Jalopnik: phil lebeau

CNBC Reports: GM To Kill Pontiac

Ray Wert — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:45:00 EDT

CNBC's Phil LeBeau finally picks up the "GM kills Pontiac" story. Where's he been? [CNBC]

What To Expect From Chrysler, GM "Mid-Terms"

Ray Wert — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:30:00 EST

CNBC's Phil LeBeau reminds us this morning we'll be seeing Chrysler and GM's plans to the federal government revealed after 4:00 PM and probably before 6:00 PM EST. But what should we expect?

LeBeau, and most industry pundits claim we'll see the following from the General:

• The automaker is seeking $1 billion in cost cuts on the salary side (including blue and white collar cuts).
• There could be up to four plant closings.
• As we've already reported, Saturn probably will see its throat cut. Expect Hummer and Saab to follow Saturn into the light without another long-term solution.

And from Chrysler:

• Two plans are being prepared.
• The first plan would be a "stand-alone" plan making the case for another $3 billion in federal funding.
• The second plan is an "alliance" plan with Fiat. This plan will probably also make the case for another $3 billion in federal funding.

So basically, Chrysler will again be showing a coloring book-like "plan" from their take-home homework. [via CNBC]

Today Show's Matt Lauer First Journalist To Drive Chevy Volt

Ray Wert — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:30:00 EST

We knew the Chevy Volt would increase global levels of smugness. Here's Matt Lauer, crowing about being the first to drive it to CNBC's Phil LeBeau — and that was only a test vehicle!

What's Going To Happen In 2009?

Ray Wert — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 09:15:00 EST

Know what will happen in 2009? Tell Phil Lebeau. [CNBC]

GM's Wagoner: Send Help... Please

Matt Hardigree — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:20:00 EST

Speaking with CNBC's Phil LeBeau, who has spent today talking to more distressed people than Dr. Phil, GM CEO Rick Wagoner outlined how grim the news is for the troubled automaker, and mentioned the "domino effect" losing GM would have on the economy ( as an aside, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) claims 6.5 indirect jobs for each OEM job — whether that's supplier jobs or just the guy who runs the dry cleaners in the RenCen). The big concern is that GM will simply run out of the cash it needs to operate, which Wagoner said was between $11 and $14 billion. Though the company is currently losing $2.3 billion per month in cash, he thinks the company will lose something closer to the $1 billion a month it was losing in the first half the year and will try to offload assets. And bankruptcy?

There's nothing like power of denial. Though asked the question a couple different ways, Wagoner wouldn't take the bait, only saying "We've said this before: we have no plans whatsoever than to continue to run the business... you can't sell cars under that circumstance." Yes, as opposed to all of those cars you're selling now. Either way, the bottom line from GM continues to be that either a magical fairy fixes the economy quickly, or someone bails them out.

[Source: CNBC]

Officially Unofficial CNBC "Saving General Motors" Live-Blog

Ray Wert — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:00:00 EDT

You know, just in case you're interested, "Saving General Motors" is on CNBC right now. Turn it on just to see Phil LeBeau look a little awkward in the passenger seat of the new Chevy Camaro as Dale Jr. rips it around an Aussie test track. If you're watching at home, leave some comments below — kind of like a commenter-driven live-blog. [CNBC]

Dale Earnhardt Takes The New Camaro Sideways With CNBC On Secret Aussie Test Track

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:17:26 EDT

While yesterday gave us our first look at the un-camouflaged new Chevy Camaro, who knew CNBC's Phil LeBeau had a scoop that'd put our blow-the-top-off coverage of Chevy's new muscle car to shame with the mullet-wearing demographic? He's got NASCAR star-of-stars Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ripping the new 2010 Chevy Camaro sideways through a secret test track somewhere in the Aussie outback in this new video over at CNBC. Though the 2010 Camaro is still wearing some serious body camo cladding, we're totally loving the screechingly good music coming from those rear tires. However, we'll try to ignore that "body roll" comment, because perhaps Dale just doesn't know that drive impressions are probably embargoed for sometime next year. Well, whatever. By the way, we've got a whole mess of new shots of the new Chevy Camaro RS below — now looking yellow, red and silver — so pick your color pleasure. [CNBC via Camaro5]

CNBC's Business Nation Shows Us How To Shred A Car!

