Honda, Kia Fume as Obama Saves Auto-Show Love for US Makers

As President Barack Obama planned a visit to the Washington Auto Show for Jan. 31, non-U.S.-based automakers including Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. hustled to show off for him.

On about 2 days’ notice, they flew in executives from as far away as California. They trucked in their most fuel- efficient vehicles, as requested by White House staff.

Obama walked in, strolled past cars made in the U.S. by foreign companies and spent much of his half-hour tour being photographed with a Dodge Dart, a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, a Chevrolet Silverado pick-up, a Jeep Grand Cherokee, a Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1, a Ford C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid and a Chevrolet Malibu.

Representatives of Honda, Kia Motors Corp., Mercedes-Benz and other automakers waited in a “bullpen” to be called upon to answer Obama’s questions about their vehicles. None were, said Michael Stanton, CEO of the Association of Global Automakers.

"Many of our members bent over backwards to meet the request from the White House,” Stanton said. “We were just terribly disappointed that the president refused to recognize the commitment that our members and others have made to the manufacturing base of the United States.”

Obama’s visit to the show at the Washington Convention Center came one day before Honda announced a $100 million expansion at an Ohio transmission plant that will add 150 jobs. That’s part of $500 million in upgrades in Ohio in the past 18 months.

The Association of Global Automakers’ members, which include Honda, Kia and Toyota, have invested more than $43 billion and have more than 80,000 employees in the U.S., Stanton said. The group is based in Washington.

Sandra Abrevaya, a spokeswoman for the White House, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

Honda from California

Honda, which brought in a FCX Clarity fuel-cell car from California to show the president, says it has invested $11.1 billion in the U.S. Kia flew in an executive from its U.S. headquarters in California to be available to talk about the 2012 Optima hybrid it had on display for Obama. Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz transported a fuel-cell car from New Jersey to show the president.

The non-U.S. automakers had been told by White House staff that the president wanted to see green cars, Nancy McLernon, Organization for International Investment CEO, said in an interview.

“Because as a group they were ignored, it was problematic,” McLernon said.

Reviving U.S. automakers

Obama and officials of his administration this year, including in speeches at last month’s North America International Auto Show in Detroit, have taken credit for reviving U.S. automakers.

“When you look at all these cars, it is testimony to the outstanding work that’s been done by workers, American workers, American designers,” Obama said at the show, according to a transcript. “The U.S. auto industry is back. The fact that GM is back, number one, I think shows the kind of turnaround that’s possible when it comes to American manufacturing.”

GM and Chrysler in 2009 emerged from bankruptcy after receiving an $82 billion bailout that Obama led. The U.S. government still owns 32% of GM. Chrysler is now majority-owned by Fiat SpA, based in Turin, Italy.

"I don’t believe it was an intentional snub,” said John O’Donnell, executive vice president of the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association, which organizes the Washington auto show. “I think he was checking up on the investment that he made from kind of fiduciary standpoint. He made the investment in the domestics.”

 

So they expect the president to stop by and take pics next to boring or terribly ugly cars lol. So he should stop by every booth? Those companies also get tons of tax incentives to build/expand so they need to stop acting like the governement(s) haven't taken care of them.


I'm no Obama fan but the idiocy and hate toward him is utterly ridiculous. Did they want pics next to his birth certificate too? Lol

 

<all politics, obama wants his uaw vote and will take credit for 'saving the u.s. auto industry'. #worstpresidentever

 

No no get it right. Reagan was the worst president every. or Tyler. Maybe Harding...

 

I really don't see the big deal, if he would have gone and checked out the import stuff Republicans probably would have slammed him for being "Un-American".

 

I wouldn't have cared if he checked out the imports as well. But I think it's hilarious that he didn't. I'm no Obama fan, but props to him for prioritizing american automakers.

 

So the expansion of the Honda transmission factory to add 150 American jobs doesn't count since it is a Honda and not a GM product? I wouldn't care if Oompa Loompas owned the manufacturer. Point is a lot of effort was made to meet requirements set forth, investments are being made on our soil to add jobs to our economy and there was no real show of respect or appreciation. I believe that last part is where the rub is on the Japanese side. They are all about respect.

 

If I'm not mistaken, foreign auto makers have made a significantly higher investment in American plants, thus adding more jobs to Obama's lagging economy, than domestic companies who continue expanding into Mexico.

I can understand their frustration. It's a slap in the face.

 

Only Honda is yapping about it and considering the ugly pos they are showing they should shut up. Obama probably saw the ugly beak and the reverse-front back Accord "concept" which basically is a current accord that they slap the front end to the back and vice versa and tried to pass it off as a concept car.

Then he went.

 

He only stop by if you get bailout money.

 

You are correct, sir. Damned if he does - Damned if he doesn't. No matter the prez, that's the way it is...

 

^^this

Obama gets my for the day.

 

Yep. I was there at the show when Obama and the Secret-Service rolled in. Made a complete mess of things. Toyota had to stop its test-drives in the streets around the Convention Center for several hours. Much of the lower-floor was roped-off to the crowd so he could wander around the alternate-fuel-vehicle section. And bitkahuna ,above, IMO, hit the nail on the head.....Obama got the oil-worker and construction-unions p***ed-off at him a couple of weeks ago by cancelling the oil-pipeline, and so, giving the American-nameplate vehicles most of the attention, that will score some brownie-points with the UAW....although the UAW does have some non-Ford/GM/Chrysler plants as well.

 

Mike, he actually did go through some silly-looking vehicles in the alternative-fuel section downstairs.....or at least, what you and I would consider goofy-looking. Much of the automotive-policies of his Administration, of course, has been geared towards higher CAFE standards, lessening-dependence on foreign-oil (notwithstansing his recent cancellation of the oil-pipeline), and the proliferation of alternate-fueled vehicles.

 

The man can do no right! No matter what somebody is going to cry about something. Who cares! If Honda pack up and leave today would we really miss them. Not really.