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COVENTRY, U.K. - Photographs of President Barack Obama run on a constant loop in the foyer of a factory here, roughly 100 miles northwest of London.
Shots from the photo-op show the president standing in front of trucks with “Navistar” emblazoned on the front and side, a publicity coup for the major American commercial truck and bus manufacturer.
But why are these photos being shown in Coventry, Britain’s down-at-heel equivalent of Detroit?
The answer lies in the flat-fronted truck looming behind the president: It wasn’t made in Illinois, site of Navistar’s headquarters, or Indiana, where the photos were taken; the vehicle was made at a factory in Coventry by Modec, a small British producer of battery-powered trucks.
“It was hard to believe that the most powerful man in the world was in front of a Modec,” said Darren Dewis, one of about 85 people employed at the company’s airy, glass-ceilinged factory. “It was brilliant, we were over the moon,” the 29-year-old cab assembly worker said of the first time he and his fellow workers saw the pictures.
Dewis has reason to be pleased with Obama: Under a nearly-finalized joint venture with Navistar — an arrangement backed by U.S. stimulus funds — Dewis and his Modec colleagues will get to produce more of the kind of truck seen with the American president.
The deal shows how some of America’s $787 billion stimulus package is trickling beyond its shores, and also how some U.S. companies are having to reach out abroad for the cutting-edge technologies that the president hopes will help spark a broad recovery and foster “green” manufacturing jobs.
‘Right here in America’
On Aug. 5, Obama unveiled plans that would allow Navistar to receive $39 million in federal money to build electric battery-powered commercial trucks with Modec. The funds were part of a larger pool of money being made available to American manufacturers.
“I’m here today … to announce $2.4 billion in highly competitive grants to develop the next generation of fuel-efficient cars and trucks powered by the next generation of battery technologies, all made right here in the U.S. of A. Right here in America. Made in America,” Obama said inside Navistar’s Wakarusa, Ind., facility to a round of applause from local officials and factory workers.
But while Navistar and Modec eventually plan to establish manufacturing facilities in the United States, the first batch of their battery-powered vehicles will come off the shop floor in England, not America.
Before the joint venture, Modec produced up to 15 trucks a week at its Coventry factory, and counted UPS, FedEx and Tesco, Britain’s largest retailer, among its customers. But the Navistar joint venture is the five-year-old firm’s biggest success by far.
Under the joint venture, the companies plan to build 400 battery-powered vehicles by 2010, and several thousand vehicles per year after that, Navistar said. The deal will eventually create up to 700 jobs in the U.S., the company said.
The first handful of trucks are scheduled to arrive in the United States on Dec. 25.
“A Christmas present for Navistar,” said Chris Wolfe, operations director for Modec.
An ‘ironic’ announcement?
The president unveiled his automotive grants just a few months after iconic automotive firms Chrysler and General Motors staggered toward bankruptcy and were bailed out with billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars. His promise that the grants would support products “made in America” came in Elkhart County, Ind., a community devastated by the shrinking recreational vehicle industry.
But the fact that much of the new technology would initially come from outside the country was not lost on Modec’s workers.
“If he wants to call it American and produce millions of them, let him get on with it,” quipped Stephen O’Neal, 43, who works as a team leader on Modec’s assembly line. “As long as he keeps selling them and Americans keep buying them, we’ll produce as many as you want.”
Some in the United States also noticed that the president was hyping a U.K.-made vehicle during his Wakarusa announcement.
"We did find it quite ironic that the president of the United States stood at the Navistar plant proclaiming his passion to build fuel-efficient cars and trucks in the United States … standing in front of a Modec vehicle,” said John Waters, the chief executive of Anderson, Ind.,-based Bright Automotive, which has developed a prototype hybrid-electric delivery van.
Bright is also vying for some of the billions of dollars that the administration has decided to spend to promote electric and battery technology.
Waters was part of the team that developed General Motors’ EV1 in the 1990s, an electric car that quickly gained a small, devoted following but was eventually scrapped by the company.
“(Obama) is giving money to U.S. companies importing vehicles and not exporting them,” Waters said. “There is a contradiction there in terms of image and messaging.”
Perhaps sensitive to the perception their collaboration is creating, Modec and Navistar are circumspect about where exactly the U.S. government money is going and whether some of the $39 million will go directly into Modec’s coffers.
Navistar’s spokesman Roy Wiley also declined to say when exactly the vehicles would start being produced in the United States.
“I won’t respond to timeline questions,” he said. “We’ll start production when we start production.”
‘Investing in the future’
Matt Rogers, the Department of Energy’s senior adviser in implementing the Recovery Act program, said the Modec-Navistar deal makes good sense for Americans.
Roughly a third of the Recovery Act was meant to halt the economy’s downward spiral, said Rogers, who was a senior partner at consulting firm McKinsey & Co. before joining the Department of Energy. Another third was aimed at helping states suddenly caught short of essential cash.
