Barack Obama

Tesla pays back balance of DOE loan

10:48 am U.S. ET | May 22, 2013
Tesla Motors said it paid off the entire balance of its federal government loan given as part of a Department of Energy program to spur development of alternative energy vehicles.... Read More »

 

Obama says DOT nominee Foxx to press ahead on transportation agenda

3:13 pm U.S. ET | April 29, 2013
President Barack Obama said Charlotte, North Carolina, Mayor Anthony Foxx will press ahead as transportation secretary with the administration's goals to rebuild and expand the nation's infrastructure.... Read More »

 

Obama selects key auto bailout figure for deputy budget director

3:23 pm U.S. ET | April 2, 2013
President Obama said he intends to nominate White House aide Brian Deese as the new deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.... Read More »

 

Detroit 3 raise alarm as yen weakens, aiding Japanese profits

12:01 am U.S. ET | March 16, 2013
Toyota, which last year overtook GM to become the world's largest automaker even as its profit margins lagged behind the industry, is riding a weakening yen that has Detroit executives concerned. The currency's slide gives Toyota and other Japanese automakers a financial gain on every car, which they can use to cut prices, boost advertising and improve products.... Read More »

 

Obama seeks $2 billion in research on cleaner vehicles, fuels

3:38 pm U.S. ET | March 15, 2013
President Obama, faced with few options for financing his clean-energy ambitions, on Friday proposed diverting $2 billion in revenue from federal oil and gas leases over the next decade to pay for research on advanced vehicles.... Read More »

 

U.S. fuel economy posts biggest gain since 1975

1:19 pm U.S. ET | March 15, 2013
The fuel economy of vehicles sold in the United States last year had the sharpest gains in almost four decades, with Honda Motor, Volkswagen AG and Mazda producing the most efficient fleets. An annual report by the EPA showed new cars and trucks had a 16 percent gain in fuel efficiency in the past five years, to 23.8 miles per gallon.... Read More »

 

Japan has more work to do to join trade talks, U.S. says

11:42 am U.S. ET | March 15, 2013
The United States on Friday cautiously welcomed Japan's interest in joining negotiations on a U.S.-led Pacific free trade pact, emphasizing that Tokyo must demonstrate its willingness to tackle longstanding trade barriers to U.S. goods and services.... Read More »

 

U.S. lawmakers urge Obama to keep auto tariffs on Japan

3:33 pm U.S. ET | March 14, 2013
Four dozen Democratic lawmakers on Thursday expressed concern about Japan joining free trade talks with the United States and urged President Barack Obama to maintain U.S. tariffs on Japanese autos and trucks.... Read More »

 

U.S. sold $489.9 million in GM shares in February

6:19 pm U.S. ET | March 11, 2013
The U.S. Treasury, which is exiting its ownership stake in GM, accelerated its sell-down of the automaker in February, saying it received $489.9 million in proceeds from the sale of common shares.... Read More »

 

Obama taps insider as EPA chief; MIT professor to lead Energy Dept.

10:21 am U.S. ET | March 4, 2013
President Barack Obama today announced his nominees to lead a new federal push to tackle climate change, choosing an air quality expert to run the Environmental Protection Agency and a nuclear physicist to head the Department of Energy. Obama selected EPA veteran Gina McCarthy, 57, to replace Lisa Jackson as EPA administrator and MIT scientist Ernest Moniz, 68, to take over for Steven Chu as Energy secretary.... Read More »

 

Obama holds ground on opening Japan to Detroit 3

10:18 am U.S. ET | Feb. 22, 2013
President Obama won't back off demands that Japan ease barriers for U.S. automakers before joining negotiations for a regional Pacific trade agreement when he meets today with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, White House aides said.... Read More »

 

DAVE GUILFORD

Why Obama had to eschew being a green venture capitalist

3:00 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 15, 2013
It looks like President Obama is exiting a business he never should have entered -- playing venture capitalist in the green technology sector.... Read More »

 

Audit blasts U.S. loans to support Michigan battery plant

2:36 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 13, 2013
An LG Chem battery plant in Michigan that received $150 million in U.S. Department of Energy grants used federal dollars to pay employees who played games, watched movies or did community service during work hours, a government audit says.... Read More »

