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"Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice shame on me." That is a cliché that investors should keep in mind if they are considering buying into General Motors' latest debt offering. In fact, holders of GM common stock should also assess the growing similarity that New GM has with the bankrupted Old GM. GM announced last week that it will be offering an estimated $2 billion of unsecured debt to help prop up underfunded pensions with additional proceeds used for general business purposes. The move follows a contradictory continuing dialogue that proclaims the company is so cash...

WARREN, Mich. - An employee at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren stabbed by someone visiting the plant Wednesday. The 52-year-old victim was hospitalized and suspect arrested by police - but the valet service supervisor with a valid CPL who pulled his gun to stop the attack, says he was fired. Didarul Sarder, SP+ Valet Supervisor was heading into work Wednesday morning at the General motors technical center in Warren, when he heard the cry for help. The lady kept saying 'I'm dying, someone help' and it was just natural reaction," said Didarul Sarder, SP+ Valet Supervisor. "I just...

If you're an automaker, especially one from Detroit, conditions probably aren't going to be better for you to make a lot of cash. For General Motors, that's what happened last year as the company posted a record $9.7 billion net profit. [...] Yet even with the earnings, GM gets no respect from the stock market. Its shares were down 3.5 percent at midday Wednesday to $28.61. Investors haven't been kind to auto stocks for years. GM shares are down more than 15 percent in the past year, and are more than $4 below the company's initial public offering price of...

Here's one that wasn't hard to see coming. General Motors has announced that it is ending production of the Cadillac ELR , which was essentially a gussied upChevy Volt at twice the price. You can call this one a mercy killing as the overpriced, pseudo-green, government-subsidized vehicle was doomed for failure as low sales figures reflected the lack of value offered by the vehicle. That failure was predicted here back in December of 2013 when the ELR was rolled out. As with the sales-challenged Chevy Volt, most of the media bought into the Cadillac ELR hype, calling it a...

The Obama Administration's Justice Department is now suing Volkswagen for "up to $90 billion for allegedly violating environmental law." Politically-favored General Motors was fined $900 million, or 1% of that amount, for covering up an ignition switch defect that led to the deaths of at least 124 people. At last count, the number of people who lost their lives as a result of emissions' tampering by VW stood at zero. Meanwhile, the GM board unanimoulsy elected CEO Mary Barra as its Chairman, demonstrating that it is still not independent of the White House political operation, even years after the...

A civil trial set to start this month in New York City will test the legal boundaries of hundreds of claims remaining against General Motors Co. stemming from faulty ignition switches. The case involves an Oklahoma man who blames a defective ignition switch for preventing his air bags from deploying during a crash. It's the first trial to result from hundreds of lawsuits filed against GM after the auto giant revealed in 2014 that faulty ignition switches in Chevy Cobalts and other small cars necessitated an unprecedented recall. The switches can slip out of the "on" position, causing the cars...

General Motors says it will sell in the United States next year a vehicle made in China, becoming the first major US automaker to do so. http://news.yahoo.com/gm-sell-china-made-vehicle-us-first-214648322.html

NEW YORK: A U.S. judge on Monday said that General Motors Co may be liable for punitive damages in lawsuits it faces over an ignition switch problem that prompted the recall of millions of vehicles last year. The decision from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber in Manhattan could increase GM's financial exposure to claims for injuries, deaths or loss of vehicle value stemming from the 2014 recall. Unlike compensatory damages, which are meant to make up for plaintiffs' losses, punitive damages are designed to punish defendants for egregious or negligent conduct, and to deter future misbehavior. Gerber said, however, post-bankruptcy...

A report by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Homeland Security has found that the Department’s Federal Protective Service (FPS) division wasted about $2.5 million of taxpayer money in 2014 on an extravagant fleet vehicle program. It is not surprising that images show that the vehicles in question appear to be manufactured by crony company , General Motors. A House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Management Efficiency, headed by Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), requested the audit on the FPS’ fleet operation. The report unveils a fleet of 1,169 vehicles which were leased at...

The United Auto Workers union says its workers at General Motors will strike if it can’t agree on a new contract with the company by 11:59 p.m. Sunday. Both sides are still negotiating. The union made a similar threat in recent discussions with FIAT Chrysler before agreeing to a new four-year contract. …

The New York Times is declaring that disgraced private equity mogul Steven Rattner has gotten his reputation back in the Manhattan lunch circles that matter. This was probably only a matter of time given that it was the Times itself that played a leading role in his rehabilitation. It’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, naturally, who pronounces the cleansing complete, even wondering aloud if Rattner could be a Treasury secretary someday. This about a guy who just two years ago paid $16 million to settle SEC and New York lawsuits against him for taking part in a kickback scheme with public officials...

