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General Motors discussions
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Japanese workers no longer have the lifetime guarantees that they used to have.
I haven't seen anything to prove otherwise. :confuse:
European workers get more time off,and maybe a little higher wage(of course,they build better cars too).
Well them building better cars doesn't show up in J.D. scores. :P The bottom line is a car is as only as good as it's engineered. The company not the workers control those aspects.
However, their healthcare is provided by the state,not the automaker.
Hourly wage isn't the issue here,it is the cost of healthcare.
That's why this country will see universal healthcare by 2009'
-Rocky
(city/highway/combined)
Camry I4: 21/30/24
Camry V6: 19/28/23
Camry Hybrid: 33/34/34
GM's Bimmer Beater !!!!! :shades:
-Rocky
The Escalade Hybrid test mule, tested in the fall of 2006 was pulling 31 mpg highway.
-Rocky
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=122780?tid=edm- unds.il.home.photopanel..1.*
This is the car iluv, should of waited for.
-Rocky
THE KING OF THE HILL IS BACK !!!!
-Rocky
Tahoe and Yukon fuel rating
However, I know I am wasting the band width here since you do have a tendency to argue with facts.
Just comparing 2008 epa numbers.
I will sign up as your idiot if you want. I drive about 90% city and could not get by w/o an SUV. Well then again I could but I sure would not be hauling the 4x8 sheets home. And there goes the 2 kitchen cabinets I picked up yesterday. (well actually 5 but it tolok 3 trips) Oh yea the 10 bags of mulch last week. Oh yea the kids and there two friends I took to the museum Tuesday.
Please, not everyone shares your lifestyle. This country still has families in it and not all are single/no kids. Sure you can get around with a sedan but takes compromises.
Does that clear things up for you now ?
-Rocky
Not really doubting that the GMT900 hybrids could be capable of hitting the mpg marks, but I just wonder how many consumers will actually hit the claims.
If it comes out they indeed can & do hits those marks, GM will have an improved foothold; I just wish these type of technology / fuel gains could be made on their cars instead of SUVs. Seems the concentration is still on the behemoths.
-Rocky
-Rocky
Yes you could. The plywood, cabinets, and mulch could have been delivered in one trip, and the kids could take the bus to the museum. You drive a land barge because you like the extravagance.
Drive on 62'
-Rocky
Unless you were actually there, and saw the loads that were put in the vehicle, you don't know whether this could have been done in one trip...you think you know, which is a big difference.
Generally, I've found that minding my own business is a much more enjoyable approach to life, especially when it comes to vehicular choices.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
thanks
Hybrid Tahoe: 21.5 mpg combined / 21 mpg city / 22 mpg Hwy
(21.5 - 17) / 17 = 26.5% (combined)
(21 - 14) / 14 = 50.0% (city)
(22 - 20) / 20 = 10% (Hwy)
The 50% improvement only works for city.
I am not knocking on the hybrid Tahoe, as matter of fact I think it's a great achievement. I am just trying to set the record straight.
Very true, but the '08 epa ratings have been "improved" and will be closer to actuals by the real public. To be honest if I could get 20 average on one of these Tahoes that would be so great. Of course I would need to get a suburban so I wonder when the two mode will get there. In actuality I would rather have one of the Lamdas and hope they will get the two mode some day. I do not need a big truck I just need the people and stuff hauling capability that 25% of the buying public buys them for.
Even today trucks sell almost 50% of the market and that is GMs strength. Seems like the first place they should invest in hybrids.
Of course in two years they plan on leap frogging sedans with the Volt series of vehicles.
I wished Steve, could pull that article up from the archives. It was from last year around this time.
-Rocky
Also these are 2008 numbers which are lower than the 2007 numbers.
-Rocky
-Rocky
Coming Soon: 30-MPG Cadillac Escalade Hybrid Set to Debut in Fall 2007
and a bonus:
Cadillac Escalade Hybrid Prototype Spied
(Your 1st link)
-Rocky
-Rocky
Also, the 30mpg figure could based on the 2007 standard. the 21/22 is on the 2008 standard.
-Rocky
-Rocky
The first link seems to be to a "concept car" they took around to the auto shows. At least that is what the title of the Website says. I think I can take that at face value, unless you tell me otherwise.
The second raises the interesting question of "what exactly is a model year?" That article seems to have been published in 2004, so I do not see any indicator when they started the test. As to whether Toyota USA ever called it a "2002" model, or that was just Motor Trend's name, I do not know. However, there is no doubt that you could buy a Matrix in 2002, just like you could buy a 2003 Cavalier in 2002. Like I said, I think I saw HHR's early enough that I might have called them 2005.5 cars. On the other hand, in the "used car" reference I have, I do not see any such thing as a 2002 Matrix. That includes the US Consumers Reports publication.
