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General Motors discussions
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Now, the stores are filthy with inventory scattered all over the place. Associates are hard to find, and the general atmosphere is just SCUMMY! I feel like taking a shower after being in a Wal~Mart these days. I won't go to a Wal~Mart anymore until I've exhausted all my other options. Of course, that doesn't even apply anymore. I used to think, "if Wal~Mart doesn't have it, noboby does." Now, the selection at Wal~Mart isn't good and they don't carry a lot of stuff anymore.
Regarding the strike, I am glad it is over before it really began. It had a huge potential to get really ugly really fast. If it was looking like a protracted strike I think GM would have moved most production out of the US. The loss of jobs would have been horrendous. Not just for the UAW people, but for suppliers, shipping firms, etc... I think it would have been enough to tip the economy into a recession. It is good to see that sanity prevailed.
Issue #3: Quality and perception. It seems to me that perception is a lagging indicator. If you have had poor quality (or the perception of poor quality) in the past, it will take a while for people to believe in you again. All the studies and statistics in the world won't change that overnight because everybody knows that 50% of statistics are wrong. But, if the accolades keep coming they will cut into peoples doubt like a river cutting the mighty grand canyon. It just takes time and consistent effort.
But people who do have experiences over years just as good as or better than some foreign competitor models are treated as idiots by a few posters on edmunds and ridiculed with stories of their 1965 Chev that lost rod because they didn't change the oil in it for 15000 miles and put in the cheapest Bonded oil at the local gas station.
I don't hear the problems of foreign models being bandied about as history by people either. There's a general slant in the opinion scale.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I think what happened here is that when Sam Walton was still alive you had a man who had a vision of what he wanted. The stores themselves were far more of an issue to him than the money he made. He certainly lived a lifestyle that didn't require being a billionaire.
Nowadays the price on the stock market today is pushing Wal Mart and it isn't pretty.
We have a Wal Mart in town that has been there long enough to go through the big change. When Sam was still alive if there were more than three people in line at a register they opened another one. The place was kept clean and there was a real effort to carry American made goods.
The difference now is astounding.
Wal-Mart stores went union in China in 2004 - maybe that would help clean up their act in the States. :shades:
Here's AutoObserver's take on the GM-UAW agreement:
"GM's current labor costs are $73.26 per hour, according to the company's annual report.
The cost is $25 to $30 per hour more than the labor costs of Asian rivals such as Toyota and Honda that have plants in the U.S. The creation of the VEBA could eliminate as much as one half to to two third of the gap virtually overnight." link
Now that is confidence!!!!
GM offered few details of the settlement but the automaker is expected to transfer enough cash into the new trust to cover about 70 percent of the current health-care liabilities of nearly $50 billion,
Where is this cash coming from?
The cost is $25 to $30 per hour more than the labor costs of Asian rivals such as Toyota and Honda that have plants in the U.S. The creation of the VEBA could eliminate as much as one half to to two third of the gap virtually overnight
OK now GM will be only paying about $15 more per hour. Not bad. But how about that $40 billion?
Now the VEBA is supposedly for retirees only. Will the working union guys now get the same health care benefits as the ones on the line in the competitors plants or even what the GM salarieds get? So far this year we have paid almost $5400 in health care including premiums, co-pays, etc.
Wal-Mart is like GM/Ford/Chrysler back in the dark days. You only go there when you can't find what you want any place else. Even then, you don't really want to go there. I could see their market share slipping as more and more people are associating them with a gag-reflex.
The iconic hybrid car is still the cleanest for its size, but is outranked by nine smaller Peugeot, Citroën, Ford, Smart, and other cars in a new environmental rating system.
The system is devised by researchers at Cardiff University and Clifford Thames, an automotive consultancy.
The researchers also studied cars due to launch shortly, and claim that petrol and diesel cars with new emissions-cutting technology will soon outpace the Prius on a size-for-size basis.
