Was taxpayer-owned GM right to give away a Corvette to a Detroit pitcher?

[prof15]

Now that General Motors is taxpayer-owned, does it really make sense for it to be giving away Chevrolet Corvettes to rich and happy, albeit disappointed, professional baseball players?

It's an interesting question that was raised by Nick Bunkley, writing in the New York Times.

As Drive On reported Thursday, the Detroit Tigers gave a Corvette -- base price $75,505 for the Z06 version -- to pitcher Armado Galarraga after an umpire's bad call cost him a perfect game. Millions of Americans have lost of their jobs in the past couple of years, faced illnesses without health insurance, had their homes foreclosed, and no one gave them a free sports car.

Before 2009, no one would have batted an eye at GM giving a free car to a ballplayer. But the automaker's bankruptcy last year left it about 60% owned by the federal government -- you and me.

"A free sports car for a Detroit Tigers baseball player was not among the reasons the government saved General Motors from financial collapse," Bunkley writes. The view is shared:

He found a congressman who shares the view in Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who, through a spokesman, says GM shouldn't be handing out too many gifts until the federal government is no longer an investor.

But a GM spokesman said that the price of the car was a pittance compared to the windfall of publicity that Chevy received out of its generosity.

No matter what the outcome, the incident points out the microscope under which the new General Motors finds itself.

 

[prof15]

I don't know what to say..but I don't think they should be giving a way stuff and even more to ppl that can afford it.

 

[Kymerik]

they can feel free to give me a car so i can sell it and get back my portion of tax dollars that was used to bail them out

 

[prof15]

they can feel free to give me a car so i can sell it and get back my portion of tax dollars that was used to bail them out

lol.. I think every one would be happy to take one.

 

[Kymerik]

lol.. I think every one would be happy to take one.

i'd take one just to sell it, there isnt a GM car i'd park in my driveway...and yes that includes the CTS-V and the Vette...

CTS-V i'd rather have an M5
Vetter i'd rather have a GTR

 

[TinmanMS6]

Where to begin...?
a. Who really gives a **** enough to write an article about this? It's $60k to a company that was probably, at one point, losing that in an hour.
b. There's no such thing as a convertible Z06, so why are you throwing that pricetag out? The scoop, though, means it is a Grand Sport, so around $60k.
c. It's cheap for the national advertising it became. Half the country has now seen that car, and every baseball fan in the country appreciated this gesture. That is worth way more than the $50k this car cost GM.

 

[TinmanMS6]

i'd take one just to sell it, there isnt a GM car i'd park in my driveway...and yes that includes the CTS-V and the Vette...

CTS-V i'd rather have an M5
Vetter i'd rather have a GTR

You'd rather pay $85k for an M5 than $63k for a CTS-V? I'll take the Caddy. Make mine a Sportwagon. Thanks.

 

[Kymerik]

You'd rather pay $85k for an M5 than $63k for a CTS-V? I'll take the Caddy. Make mine a Sportwagon. Thanks.

yes i would...personal preference here...the M5 is much more appealing to me than the wedge of cheese design the cts has goin on...

 

[genericuser]

they spend exponentially more money on advertising. you want to take those dollars away so they can fail and never pay the money back?

they gave the car away at cost (much cheaper than list price) and the goodwill press they received more than pays for itself.

quit 'yer bitchin.

 

[Kain]

IMO, Bud Selig should've bought it for him. I'm sure he could've found the change in his couch cushions.

 

[1sty]

Where to begin...?
a. Who really gives a **** enough to write an article about this? It's $60k to a company that was probably, at one point, losing that in an hour.
b. There's no such thing as a convertible Z06, so why are you throwing that pricetag out? The scoop, though, means it is a Grand Sport, so around $60k.
c. It's cheap for the national advertising it became. Half the country has now seen that car, and every baseball fan in the country appreciated this gesture. That is worth way more than the $50k this car cost GM.

d. in that pitcher's tax bracket, the government is getting ~40% of that $60K back anyways as its now considered income.


This is one of the major problems with the government owning a company.
The president, senators, and "watch dog" positions as well as citizens all get to decide, influence, or scrutinize the day to day operations of the company. Possibly to the point of leading to a larger failure due in part to the cost of having to deal with overly restrictive regulations, policing, and all the lovely time that wastes.

 

[Mallard]

d. in that pitcher's tax bracket, the government is getting ~40% of that $60K back anyways as its now considered income.


This is one of the major problems with the government owning a company.
The president, senators, and "watch dog" positions as well as citizens all get to decide, influence, or scrutinize the day to day operations of the company. Possibly to the point of leading to a larger failure due in part to the cost of having to deal with overly restrictive regulations, policing, and all the lovely time that wastes.

Totally agree.

It's not a Z06, it's a Grand Sport Convetible, which stickers at $58,600. GM was totally justified in doing this as it comes out of the advertising budget.

Think of it this way: If the US Government owned part of Disney and the winner of the Super Bowl MVP award said "I'm going to Disney World" and was paid for saying that, would you have a problem with it? This guy made not only career history, but franchise history and this is his "I'm going to Disney World" moment.

