General Motors discussions

rockylee

Under deal with UAW, workers employed to replace those who took buyouts will get permanent jobs.

http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061122/AUTO01/611220349/- - 1148

Step-dad and Aunt, are waiting there turn. It's been frusterating for both of them working for a meager $14 an hour with zero benefits, no vacation, no holiday pay. Both aren't getting paid during the thanksgiving holiday shut-down. Step-dad said it hurts his pocket book. He's still waiting to find out if Delphi, is going to honor his IUE Journeymens card.

Rocky

rockylee

Under deal with UAW, workers employed to replace those who took buyouts will get permanent jobs.

http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061122/AUTO01/611220349/- 1148

Rocky

rockylee

Following Ford's lead, struggling automaker will focus on crossovers.

http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061122/AUTO01/611220416/- 1148

Rocky

P.S. Thank-god, because the CUV's are a much better mini-van

rockylee

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/BUSINESS01/611190606/10- 14/BUSINESS01&GID=+koZeX1rSs8z+3COKm/spWrA6b3vq0K6f0KwlffuBM4%3D

Rocky

rockylee

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061121/NEWS99/61121035/1014/BU- SINESS01

Rocky

rockylee

It will shed most of its interiors unit

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061121/BUSINESS01/611210353/10- 14/BUSINESS01

Rocky

rockylee

GM releases first picture of the car to be shown at Detroit auto show

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061121/NEWS99/61121024/1014/BU- SINESS01

Rocky

rockylee

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061121/NEWS99/61121051/1014/BU- SINESS01

Rocky

rockylee

Gettelfinger takes questions online

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061122/BUSINESS01/611220458/10- 14

Rocky

rockylee

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061122/BUSINESS01/611220323/10- 14

Rocky

rockylee

Restyled Chevy to debut at Detroit car show

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061122/BUSINESS01/611220381/10- 14

Rocky

rockylee

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/GeneralFuture/articleId=117546

Rocky

rockylee

THE GMC ACADIA:

http://www.gmc.com/acadia/acadia/index.jsp :shades:

What a nice piece of rugged Luxury, eh ?

Rocky

62vetteefp

GM does not normally have different interiors in their models. Leather vehicles just means leather seats instead of cloth. They do use different trim pieces like wood instead of silver.

The trucks are an exception today though. They have 2 levels-work and pretty.

62vetteefp

The UAW must protect the controversial jobs bank programs, Gettelfinger said. The programs have become an icon for union excesses because they require General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group to pay idled workers after unemployment benefits run out, even if there is no work for them.

Thousands of employees have effectively been paid not to work, a practice Wall Street has ridiculed.

The contracts between the UAW and the Detroit Three expire in September 2007. Gettelfinger said Tuesday that talks on a new labor agreement will begin in July. The union will decide in August which automaker to negotiate with first, he said, adding that he will be seeking another four-year deal.

IDIOTS!!!! Sorry I just had to say that. Hope it is posturing.

torque_r

Motor Trend's Car of the Year:

...........surprise.. Toyota Camry

rockylee

62,

The UAW allowed both Delphi and GM, to hire temps with zero benefits. I have two very close relatives of mine that are in this situation busting their butt trying to gain full-time employment at Delphi. While many don't agree with the Jobs Bank, I can see why the union wants to keep it for longevity reason. Lets say you have 26 years in and only have 4 more years to go to retirement and the plant closes. You will end up SOL in not only benefits, but also in pension. Unfortunately the new workers will never have such a guarantee, when good jobs are rare. The UAW, sold out for now to allow the seniority the chance to retire with more than their shirt.

Rocky

rockylee

I hope you were being sarcastic

Rocky

imidazol97

Agree about the tipping point bandwagon and the press closer to fair the last few months, at least since the takeover investor dumped his stock in GM...

w9cw

A meager $14/hour??? That's over $29K per year. Come on, many people in this country, including those with degrees, make less. It's time either UAW or former UAW workers stop crying and realize that the gravy train is just about over. If you don't work on a certain day, you shouldn't get paid.

lemko

Uh, you think $29K a year is good? If I had a degree and was only making something like $29K or less, either I majored in something really stupid or there's something fierociously wrong with me. In Philly, all that gets you is a one bedroom apartment in a marginal neighborhood, trips to the Save-A-Lot and maybe a junker car with just liability insurance. Oh, and don't bother turning on that thermostat for the heat this winter, you can't afford the PGW bill!

62vetteefp

I know Rocky, my brother was in the Job Bank for years. He sure did not feel it was right to do nothing and get paid but he took the money. GM is not the gravy train it used to be. It has to cut to survive. That is just the way it is.

I just want to see the company survive so that it can pay it's retirees that cannot work enough to survive (almost all my relatives are GM retirees). We know we will lose a lot of their health care but they are hoping they will get their pension until they die.

62vetteefp

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/income04/statemhi.html

Median household income in the US is $44,500. That means half the country makes less than $44k. $29K is well above the poverty rate for a family of 4.

