Motoryzacja

In June, after Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy and General Motors went into it, a Free Press team set out to recount the most dramatic period in Detroit's 100 years of making automobiles.

Canada demanded that General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC reduce labor and capital costs at their Canadian units before receiving federal and provincial loans worth $3.2 billion. "Labor costs need to be competitive and capital costs need to be brought in line with their competitors," Industry Minister Tony Clement said Monday in a speech in Toronto.

Ford Motor Chief Executive Alan Mulally said today the automaker faced some financial handicap against General Motors and Chrysler thanks to their government-sponsored bankruptcies.

Not cheaper. Better. General Motors Corp.'s historic deal with the UAW to cut costs opens the door for the company to dream big, giving it the most meaningful competitive edge it has enjoyed in the United States for decades.

And the winner of the 2007 UAW negotiations is ... General Motors Corp. Not that the union lost out, but GM will reap savings from the contract faster than Ford Motor Co. or Chrysler LLC will, labor economist Sean McAlinden, from the Center for Automotive Research, told journalists Saturday on the eve of the Detroit auto show.