 

[Rockin03mp5]

Where to begin...?

c. It's cheap for the national advertising it became. Half the country has now seen that car, and every baseball fan in the country appreciated this gesture. That is worth way more than the $50k this car cost GM.

exactly.

this was the best and probably cheapest advertising GM has ever done.

every picture i saw about the story had the car in it. it sure helped that the tigers pitcher was so good about the whole thing. (being screwed and not the car)

 

[prof15]

Study: GM's Corvette gift to pitcher reaped publicity windfall

General Motors reaped nearly $9 million in publicity for having given a $53,000 Corvette to a Detroit Tigers pitcher who was robbed of a perfect game by an umpire's bad call last week, a study finds.

GM, 61% owned by the federal government, was rapped for being so generous in its gift to pitcher Armando Galarraga on the night after his near-perfect performance. An umpire called a runner safe at first base when an instant replay showed the runner should have been called out, spoiling the perfect game.

"A free sports car for a Detroit Tigers baseball player was not among the reasons the government saved General Motors from financial collapse," Nick Bunkley wrote in the New York Times last week.

Crain's Detroit Business reports that research firm Joyce Julius & Associates in Ann Arbor, Mich., said GM's gift was cited in 714 TV programs, publicity worth about $1 million. It was also covered in 151,000 publications and web entries, including Drive On, worth another $7.9 million. Crain's says GM didn't commission or pay for the report.

 

[prof15]

^ wow I guess some ppl did not like the way GM is using their money..

 

[Rockin03mp5]

well there ya go. free money.

 

[Newf]

and where did they come up with 9 million dollar number? How do you calculate how much money the press/media has made you? I'm calling BS

I get the free advertising part. But I'm sorry, these pro sports people get paid far too much money as it is to do nothing but play games all day. Never agreed with it before, never will.

 

[Chibana]

I don't understand what the big deal is. Giving the car in such a high publicity way is a form of advertisement. It's good business. Is everyone going to get bent out of shape every time they see an expensive GM commercial, too? Suck it up and move on.

 

[theprotege99]

haha.. i truly agree!

 

[Hughes412]

I just want to take a sec to highlight the guys here that have some common sense. As stated, it's not the Z06, and the cost to GM for the car is more like 40k or less.

I first saw this reported on KVUE during a commercial break. If you look at the link http://www.frankwbaker.com/2005-2006_ad_rates.htm
for afternoon spots the cost for advertizing is in the hundreds of thousands. This is an old cost list but we can assume the cost is still close to those. This was ran for 2 days on our local news channels several times a day. I guess they thought it was big news. They spent less then 50k and got millions of dollars in free advertisement. This was in fact a VERY smart!

The only reason people are made at this is because it involves a rich guy and a rich guy toy. People don’t like it when rich people get things. But think of it like this.

1, we the people got free advertising for our company that on paper own but we don’t get anything for it.

2, The guy that received the gift will have to pay taxes on the car based off of the MSRP. That’s FREE money to the county and state.

So it’s a WIN WIN for Detroit. And as one person said, quit your bitching.

Where to begin...?
a. Who really gives a **** enough to write an article about this? It's $60k to a company that was probably, at one point, losing that in an hour.
b. There's no such thing as a convertible Z06, so why are you throwing that pricetag out? The scoop, though, means it is a Grand Sport, so around $60k.
c. It's cheap for the national advertising it became. Half the country has now seen that car, and every baseball fan in the country appreciated this gesture. That is worth way more than the $50k this car cost GM.

they spend exponentially more money on advertising. you want to take those dollars away so they can fail and never pay the money back?
they gave the car away at cost (much cheaper than list price) and the goodwill press they received more than pays for itself.
quit 'yer bitchin.

Totally agree.
It's not a Z06, it's a Grand Sport Convetible, which stickers at $58,600. GM was totally justified in doing this as it comes out of the advertising budget.
Think of it this way: If the US Government owned part of Disney and the winner of the Super Bowl MVP award said "I'm going to Disney World" and was paid for saying that, would you have a problem with it? This guy made not only career history, but franchise history and this is his "I'm going to Disney World" moment.

exactly.
this was the best and probably cheapest advertising GM has ever done.
every picture i saw about the story had the car in it. it sure helped that the tigers pitcher was so good about the whole thing. (being screwed and not the car)

Study: GM's Corvette gift to pitcher reaped publicity windfall

General Motors reaped nearly $9 million in publicity for having given a $53,000 Corvette to a Detroit Tigers pitcher who was robbed of a perfect game by an umpire's bad call last week, a study finds.
GM, 61% owned by the federal government, was rapped for being so generous in its gift to pitcher Armando Galarraga on the night after his near-perfect performance. An umpire called a runner safe at first base when an instant replay showed the runner should have been called out, spoiling the perfect game.
"A free sports car for a Detroit Tigers baseball player was not among the reasons the government saved General Motors from financial collapse," Nick Bunkley wrote in the New York Times last week.
Crain's Detroit Business reports that research firm Joyce Julius & Associates in Ann Arbor, Mich., said GM's gift was cited in 714 TV programs, publicity worth about $1 million. It was also covered in 151,000 publications and web entries, including Drive On, worth another $7.9 million. Crain's says GM didn't commission or pay for the report.

[
QUOTE=Chibana;5304654]I don't understand what the big deal is. Giving the car in such a high publicity way is a form of advertisement. It's good business. Is everyone going to get bent out of shape every time they see an expensive GM commercial, too? Suck it up and move on.[/QUOTE]