• $20.1
  billion the amount raised by GM’s IPO earlier today (which is amazing, and the biggest ever)
• $4.35
  billion the amount in preferred shares the company sold, far above the $4 billion anticipated
• 33%
  stake the amount of GM the government will still own after the IPO, down from 61 percent source

• 30% the increase in the total size of GM’s post-bailout IPO tomorrow
• 478M number of shares to be offered to investors; more could be offered
• $22.6B the potential size of the IPO, which would be the biggest ever source

• $2 billion in profits for GM in the third quarter alone (*golf clap*)

Three reasons why this is good news:

• one It’s shaping up to be their first profitable year since 2004 – long before we heard anything about auto industry bailouts.
• two Most of the profits came from North America, where the company has been fairly weak in recent years. (Too many SUVs.)
• three GM has an IPO coming very soon, and a solid performance like this bodes well for their return to stocks. source

• $1.7B Ford’s profits in the third quarter of 2010 – a new record for the company
• 1997 the year Ford set the quarterly record they broke this quarter
• 69% the increase in profits from a year ago; not bad, auto industry source

• See that car in the middle with the weird crap on top of it? Well, we’re gonna let you in on a secret: Nobody is driving it. No person, that is. That car is being driven by Google’s artificial intelligence, which can detect cars and traffic patterns without any trouble. There was only one accident in the various tests, and it wasn’t even caused by Google’s car (it was rear-ended). The fuel they’re using? Ed Begley Jr.’s sense of self-satisfaction. source

• dumb A woman (illegally) parks in a handicapped spot outside of a dinner where Obama’s speaking; a police officer says it’s OK for her to park.
• dumberUpon leaving, she learns that her car has been moved by Secret Service agents – and they don’t know where they put it. They can’t find it.
• dumbestThe woman, after having given up and run through red tape, finds it herself the next day – less than a block away from the convention center. source

• » How far did WaPo commenters read? Rather than get upset about the fact that the Secret Service lost her freaking car, they criticized the woman for parking in a handicapped spot, even though the tag was for her husband. Not to underplay the traffic violation, but the Secret Service lost somebody’s freaking car.

• 59 mpgThe fuel efficiency required for a vehicle to receive an A+ rating under the EPA’s new vehicle-grading proposal.
• B-The average grade that a car currently on the highway would receive; most SUVs would get a C+ or lower. source

• Fundamentally this thing has been reshaped, resized and rethought. … We’re not trying to kill each other for this month’s market share. Those days are over. We’re not offering $7,000 checks to try to sell a car.
• Chrysler (and Fiat!) CEO Sergio Marchionne • Discussing the major changes the Detroit auto companies have made in their business models in the wake of the whole bailout situation from a year or two ago. GM was on dire straits. Ford was skating by. It didn’t even look like Chrysler was going to make it. This has largely changed. Profits are back for the companies. They have slimmer product lines and payrolls. And their CEOs – especially GM’s new one – are outsiders to Detroit. Don’t call it a … OK, call it a comeback. source

• $1.3 billion in profits this quarter, the best since 2004 source