On Saturday, September 22, GM and its Chinese partners, which include SAIC, Shanghai GM and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center, opened the largest automotive proving ground in the country.
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At a first glance, the situation is improving for General Motors, as its Volt extended-range hybrid sold a record 2,800 units last month. Year-to-date Volt sales have so far reached 13,000 units, which certainly compares very well to the 7,700 cars that were sold in 2011.
For example, before the discounts, Bunnin Chevrolet in Culver City, California was selling three to five Volts per month. Last month it shifted 36 cars, mostly leases, and sales manager Chad Kelman told The Detroit News that the dealership is having a hard time keeping enough units in stock.
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Mark Meyers, GM Global Vehicle Performance Manager, tries out the Malibu Turbo LTZ at the Milford Proving Grounds and shares his thoughts about the most potent version of Chevrolet's new mid-size sedan.
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Though the deal still needs to be ratified by the union members, it includes creating 600 new jobs, modifying the two-tier wage system, paying CAW members US$9,234 in bonuses over the life of the contract and eliminating guaranteed cost-of-living wage increases. Moreover, new hires will start at about US$21 an hour, but will receive full wages of about $35 an hour after 10, instead of six, years.
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The Encore is offered exclusively with a 1.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine churning out 138-horsepower (140PS) and 148 lb.-ft. (200Nm) of peak torque. All-wheel drive is available on all models for $1,500.
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The automotive industry is no different. In the U.S. market, the current leader is Toyota, with a 58 percent retention rate. General Motors’ percentage is around 52-53 percent, close to the automotive industry average. Clearly, GM execs think that this should change; and there’s a very good reason for that.
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The first models to arrive will be the brand-new Buick Encore small crossover and the revamped GMC Acadia SUV this fall.
In the course of 2013, Buick will introduce the Regal sedan and LaCrosse (most likely facelifts), while GMC, the new Sierra and Sierra HD full-size pickups, as well as the Yukon and Yukon XL full-size SUVs.
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Now that the company is up and running for good (sans its European operations) reclaiming the number one spot from Toyota in 2011 and is posting profits, it wants to buy back its shares.
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The automaker said it delivered an average of 3,500 vehicles every day through the first eight months of the year 2012, up 15.2 percent from the same period last year.
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The CAW is proposing a lower starting wage for newly hired workers and a longer time for them to reach the top of the pay scale. Moreover, unlike current workers, new employees will contribute to their pensions but will still be entitled to a defined-benefit, not a defined-contribution pension.
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September 17 has been set as a deadline from CAW. Unless a deal is reached by midnight, then the union members have voted almost unanimously to strike at GM, Ford and Chrysler, all at the same time.
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Doing so, though, involves restructuring the whole operation and making it more cost-effective to stop bleeding massive amounts of cash.
This has already been announced in the “Drive Opel 2022” 10-year plan that is the subject of GM’s negotiations with the workers’ unions.
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However, that's not what caught our attention; this is what did and we quote Toyota's press statement:
"This sales figure represents sales momentum that has propelled the Prius Plug-in to a stronger first full six-months sales pace (6,061 units) than Chevrolet Volt Plug-in (2,745 units) and the all-electric Nissan Leaf (3,875 units)."
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In the case of the Volt, the answer is a bit complicated since it’s not your run-of-the-mill gasoline- or diesel-powered car. It’s a problem shared by every hybrid and all-electric vehicle manufacturer: the development costs, the tooling, the battery packs and the powertrain, when added up, simply make for a very high price.
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One can hardly argue that a Porsche 911 Turbo and a Ferrari 575 M sharing scenes with director Michael Bay’s personal 550 Maranello, beats a Crown Vic Interceptor or what-have-you any given day and twice on Sundays as a means of transportation for law enforcement officers.
Granted, this is a fictional character and the aforementioned cars are his own, rather than standard-issue patrol cars. Moreover, Don Johnson predated him with his Ferrari Daytona Spyder and subsequently, the Testarossa in Miami Vice.
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The reason is a software glitch on the OnStar communication system that affects the 2013 Chevrolet Cruze, Equinox and Volt, the Cadillac ATS, SRX and XTS, the Buick Verano plus the GMC Terrain.
GM spokesman Alan Adler said that the issue has been identified as the system failing to alert the OnStar call center in an accident that the vehicle’s airbags are not deployed, like a rear-end collision.
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This is the first time in its history that the CAW threatens to strike all three Detroit carmakers at the same time. The last strike organized by CAW was in 1996 against GM.
The union announced that all of its members will go on strike, since 99 percent of Chrysler Canada, 98 percent of General Motors of Canada and 97 percent of Ford Canada have voted in favor of the move.
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Yet analysts are not convinced that any rescue plan GM may have devised for its ailing European brands can succeed. In fact, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said that, while it might be costly right now, selling Opel is in GM’s long-term interest.
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It was the first strike in four years and a major setback as it cost the Korean carmaker $1.4 billion in production losses. This makes it the second-costliest strike in the company's history.
Today, however, Hyundai announced that it has reached a tentative wage deal with the labor union leaders and thus, end the strike and resume normal production.
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