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Automotive News & Views GM News, New Models and Market Share
8588 messages, Last post on Dec 04, 2009 at 2:21 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Saw article in WSJ recently that said: GM had to choose between 3 plants to mfr new compact: WISC, TENN, MICH. GM decided on existing GM plant in Michigan rather than use TENN plant that has state of art painting process/facility costing hundreds of millions. MICH plant will have to be updated with this new painting process. Union and Mich Dems being paid back for their Obama support. Tenn has 2 Republican Senators. UAW agreed to starting pay of $14/hr vs $28/hr standard for building this new compact car. New car will be out as 2011 model and will be lucky to break even. --- Do we taxpayers have any chance at all of GM paying us back.
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Replying to: anythngbutgm (Jul 08, 2009 4:34 am) Thanks! Regards, OW |
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Replying to: andre1969 (Jul 08, 2009 5:55 am) 
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Jul 08, 2009 2:20 am)  Your link isn't working for me but Motor Authority quotes Wards quoting GM that one is in the works. There's one in China I guess. The Fusion hybrid does look nice. It's a bit pricey and you lose the trunk pass-through because of the battery pack behind the rear seat. Nice mpg though, and the reviewers like driving it better than the other hybrids. GM News is thin this week. There is this for those heading out on your summer vacation: Cadillac Ranch 
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Replying to: xrunner2 (Jul 08, 2009 6:07 am) If they can make it to break even, maybe they can actually get to the point of making money on small cars. This is an important thing to accomplish.
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Replying to: bpizzuti (Jul 08, 2009 9:25 am)
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Replying to: carstryke (Jul 08, 2009 12:41 pm) |
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I've read about it somewhere (MT or CD). Cadillac is going to offer new models and revise some older models: 1. a Lexus ES competitor by the name XTS 2. The next CTS is gonna be smaller to better compete with class leaders 3. Escalade is also going to be smaller 4. One flagship model to replace both STS and DTS. My predictions come true 
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Replying to: carstryke (Jul 08, 2009 12:41 pm) ***** The last manual transmission available in a larger or midsize car was in 1987 IIRC, as a special order option on the Buick Regal/Century. Usually this was an option on a Grand National, but it could be ordered for a standard car as well.)remember seeing the order sheet in 1986 when I was contemplating a "sleeper" Regal with the Grand National engine and manual. No emblems, interior, or hood changes though. IIRC, only a couple of hundred of these were ordered and still command a decent price if you can find one. Then it was automatics and front wheel drive since then. This also coincides with their loss in market share. People don't *like* front wheel drive as a rule. They get it because it's "practical" and "the norm", much like how minivans are. So the loss of a manual as an option plus RWD placed GM right in the middle of the "rental/commuter box" category for many people. And the Japanese makers were the best at this segment at the time.
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Replying to: plekto (Jul 09, 2009 2:24 am) Another useless statistic...for the 1976 LeMans, I found this quote... "Only 8.5 percent of all LeMans intermediates got the Six and 99.8 percent were automatics." Now, I don't quite know how to read that...whether 99.8% of ALL LeManses were automatics (I suspect this is the case) or 99.8% of all 6-cyl LeManses were automatics. The base transmission back then was a 3-on-the-tree. However, you could get a 400 V-8 with a 5-speed manual...that must have been fun, considering the era. I believe there was also a package where you could get the Olds 260 V-8 with a 4-speed? In 1977, 99.4% off all LeManses were automatic. I didn't realize you could still get a Regal with a stick by 1987. In looking through the EPA's data, the last most recent year they show a stick shift in a GM intermediate is 1981, and there it's only offered on the Malibu with the 229, or the Century/Cutlass/LeMans with the 231. The Monte Carlo, Regal, and Grand Prix aren't shown as offering it. However, is it possible that if they build few enough of a certain combination, the EPA just doesn't test it? The EPA's online data only goes back to 1978 (although I've heard that fuel economy in the window sticker actually first started showing up for 1975). It doesn't show any GM full-size cars in 1978 offering a manual shift. I think they actually made the automatic standard in the big cars sometime between 1971-76, but I'm not positive. In a somewhat bold move, when the FWD GM-10 coupes came out for 1988, the Cutlass Supreme and Grand Prix were offered with a 5-speed manual, mated to a 2.8 V-6. I doubt if very many sold, though. When that hot 3.4 V-6 came out, you could also get it with a 5-speed, at least up through 1993 I think.
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