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What on earth is all the fuss about ?
The American manufacturers have been well and truly caught out because many of their vehicles are not that desirable anymore - heavy fuel consumption, based on a truck.
The view of people like BMW and others is simple. If the American government can effectively bail out almost the entire US automotive industry then that is a massive distortion in the market. Clearly it is - (thats not to say that I wouldn't do exactly the same thing - we are talking about people's jobs and their families and that is very important). Often the ability of people to buy cars is due to personal loans and if these are drying up through the credit crunch then doesn't matter how good your cars are - they just won't sell. Similarly all companies - even ones that are as consistently profitable as BMW, have to invest Billions in designing new cars and to over come the ups and downs use cash reserves or short terms loan to assist company cash flow.
This is what this is about. BMW remains a very profitable company but rightly doesn't want to see its less successful rivals get tax payers money when it gets none. Its just about being fair....
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