 

EPA looks to audit more mpg claims

3:54 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 13, 2013
A senior EPA engineer says he expects the government to more closely monitor automakers’ fuel economy ratings after Hyundai and Kia overstated mileage claims on some nameplates. Speaking at a University of Michigan conference today about the government’s 2025 fuel economy standards, Jeff Alson said the agency has always performed “routine audits” of the tests, which automakers conduct themselves.... Read More »

 

Obama seeks energy trust to shift cars, trucks 'off oil for good'

9:52 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 12, 2013
President Obama on Tuesday called for the creation of an “Energy Security Trust” that would fund the development of new vehicles “to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good.”... Read More »

 

More electric car loans 'remains to be seen,' Chu says

3:52 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 31, 2013
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said it "remains to be seen in the future" whether about $16 billion in available federal government loans to develop alternative-technology vehicles will be disbursed.... Read More »

 

U.S. automakers urge Obama to punish Japan for weak yen

11:09 am U.S. ET | Jan. 17, 2013
President Barack Obama should tell Japan's new government that the United States will retaliate for policies aimed at weakening the yen, a group representing Ford, GM and Chrysler said today.... Read More »

 

2013 DETROIT AUTO SHOW

Politicians see opportunities on the show floor

5:06 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 11, 2013
The election season is over, but plenty of politicians will be shaking hands at the Detroit auto show next week.... Read More »

 

Obama signs bill to let dealers toss out insurance booklets

3:28 pm U.S. ET | Jan. 10, 2013
President Obama today signed into law a bill allowing dealerships to stop stocking copies of a government booklet on insurance costs, the White House said. The measure, which dealers sought as a way to save time and money, cleared the House of Representatives in July without a dissenting vote. It quietly passed the Senate over the holidays.... Read More »

 

Jackson to step down as Obama's EPA chief

11:37 am U.S. ET | Dec. 27, 2012
Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson, one of the key players in raising federal fuel-efficiency standards to 54.5 mpg by 2025, is stepping down from her post after a tenure of almost four years marked by battles with Republicans who fought her proposed environmental regulations.... Read More »

 

Port strike deadline raises pressure for Obama intervention

1:56 pm U.S. ET | Dec. 27, 2012
President Barack Obama is facing pressure to block a strike that would gridlock East Coast ports and risk damaging industries that include auto manufacturing.... Read More »

 

GM, Obama can move ahead with the end of 'Government Motors'

8:29 am U.S. ET | Dec. 23, 2012
The Treasury's plan to sell its remaining stake in GM is a leap forward for the Obama administration's effort to end a $418 billion bailout program that in four years was transformed from a political albatross to a winning campaign issue. The decision to exit GM within the next 15 months, and the Treasury's sale last week of its remaining shares of insurer AIG, will erase two corporate symbols of the 2008 financial crisis from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Taxpayers spent $182.... Read More »

 

TIMELINE: GM, U.S. government to part ways

3:43 pm U.S. ET | Dec. 19, 2012
The U.S. Treasury said on Wednesday it will sell 200 million shares in General Motors and divest the rest of its holdings over the next 12 to 15 months, ending public ownership of the company rescued by taxpayers in 2009. GM's $50 billion bailout comprised of nearly $7 billion in direct loans and $43 billion in bailout cash and bankruptcy aid.... Read More »

 

Obama's bet on GM hangs on new pickups boosting share price

9:52 am U.S. ET | Dec. 13, 2012
GM's best bet for 2013 may also provide the Obama administration an exit ramp for its $50 billion investment in the largest American automaker. With today's unveiling of its first redesigned Chevrolet Silverado full-sized pickup since 2006, GM aims to take Ford head on with new trucks that could help boost its share price, encouraging the federal government to sell its stake.... Read More »

 

Daimler, Obama trumpet plan to build complete powertrains in 1 plant

12:05 pm U.S. ET | Dec. 11, 2012
Starting in 2015, Daimler AG says it will have the first North American plant to produce a fully integrated powertrain -- transmissions, axles and engines with turbochargers -- for commercial vehicles under one roof.... Read More »