The remaining third was earmarked to foster investment in technology that will have a long-term impact, both in terms of jobs and new technologies, he said.
“(The Navistar-MODEC joint venture) is going into a former recreational vehicle factory and restarting production in that factory with advanced technology,” he said. “We need to attract new technologies and accelerate the adoption of new technologies in the automotive sector,” he added.
U.S. companies certainly are getting serious government incentives to spur innovation.
Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, $112 billion will be invested in so-called "green" technologies, and $2 billion will be earmarked for renewable energy research. Obama has also proposed adding $15 billion a year to renewable energy research.
One of the reasons that so many billions need to be spent to get U.S. manufacturers up-to-speed is that for the last two decades or so the country’s leading automotive companies have lagged their foreign counterparts in developing innovative and fuel-efficient vehicles.
Buoyed by decades of a lax regulations and low fuel prices, giants like General Motors, Chrysler and Ford focused on building bigger vehicles full of creature comforts, with little regard for how much fuel they used.
“Where’s the innovation been in the last 20 years? In NAV systems, putting VCRs in cars – that’s not innovation, that’s getting my decorator in to redo my living room,” said Maryanne Keller, who wrote “Rude Awakening: The Rise, Fall and Struggle for Recovery of General Motors,” and “Collision: GM, Toyota, Volkswagen and The Race to Own the 21st Century.”
“Obama has basically said, ‘You will reach 30-plus miles per gallon,’ so everyone has gotten on the bandwagon, saying, ‘We’re not going to be able to BS our way out of this like we have for the last 25 years,” Keller said.
So after having fumbled with and even stifled cleaner and more fuel-efficient technology, according to industry insiders, America’s automotive industry is looking for partners to help it come up with that same technology – and fast.
Hence President Obama’s photo-op display in an English Midlands factory.
In the case of the Modec-Navistar deal, the American company looked for a partner that had a particular product ready to go instead of having to develop one from scratch, Keller said, adding that the deal makes “perfect sense.”
‘You can’t just take’
Back in the Coventry factory, the type of collaboration Keller describes is top of mind.
“We’ve all got individual skill sets and we will all struggle individually,” said Wolfe, the operations director. “But if we can get together … we can take this technology onto the next step.”
Dewis, the factory worker, who like many of his colleagues lost his job at Peugeot and struggled to find work before coming to Modec, sees the Navistar deal in a bigger context that has little to do with salary, profits and national borders.
For him, the electric-vehicle technology he works with could well change the world for the better.
“You’ve got to think about future generations and the way the planet is at the minute,” said Dewis, who has a 2-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old stepson. “You have got to give something back; you just can’t just take.”
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{"commentId":10351436,"authorDomain":"bullwinkle2009"}
This is just another example of Obammy Big Ears and the Dumocrats "helping the U.S. economy" fiascos. They're a "Clear and Present Danger' to our Nation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! More money and jobs going overseas for the "story/hope" that eventually something will be produced here in the U.S. AND, it's ONLY 700 or so jobs!
{"commentId":10351436,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"bullwinkle2009"}
- 5 votes
#1 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:31 AM EDT{"commentId":10352693,"authorDomain":"coachgjh1"}
I remember the campaign promises like it was last year, oh wait it was. Keep jobs in America nad punish those that leave. The problem is the 2.4 Billion of your tax payer dollars going to a, you guessed it, overseas run country. Hey punish me please Obama, I need money in the US. Just another lie. Of course it is funny how the article tries to spin it as a great accomplishment over all for Americans, all 85 British ones.
Sucks that Libs created him and now we all have to suffer.
{"commentId":10352693,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"coachgjh1"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":10353544,"authorDomain":"ben-182373"}
Do you need more evidence that this President of the World does not have the best interest of America in mind? We are losing half a million jobs each month since he took office in January, and he is sending more manufacturing jobs overseas. And what about the billions he is sending to Brazil to drill for oil there while the EPA puts our coal industry on notice?
{"commentId":10353544,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"ben-182373"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":10354722,"authorDomain":"cdahl"}
Use the US budget to pursue and agenda. Our US Taxpayer Stimulus money was supposed to be allocated to hire US workers, and put US Citizens back to work.
I wonder where Brittan's stimulus money is? Where is the payback? They will eventually put a factory here to hire US citizens? Then they can have the stimulus money when that occurs. Until then, give the money to the US people that need it.
{"commentId":10354722,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"cdahl"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":10355233,"authorDomain":"cdahl"}
Obama lost me when he said that he has to honor the WTO and allow foreign companies to bid on the steel for the bridge projects. Last I heard the stimulus that is funded by US Taxpayer dollars was supposed to put our US Steel workers back on the production lines.
