vehicles globally during the first six months of the year, company spokesman Hideaki Homma said Wednesday, beating GM by 277,532 vehicles. Toyota said its global sales rose 2 percent from the same period the year before, while GM's sales fell 3 percent.

It's the second time Toyota has beaten GM in sales in the first half of the year. In 2007, Toyota outsold GM by about 50,000 vehicles, although GM eked out a win for the full year, retaining its 77-year position as the world's largest automaker by sales.

Yahoo News

Things are bad at GM -- sales down almost 20 percent -- and open talk about the possible amputation of under-performing/overlapping brands such as Pontiac, GMC and maybe Saturn and Buick, too.

But the diagnosis is much worse for Chrysler Corp. Some analysts believe that unless a transfusion of money and other resources can be found via a buyout or partnership with a healthy automaker such as Nissan/Renault (or even the Chinese), Cerberus -- the private company that currently owns the sickly husk of Chrysler Corp -- will cut its losses and dump the whole shebang.

Time frame? A year, at the most. Maybe less than six months.
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But GM at least has a few decent small cars like the Chevy Cobalt and Saturn Astra -- and also some excellent mid-sized models like the Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura.

Chrysler doesn't even have the Neon anymore.

For some inexplicable reason, Chrysler did not invest in a replacement for this once big-selling economy compact. So it has absolutely nothing right now in the way of a 30 mpg or better small car -- at a time when such cars are as hot-selling as V-8 SUVs were five years back.

American Spectator

Presumed Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama told the UAW in a letter that he supports the $4B in federal aid, stating that he would "provide real solutions necessary to help this industry compete and win in the global economy." Obama also promised tax breaks for consumers that purchase ultra fuel efficient vehicles and tax credits for automakers as well. Presumed Republican nominee John McCain opposes the idea of federally backed loans, but he does support tax breaks to those that purchase fuel efficient vehicles and a $300M in prize money for electric battery powered vehicles

Autoblog
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Ford Brings European Production Stateside!

(T)he Wall Street Journal says that Ford is going to make European cars on this side of the pond. However, it isn't merely North American plants that will be changed over, but American plants. The Journal doesn't give any further indication of where those plants might be or what those cars might be, only saying that the strategy could be revealed during Ford's Q2 earnings announcement this Thursday.

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Autoblog

Airplane Manufacturing Update

In what amounts to another rebuke for the Air Force, Defense Secretary Robert Gates is taking over  the process of buying a new fleet of aerial tankers, and partially opening it for rebidding. Last month, several comparatively small errors were found  in the original Northrop Grumman-Airbus joint venture's figures, switching the total cost calculus on the huge deal a few million dollars in Boeing's favor.

The original announcement of Airbus getting a piece of the deal, supplying the airframes, riled up many antagonists. This move, with political accountability involved, looks like a big victory for Boeing.

American Thinker Blog 

 

The global aircraft market will be boosted in the next two decades by demand for fuel-efficient jets as airlines replace old fleets to combat high oil prices, US plane maker Boeing forecast on Wednesday.The Chicago-based manufacturer made the prediction at a London press conference as it unveiled a 20-year outlook for the commercial aviation sector.
"We see a bigger demand for replacing older, less efficient aircraft," Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing, told reporters.
Boeing said airlines were eager to replace their older fleets with new fuel-efficient aircraft -- such as Boeing's Dreamliner jet and the Airbus A380 and A350 -- amid record high oil prices that are pushing up the cost of jet fuel or kerosene.

AFP

Call it an understatement, or call it an overstatement, but we do seem to be in unprecedented times right now. The airlines are under pressure as we’re facing a weakening worldwide economy, surging oil prices, and slowing traffic growth.
It’s an extremely dynamic period for the commercial aviation industry. And it’s also, shall we say, an interesting and challenging time to be releasing our latest 20-year forecast.
I’ve just presented to journalists here in London the 2008 Current Market Outlook (CMO). And the bottom line is that the worldwide market for commercial airplanes is shifting to new, more efficient jetliners, as airlines replace older and less efficient airplanes.
In fact we’re seeing a much greater share of demand for replacement airplanes in the forecast: 43% in this year’s outlook compared to 36% in last year’s CMO. In a tough, competitive environment, airlines are looking for ways to cut costs. With high fuel prices, it certainly makes more and more sense for airlines to replace their old aircraft with new, fuel efficient airplanes, and we have reflected that trend in our analysis.