“Conventional technology will overtake the Prius over the next 12 to 18 months, and consumers won’t have to pay a premium for it,” said David Riemenschneider, Clifford Thames’ chief executive.
The research, based on publicly available data, points to the huge improvements manufacturers – under pressure from regulators to reduce emissions – are making on non-hybrid cars with diesel or petrol engines.
Rather than focusing on tailpipe emissions only, the ranking also takes into account cars’ overall environmental “footprint” – including raw materials, production, and end-of-life costs – based on their length, width and weight
The iconic hybrid car is still the cleanest for its size, but is outranked by nine smaller Peugeot, Citroën, Ford, Smart, and other cars in a new environmental rating system.
The Prius came out in 2004, other companies have targeted its success and improving on qualities where necessary. Emissions is probably an easier target to hit than the fuel mileage... Even then, Toyotas own Corolla can match the Prius in fuel economy if the Prius driver is a lead foot. I'd be willing to bet the next gen Prius raises the bar yet again (100mpg is rumored).
But the more that we can wean ourselves from these foreign sources of oil (often countries that hate us) and get our air cleaner, stop global warming (assuming that it is not something occuring naturally- still subject to debate) and just get us to use our own resources, the better off we are. I am optimistic that companies like GM that are pushed to the wall, can develop safe and responsive and reasonably roomy vehicles for us that are way more fuel efficient than what we see today.
Where is this cash coming from?
I was thinking the same thing? Where is the $35B coming from? I figure it will be over a time-period, but what is this time period? And where is the UAW coming up with the other $15? And same with GM, over what time period do they have to get this funded fully?
Am I missing something? :confuse:
Probably more important, get the dual hybrid SUVs out the door and get that huge market into more efficient vehicles. A lot of people like to say how good the prius is but it is a small market segment compared to the 50% truck market.
IIRC, 10 miles is about 10 times more than C+d said they could get a prius to go before the motor kicked in.
One analyst on CNBC this morning said that of the $25/hr cost adv. the foreign auto manufacturers have here over the Big 3, the VEBA could eat away $10-15/hr ALONE!!! Another $5/hr could be saved by the 2 tier pay scale.
-Rocky
GM, like Delphi, has money hidden in Swiss Banks
and other foreign accounts. It has been reported and investigated several times over the years by the UAW, but nobody in the mainstream media reports it.
-Rocky
-Rocky
As for having all of their fortunes hidden in Swiss banks, maybe they do, maybe they don't, but since most of the profit seems to be coming from overseas, it would make some since to me. The UAW certainly doesn't have a right to it.
Yep, it's hard to accept a contract when you and your brothers and sisters are the only ones feeling the swords edge cutting into your standard of living. :sick:
-Rocky
Perhaps in some eyes they do have a right to a slice of it since they are the ones who did the sacrificing here in the U.S.
-Rocky
urban legend in the minds of the UAW only
The hybrid versions of the full-sized 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon SUVs will deliver fuel economy gains of 50 percent in the city over the standard, non-hybrid models.
Tomorrow at the Texas State Fair, General Motors will announce the EPA fuel economy estimates of 21 mpg city and 22 mpg highway for the two-wheel drive versions of the Tahoe and Yukon hybrids.
Those fuel economy ratings are expected to give GM best-in-class fuel economy for large SUVs. The ratings also rival those of many midsize and large cars. For example, the 2WD Tahoe and Yukon match the four-cylinder Toyota Camry's 21 mpg city rating and beat the V-6 Camry's city rating by 2 mpg.
Tahoe and Yukon hybrids are by far the most fuel-efficient large SUVs on the market. By comparison, the two-wheel drive 2008 Nissan Armada and Infiniti QX56 and the two-wheel drive Ford Expedition all get EPA ratings of 12 city and 18 highway. The EPA has not released figures for the 2008 Toyota Sequoia.
The Nissan and Infiniti ratings are for the 5.6-liter V-8 and the Expedition rating is for the 5.4-liter V-8. GM's Two Mode hybrid SUVs have a 6.0-liter V-8 engine.
