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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SiouxPal who wrote (16176)	5/8/2005 8:55:47 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 361245

I'm wondering what NASCAR will race if the American mfgs go away? Will it be like a Cuba of auto racing? Or will we see Mercedes and BMW's?

To: SiouxPal who wrote (16176)	5/9/2005 7:33:17 AM
From: Ron	Respond to of 361245

Speaking of the devil: (GM denies this story) -------- GM, Toyota Weigh a Bid To Share Hybrid Expertise By NORIHIKO SHIROUZU and JATHON SAPSFORD Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL May 9, 2005; Page A2 General Motors Corp. and Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. are discussing a possible technology-sharing deal that could enable the two companies to offer a wider range of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles sooner than if they worked alone, according to individuals familiar with the talks. Details of the discussions remain sketchy. GM Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner is expected to travel to Japan soon to meet with top officials from Toyota. Mr. Wagoner is scheduled to attend the 2005 World Expo in Japan's Aichi prefecture, where Toyota has its headquarters. The discussions come at as GM faces its worst crisis since the early 1990s, in part because it has lost U.S. sales to Toyota and other foreign auto makers. Toyota Chairman Hiroshi Okuda recently told reporters in Tokyo that Detroit's troubled car companies needed "breathing room," adding that Toyota may try to help by sharing technology with its U.S. rivals. GM, the world's No. 1 auto maker in terms of production, and Toyota -- which has said it wants to overtake GM before the end of the decade -- have an intense rivalry. But they also have a history of collaboration, dating to the early 1980s when the two companies formed a manufacturing alliance in California. In 1999, GM and Toyota agreed to a five-year deal to research and develop alternative-fuel vehicles. Individuals familiar with the current discussions said that if an agreement is reached, it would likely be structured in a fashion similar to the earlier joint-research deal, and would be described as a technical-cooperation agreement. The cooperation, if realized, could give GM access to the technology behind Toyota's Prius gas-electric small car, and a hybrid system designed for use in midsize vehicles like the Lexus RX 330 car-sport utility vehicle crossover vehicle. GM could offer Toyota access to a so-called dual-mode hybrid technology that GM is developing for its next-generation full-size sport-utility vehicles and other vehicles starting in 2007. In a deal announced late last year, GM and Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler AG are collaborating to develop large hybrids by 2007. GM spokesman Tom Kowaleski said GM noted, when it announced its plans to cooperate with Chrysler, that it was "interested in talking to other companies" about expanding the use of the dual-mode hybrid. A Toyota spokesman declined to comment. Any deal to share the high costs of developing hybrid-vehicle technology would be a boost for GM. Hurt in part by a sluggish performance in North America, GM reported a first-quarter loss of $1.1 billion.