Archive for the 'GM' Category
November 18th, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
Gary Peters, Democratic Congressman from Bloomfield Township, has taken issue with remarks made by former Republican Presidential candidate John MacCain. While serving as grand marshal at a NASCAR event in Arizona, McCain said, “Anybody believes that Chrysler is going to survive, I’d like to meet them.”
Peters accepted the challenge in a letter, saying he “will meet with you at your convenience to discuss the future of Chrysler and the contribution they make to our nation’s economy.” Peters added, “Better yet, I’d be more than happy to bring you to my district to meet with thousands of Americans who are working hard every day to design new and exciting vehicles and ensure the continued future of the American automobile industry. Hopefully then you might choose to be a partner in the continued success of an industry critically important to our country.”
Peters also contested McCain’s claim the United Auto Workers refused to renegotiate existing contracts. In fact, the UAW agreed to a number of contract changes, including an agreement to allow new workers to be hired at half the existing contract rate, to help Chrysler and GM before they filed for bankruptcy.
McCain declined to back down, other than to clarify his remarks, changing “Anyone” to “Any objective observer.” In a reply to Peters’ letter, McCain said, “As I am sure you know, I have spent a considerable amount of time in Michigan over the years, and have seen firsthand the great work achieved by the citizens of Michigan. Their perseverance merits praise.”
McCain’s remarks seem to be part of a GOP effort to discredit the efforts of Chrysler and General Motors to recover and become profitable again. Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, seized upon GM’s announcement of a third-quarter loss, saying this was “further proof that President Obama’s economic experiments are wrong for America.”
Steele’s comments ignore the fact that the bailouts were started under President George W. Bush after he and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson engineered an almost-no-strings-attached, $750 billion bailout of Paulson’s cronies on Wall Street. Furthermore, at the beginning of the third quarter, General Motors was in bankruptcy. In addition, GM’s sales in the most recent reported month were actually ahead of October 2008, marking the General’s first month-over-month improvement in almost two years.
November 13th, 2009 by DaveAdmin
The police car market has, in recent decades, tended to be dominated by one manufacturer at a time, with Chrysler holding 80% during the Diplomat/Gran Fury years, Chevrolet holding a dominant share during the Caprice years, and Ford coming in strong when there were no competing rear-wheel-drive domestic pursuit sedans from other automakers. Since its launch, the Dodge Charger police car has been adopted by numerous police agencies despite (according to reports) a heavy price premium. Now, it seems that the Charger can be the most affordable, as well as the most capable, police car.
A recently published Florida contract guide shows the 2010 Dodge Charger squad car, equipped for police usage, at $19,184 marked, or $19,718 with the “street appearance” package. The Chevrolet Impala, usually the low-cost leader and the only major squad car with front wheel drive, listed at $19,246 marked, or a low $18,745 unmarked. Ford came in at $21,119 marked, $21,317 with street appearance (3.27 axle; 3.55 axle was extra). Lead time on the Chargers was, however, the longest of the three, with 120 days quoted vs 60 for the Chevy and 90 for the Ford.
The listings are titled “Police pursuit automobile” and therefore likely include the Hemi engine rather than the V6. However, the model code does not specify which engine is used.
All Ford orders must be in by May 14, 2010, and there may be a rush of final orders as fleet managers eager to keep everything standardized and uniform stock up for future years when convenience takes a back seat to performance and economy.
Chrysler does not have an entry for special service SUVs this year.
October 14th, 2009 by DaveAdmin
Chrysler scored above the average in J.D. Power’s three-year reliability survey, which looked at repairs to 2006 vehicles. Jaguar and General Motor’s Buick headed the list this year with just 122 problems per hundred vehicles each; Lexus trailed the American and British firms, with 126 problems per hundred, and Toyota came in close behind at 129. Oddly, the Scion brand, made by Toyota, came in very low, at 222 problems per hundred vehicles – lower than any American vehicles.
Aside from the Grand Caravan topping the minivan charts, no Chrysler vehicle came in at first, second, or third place in their segments. Toyota garnered the highest number of top rankings, with five (Prius, Solara, Highlander, Sequoia, Tundra). The Honda Odyssey did not appear in the top three vans (nor did the Chrysler Town & Country, though it might have been lumped in with the Grand Caravan). Mercedes came in second place for premium sporty car.
The top German brand was Porsche, at 150 per hundred. Chrysler came in at 165, edging out BMW at 166 and the industry average of 170. Mercedes fell at 184, far lower than most luxury brands and substantially lower than Chrysler.