I don't see the foreign stimulus money being invested to put us back to work. Unless you count them purchasing our country one step at a time through foreign debt. But, I'm not sure that is a good thing either.
{"commentId":10355233,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"cdahl"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":10356216,"authorDomain":"belmontsanford68"}
Glad someone got to participate in the "green revolution". Too bad it's not Americans!!
{"commentId":10356216,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"belmontsanford68"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":10356454,"authorDomain":"mrs-kelly"}
The horrible thing is he probably didn't have any idea that those vehicles are not made here. As far as he knows, that company has a building here, so they must be American made. No oversite on what he is speaking about, or his handlers are trying to make him look foolish. It is not a good babysitter that allows the president to make these pronouncements while standing in front of the proof of his lie. Bad babysitter, bad, bad!!!
{"commentId":10356454,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"mrs-kelly"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":10356680,"authorDomain":"mrs-kelly"}
Sorry, I understand that some of my statements are incorrect or at least not fully correct, but really folks..... I'd like to see this man succeed as he is our president, I'm just not quite convinced yet....
I am curious about how he would be percieved by the general population if the 24 hour media blitz didn't exist. Granted, without the media, would he be president?
{"commentId":10356680,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"mrs-kelly"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":10361743,"authorDomain":"bobcouchman"}
american tax payer money boosting european economy and generating english jobs. what about our millions of unemployed. no help there.
{"commentId":10361743,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"bobcouchman"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":10363839,"authorDomain":"markosb"}
I noticed some geithner people people in my back yard picking money off of my money tree, I asked them what they were doing, the respond we need your money cause our trees don't have anymore on them. I kindly asked them why they just don't come in out of the cold and use my computer in the basement... they laughed and said oh no... we need real money.
When will we stand up to the big business of government and corporations the Obama prophecies aren't coming true, and even if McCain was in there it would be the same. If they had told the truth, they would say well I don't know what i am going to do about "insert problem here" cause I have to wait to see what "insert large company here" leaves me in a unmarked briefcase and/or dollar sign bag
{"commentId":10363839,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"markosb"}
{"commentId":10351547,"authorDomain":"A394054"}
He stands in front of a vehicle made in England and declares it "American made"? He either doesn't know what's going on or he's outright lying. No matter which is true, it does not show him in a very good light!
{"commentId":10351547,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"A394054"}
- 12 votes
#2 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:40 AM EDT{"commentId":10351890,"authorDomain":"egoode"}
You do understand Obama was praising a newly announced Joint Venture between Navistar and Modec? Eventually Navistar will manufacture electric vehicles using Modec's technology in Elkhart, IN. It's not that he's lying or doesn't know what's going on - it's that THEY HAVEN'T STARTED BUILDING THEM HERE YET - they don't have the facilities set up to do it yet. They JUST announced this Joint Venture.
It's just like when a governor praises the groundbreaking for a new factory - or South Carolina praises Boeing for making planes in North Charleston (they haven't built a single one there yet...because the factory hasn't been built yet).
Good Lord - at least READ the articles before you get upset about them.
Under the joint venture, the companies plan to build 400 battery-powered vehicles by 2010, and several thousand vehicles per year after that, Navistar said. The deal will eventually create up to 700 jobs in the U.S., the company said.
{"commentId":10351890,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"egoode"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":10351996,"authorDomain":"hightmo"}
Just another example of more "pretend jobs" for the American worker. There appears to be NO help, NO consideration for the average American, except to empty their pockets to fill the coffers of the "elite" scumbags. The 700 jobs are a drop in the bucket. I hope that you don't really believe that this company will tool up a factory for "up to" 700 jobs, and only several thousand vehicles.
{"commentId":10351996,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"hightmo"}
- 8 votes
{"commentId":10352465,"authorDomain":"hightmo"}
Addendum: Even with the 39 million grant, with such a small output of vehicles, there will be a day sooner than later, that making these vehicles will not be profitable, and the factory will shut down. IF it ever opens in the first place.
{"commentId":10352465,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"hightmo"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":10352958,"authorDomain":"coachgjh1"}
Ebeneezer,
Read between the lines here, the British company does it with 85 employees! They plan on creating how many jobs 700? It is like the company in Colorado that said the stimulus provided over 4,000 people with jobs when in fact it was a little over 1,000. Or the 500,000 jobs created in the last quarter when the number was a fourth of that. Read the article. The trucks are going to be built in England and wrapped with with Navistar logo as well as providing a few extras that the Governmnet forces automakers to have such as seat belts, air bags, etc. Plus spending 2.4 billion to get maybe, if it happens 700 jobs, and dumping an additional few billion in til 2020. Is it worth your tax payer dollars to fund another country, something he said he wouldn't allow!
The stupidity of Americans is they don't understand what is always pointing right at them. The media plagues on people knowing the one little fact. Of course throw in lazy, because most Americans wouldn't research the truth either.