As we previously commented when it comes to justice, there are those companies that have been bailed out by the US Government, and then there is everyone else. Case in point, GM, which last Thursday was fined $900 million for covering up its faulty ignition switches that caused at least 124 deaths and hundreds of injuries. The deal with GM was cut by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, who said there’s no federal criminal penalty for knowingly putting a deadly product on the market. "It has been a challenging case, for the agencies,...

Corruption: One carmaker's mistake killed nearly 200. Another might have evaded federal emissions laws while a third failed to issue a recall. Which one committed the biggest sin, according to the government? Here's a hint: It's not the automaker known as Government Motors. GM, more officially known as General Motors, will pay a $900 million fine in a settlement reached last week with the Justice Department. The automaker admits it hid an ignition-switch problem that has been linked to 174 deaths.

The response of the Justice Department to General Motors’ ignition switch defect cover-up was announced last week. GM’s failure to address the deadly defect led to the loss of lives of at least 169 people. Any hopes for the families of the victims that the crony status of GM would not stand in the way of justice were squashed as the company was given a slap on the wrist by its friends at the Obama Administration. The Justice Department’s news release regarding the meager $900 million penalty reeked of hypocrisy as it tried to paint a picture of a repentant...

For more than a year, Ken Feinberg and his team have had the grim task of sorting through thousands of claims against General Motors, all of which allege that the company's faulty ignition switches led to injury or death. The last claims were filed on January 31, and now, nearly seven months later, Feinberg has finished assessing them all. [Snip] 399 claims were approved. Of that number: 124 were approved for death 17 were approved for serious injury 258 were approved for other injuries Though GM had put no cap on the Fund, the automaker estimated that it would make...

Detroit — Most Buick vehicles sold in the United States after 2016 could be imported from China and Europe, according to two sources familiar with parent General Motors Co’s plans. Only two of Buick’s future US models, replacements for the mid-size LaCrosse sedan and the large Enclave crossover, are expected to be built in North America, according to the sources, who did not want to be identified because their companies work with GM. (Snip) Buick is planning to shift production of the compact Verano sedan from Michigan to China in late 2016, the sources said. Production of the

Most Buick vehicles sold in the United States after 2016 could be imported from China and Europe, according to two sources familiar with parent General Motors Co's plans. Only two of Buick's future U.S. models, replacements for the mid-size LaCrosse sedan and the large Enclave crossover, are expected to be built in North America, according to the sources, who did not want to be identified because their companies work with GM.... In Detroit, Cindy Estrada, head of the UAW's GM department, said the automaker would be "tone deaf" to import vehicles from overseas "after the sacrifices by U.S. taxpayers," as...

A researcher is advising drivers to halt the use of a mobile app for General Motors Co's (GM.N) OnStar vehicle communications system, saying hackers can exploit a security flaw in the product to remotely unlock cars and start engines. "White-hat" hacker Samy Kamkar posted a video on Thursday saying he had figured out a way to "locate, unlock and remote-start" vehicles by intercepting communications between the OnStar RemoteLink mobile app and the OnStar service. Kamkar said he plans to provide technical details on the hack next week in Las Vegas at the Def Con conference, where tens of thousands of...

Charge stems from auto maker’s failure to recall vehicles equipped with defective ignition switchThe U.S. Justice Department is weighing charging General Motors Co. with criminal wire fraud stemming from the auto maker’s failure to recall millions of vehicles equipped with a defective ignition switch, said people familiar with the matter. Federal prosecutors in New York are focusing on the charge after determining GM likely made misleading statements and concealed information about the faulty switch, now linked to more than 100 deaths, the people said. They are hoping to reach a settlement with the company by the end of summer or...

The New York Times reports that the Justice Department has concluded that there was criminal wrongdoing by General Motors as the company covered-up a deadly ignition switch defect for years. That defect has now been blamed for causing the deaths of at least 104 motorists. While many observers may have been able to come to the conclusion that GM was guilty long before the Justice Department’s recent epiphany, the bigger question now is, what’s next? GM still faces litigation risks as ongoing lawsuits seek justice for the victims’ families that suffered as a result of GM’s criminal actions. Full...