They’re just mine, other people will have other memorable lines from a week in Motown, but here’s a snapshot, in no particular order, of a week in Detroit.

  • “The biggest threat to Michelin in North America is the economy and the biggest threat to the economy is the deficit,” chairman and president Michelin North America, Pete Selleck.
  • “There is no reason not to be interested,” JCI power solutions [batteries] president Alex Molinaroli on its monitoring of the A123 situation.
  • “This is the worst recession we have recovered from since the Depression,” Ford CEO, Alan Mulally, at the Automotive News World Congress in Detroit.
  • “It is about Mississippi continuing the plantation mentality.” General Missionary Baptist State Convention of Mississippi president and MAFFAN chair, Reverend Isiac Jackson, at Detroit press conference to ask for union rights at Nissan in Mississippi.
  • “We patterned our original transportation system after the UK,” – Ford executive chairman Bill Ford tells just-auto why the 1903 Model A had right-hand drive.
  • “The auto business will come back into fashion for young people,“ – Michigan governor Rick Snyderon the state’s strong rebound from the downturn.
  • “For 80 years the Nizhny Novgorod plant had no leader – now we have a leader. [Vladimir] Putin likes me – he says I am smart guy.“ – GAZ Group CEO Bo Andersson at Automotive News dinner.
  • “It is another urban myth that I get, frankly, tired of,” General Motors North America president, Mark Reuss. “The electric car is not dead.”
  • “We are trying to influence the people who are writing the cheques out,“ – Sunderland City Council chief investment officer, Tom Hurst.
  • “Nissan workers have asked me to join their campaign. They have taken a courageous stand here. They are standing up for their families and community. For them to vote to have a union is a step to take control of their lives and their community,“ – Hollywood actor Danny Glover on Mississippi workers’ union fight.

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