{"commentId":10352958,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"coachgjh1"}
- 6 votes
{"commentId":10353302,"authorDomain":"frank-daddy"}
Ebeneezer, I see that you are really trying to get what Obama is selling however my main concern is that the US company isn't making the vehicles and WON'T set a timeline for doing so. Which probably means never. I hope that it does happen but I don't know that I am thrilled that $2.4 BILLION - that is BILLION of OUR tax dollars - is going to a company overseas.
{"commentId":10353302,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"frank-daddy"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":10353495,"authorDomain":"hightmo"}
coachgjh1: We are in agreement on many things here. But I just hate hearing Americans being disrespected. American workers take it in the a@# from so many directions. They are no more in control than peons in any other country. And they do not have the time to "research" every decision of their government, do you?
{"commentId":10353495,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"hightmo"}
{"commentId":10354661,"authorDomain":"gelucas"}
Gee Ebeneezer is this your idea of "Shovel Ready" stimulus? Some day they might build a plant here. It is a Screaming Joke!!!!!
{"commentId":10354661,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"gelucas"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":10354766,"authorDomain":"cdahl"}
Ebeneezer,
Take the blinders off. Any parent would tell a child, then you can have the money after the factory breaks ground. Until then, I don't believe that you will actually be sleeping over at Jimmy's tonight.
{"commentId":10354766,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"cdahl"}
- 4 votes
{"commentId":10362588,"authorDomain":"mac1546"}
I have a bridge to sell to you Ebeneezer.
{"commentId":10362588,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"mac1546"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":10351612,"authorDomain":"genet"}
if all money does not begin here and stay here the idea of helping america first if pimped out . Euro companies should not be allowed to establish bases here only to get our tax dollars. britian , uk,or other should provide their tax needs to do business in other countries
{"commentId":10351612,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"genet"}
#3 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:45 AM EDT{"commentId":10351668,"authorDomain":"gelucas"}
Another "shovel ready Stimulus project". Come on Congress don't read the bill just get it passed. Thanks B.O.!!!!
{"commentId":10351668,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"gelucas"}
- 6 votes
#4 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:50 AM EDT{"commentId":10351729,"authorDomain":"dcabecei"}
Kind of like the cash for clunkers, we provide the cash for purchase of mostly foreign cars. This administration just gets better and better. Hurry up 2012 so we can make things right again.
{"commentId":10351729,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"dcabecei"}
- 10 votes
#5 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 8:55 AM EDT{"commentId":10352295,"authorDomain":"egoode"}
Um...cash for clunkers was actually pretty good for U.S. Manufacturers:
New Vehicles Manufacturers
General Motors 18.7%
Toyota 17.9%
Ford 16.0%
Honda 11.6%
Chrysler 10.6%
Those are the top 5. U.S. Big 3 made up about 45% of all C4C sales.
Top 10 cars:
Top 10 New Vehicles Purchased
* 1. Toyota Corolla - Built at NUMMI in Fremont, CA
* 2. Ford Focus FWD - Built in Wayne, MI
* 3. Honda Civic - Built in the East Liberty Auto Plant in Ohio
4. Toyota Prius - Not built in US yet - U.S. production to start in 2010
* 5. Toyota Camry - Built in Georgetown, KY and Lafayette, IN
6. Hyundai Elantra - Built in Korea
* 7. Ford Escape FWD - Built in Avon Lake, OH
* 8. Dodge Caliber - Built in Belvidere, IL
9. Honda Fit - Built in Japan
* 10. Chevrolet Cobalt - Built in Lordstown, OH
So you can see - of the top 10 cars, 7 are built in the U.S. including the top 3 vehicles. This doesn't include all the parts that are made in the U.S. that are built into each vehicle. It also doesn't include all the people who need to transport the vehicles, sell the vehicles, and service the vehicles. Based on what I was able to find out - more than 410,000 vehicles built in the U.S. were sold through the program.
As I said, this doesn't include vehicles who have parts made in the U.S. in them (such as Mercedes, Mazda, etc.) which would bring the total up significantly.
{"commentId":10352295,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"egoode"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":10353023,"authorDomain":"coachgjh1"}
Except for the dealers that sold the cars and are still waiting on there money. Rob from your dealers to pad the numbers. Liberalism at work!
{"commentId":10353023,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"coachgjh1"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":10354819,"authorDomain":"cdahl"}
Ebeneezer,
Again, take the blinders off. Reducing sales tomorrow for sales today does not always result in smart business.
http://www.reuters.com/article/wtUSInvestingNews/idUSTRE59066D20091002
DETROIT (Reuters) - U.S. auto sales tumbled by 23 percent in September as showrooms emptied after the government-funded boom from the "cash for clunkers" program, with General Motors Co and Chrysler hardest-hit.
