The Back End: May 2009

TALEPIPE Huffs and puffs along the automotive road

Quotations are from press conferences and media reports.
Compiled and edited by managing editor Peter Craig.

D R I V E    T O   S U C C E E D

“The Volkswagen Group has proved that it can remain firmly on track even when the terrain is slippery.”

—VW CEO Martin Winterkorn characterizing his company’s 2008 performance

S I B E R I A N    E X P R E S S

“Sometimes…I feel like I might be in Russia.”

—Maryland dealer Jack Fitzgerald on suddenly being told he must close five Chrysler and two GM stores

L I F E    E X P E C T A N C Y

“This thing is a pacemaker. It just keeps us beating and alive until we get over the hump.”

—UAW Local 22 president George McGregor on the concessions agreement his union made with GM

G O O D   T I M I N G

“This car runs like a Swiss clock.”

—Test driver Louis Palmeron the “solar taxi” developed by Swiss scientists that he took around the world

H E A D I N G    O F F     D I S A S T E R

“I get it. If I don’t get it, I get it over the head.”

—Obama appointee Ed Montgomery on understanding his task of helping communities hurt by the crumbling auto industry