Boeing -- Randy's Journal

Boeing Has Released its market outlook that includes a review of their last projections and they seemed to do a pretty good job at it:

How’d we do? As you can see, our 2000 market outlook accurately projected the demand distribution by airplane type. The quantity of aircraft ordered is also in line with our projection. But we did slightly under-forecast the number of single-aisles needed and also under-forecasted the popularity of twin-aisles, while over-estimating the large airplane (747, A380) demand.

Boeing -- Randy's Journal

That all looks pretty solid for Boeing.
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Manzullo Stands Up To China's Import Dumping!

Washington, Jul 8 -

Congressman Don Manzullo today urged the federal government to penalize Chinese companies dumping tires on the U.S. market below cost to give American companies, including Titan Tires of Freeport, a chance to compete fairly in the off-the-road (OTR) tire market.

Manzullo testified this afternoon before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on the petition for relief from China’s unfair trade practices brought by Titan Tires and the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union.

The ITC and the U.S. Department of Commerce preliminarily ruled that 15 Chinese tire companies were illegally selling tires under fair value on the U.S. market and were also receiving illegal subsidies from the Chinese government to give them a competitive advantage against the seven American OTR tire companies.

Those Chinese companies could face tariffs up to 210 percent if the federal agencies agree with Manzullo and make their preliminary rulings final. In fact, the Commerce Department just made their final determinations this afternoon that the Chinese companies had indeed illegally dumped tires on the U.S. market and received illegal subsidies from the Chinese government. If the ITC follows suit next month (decision is expected by Aug. 21) and determines that the U.S. companies were injured by the unfair trade practices, the tariff penalties will go into effect.

During his testimony, Manzullo pointed out U.S. imports of foreign-made OTR tires increased 81 percent from 2004 to 2007 while the market share of American companies dropped significantly. During that time, China was illegally subsidizing those companies while they were illegally dumping those tires on the American market below fair prices, Manzullo said.

“I’m confident that the workers at Freeport’s Titan Tire plant can produce and sell the most affordable and highest quality tire if given the chance to compete fairly, but right now they are not competing on a level playing field,” Manzullo said. “China illegally subsidizes its industries and manipulates its currency to unfairly give an advantage to its manufacturers over American workers, and those Chinese companies must be punished in this case. I urge the ITC and the Department of Commerce to confirm their initial findings and slap tariffs on these offending Chinese companies that are threatening American jobs.”

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Representative Don Manzullo

US Attracts More Auto Production

Toyota's got some changes and rearranges underway with its North American facilities to better serve the demands of the market. The biggest news is that Prius production will be coming Stateside, which will help unkink the supply pipeline, if not also lower costs. A new facility in Blue Springs, Mississippi is being readied for the battery-pack-mobile...

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Autoblog -- Prius production headed to Mississippi

CAFE -- It's Gonna Cost You

Earlier this year, the Bush administration surprised a lot of green activists by actually surpassing the already challenging CAFE standards for 2011-2015. While automakers like Toyota, Ford, and GM are quietly going about the business of hitting those targets, BMW is speaking up and saying that the targets are unattainable. The German automaker has asked the Bush administration for an alternative plan that helps out the hardest hit automakers, and the new rules are a punch to the gut for the Bavarian Motor crew.

While the corporate average for cars and trucks is 35.7 mpg and 28.6 mpg by 2015, BMW has to hit 37.7 mpg and 31.7 mpg, respectively. The reason for the disparity is the sliding scale the government used to account for differences in size in each automaker's lineup. Since BMW doesn't sell pickup trucks and it has plenty of small and midsize offerings, BMW has to hit higher fuel economy standards. What the CAFE numbers don't take into account is the fact that all BMWs are RWD, and there isn't a four cylinder engine to be found (in the U.S., yet). The Bush administration says its final fuel economy numbers will become public by the end of the year, and if companies like BMW don't get special dispensations, look for there to be smaller engines on the horizion, or bigger fines. 