As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2003 was $18,810; for a family of three, $14,680; for a family of two, $12,015; and for unrelated individuals, $9,393.

Real median household income remained unchanged between 2003 and 2004 at $44,389, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

torque_r

Rockylee. I was.

But now come to think of it, it makes sense. Camry offers something for everyone, powerful V6, economical I-4, hybrid, all wrapped in high style, high quality model. The same could have been said about the Saturn Aura if it offered 4-cyl and a hybrid at launch, an if the V6's weren't ashamed of their fuel economcy compared to the Camry.

xrunner2

Motor Trend's Car of the Year:

...........surprise.. Toyota Camry

Great choice. An outstanding car in every regard. Were any GM cars in the running?

torque_r

Great choice. An outstanding car in every regard. Were any GM cars in the running?"

I think only the Saturn Aura. A worthy car to begin with, just lost it somewhere in marketing where they decided it only needed two V6's with also-ran power and fuel ecomony.

fintail

Kinda dumpy styling IMO, that front valence is painful on my eyes. Gunning at the RX/MDX eh...not rugged, but I am sure it is comfortable.

rockylee

Thank-you lemko. The same type of costs are in my home state of Michigan. $29K is like being employed at the "land fill" my grandfather says. "$300 a week, and all you can eat"

Rocky

P.S. Found out this morning Step-dad, is getting hired in at Delphi finally !!! He will make $14 an hour with some benefits in the near future.

62vetteefp

"$300 a week, and all you can eat"

It's $560 a week

62vetteefp

Stock dropped 10%, but hey, someone bought the stock,

DETROIT -- Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. investment firm today said it had sold $462 million of stock in General Motors this week, taking its stake in the automaker to 7.4 percent from 9.9 percent.

In a U.S. regulatory filing, Tracinda said it had agreed on Monday to sell 14 million GM common shares in a private transaction for $33 per share.

Representatives of Tracinda Corp and GM could not be immediately reached for comment.

Kerkorian's associate Jerry York resigned from GM's board on Oct. 6 in a dispute over board oversight and strategy triggered by the automaker's decision not to pursue an alliance with Renault-Nissan.

Speculation that Kerkorian could be looking to reduce his stake in GM had pushed the stock sharply lower this week.

Since Friday, GM shares have dropped about 10 percent. The stock's decline was the biggest drag on the Dow Jones industrial average today.

62vetteefp

So make sliding doors an option!! Minivans dieing a slow death.

General Motors plans to cancel its next-generation minivan and abandon that vehicle segment.

Instead it will woo buyers with its mid-sized Lambda-based crossover vehicles, sources say. The minivans had been scheduled for the 2010 model year.

Chevrolet is scheduled to receive a crossover on the Lambda architecture by the 2010 model year. It will replace the Uplander minivan. Other minivans being killed are the Buick Terraza and Saturn Relay.

Crossovers off the front-drive Lambda architecture originally had been intended for more premium brands. The Lambda vehicles debut next month with the 2007 Saturn Outlook. The 2007 GMC Acadia follows early next year, and the 2008 Buick Enclave launches next summer.

GM's product board has not approved cancellation of the minivan program. But those close to GM say it's a safe bet the board will do so, based on declining sales in the segment, the high cost for GM and a belief that crossover vehicles can fill the void.

"The Lambda crossovers will do most anything a minivan can do - except for the sliding doors, which a lot of people don't like," says a source familiar with GM's product plans.

U.S. minivan sales have plummeted 19.0 percent since 2000, to 1,110,541 in 2005. That's a dramatic drop of 260,693 vehicles. The Chrysler group led the segment last year with 36.7 percent of the market, followed by Honda at 15.7 percent and GM at 14.9 percent. Last year GM sold 166,016 minivans.

This year, minivan sales are off 10.9 percent through October. Hall expects the downward trend to continue as buyers switch to crossovers and other vehicles.

bumpy

$29k is a pretty nice chunk of change in some parts of the country. Tell your relatives they should get out of Michigan while the getting is good. Or, they could wait for enough other people to leave to bring the cost of living down to a reasonable level.

Of course, the cost of living wouldn't be so astronomical if GM wasn't paying people $70k in wages and benefits to sit around on their butts. Spain taught us five centuries ago what happens when you dump a bunch of "free" money into an economy.

fintail

I wish we had a Michigan cost of living out here.

Speaknig of abandoning minivans...didn't GM do that several years ago? Maybe it was intentional, make vans so third-rate that they will look even lamer than ever, hurting the image of the segment and luring more into SUV-looking things that are in effect minivans.

imidazol97

d>production tooled components with grain applied by a special process only done by a few companies. Grain is applied to the tools after all validation is done.

What do you mean by "grain"?

allargon

29k is not a great deal of money even in lower cost parts of the country like the Southern Appalachians.

Okay, back to the topic. Is anyone at GM considering a Cadillac or Buick model based on the Kappa platform. The Solstice and the Sky generated a great deal of buzz. I saw a Sky driving down the street and thought, "What a beautiful car!" Yes, it has its faults. I hope GM is working on it. However, I'm hoping they could give it one more brother with Cadillac or Buick. Buick is a little too close to Saturn. However, a Cadillac BLR (or BSR) or ALR would be a great choice.