Dodge fared less well, coming in at 202 overall, despite having the highest quality minivan; Dodge was beaten by both Ford and Chevrolet in this measure, but beat Mini, Kia, Pontiac, Mazda, and Volkswagen. Jeep came in at 220, below Kia’s 218 but above Hummer and Scion.
The worst record was held by Suzuki, with 263 problems per hundred vehicles; and by German automaker Volkswagen, with 260.
October 5th, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
Reversing an earlier decision, General Motors will field a new full-size, rear-wheel-drive Chevrolet that will be built on the same Zeta platform as the new Camaro and discontinued Pontiac G8. The Zeta platform, developed by GM’s Australian subsidiary, Holden, for the Commodore sedan, will now be used as the basis for the 2011 Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle (PPV).
Chevrolet made the announcement at the annual International Association of Chiefs of Police convention in Denver, Colorado. The comapny describes the new Caprice PPV as a modern sedan offering both V-8 and V-6 engines, as well as a host of specialized equipment and features. It will be available for ordering next year and will hit the streets in early 2011.
Jim Campbell, general manager for GM Fleet and Commercial Operations, says the new Caprice will be superior to the Crown Victoria in key areas.
The Caprice PPV, which Chevy says will not have a civilian counterpart, features: 6.0L V-8 with 0-60 time of under six seconds; Optional front-seat-only side curtain air bags allowing a full-width rear-seat barrier for officer safety; two trunk-mounted batteries, one dedicated to powering police equipment; five-passenger seating, meaning the upper-center section of the dashboard can be used for equipment mounting; compatibility with in-dash touch-screen computer technology; special front seats designed for long-term officer comfort including space to accommodate a typical officer’s duty rig.
With the full-size Crown Victoria, which has been the dominant player in the police car market, nearing the end of its long production run, Ford will no longer have a large, rear-wheel-drive sedan and hopes to persuade law enforcement fleet buyers to consider the Taurus, a V6-powered, front-wheel-drive sedan. This could create a significant opportunity for General Motors as the Pontiac G8 was better-rated than the Dodge Charger R/T and was faster than any Charger model except the SRT8. However, the opening is also there for the Charger and Chrysler engineers as the G8 was more expensive than the Charger, meaning the Caprice will likely carry a higher price than the current Impala. This could erase the current Charger’s cost disadvantage, creating an opening for the HEMI-powered sedan to take a larger piece of the police market.
Photo courtesy of General Motors. Copyright 2008 General Motors Company. All rights reserved.
September 30th, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
Penske Automotive Group Inc. announced late today that it has ended negotiations to buy the Saturn brand from General Motors.
Penske cited concerns about what it called “the future supply of vehicles beyond the supply period it had negotiated with GM” during the due diligence process.
“The company had negotiated a definitive agreement with GM to source vehicles on a contract-manufactured basis for a period of time,” Penske said. “After this period, the company would have been required to source vehicles from another third party under a similar contract-manufacturing agreement.”
Penske began talks with GM in June, raising the hopes of many Saturn dealers who were going to have to shut down their dealerships. Saturn is one of the four brands GM is abandoning as it seeks to return to profitability.
September 9th, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
The National Automobile Dealers Association and a group of dealers, called the Committee to Restore Dealer Rights, whose franchises were terminated by Chrysler and General Motors have reached an agreement on recommended reinstatement procedures.
The compromise agreement calls for the automakers to disclose the actual criteria used to determine which dealers were to be terminated. If Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Company, the new entities created to continue production, agree, any dealers that could show their franchises were wrongfully terminated would be automatically reinstated.
Dealers not qualifying for automatic reinstatement could appeal to an arbitration panel consisting of one representative from the car company, one representative from the terminated dealer and a third member agreed upon by both parties. The panel would operate according to the rules of the American Arbitration Association and the Federal Arbitration Act and its decision would be binding on both parties.
The compromise gives the NADA and the dealers a common position. Previously, the NADA had said it would only seek the reinstatement of dealers wrongfully terminated under the automakers’ own criteria while dealers were pushing for arbitration.
Maryland dealer Jack Fitzgerald, a member of the Committee to Restore Dealer Rights, says the next step is persuading the automakers to come to the table. Fitzgerald noted, “All we’ve done is agreed to be on the same page with each other.”
GM says it has already offered dealers an opportunity to bid on new franchises., Chrysler did not have a comment.
July 31st, 2009 by DaveAdmin
General Motors will close down its medium duty truck line in Flint, Michigan, on Friday after failing to sell the business, which has been losing money. The plant will remain open to make heavy duty passenger trucks, but 400 jobs will be lost. The closure may be a boon to competitors Dodge and Ford, which will see somewhat higher volumes.