Sales for General Motors Co and Chrysler -- the two U.S. automakers struggling to regain momentum after emerging from bankruptcy -- dropped by 45 percent and 42 percent, respectively.
{"commentId":10354819,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"cdahl"}
- 5 votes
{"commentId":10355053,"authorDomain":"gelucas"}
Another good one Ebeneezer! Facts are American taxpayers paid $24,000 for each car sold because of the cash for clunkers program and the actual sales increase was 125,000. During the period the rebate was in effect 690,000 cars were sold. In other words the buyers of the 565,000 cars that would have sold anyway said Oh wow the government is giving me a rebate for a car I was going to buy without it. Nice program B.O. Thanks again!!!! Here's the article from Edmunds in case you doubt the real facts:
{"commentId":10355053,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"gelucas"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":10365169,"authorDomain":"Deez-1189541"}
Who is to say the batteries will actually be made here in the US, they will probably be made in China, with our luck and tax dollars, with a tag added made in America instead of China. This President wouldn't know how to tell the truth if it walked up and slapped him in the face.
{"commentId":10365169,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"Deez-1189541"}
{"commentId":10368195,"authorDomain":"belmontsanford68"}
Those edmunds figures are straight bull$H*t. They manipulated them to get a desired result. Of the 3/4 trillion spent on "stimulating" the economy the CARS program at least had a desired target which it hit. It was the rest of the program I had a problem with mainly destroying perfectly good engines and even engines that may have had issues but could have been used as rebuildable cores.
{"commentId":10368195,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"belmontsanford68"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":10351993,"authorDomain":"justmike5955"}
Lets see a company called Bright Automotive has developed a prototype hybrid electric delivery van is based here in this country so it would make sense to invest in them and get them to making the vehicles for Navi Star.
Oh I'm sorry the key words "would make sense" are not in the governments vocabulary as usual.
I thought BO was pleged to bringing back manufacturing to the U.S. not keeping it over seas. Oh yeah that was just some silly campaign promise made somewhere back in time when he needed the votes. We bailed out GM and Chrysler and gave (yes, gave Fiat) a controlling interest in Chrysler to save American jobs. Now Chrysler will be dropping its Dodge line and start bringing in the Fiat 500 to replace it. Have you ever seen one of those coffins on wheels?
The majority of all green jobs will be in Asia and other parts of the world not here in the U.S.
{"commentId":10351993,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"justmike5955"}
- 5 votes
#6 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:14 AM EDT{"commentId":10368254,"authorDomain":"belmontsanford68"}
I rented a Fiat Brava last spring. It had a turbodiesel V6 powerplant. It was as nice as any U.S. market midsize and pulled strong at 120 on the Autobahn. I don't know how the long term reliability will be but the quality was there unlike Fiats of the past. The 500 is only slightly smaller than a Mini Cooper. While I wouldn't want to drive cross country in one (or a Mini) for a commuter car it would be fine. As for green jobs they are what they are, I for one don't have a problem with green technology as a supplement to existing transportation but unless the CO2 crowd gets real about nuclear power there is no way electric vehicles are going to be anything other than a niche. The current grids simply don't have the reserve capacity needed for the power required to go electric.
{"commentId":10368254,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"belmontsanford68"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":10352153,"authorDomain":"justmike5955"}
Ebeneezer, did you also read what the spokesman Roy Wiley said?
Navistar’s spokesman Roy Wiley also declined to say when exactly the vehicles would start being produced in the United States.
“I won’t respond to timeline questions,” he said. “We’ll start production when we start production.”
There is no real commitment here since they will not even give a date to start producing here. The answer he gave leans to 1 year, 10 years probably never. There should be a required production start date.
{"commentId":10352153,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"justmike5955"}
- 7 votes
#7 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:24 AM EDT{"commentId":10352337,"authorDomain":"egoode"}
I'll requote again:
Under the joint venture, the companies plan to build 400 battery-powered vehicles by 2010, and several thousand vehicles per year after that, Navistar said. The deal will eventually create up to 700 jobs in the U.S., the company said.
{"commentId":10352337,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"egoode"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":10352678,"authorDomain":"JC-1439099"}
A little disingenuous Ebeneezer. Yes, they will be building vehicles - just not in the U.S. until some unknown future date.
But while Navistar and Modec eventually plan to establish manufacturing facilities in the United States, the first batch of their battery-powered vehicles will come off the shop floor in England, not America.
{"commentId":10352678,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"JC-1439099"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":10353429,"authorDomain":"coachgjh1"}
The quote to sum up the article,
“If he wants to call it American and produce millions of them, let him get on with it,” quipped Stephen O’Neal, 43, who works as a team leader on Modec’s assembly line. “As long as he keeps selling them and Americans keep buying them, we’ll produce as many as you want.”