Ray Wert — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:30:00 EST

Sweet! CNBC's website has a clip from the new episode of Business Nation airing tomorrow night showing a car getting shredded! Alas, Phil LeBeau isn't running the crane dumping the car into the waiting blades. Sad. [CNBC via Digg]

Car & Driver Reveals Top Ten Cars For 2008

Ray Wert — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:45:00 EST

We just saw ~~Chubby Checkers~~ ~~Sabra Sarah~~ Csaba Csere, zee editor-und-chief of Car und Driver revealing the top ten cars for 2008 live on CNBC, 'merica's business channel. Hmm, maybe we need a top ten list to give out as an exclusive...hmm, not so shabby of an idea — we'll have to look into that. In the meantime we'd like to link to the list from CNBC's web site — but they don't appear to have it up and the buff book appears to have a website more dedicated to the "show" than the "go." So instead we've got Car & Driver's ~~Amerigasm~~ top ten best cars for 2008 below the jump:

BMW 3-Series Cadillac CTS Chevrolet Corvette Chevrolet Malibu Honda Accord Honda Fit Mazda MX-5 MazdaSpeed3 Porsche Boxster / Cayman VW GTi

UPDATE: Car & Driver now has it up on their website.

Climb Into A Lamborghini "Road Rocket" With CNBC's Phil LeBeau

Ray Wert — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:00:00 EDT

What with UAW negotiations, sales numbers and the boardroom-stocking going on over at "The New Chrysler," I feel like it's getting to be rare for us to see CNBC's auto blogging on-air talent Phil LeBeau actually get the chance to sit down and do some ride n' drives with one of the products he covers. So, when he gets the chance to play with a high-powered Italian stallion, we like to highlight the lovable LeBeau lovin' the seat time. So sit back and watch as LeBeau ~~takes a junket~~ spends some time in Italy driving a Lambo and touring the Lamborghini factory as he learns all about the bullish brand and where it has its fiery and angry eyes set on next. Hint: it's not just the upper-upper class of 'merica anymore — now it's the middle-upper class. Also, try not to point out how LeBeau's lazily handling the steering wheel like he's driving a Lincoln.

Which Automaker Is CNBC's New Motown Stock Star?

Ray Wert — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:15:00 EDT

And the answer is: It's General Motors! Woo-hoo! They win this week's "rags to riches" award. That's right, because given the cyclical nature of media reporting on automakers we're almost certain they'll be "CNBC's New Motown Moron" by the end of next month. The month after? Why, they'll be "The Motown Master." And so on, and so on and so on — but hey, S&P is boosting their stock rating from "Sell" to "Hold" — so maybe there's something to it this time. – Ray Wert

Breaking Even: CNBC's Phil LeBeau "Causes" Accident In Front Of GM World Headquarters!

Ray Wert — Thu, 03 May 2007 12:02:57 EDT

The message the General's giving on their earnings is that the NorAm operational net losses were only $46 million, an amount Rick Wagoner said this morning live on CNBC was "essentially breaking even." OK, that's a total load of crap — especially considering the automaker has sold more cars globally during the first quarter than ever before. Given that, one would assume they'd have to find a way to actually sell some cars here in NorAm to make some money — instead of producing 192,000 less — or else have a gameplan to when they're going to do that via their ever-running turnaround effort. But although Phil LeBeau's only sort of buying that spin, the bigger story is the little jam-up he may have just caused on Jefferson Avenue downtown a few minutes ago. As you can see, us Detroiters love CNBC so much we're willing to risk getting smashed up in order to gawk at pundits on the street live in front of a camera. And that's why I always talk indoors — less risk of injury to my fellow Metro Detroiters. I'm just trying to do my part. – Ray Wert

GM's CEO Says North American Operations Can Be Profitable [CNBC.com]

The Official Car Pundit Drinking Game: Is The UAW In Bed With Kirk Kerkorian?

Ray Wert — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:33:22 EDT

We're willing to forgive CNBC's Phil LeBeau for not including a link to the Jalop on his blog yet over at their newly-revamped website for the financial news network, but only because he totally gets us the scoops. Like this little Chrysler Group sales speculation:

CNBC has learned people friendly with Tracinda Corp. have had cursory discussions with the UAW regarding a possible purchase of Chrysler.
Tracinda feels there's genuine interest among the leadership of the UAW about taking an equity stake in Chrysler.

Must be why they've gone and asked our Senior Editor from D-town to take some time away from his duties here at the Javits center covering the New York Auto Show to head out to CNBC to pundificate live in the studio on the recent KirkKerkasmic news on the 'merican side of the German-American hybrid. So while he's ~~trying not to vomit~~ primping and powdering for his 7:00 PM EST appearance on "On The Money," we'll be busy here putting together tonight's Auto Show episode rules for the game. As always, if you're confused, check out the full history of the Official Car Pundit Drinking Game. Because, you know, you can play along at home and stuff.

