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Automotive News & Views GM News, New Models and Market Share
8454 messages, Last post on Nov 26, 2009 at 5:56 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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DETROIT – General Motors Corp.'s chief operating officer wouldn't say Monday whether GM will need all $18 billion in government loans it sought from Congress, but he said GM's worst-case scenario would require more than the $13.4 billion already allocated by the Treasury Department. I thought just a couple of days ago GM was saying that they would not need more money even in their worst-case scenarios? Funny how that story is changing, but not surprising.
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General Motors, seeking buyers for Saab and Hummer, will be able to follow through with plans to shrink to four core brands, North American President Troy Clarke says. As part of the survival strategy submitted to Congress last month, GM said it intends to focus U.S. product and marketing resources on Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC. Today at the auto show, Clarke said the company will be able to execute the plan, even as the global credit crisis chills merger and acquisition activity. "We have to re-engineer the way we're doing business in many regards," Clarke said. "We're going to be a smaller company." Meanwhile, Pontiac will dwindle to a five-vehicle line, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said here in a separate interview today. The cars: the G8, G5, Vibe, Solstice and Solstice hardtop coupe. In the viability plan -- submitted as part of GM's effort to win $13.4 billion in federal bailout loans -- GM also said it would consider options for Saturn, without saying whether the line would be sold or shuttered. "We've entered into a very, very open and candid dialogue with our Saturn retailers,'' Clarke said. Saturn, launched 19 years ago, has been successful in terms of brand attributes, he said. But "it just hasn't been a good business for us." Saturn's only annual profit came in 1993. GM will be able to work within state franchise laws as it whittles its dealer count, Clarke said. GM has calculated the estimated costs, he said, without elaborating. In the viability plan it submitted to Congress, GM said it planned to go from 6,600 dealers to 4,700 by 2012. Well it looks like the G6 is gone so look for the Insignia to become a Malibu next year?
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Jan 12, 2009 7:48 am) I supplied the data? When was this? Can you show me where this was? Uh, it was about 200 posts back, post #3100 something I believe. You said Chevy and Toyota are virtually tied, well I agree and not in a bad way. GM is going up, Toyota's going down, it's that simple. As for top class Honda, I only read and hear reviews from customers or potential customers (fairly, only from WA, CA, FL, OR, or MA where I can get infos from) who mostly rate Honda as much superior to Toyota in service quality. Also from my own experience as a customer. Toyota's falling service quality can be found all over the newspapers since 2001, you can easily find them on reader's letters section. |
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Replying to: lemko (Jan 12, 2009 7:42 am) Mercedes-Benz is a rolemodel that suffers the disease called "ARROGANCE", along with, sadly, D3 and Toyota. And I fear BMW may become the next. |
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They got no support from the unions in improving assembly quality either. That, imidazol, is so right on spot. UAW is one of the groups I consider as lazy incompetent bums. Like I said, they can drop dead for all I care. Not all GMs were junk; furthermore some problems are the result of poor maintenance by owners. But GM could have should have done better business management through those decades. Yes, I agree. CTS, Corvette = world level. Malibu, Tahoe, Silverado, Traverse, G8 = decent. Vue and LaCrosse = so-so. Astra = potential but become a trash thanks to overpricing. 2010 Camaro and Equinox = potential goodies. Homework #1: do something about the rest of the lineup. |
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Jan 12, 2009 9:32 am) Meanwhile, Pontiac will dwindle to a five-vehicle line, GM also said it would consider options for Saturn, without saying whether the line would be sold or shuttered. So Hummer is for sale with no takers, Saab is quietly for sale (again with no takers), now Pontiac is supposedly going away, but will still be around as five models, and Saturn is undecided? It has been obvious from the get-go that GM had too many brands and too many models and needed to downsize in order to be viable. This just sounds like smoke and mirrors. So what is it?
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Replying to: anythngbutgm (Jan 12, 2009 10:06 am) Saab makes 1 decent vehicle, the 9-3. The 9-5 is archaic, while the 9-2x and the 9-7x are sad clones that ironically are dressed in very fine clothes. I admit I think the 9-7 is the best looking among the Trailblazer brothers. Saab has potential imo (though not as much as Hummer), but it deserves better owner. This just sounds like smoke and mirrors. So what is it? IMO this simply proves that reality is undeniable, once again. |
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is that it is priced at or above an Audi A3 and it should be priced in-line with a Mazda 3. About 10K overpriced! 
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Replying to: 62vetteefp (Jan 12, 2009 9:22 am) |
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Replying to: bumpy (Jan 12, 2009 11:04 am) Preparation for the plant, to be located in Michigan, is to begin early this year, with production tooling to be installed midyear. Output is expected to start in 2010. Until GM's battery facility is operational, Volt's battery cells will be supplied by LG Chem Ltd.'s Compact Power Inc. unit, based in Troy, Mich. A joint engineering contract with Compact Power and LG Chem is expected to speed up development of the Volt's lithium-ion battery technology. GM has been testing battery packs for the Volt, powered by cells from LG Chem, for the past 16 months. "The design, development and production of advanced batteries must be a core competency for GM, and we've been rapidly building our capability and resources to support this direction," Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, where the Volt concept was rolled out two years ago. Mr. Wagoner said more than $1 billion has been committed to the Volt. Uncertainty over its future widened in December after GM delayed construction of a Flint, Mich., factory slated to build the car's engine. Batteries have been one of the biggest hurdles for U.S.-based electric- and hybrid-vehicle manufacturers. Batteries have been made in volume in Japan, South Korea and elsewhere in Asia, and auto makers have been concerned that if battery supplies tighten, expensive Asian battery-making capacity may go to Asian auto makers first. GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said the new plant initially would produce battery packs using cells produced by LG in Korea. The Chevrolet Volt, an extended-range electric vehicle that delivers up to 40 miles of gasoline- and emissions-free electric driving, will use battery packs manufactured in the United States by General Motors, Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced at the North American International Auto Show. GM will establish the first lithium-ion battery pack manufacturing facility operated by a major automaker in the United States to produce the Volt's battery pack system. It consists of lithium-ion cells that are grouped into modules, along with other key battery components. The Volt's lithium-ion battery cells will be supplied by LG Chem. Compact Power Inc., a subsidiary of LG Chem based in Troy, Mich., will build battery packs for Volt prototype vehicles until GM's battery facility is operational. A joint engineering contract with Compact Power and LG Chem also has been signed to further expedite the development of the Volt's lithium-ion battery technology. I don not know but it looks like the prototype packs will be made by Compact Power here in Michigan using cells made in Korea and then GM will start making their own production packs later. The Lutz statement makes it sound like the production cells will be made here. But in reading other statements it looks like there will be an effort to get Li-ion cell manufacturing here in the states.
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