62vetteefp

What do you mean by "grain"?

Plastic tools such as the IP or door trim or garnish moldings (trim between windows) are tooled per the drawing using computer controlled machines. the surface of the tools are flat and smooth. After the production parts of the tools are validated a special process is used to "acid burn" the grain into the tools. The grain is the pattern on the parts such as the animal hide look or a technical grain such as the pebble grain on many switches.

The Malibu was a one off show car (probably one of 5 or so). The plastic parts were molded using the ungrained production tools and then, using a special process, the proper grain is applied to the plastic and then painted.

62vetteefp

What is going on here? They just stopped the Saturn Relay and the Buick Terazza and the Montana has been gone awhile. For some reason Uplanders are selling well. GM is number 3 for minivan sales.

Because of unexpectedly high orders for the minivans under
construction, the plant has tapped into a pool of temporary workers. Eight
are skilled tradesman who signed off last month at the Ford plant in
Hapeville when it shut down.
Weekday shifts are running nine hours, and the line is humming every other
Saturday as well.

This time next year, the occasion may not be so festive. Its days already
numbered, the plant won't survive long enough to toast New Year's Day 2008,
according to Local 10 President Willie Monroe.

Monroe cited a GM vice president as his source for the closing date, which
is earlier than the previous forecast. "Things could change," the 38-year
GM veteran said, his tone absent optimism.

The company declined to comment. It has indicated that the Doraville
factory, one of nine in North America targeted for expiration, would wind
down by the close of 2008.

rockylee

It's really to bad. :sick:

Rocky

rockylee

Stocks tumble after billionaire investor reduces stake in automaker to 7.4%.

http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061123/AUTO01/611230378/- 1148/AUTO01

Rocky

P.S. This is the best news in recent times for GM.

rockylee

Government may decide by January whether to seek criminal charges in the accounting fraud probe.

http://www.detroitnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061124/AUTO01/611240330/- - 1148

Rocky

P.S. Throw the keys into the Detroit river !!!!! :mad:

rockylee

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061126/BUSINESS01/611260544/10- 14

Rocky

rockylee

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061126/BUSINESS01/611260546/10- 14

Rocky

P.S. It's pretty sad that Texans, are geting overly excited about building ugly trucks. :P

62vetteefp

Here are the specific models that GM will highlight in L.A. :

2008 Buick Enclave
2008 GMC Yukon Hybrid
2008 Saturn Vue
Saturn Aura Green Line hybrid
Saab 9-3 60 th Anniversary Edition
Saab 9-5 60 th Anniversary Edition
HUMMER HO 2 Design Concept (Design Challenge entry)
Cadillac Platinum Series (XLR, STS, DTS)
Cadillac DTS-L
Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell
Chevrolet Sequel

http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gm- news/viewpressreldetail.do?domain=2&docid=30655

62vetteefp

According to the recently issued 2007 EPA Fuel Economy Guide, GM leads the industry with more vehicles that achieve an EPA-estimated 30 mpg or more on the highway. For the 2007 model year, GM offers 23 such vehicles, up from 14 in 2006.

62vetteefp

Chevrolet has outsold toyota in the first 10 months of this year by 300,000 units. 2,000,000 vs. 1,700,000!!

whoops, that is old news. Chevrolet has always outsold Toyota in this country.

Sorry, just trying to stir up the pot a little bit. Not much going on here. Chevy has been losing sales while Toyota has been gaining.

Guess the real news is that toyota company is at 2.1 million and GM company is at 3.4 million in US sales. Pretty large delta.

rockylee

62,

I can't believe GM next year will be 100 years old. :surprise: Amazing the company was founded in 1908 and she is still alive and kicking. I hope the old General, is around for another 100

I can't wait to see these cars upclose. Have you heard yet when television, is going to air the Detroit show ?

Rocky

P.S. Lemko, a DTS-L and platinum editions on the XLR, STS, DTS I find interesting. :surprise:

rockylee

Guess the real news is that toyota company is at 2.1 million and GM company is at 3.4 million in US sales. Pretty large delta.

Looks like the old General, is going to stay #1

Rocky

terry92270

Too bad with those larger sales, GM cannot turn in one profitable year with vehicle sales, and depends on Ditech and GMAC to prop it up..... :P

62vetteefp

That is US only. It is worldwide where Toyota may pass GM in hte next couple years. Probably be 5 years here IF the trendlines continue.

62vetteefp

Yes, GM is hammered for being 100 years old here in the US. Pension and health care for retirees is really killing them. Even if everyone agreed that GM had competitive vehicles with Toyota they would still be at a huge disadvantage.

I just read though that Nissan USA is complaining to their lobbys in Washington that they are having problems with their retiree and healthcare cost and are threatening to not build more plants here. I guess they have been here 20 years or so. Anybody know which plant they have had that long?