The Car Czar Cannot Be Serious

Ron Bloom, the man taking the lead for the Obama administration’s auto task force, told Reuters that the U.S. Treasury, which controls 60 percent of General Motors, was a tad surprised when the carmaker decided against selling Opel: “Bloom said the administration was caught off guard when GM decided this month to keep its European Opel unit rather than sell a majority stake to a Russian-backed group led by Canadian auto parts maker Magna International.”

Um, WHAT?!?! We should assume that this means the president of United States, who, after all, fired GM’s former CEO, Rick Wagoner, before the company entered bankruptcy, was also caught off guard.

OBAMA: “So, Tim, what’s doing with that Opel sale that has been in the news for months now and is essential to Angela Merkel’s political destiny in Germany?"

GEITHNER: “Let’s ask the guy who’s running GM for the Treasury, Mr. President, and looking after the taxpayer’s $50 billion investment. Ron?”

BLOOM: “Yeah, we’re pretty much done, fellas. We’re not saying what we think anymore.’’

Something deeply strange is shaping up at GM. First off, it’s completely inconceivable that Treasury didn’t know the GM board hated the Magna deal and wanted to keep Opel. So we’re just going to say that we flatly don’t believe Bloom there. Second, Bloom is now siding with GM’s chairman, Ed Whitacre, in saying that a GM IPO next year isn’t a priority for the company. GM’s CEO, Fritz Henderson, on the other hand seems to be cheerleading for an IPO in the third quarter.

Let’s break it down. Either GM is breaking into fiefdoms, each with its own agenda, or GM is trying to float all kinds of options to see how the markets respond. Initially, I thought that Whitacre and GM’s marketing head, Bob Lutz, were pushing one vision of the company, while Henderson was pushing another (the former to be based on innovative new product and string managerial leadership, the latter to be based on getting GM back in the money-borrowing business as fast as possible). Now I wonder if we aren’t seeing feints and probes coming out of the New General, with Bloom acting dumb on Opel but siding with Whitacre to see how that plays with the UAW and the taxpayers.

Obviously, whatever happens with GM next year is politically critical, as an IPO could come in the thick of midterm elections.