{"commentId":10353429,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"coachgjh1"}
- 3 votes
{"commentId":10355892,"authorDomain":"cdahl"}
Ebeneezer,
And when you put US workers to work, you can get the US Taxpayer funded Simulus money that is designed to put US workers back to work.
Until then, there are plenty of US and Brittan programs designed to fund your venture.
Come on and put some substance behind your argument.
{"commentId":10355892,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"cdahl"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":10352323,"authorDomain":"hightmo"}
If only 400 cars are being built in the first year, how many people do you think are going to be needed to build those cars? That would be the output of only about 1.5 cars a day. I think Detroit can do alot better than that, even on their slowest days.
{"commentId":10352323,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"hightmo"}
- 4 votes
#8 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:35 AM EDT{"commentId":10352534,"authorDomain":"egoode"}
True - but these are commercial vehicles - Chassis, Flat-bed and Box-trucks running about $35,000 each. There's always a much smaller market for those.
Also - Modec themselves just produced their 100th vehicle last year (2008) with a maximum capacity of 5,000 per year at their plant in the UK. They just started production in 2007.
That's not bad for a ZEV/All-Electric vehicle.
{"commentId":10352534,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"egoode"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":10353613,"authorDomain":"hightmo"}
Remember that this is a new technology, so the per vehicle cost will probably be driven down in a few years.
{"commentId":10353613,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"hightmo"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":10352691,"authorDomain":"justmike5955"}
Those 400 vehicles will be produced in the U.K. and Modec will not say when it plans to start production in the U.S. I will requote Roy Wileys own words.
“I won’t respond to timeline questions,” he said. “We’ll start production when we start production.”
I rather believe that the vehicle itself will be produced in the U.K. creating more than 700 jobs there and only 700 here to finish them out. Why not invest in an American company that would produce the vehicle here and put many more than 700 to work? eh
{"commentId":10352691,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"justmike5955"}
- 5 votes
#9 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:56 AM EDT{"commentId":10352697,"authorDomain":"david-amon"}
Another example of the current Governments spending the tax payers dollars like a teenager with their parents credit card. Look out 2010 through 2012 inflation is going to go through the roof at some point over that time!
{"commentId":10352697,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"david-amon"}
- 2 votes
#10 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:57 AM EDT{"commentId":10352777,"authorDomain":"kenetter"}
Navistar receives US stimulus money to partner with a UK firm? We have almost 10% unemployment rate and now we have US firms taking US stimulus money and giving it to foreign companies? I can't believe there's not a single US company that can't do this. What a slap in the face for the US worker and US technology!!!! No wonder we are fast becoming a second rate country.
Our politicians better wake up before we start outsourcing their jobs!!
{"commentId":10352777,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"kenetter"}
- 5 votes
#11 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:01 AM EDT{"commentId":10353872,"authorDomain":"hightmo"}
No wonder we are fast becoming a second rate country.
Yes, a second rate country led by first rate crooks.
{"commentId":10353872,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"hightmo"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":10352841,"authorDomain":"joemark"}
" Modec and Navistar are circumspect about where exactly the U.S. government money is going and whether some of the $39 million will go directly into Modec’s coffers"
We All wonder where the money goes.
This is a prime example of where the money should've been spent. Bright could retool very little and have vehicles out the door, Where as in Elkheart you'll have alot
more retooling to do.
The time line to retool in Elkheart and get the factory up and operational is not any time soon. The giudelines have not been sent and Modec might not release them.
If they are making the vehichels and money.
{"commentId":10352841,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"joemark"}
- 2 votes
#12 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:04 AM EDT{"commentId":10352882,"authorDomain":"larry-monacelli"}
How does this help America. It does not create jobs here. It does not help in tax dollars for Obama's dumb agendas in which the American people will pay for with higher taxes. The vehicles are imported and purchased here and the money goes back to England. What good is this?
{"commentId":10352882,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"larry-monacelli"}
- 3 votes
#13 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:07 AM EDT{"commentId":10352913,"authorDomain":"SuSu2534"}
It's no secret the USA lags behind in automotive technology; particularly as it applies to fuel economy. If Navistar elected to spend their stimulus in a joint effort with Modec to quickly access the needed technology it seems like a business decision, not a political one. On a different note....is our President a hopeless "camera jock" or what?
{"commentId":10352913,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"SuSu2534"}
- 2 votes
#14 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:08 AM EDT{"commentId":10355415,"authorDomain":"phil-5"}
It's propaganda that the US is behind in technology. Though I hate GM for stealing my tax dollars and caving in to the UAW, the Volt is a virtual tour de force in technology, designed from scratch to be a real next generation car. Also, Ford has some of the best mileage cars in the world in each class.