I do not normally rely on Consumers Reports for much, but in this case, I think they got it right. . . .
Bumpy: 2 HHRs and no Matrix? Good! Where is that?
I don't remember exactly when the Chevy HHR came out, but it appears 2006 is the first model year. This makes sense in that the Cobalt came out as a 2005 model around Dec. 2004 as I recall. (The HHR is basically a Cobalt station wagon.)
I don't like rubber band tires. Imagine replacemen cost. Imagine the harsh ride on all cars using them. Give me rubber with some air in it.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Funny on the site this pic came from they are all complaining how unattractive the vehicle is and most are serious. How the heck can you tell anything from this photo??? I mean I can pick out the Velite grill (Enclave style) and it has 4 doors and there is a styling feature along the bottom of the doors. MAYBE it has a flat angles rear window/trunk lid but that could easily be padding under the cover.
I've been thinking all along that the automakers should concentrate on fuel economy at the low end, as that's where there's the most fat to trim. For instance, if you can boost the mpg of a vehicle from 15 mpg to 21 mpg, over the course of 100,000 miles, you're saving about 1900 gallons of fuel. However, take some little economy car that gets 40 mpg, and find a way to boost it to 100 mpg, and that's only going to save you 1500 gallons over the same amount of miles. Of course, this is using city-only driving.
Still, I imagine it's a lot more feasible to boost the economy of a vehicle from 15 mpg to 21 than it is to boost one from 40 to 100.
I guess you can argue that the 15-21 mpg vehicle is still using more fuel than the 40-100 mpg vehicle, and in fact it is. However, people are going to buy these things no matter how bad they guzzle, unless fuel prices get so ridiculous that they can no longer afford them. So if people are going to keep buying them, you might as well do what you can to make them more economical.
The LaCrosse will be on EPS II and the Aura is now on Eps I wiht the EPS I larger. In comparing the above photo to the aura they have about the same side greenhouse height.
That's why I posted it. The overall shape is hard to decode. It looks hunchbacked with the positioning of the black pads and covers. A little like the Honda RL. But who can tell?
The wheels are a fad I realize. But I want tires.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
-Rocky
Virginia. I saw two of each yesterday. It just depends on whether the people who own HHRs and Matrixes happen to cross my path on any given day.
I haven't seen too many on the roads yet, but it's really not a high-volume vehicle anyway, I'm guessing.
FWIW, I like the Buick Lucerne too. And I liked the old Park Avenue. I was less enamored with the LeSabre. Reliable enough, but I just didn't like the styling as much as the Park. If I needed a fairly new used car though, and found a nice LeSabre at a reasonable price, I wouldn't be ashamed to have it in my driveway.
Further details on the four-year United Auto Workers contract began to emerge yesterday before UAW President Ron Gettelfinger was to meet today with plant-level union officials to explain the contract, covering about 73,000 UAW-GM employees. Neither GM nor the UAW has made public details of the contract, except to say it will include the creation of Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or VEBA.
Another important detail is that GM will backstop the VEBA, a union-run trust fund, at between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, in case health-care inflation exceeds GM or UAW projections. GM will fund over a few years its estimated $51 billion retiree health-care liability at about $35.3 billion, these people said. GM managed to trim its obligation by $15 billion two years ago, meaning it would have had a $66 billion obligation.
Besides the VEBA, Wall Street analysts and investors have pointed to the second-tier wage package as the second-most-important gain GM got from this contract. Most projections assumed GM and Ford Motor Co. would be able to get perhaps 10 percent of their work force to a second-tier wage, but it appears the figure will be much higher.
GM won't only be able to hire at a much lower compensation package janitors, landscape workers and material handlers, they will also be allowed to define some entry-level production work and skilled-trade positions as a "noncore position," whereby they get paid about half or less of the $70-to-$75 an hour wage-and-benefit package traditionally given UAW members at Detroit's automakers.
Those workers would have the opportunity to later transfer to the higher-paying production jobs. They will get 401(k) plans instead of pensions, the norm for previous UAW hires, and the 401(k) will carry with them if they move to new jobs.
Because GM has about 15,000 to 20,000 members eligible for retirement, the Detroit automaker may be able to offer buyout packages and quickly take advantage of the second-tier agreement. GM will eventually be able to outsource all janitorial jobs.