GM, Honda announce North America car alliance

NEW YORK - General Motors and Honda announced Thursday they were establishing a strategic alliance in North America to share vehicle platforms and development costs.

The venture builds on existing partnerships on electric cars and fuel cell systems and comes as automakers face pressure to develop autonomous driving and other envelope-pushing technologies amid uncertain vehicle demand in the wake of the economic downturn due to the coronavirus.

A joint press release said the venture would save money from shared vehicle platforms and propulsion systems, joint purchasing and shared research and development spending. 

GM's US rival Ford has teamed up with German giant Volkswagen to jointly develop electric and self-driving vehicles, and a pending merger between Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot also aims to hold costs down.

Morningstar analyst David Whiston said there few details offered on the extent of the financial savings to either firm, but that "the alliance can make sense" if Honda makes headway in some of the truck segments where it lags and GM benefits from Honda's expertise with smaller cars.

"We see the agreement as a low-risk and potentially high-reward move for both firms, and their prior history lowers the risk of tension and poor cooperation," Whiston said.

Agence France-Presse

Trump creates business advisory council stacked with CEOs

WASHINGTON - President-elect Donald Trump announced the formation of a council to advise him on job creation, a group comprised of the leaders of a variety of major US corporations including GE, GM, Boeing, Disney and IBM.

Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive officer of major investment firm Blackstone Group LP, will chair the council.

"My administration is committed to drawing on private sector expertise and cutting the government red tape that is holding back our businesses from hiring, innovating, and expanding right here in America," Trump said in a statement announcing the formation of the council.

Trump called Schwarzman earlier this week to ask for his help in chairing the council, according to a source familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to speak publicly on the arrangements. The two men, who are not friends and have not done business together before, drafted a list of CEOs to ask to participate in the forum, and then Schwarzman asked each individual to participate.

The forum could meet as frequently as monthly, the source said.

Trump has said that his top priorities will include cutting regulations that affect business and lowering the corporate tax rate, positions business leaders have cheered.

Presidents often convene councils of business leaders. President Barack Obama frequently met with the CEOs of large companies and often spoke before the Business Roundtable, comprised of CEOs of big corporations.

In 2011, Obama convened a jobs council that was led by General Electric Co CEO Jeff Immelt and an export council headed by Xerox Corp CEO Ursula Burns.

Obama and business leaders worked on trade, technology and immigration efforts.

Some members of Trump's council also served in advisory roles with Obama, including Bob Iger, the CEO of Walt Disney Co ; Jim McNerney, former CEO of Boeing Co ; and Ginni Rometty, CEO of International Business Machines Corp . All three served on Obama's export council and will continuing advising the next administration.

Noticeably absent from the council are heads of leading U.S. technology companies such as Google's parent Alphabet Inc , Apple Inc and Facebook Inc. Trump's transition team has been slow to establish a group to address cyber security and other technology issues.

The council could still add leaders from technology companies, a source familiar with the formation of the group said.

The members of Trump's council include:

* Stephen A. Schwarzman (Forum Chairman), chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Blackstone;

* Paul Atkins, CEO, Patomak Global Partners, LLC, former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission

* Mary Barra, chairman and CEO, General Motors Co

* Toby Cosgrove, CEO, Cleveland Clinic

* Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co

* Larry Fink, chairman and CEO, BlackRock Inc

* Bob Iger, chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Co

* Rich Lesser, president and CEO, Boston Consulting Group

* Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores Inc

* Jim McNerney, former chairman, president, and CEO, Boeing

* Adebayo "Bayo" Ogunlesi, chairman and managing partner, Global Infrastructure Partners

* Ginni Rometty, chairman, president, and CEO, IBM

* Kevin Warsh, Shepard Family distinguished visiting fellow in economics, Hoover Institute, former member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

* Mark Weinberger, global chairman and CEO, EY

* Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO, General Electric

* Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize winner, vice chairman of IHS Markit Ltd

- With additional reporting by Gui Qing Koh and Gregory Roumeliotis

source: news.abs-cbn.com