Just as an aside, the Ford F-150 is still kicking behinds in the truck world and they a have one on steroids called the Raptor that they can't make enough of, and Chevy's muscular Camaro has the same problem. So much for our auto makers not building what Americans want to buy!
{"commentId":10355415,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"phil-5"}
- 1 vote
{"commentId":10352954,"authorDomain":"MtnMan14"}
Nobody still gets it. Until the workers of the United States are willing to compete on the world stage in terms of cost of production (adjusted for shipping costs) the jobs will be out of the country. Up above, Ebeneezer Goode speaks to the number of vehicles made in the US, which is exactly true. What he didn't speak to was the parts for the US constructed vehicles that come from out of the country. Boeing is moving production of the 787 to South Carolina - why? - because cost of production is competetive there and not in Seattleand that includes establishing a new assembly line. The next time it may be Mexico will see a new Boeing plant. Until someone finds our long lost national work ethic, this is going to continue to happen.
{"commentId":10352954,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"MtnMan14"}
- 3 votes
#15 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:11 AM EDT{"commentId":10353112,"authorDomain":"efcncmt"}
This makes me want to vomit.
$787 Billion American dollars and it does not all stay here.
I find it hard to believe that in the entire USA they could not find someone somewhere that could have supplied them with trucks.
{"commentId":10353112,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"efcncmt"}
- 7 votes
#16 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:19 AM EDT{"commentId":10353178,"authorDomain":"shoot-n-ride"}
. . . all made right here in the U.S. of A. Right here in America. Made in America," Obama said inside Navistar's Wakarusa, Ind., facility . . .
President Obama, once again . . . "YOU LIE!"
It's good that plans are being made, but my chidren's debt doesn't need to be spent overseas; their needs aren't even being fulfilled here, now, today. The seed money ARRA supposedly provided is trickling out of the bag onto foreign soil and into foreign jobs, not American jobs. The need is NOW . . . TODAY; not sometime down the road as the company admits.
Navistar's spokesman Roy Wiley also declined to say when exactly the vehicles would start being produced in the United States.
"I won't respond to timeline questions," he said. "We'll start production when we start production."
Once the unions and politicians (double-speak) are out of the way, we can see another shell game for what it really is. Wake up America, the politicians aren't going to fix our problems, and we sure need more citizens to recognize that the path we were on is the same one they're leading us down right now. Tax and spend, only this time it's with our grandchildren's taxes.
{"commentId":10353178,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"shoot-n-ride"}
- 5 votes
#17 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:22 AM EDT{"commentId":10354090,"authorDomain":"joemark"}
Obama could have put green jobs here in Texas or California when he sent the first jobs over seas with the Wind turbins, I don't think he even looked at weither our plants could be retooled or we could find a company here that would make them he just sent it over to France.
{"commentId":10354090,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"joemark"}
- 2 votes
{"commentId":10354237,"authorDomain":"bennettskis"}
“I’m here today … to announce $2.4 billion in highly competitive grants to develop the next generation of fuel-efficient cars and trucks powered by the next generation of battery technologies...
Don't forget the first part of the quote. This seed money will bring jobs here, more importantly to Indiana.
In addition to the 700 Navistar Jobs, there will be construction jobs, people making parts for the trucks, drivers to deliver parts and trucks, dealers to sell the trucks, technicians to service the trucks... and so on.
It used to be for every GM worker there were several non GM workers supporting the manufacturing process. This will be the same. Navistar cannot fully build these trucks without local help.
{"commentId":10354237,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"bennettskis"}
{"commentId":10353214,"authorDomain":"coachgjh1"}
Have an idea, take an electric fork truck and convert it into a commercial truck, real easy. So easy the US does it now and they are used at airports, comercial shipping docks, warehouse areas, etc. all through out the US. The speed is in the tranmission. Where is there stimulus money?
{"commentId":10353214,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"coachgjh1"}
- 3 votes
#18 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:23 AM EDT{"commentId":10353358,"authorDomain":"jimwherry1"}
"Tragic" is the only word I can use to describe the use of my tax dollars.
First of all, I have a job and I do not get "Earned Income Credit." In other words, I actually pay net real taxes. Second, my net worth is probably in the negative, but even if I deduct my student loan, I'm still probably worth a few thousand dollars. In other words, for those of you who believe that only "racist, sexist, anti-gay, born-again bigots who are all rich" disagree with the President - you would be wrong. I'm also against the whole racist-sexist thing, too, for that matter.
But "tragic" is the word. So far, we've heard of the $500 Million headed off to help Al Gore open a plant that makes "fuel-efficient" luxury cars for $89,000 a piece. We've heard of the funds from the world bank headed to make Soros and his friends rich on an insider tip about drilling for oil in Brazil. We've been bluntly told by the government that the over-whelming funds from the "stimulus" package will never be repaid, and we've been told that the banking industry has taken HALF A BILLION DOLLARS of YOUR TAXES AND MINE and used them to bribe - lobby - the U.S. Congress to prevent real consumer reform legislation. They successfully prevented Congress from permitting bankruptcy judges to modify home mortgage loans in bankrupty court. They have successfully stalled the creation of a consumer protection agency.