Autoblog -- BMW calls CAFE 'not feasible'

Ten months ago, Bob Lutz said GM cars would be $5,000 more expensive if the Bush administration got its way with fuel standards by raising fuel economy 4% every year through 2017. Bush didn't get his way, but Congress did with its newly-signed-into-law energy bill that requires automakers have a fleet average of 35 MPG by 2020. According to Lutz, that's going to be even more expensive: "This is going to be a net average cost of $6,000 per vehicle, which will have to be passed onto the consumer."

Lutz said that the premium would actually range from $4,000 to $10,000, and that "it won't come all at once, because 35 mpg doesn't kick in all at once." No one said that saving the world was going to be cheap -- but $6,000 per vehicle? We look forward to figuring out which vehicles will bear the brunt of the plan. Add $10,000 to the price of a ZR-1 and no one's really going to notice. Add $6,000 to the price of a CTS and, depending on how much more expensive its competition gets, things could get interesting. Add $4,000 to the price of an Aveo and you've probably sent a fair number of buyers elsewhere.

Autoblog Green -- Lutz says new CAFE standards will increase car price by $6 grand

How To Destroy A State -- UAW Style

The large disparity between the value of the Euro and the U.S. dollar has given European automakers incentive to build plants Stateside. VW has been looking for the location of its next North American plant, and it appears as though we'll have an answer by July 8. Tennessee and Alabama are said to be the two major candidates for the $788 million facility, which could come online as soon as 2011 and produce 300,000 units per year by 2018. Word from Auto Motor Und Sport is that Michigan is completely out of the picture, and considering the state's history with the UAW.

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Autoblog -- VW decision on U.S. plant in July, sorry Michigan

Could GM Be Ahead For Once?

Bob Lutz has come out and said it again: "I would say there's almost no reasonable doubt in our minds anymore that this is going to work." And that isn't just that the Chevy Volt will work -- it's that it will work on time and as promised. In spite of the difficulties GM has had getting Volt technology up-to-speed within its timeframes, the man upstairs is apparently as confident as ever.

The Volt concept car was beautiful and the idea even better, but sometimes it seems GM has good ideas but falls behind on the implementation. I recall hearing first about the concept of a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle from GM but Honda now has one in production while GM has a small fleet in test homes. But I could be wrong on that I guess.

Autoblog -- Bob Lutz on Volt: "no reasonable doubt... this is going to work"

$2 Billion In US Made Auto Parts And Cars For Sale In China Soon

General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. will send nearly $2 billion worth of vehicles, parts and machinery to China during the next few years, part of a package of 30 deals between American businesses and China announced Monday before trade talks.

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Freep.com -- GM, Ford to send $2 billion in parts, vehicles to China

Manufacturing Increases Thanks To Exports

Orders to U.S. factories unexpectedly jumped in April, led by demand for petroleum and chemicals, signaling purchases from abroad are helping sustain manufacturing.

The 1.1 percent increase followed a 1.5 percent gain in March that was higher than previously estimated, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Bookings excluding cars and airplanes climbed 2.6 percent for a second month.

Increases in categories such as machinery and electrical equipment indicate a weaker dollar is making American-made goods more attractive to overseas buyers, helping to keep some factories running. Still, soaring costs for raw materials and a cooling in consumer and business spending will prevent manufacturing from strengthening in coming months.

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Bloomberg

Manufacturing Numbers Up!

Resurgence in US manufacturing? What?
Bless that falling dollar!

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Econopundit

U.S. To Start Exporting -- Toyotas!

Toyota has now announced that it will ramp up U.S. vehicle production in Indiana and begin exporting vehicles to other booming markets around the world.

The drop in the dollar, while we have all heard about its negative effects, has the potential for increasing U.S. manufacturing, it may actually have helped keep us out of a recession.

Now if we could drop the corporate tax rate you would see business pick up dramatically!
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Autoblog -- Toyota to start exporting U.S.-built SUVs and minivans

An older example from April 9, 2008:

Thanks to two relatively recent developments – the falling value of the US dollar relative to other currencies and the significantly lower cost structure that GM, Ford, and Chrysler negotiated with the UAW last fall – the domestic auto companies are now hoping to use their lower cost bases to supply US-built vehicles to export markets.
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GM has already announced an agreement with the Chinese government to export the Enclave crossover to China, to help satisfy a buying public that loves its Buicks (you may have heard that Buick sales in China exceeded Buick sales in the US last year).

AutoSavant -- The US is Suddenly a Low Cost Manufacturing Country
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