Detroit Auto Show: Sen. Corker visits the Big Three

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The final press day at the North American International Auto Show is usually a quiet one, with plenty of time for journalists to roam the halls and check out the cars (and burn off their hangover in the process). But thanks to Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), today was different.

The junior senator from Tennessee, who gained national attention for his role in last month’s Senate hearings on the fate of the U.S. auto industry, made a last-minute appearance in Detroit today. Arriving in the afternoon, he toured the General Motors stand, before visiting Volkswagen, Chrysler and Ford. A throng of journalists trailed him like the tail on a comet.

Behind closed doors, Corker met with GM President Fritz Henderson ‘to check on the company’s progress’ in the wake of its receiving authorization for $9.7 billion in federal loans. After that, GM’s head of design, Ed Welburn, showed him a number of offerings, including the Chevy Traverse, built in Tennessee, and the Chevy Volt.

There, he asked Welburn whether the extended-range electric Volt would get more than 100 miles per gallon. ‘Oh yeah,’ Welburn responded.

In between scoping out the rides, Corker took time to claim credit for the loan package that GM and Chrysler received (even as he lamented that, in fact, Congress never passed legislation on loans and the White House was forced to act). ‘I wish we’d done it legislatively, that’s the way it should have been done,’ Corker said. ‘In essence, credit was extended to these companies and it was extended under the terms that Sen. Corker laid out,’ he added, employing the third person to emphasize his point.

Asked about the state of the industry, he suggested that Chrysler was still in the most dire situation. ‘Chrysler needs to merge,’ he said, without giving any more specifics. Chrysler executives this week indicated that the $4 billion the company has received in loans would not be sufficient for continued operations. Other companies have expressed interest in Chrysler in the past, including Renault/Nissan, but the company has said no talks are ongoing.

Corker also said that GM’s current position was untenable. ‘With $62 billion in debt and [an annualized U.S.] sales rate of 10.6 million cars in December, GM cannot continue,’ said Corker, who said he had no preferences for candidates for the ‘car czar’ position that has been under discussion. Corker said he did not know who Steven Rattner, whose name surfaced for the job today, was. (Rattner is a veteran financier who runs the private-equity firm Quadrangle Capital Partners; he and his wife are major Democratic fundraisers.)

‘There are a lot of people who would be good in that role,’ he said, marching toward the VW stand, presumably to discuss the company’s plans to open a plant in Tennessee, where cars are built with nonunion labor.

-- Ken Bensinger