And now this farce.
The "stimulus" bill was a lie from the beginning. It was and is a broken promise, an attempt by rich Congressmen to protect rich donors, NOT an effort to "stimulate" OUR economy. This news is sad, but not surprising, in light of the growing body of evidence.
{"commentId":10353358,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"jimwherry1"}
- 3 votes
#19 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:30 AM EDT{"commentId":10353483,"authorDomain":"thelma-sperka"}
This is about as stupid as stupid can be. Taking the stimulus money that belongs to US citizens , our hard earned money and sending it to the UK. I knew Obama was stupid but I never thought he was that STUPID. Come on , send this crony back to school to learn American History. I am sure he doesn' t know our History by the way he is sellinig us down the country. We need to impeach this imposter. He is not a President of America. He wants to be President of the WORLD.
{"commentId":10353483,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"thelma-sperka"}
- 1 vote
#20 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:35 AM EDT{"commentId":10353588,"authorDomain":"chilidogg64"}
are we buying jobs to come back to the us? it seems they (jobs) easily went overseas with no payment and then we have to buy them back.
let me put this another way.........it just seems "gov fat cats" sent our jobs overseas and the only one making profit was them. now "gov fat cats" are buying jobs to come back to the us......with our tax dollars no less. agian profit for themselves........
can anyone explain this better for me.? i've missed something........
{"commentId":10353588,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"chilidogg64"}
- 2 votes
#21 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:39 AM EDT{"commentId":10353640,"authorDomain":"lama8805"}
Response to this story of U.S stimulus money being spent (invested) in overseas production plants is a classic example of corporate mis-direction. The U.S government is providing money to business. What business chooses to do with that money is an indication of our great capitalists, those that "need" less government oversight in addition to government financial assistance in order to.. what? THEY are expected to fund those projects here. Why was that money even spent on trucks manufactured in the U.K. ? If this is the best that the great American capitalist can provide to the country called the United States of America then I say stop providing any funding to any company that does not at least try to invest it first on our shores. If that sounds like protectionism, good. Because it is.
{"commentId":10353640,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"lama8805"}
- 2 votes
#22 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:42 AM EDT{"commentId":10353653,"authorDomain":"ben-182373"}
Where the White House Council of Economics adviser Christina Romer told Congress last week that they shouldn't expect any more positive benefits from the $787 billion stimulus package, she was telling the truth. The remaining unspent $676 billion is going overseas. Damn these traitors!!
{"commentId":10353653,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"ben-182373"}
- 2 votes
#23 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:43 AM EDT{"commentId":10353787,"authorDomain":"justmike5955"}
MtnMan14A, you said unless the American worker is willing to compete on the world stage in terms of production and shipping cost then the jobs will stay outside the U.S. Let me ask you just what the american worker is supposed to compete with?
Before retiring, I worked for a furniture manufacturer who produced their product here in the U.S. They made a deal with a firm in China and instead of paying an American worker 15 to 19 dollars an hour they could get workers for 75 cents per hour. They took the offer and moved their production facilities to China laying off over 475 American workers.
Do you seriously belive that the American workers can or should compete against 75 cents per hour with no health insurance or benifits. The workers in our China factory worked 12 to 15 hours per day 6 days per week with no benefits. Most of them slept in the dorms at the factory which was deducted from their wages. Their meals were at the factory which were also deducted from their wages. Now you do the math sounds like the old Company House and Store stories we went through here.
By the way the same dining room suite they were selling for $1500 to the retailer who sells to you for $3500. they didnt cut their whole sale prices to the retailer they just cut their wages and over head for more profit. At whose expense the American workers of course.
{"commentId":10353787,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"justmike5955"}
- 3 votes
#24 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:49 AM EDT{"commentId":10353983,"authorDomain":"gstebbins"}
The AP reported that the Stimulus numbers cited by the White House for jobs created is WAYYY overstated. Just the gross errors showed that of 30,000 attributed, at least 9,000 were bogus. And of the legit ones, the jobs lasted only a few months. Edmunds.com, an auto rater, has just published a report on the Cash for Clunkers program. Each car cost the American taxpayer $26,000 and only a small percentage of the total number cited by the White House were actually sales that would not have occurred anyway. And now we learn that American taxpayers are funding Great Britain's recovery; not ours.
{"commentId":10353983,"threadId":"712161","contentId":"3438812","authorDomain":"gstebbins"}
- 3 votes
#25 - Thu Oct 29, 2009 10:57 AM EDT{"canLink":false,"threadId":"712161","isPrivate":false}
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