All About Japan Autos

Auto news; GM Finds Extra $230 Million In Sale Of Suzuki Scrambling through the couch cushions for enough loose change to keep it solvent for the time being, GM offloaded its 3 percent stake in Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation to the tune of $230 million said Automotive News. Having burned through nearly $7 billion in the last quarter alone, $230 million seems a trifling amount of ..Auto news;

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Scrambling through the couch cushions for enough loose change to keep it solvent for the time being, GM offloaded its 3 percent stake in Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation to the tune of $230 million said Automotive News. Having burned through nearly $7 billion in the last quarter alone, $230 million seems a trifling amount of money in comparison, and GM seems to be treading water with increasing desperation as its waits for promised Federal assistance.

CEO Rick Wagoner claims that despite the sell off, GM and Suzuki will remain in partnership on various vehicles and ventures. Collaborations include hybrid vehicles, fuel cell vehicles, global purchasing, and the CAMI assembly plant in Canada that produces the Suzuki XL7 SUV, Chevrolet Equinox SUV, and Pontiac Torrent SUV. GM has said that at its current spending rates, it might go out of business early next year if it does not receive an infusion of capital from the Federal Government.

Across town, Ford Motor Company is considering a similar move with Japan-owned Mazda. Ford has a much bigger stake in Mazda, at 33 percent, and it too burned through huge amounts of cash in the third quarter; $7.7 billion, to be exact.–Colin Mathews