Fitch affirmed GM's non-investment grade 'B' issuer default rating, 'BB' senior secured rating and 'B-' senior unsecured rating. Fitch also removed the ratings from Rating Watch Negative.
Standard & Poor's placed GM's non-investment grade 'B' long-term ratings on CreditWatch with positive implications.
S&P said the positive CreditWatch action reflects provisions in the tentative agreement designed to address GM's employment benefit burden associated with UAW's retirees. The deal creates a GM-funded, UAW-run trust to administer retiree health care.
However, Fitch said its rating outlook for GM is likely to remain negative until 'a clear path to positive free cash flow is established.' To accomplish this, Fitch said GM must stabilize volume and revenue in North America, as well as improve its fixed cost structure through restructuring actions and labor outsourcing.
Fitch said an absence of free cash flow will make meaningful debt reduction difficult in the near term, despite the potential removal of health care liabilities.
I can certainly tell you with 100% certainty that GM, has money in foreign banks and has for years.
All money is reported in their tax filings.
They only have to report what they H.Q. here in the U.S.
Their subsidaries like Holden, Vauxhall, Opel, Saab, etc, are exempt from what I understand.
urban legend in the minds of the UAW only
Is that why the UAW's attorney's found $16 Billion in European banks and $11 Billion in Asian banks under Delphi Corporation accounts. You can believe what you want 62'.
-Rocky
Of course GM has money if overseas accounts, they have a multi-billion dollar operation overseas, thus they probably have quite a bit of money over there, so what. GM pays taxes overseas just as foreign manufactures located in the US pay taxes here. Don't you think Toyota has bank accounts here in the US? And if you think you understand Tax law think again. Even tax attorneys have a hard time understanding it. Last year, GE's US tax return was 22,000 pages long.
If you think Toyota doesn't pay taxes on profits in the US think again. They operate under a US Subsidiary called Toyota USA, they are taxed as any other US company.
Bottom-line, and the whole issue is GM is struggling to make money in the US. They need concessions to be able to be profitable and invest in improved product. I don't believe for a minute that they are siphoning money from US operations and hiding it in offshore accounts.
In all of the UAW presidents press conferences, he didn't mention one time that GM is keeping billions of dollars away from the UAW through offshore accounts. If it was true, you'd think they'd use that as a bargaining tool, and be screaming it to the public.
That's a pretty narrow spread for city/highway mileage. I suppose 21 is okay for a land barge like that.
That's a pretty narrow spread for city/highway mileage. I suppose 21 is okay for a land barge like that.
I'd say that's a huge improvement if that is the overall combined avg.
I get about 14mpg combined mileage in my Suburban and about 16-17 hwy.
My wife's 07 GP avg's around 22-23 mpg combined, so it definitely is a significant improvement IMO.
OK now that is Delphi. I am talking GM. How much does GM have? I can easily believe they could have $27 billion overseas just to keep the engineering and plants running.
Come on Bumpy. :confuse: okay??? :confuse:
It is as good as a 4 cyl Camry! Its better than a V6 Camry!
So, if you do all city driving, which is possible with some companies, and a whole lot of soccer moms/dads, you would be better off driving a Yukon than a tiny Camry.
Anyway it looks like GM could have a winner here depending on price.
· GM is the largest private purchaser of medical care in the U.S. It spent $4.8 billion last year to cover healthcare costs of 1.1 million employees, retirees and dependants. Its healthcare costs rose 80 percent in the past decade.
· GM funds healthcare benefits for 432,000 retirees in the U.S. Foreign carmakers with U.S. plants have a total of 1,200 retirees.
· Total labor costs, including retiree benefits, at the Detroit-based companies vary from $70.51 per hour at Ford to $75.86 at Chrysler. Toyota’s total costs are estimated at around $48 an hour.
