Archive for the 'GM' Category
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.
July 25th, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
In 1979, General Motors employed about 618,000 people. By the end of 2009, it will have eliminated more than 90 percent of those positions.
Another round of buyout offers ended yesterday. Any employee agreeing to leave could get $20,000 in cash and a $25,000 vehicle voucher. Workers with more than 20 years with GM can get $115,000 and the vehicle voucher. GM hopes 21,000 of its hourly workers will take the money and run, leaving the automaker with 33,000 hourly employees.
GM also wants to cut its white-collar headcount by 6,150 employees, leaving it with 23,500 white-collar workers at the end of 2009. This would give GM a total workforce of 56,500 employees, just over 9 percent the number it had thirty years ago.
General Motors isn’t just cutting employees to eliminate positions; the company’s plan is to replace more expensive experienced workers with new hires that will make half the current wage and get fewer benefits. The problem is the experienced workers know the buyouts aren’t worth very much when finding another job, even one that pays much less, is very difficult and that selling a house in the current Michigan market will make it harder to explore job opportunities outside of the state.
July 23rd, 2009 by Bill Cawthon
Bryan Nesbitt, the designer of the Chrysler PT Cruiser and the knock-off Chevy HHR, will be named as the new head of Cadillac later today. He will assume his new duties August first.
The news, first reported on autoextremist.com, was confirmed by GM spokesman Terry Rhadigan. Rhadigan also said the two Steves, Hill and Shannon, who have been running Cadillac on an interim basis, will be reassigned.
Nesbitt, who left Chrysler in 2001, is now vice president of GM North American design. In his hew post, he will report to Bob Lutz, GM’s chief of marketing and communications, with whom he worked in his Chrysler days.
The move is said to be part of Lutz’s strategy to shake up General Motors and make design the centerpiece of GM advertising.
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