GM critic Sen. Corker praises automaker during 2007 Saturn plant visit

David Shepardson / The Detroit News

One of Detroit’s critics during the auto bailout debate, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., is coming to visit the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this afternoon.

Corker plans to visit the General Motors Corp. display around 3 p.m. and meet GM’s President Fritz Henderson, GM’s Vice President for Environment, Energy and Safety Policy Beth Lowery and Ed Wellburn, vice president for global design at GM. It’s not clear how many other exhibits Corker will visit.

Corker has emphasized that Congress and the White House were most concerned about GM.

"We know that basically we’re talking about General Motors here. We wouldn’t be having this discussion if it weren’t for General Motors. Chrysler wouldn’t be here really if it weren’t for that. They’re in serious trouble but wouldn’t have the clout to be able to talk to us in this way," Corker said on the Senate floor on Dec. 11. "It doesn’t matter how much money we were to put into General Motors with the $62 billion in debt that they have today, there is no way that they can sustain their company. They cannot. G.M. only has a market cap today of around $2 billion. $2 billion. Toyota has a market cap of $130 billion. BMW has a market cap of $14 billion. This is a company that has a huge amount of debt and very little value."

In advance of his meeting in Detroit today, a video is circulating on You Tube of an appearance Corker made at GM’s Saturn plant in Spring Hill in 2007, in which he lauds GM’s efforts.

In the video, Corker says his visit to the Saturn plant was "most uplifting" and that he had learned a lot. He said he would "think about things a little differently" after his visit.

He said being in Spring Hill "makes you want to partner, to make sure that you work on putting in place policies that cause companies like this to thrive, so nothing like being here firsthand."