Now what? By sharply lowering its costs – the Center for Automotive Research estimates the health care fund alone may cut costs by $450 per car – GM and the UAW are removing big obstacles to sustainable profitability in GM's largest single market, even if it has no guarantee that any of it will translate into selling more cars and trucks in its home market
From my point of view I don't know. Will they offer the hybrid model with 4 wheel drive? Second, the main reason I want a Tahoe/Suburban is for towing capacity. From what I've read it doesn't look like the hybrid model will be set up for much towing as it has a significantly lower tow rating. I'd be more interested in a diesel option.
The Acadia/Outlook platform would seem to make more since for a hybrid model since those seem to be more suitable for the people hauling/soccer parent set.
Hybrid technology has moved from the margin to the mainstream as automakers fight for image and sales.
You can tell because companies have started criticizing the technology their competitors use – before cars using that technology even go on sale.
Background briefings at General Motors and Chrysler go to great length to explain the superiority of their system, called the two-mode hybrid. GM invented the two-mode, and it looked promising enough that BMW and DaimlerChrysler climbed aboard providing engineers and money to develop it.
It goes on sale next month in the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon. The Chrysler Aspen follows in 2008.
BMW and Mercedes won't have the two-mode on the road for more than a year, but Audi engineers already are touting their system – which doesn't hit the market for months either – as superior, lighter and cheaper.
Meanwhile, GM executives are quietly delighted Toyota ran into problems developing new batteries for the next generation of plug-in hybrids.
GM badly wants to beat its Japanese archrival to market with a plug-in, which charges from a wall outlet and uses a small engine as a backup generator for long trips.
Toyota, meanwhile, says the technology GM is developing is unsafe.
"There's so much negativism, especially from one competitor," GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said. "The sooner we can disprove that, the sooner they've got some more egg on their face," he said in a thinly veiled reference to widely rumored battery fires in vehicles Toyota was testing.
· An independent retiree health care trust that will be funded with enough money from GM to remain solvent for 80 years
· Undisclosed job guarantees that we expect includes a promise of investment in particular U.S. plants in preparation for production of new models
· GM will hire up to 5,000 temporary workers as full-time employees
· Signing bonuses of an undisclosed amount for all UAW members who sign the contract
· Wage increases of 3% in first year, 4% in second and 3% in third
GM got:
· $50 billion in health care liability off its back after a large one-time payout into independent retiree health care trust
· Two-tier wage structure, as those 5,000 new hires who were previously temp will be brought in at their current wage of $18/hour, rather than the $28/hour current full-timers earn
· Undisclosed revisions in the Jobs Bank program that continues to pay laid-off employees
· Reduction in labor cost to produce vehicles, though might not be realized right away
Does anybody know what the price premium will be on the Hybrid Tahoe/Yukon models? Maybe $5,000? Unless you drive a lot, that would make the breakeven pretty far out. If it's $2,000, it's an easy decision.
They have but nobody listens......
-Rocky
I really don't care. As long as they do well. The future workers are going to absorb the edge of the blade. Maybe someday they will pay really good once again. If they hire again someday I'd be willing to take the chance that the future will be better than the present.
-Rocky
10.3% in three years plus a lump sum simply for being there? Jeebus. :sick:
The bottom line is GM & The United Auto Worker's are going to kick a lil Toyota, butt.
-Rocky
A 4 cylinder Camry hauling a boat, maybe. How does it compare to the Camry Hybrid? (We both know the answer to that one.)
So, if you do all city driving, which is possible with some companies, and a whole lot of soccer moms/dads, you would be better off driving a Yukon than a tiny Camry.
If all you do is city driving, you're an idiot for wanting a Yukon in the first place.
Japanese workers no longer have the lifetime guarantees that they used to have.
European workers get more time off,and maybe a little higher wage(of course,they build better cars too). However, their healthcare is provided by the state,not the automaker.
Hourly wage isn't the issue here,it is the cost of healthcare.
-Rocky