This is The Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:30 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?
1st Gear: So Much For Government Motors
The Government is going to sell those last treasury shares before the end of the year, so GM can go to the Detroit Auto Show un-indebted to the government.
Speaking of being indebted to the government, it'll make about $10 billion on the TARP bailout. Sure, as the WSJ reports, that's less than inflation, but you could probably spend $421.6 billion a worse way.
Most of that "profit" comes from the banks like Citigroup and Bank of America, through dividends and such. GM actually lost the government $10 billion, in total, with another $5 billion for Ally Financial and Chrysler.
Basically, GM:TARP::GM Europe::GM
2nd Gear: Tesla Owners Love Their Cars
The Consumer Reports owner satisfaction surveys shows the Tesla Model S is at the top with a 99/100 score, says David Shepardson.
Formerly the car people were most satisfied with was the GM Volt, so what's going on here?
The Tesla Model S is undoubtedly a fantastic vehicle, but people look at their car as a religious mission and not as a consumer product. Just talk to any Model S owner.
In other news, 99/100 of Heaven's Gate members were excited about the space craft coming to take their souls away.
3rd Gear: Chrysler's IPO To Be Set At $10 Billion
The Chrysler IPO, whether good or bad, is closer to happening and Bloomberg found out that the internal number is about $10 billion.
That's on the lower end of the $9-$16 billion range, which puts the UAW trust's share at about $4.15 billion.
Remember, this is all happening because Fiat isn't paying what the UAW wants and this IPO. That $4.15 billion is less than what Sergio Marchionne already offered, which itself is about $1 billion less than what they went.
Hmm…
4th Gear: Will People Around The World Go Crazy For The Mustang?
The 2015 Ford Mustang is coming to a non-'Murican nation near you. Will you care? Ford sure as shit hopes for.
Ford will unveil its next-generation 2015 Mustang on December 5 with simultaneous events in Michigan, Shanghai, Sydney, Barcelona, New York and Los Angeles. The model is slated to go on sale next summer.
"They will want to see it for the first time being sold in those markets," he said in an interview. "That will have an influence not just on the Mustang itself but on the rest of the portfolio."
Ford is relying on high-margin vehicles like the Mustang to offset its rising investment in less-profitable small cars that are key to tapping emerging markets. The Mustang is also expected to draw more customers to the Ford brand, spurring sales.
This is great for enthusiasts in the U.S., actually, because most of the changes designed to appeal to a global audience are good for everyone: Better design, better handling, more efficient engines.
Efficiency good? Yeah, because they'll always make a Shelby GT500 with a billion horsepower, but there's nothing wrong with an SVO-like EcoBoost Mustang. That sounds awesome.
5th Gear: Is This China's First Great Car?
When the Qoros 3 scored a five-star rating in Europe's crash-testing the world took notice.
Chinese cars have global ambitions, but things like "safety" and "design" and "quality" usually get in the way. Not so with the Qoros 3, which is apparently safe and definitely looks great without looking too derivative (Skoda Superb + Suzuki Kizashi?).
And now it'll have a low price to go with it. The company says the car will start around 119,000 Chinese Yuan, which makes it about $19,673 U.S. Dollars. There's no way to really compare that to the U.S., but if you were curious a new Toyota Camry costs about $29,500 in China.
Reverse: Convertible Lincolns Become Incredibly Unpopular On this day in 1963, topless limousines, once a staple for world leaders, start to seem like a terrible idea.
Neutral: Would You Buy A Chinese Car? What if it was a lightweight, powerful, RWD hatch?
Photo Credit: AP/Getty Images