Norman — The Toyota recall mess has produced some strange bedfellows. Toyota is struggling to regain consumer confidence at the same time General Motors has ramped up its sales efforts.
General Motors, majority-owned by the U.S. Treasury thanks to the automaker’s bailout, is offering timely incentives to get customers in the door. Taxpayers invested about $50 billion in General Motors, beginning in 2008.
One dealer found it outrageous that the federal government — which also houses the agency that is bearing down on Toyota’s safety record — is also trying to move cars.
But a General Motors spokesman told The Transcript the federal government’s role is hands-off. The government doesn’t get involved unless it’s a major decision. “We’re left to run the business autonomously,” GM spokesman Tom Henderson said.
That may be the case on paper but when your largest stockholder has the size of stick carried by the federal government, you have to wonder if the relationship is above board.