On The Money [CNBC.com]

How Many Drinks Was That? Wert Talks About Hybrids, LeBeau Talks About NASCAR

Ray Wert — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:19:25 EST

Talk about all your CNBC automotive clips are belong to ToMoCo. Wert was "On The Money" last night by following the money on hybrids and helping them figure out whether or not they're mainstream enough to have some serious sales given lower gas prices the past month. He's closely followed by CNBC's professional auto pundit, Phil LeBeau, who was down in Daytona to report on the big move by Toyota into NASCAR. LeBeau was asking the question of how 'mericans who watch cars that only turn in one direction will take the arrival of the number one super best automaker from the land of the rising sun. But the big question for us after you watch the video over on CNBC's website is — how many drinks was that?

Into the Pole Position [CNBC]

CNBC's Phil LeBeau "Finds" The Bugatti Veyron, Attempts To Drive Wheels Off Of It

Ray Wert — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 14:18:27 EST

Hey look kids, it's a 1000 hp car that Jean Jennings says "you can drive the wheels off of" — and in this clip from CNBC, you can watch Phil LeBeau do just that. CNBC's auto correspondent takes us inside the VW Bugatti "HQ", where he — umm — we're not really sure why he was there. Although we've noticed that the mainstream media every month or so seems to think they've "found" the Veyron for the first time, methinks there was another need here. Maybe LeBeau, in a tie and sans sports coat, just wanted to drive the Veyron in this segment advertising his one-hour "Behind The Wheel" special on December 15th, just to look i-banker manly for the ladies. – Ray Wert

CNBC's Phil LeBeau Put "On Notice" After Getting "Behind The Wheel"

Ray Wert — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 09:29:54 EST

CNBC has long been the web-version of the red-headed stepchild of NBC Universal's on-line presence due to an agreement giving them second billing to the online "juggernaut" that is MSNBC. Well now they're more like the fave son after a relaunch of it's website today with among other things, for-pay streaming video. On top of the multimedia fireworks, they've also stepped out into the light of Web 2.0, serving up a group of "blogs" from some of the big names in the financial network's punditocracy. One of those soon to be finding themselves on the Blogebrity list (assuming B-level, but whatevs, he's probably ok with that) is none other than mon automotive-journo-frere, Phil LeBeau. His new blog's called "Behind The Wheel" and there's one post on it — from Saturday — a totally blogspot-esque "welcome to my web log" post. While we'd normally be willing to overlook that, what really burns us enough to put the big LeBeau-ski into a Colbert-esque state of "on notice" is that he doesn't even include us in his "favorite links." Thanks Phil, after all those long nights of punditing together on CNBC's "On The Money" — this is how you repay us? And we were totally all ready to have you on the Hanukkah card list this year too. – Ray Wert

Behind The Wheel [CNBC]

Related:
More on CNBC [internal]

Maximum Bob, Born From Zurich

Ray Wert — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 17:24:39 EDT

The General's Vice-Chairman, Bob Lutz, got down with the french elbow press this past week at the Paris Auto Show, and although yours truly was there hanging on each and every one of the multi-talented and multilingual product czar's every syllable (with emphasis all in the right place, we might add) tape recorder in hand, the boys over at the never-straight road caught it via camcorder, and put together a nice little vid of the man getting his parlez-tu on. They've also included yet another look at the non-caped crusading Bob and Silent Rick in all their frontal glory. We still maintain they're hotter from behind, but maybe that's just us. Still, other than the sheer weirdness of seeing the General's #2 man speaking in tongues, the funniest part of the entire video's got to be when CNBC's Phil LeBeau moves his mic (you'll see it near the end) towards the french journo asking the question...and then...despite the wine-swilling press-man's already finishing the question, he seemed unsure if he could yet bring it back over to Lutz. Standing next to him, I saw his wrist moving haltingly and yes, even limply, as he brought it back over for the man born from jets, sunglasses and two large Swiss parents, to complete his answer. High comedy, it's not — but hey, for the Paris Auto Show, it was pretty damn hilarious. – Ray Wert

Lutz Parle Francais: GM Exec Shows Off His Flair [Winding Road]

Parking! CNBC's Phil LeBeau Lets Lexus LS 460 Park Itself

Ray Wert — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 08:45:00 EDT

Phil LeBeau decided this past week he'd take his life out of his own hands, and leave the parking to Lexus. The CNBC correspondent showed off the latest in "parking assistance technology" on the LS 460 and although not death-defying, it wasn't exactly what you'd call amazing. It looks like the technology backs your Lexus about 65% of the way into a parallel space — but then it's up to you to finish the job. Let's just say after looking at the video we're slightly underwhelmed. It's our belief that, like happy endings, you should get the job finished for you, not force you to take matters into your own hand after the fact. That's just — well — not as satisfying in our minds.