GM Tidbits

[sirAQUAMAN64]

No cash bonuses for top General Motors execs

The Detroit News

General Motors Corp. Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner and other top executives won't get cash bonuses the second straight year after the world's largest automaker lost more than $12 billion in that period, Bloomberg News reported today.

Wagoner, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and Chief Financial Officer Fritz Henderson and about 17 other executives won't get cash bonuses for 2006, spokeswoman Renee Rashid-Merem told Bloomberg today in an interview. She didn't say why GM isn't making the payments.

GM disclosed last week that it had awarded Wagoner $2.8 million in restricted stock units that are paid out over five years, with the value pegged to the rise and fall of GM shares.

The executives' full pay is scheduled be disclosed in a proxy statement at the end of April. GM won't comment on whether it has made any decisions about bonuses for other salaried and hourly employees, Rashid-Merem said.

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http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070328/AUTO01/703280379/1148
UAW warns: We'll shut down Delphi

Gettelfinger promises strike if contracts are thrown out

Louis Aguilar and David Shepardson / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said Tuesday he sees no point in negotiating a wage-cutting agreement with Delphi Corp. and vowed to strike the bankrupt auto supplier if it convinces the court to void its labor contracts.

"Let them go to court and void those contracts, then I'll show you what we'll do," he said. "If they void those contracts, we are going to shut them down, and that's a fact."

Gettelfinger's heated comments to reporters following the first day of the UAW's bargaining convention in Detroit shows that a bitter stalemate is emerging that could have widespread implications for Delphi and its largest customer, General Motors Corp.

Troy-based Delphi is in complex negotiations with GM and a group of private equity firms in an effort to reach an agreement that would allow the auto supplier to emerge from Chapter 11 as a new company with new majority owners.

Investors could back out

The group led by private equity funds Cerberus Capital Management and Appaloosa Management has agreed to invest up to $3.4 billion and take control of the company once it emerges, owning as much as 70 percent of the slimmed-down supplier.

But the investors could back out if a wage-cutting agreement with the UAW is not reached soon. And Gettelfinger showed no inclination Tuesday to negotiate with the auto supplier, who he said has been "playing games" with the UAW.

He said he could not remember when he last spoke with Delphi officials and didn't know when other UAW officials last bargained with Delphi executives.

"As far as I'm concerned, time's up on that one," Gettelfinger said. "There's no use for them to talk to us anymore We're through with them."

Delphi disputed Gettelfinger's statement that there have been no recent negotiations to speak of.

"We continue to be in discussions and we are committed to reaching consensual agreements," said Delphi spokeswoman Claudia Piccinin, who declined further comment on Gettelfinger's statements.

Other people close to the talks said discussions between the UAW and Delphi have continued in recent months and that more were scheduled for later this week.

Delphi has said it can't compete with its high labor costs. It has asked a New York bankruptcy court for permission to void previous labor contracts, but it has said it prefers a negotiated settlement to court action.

Delphi: Sought pay cuts

Delphi originally offered just $10 to $12 an hour for Delphi workers, which would be a pay cut of more than 60 percent.

When asked Tuesday if the UAW has proposed creative solutions to Delphi's labor costs issues, Gettelfinger said, "You can't give them enough, they're a bunch of hogs."

Much is on the line for all parties involved: the UAW, GM, Delphi and the private equity investors looking to buy Delphi.

Delphi lost $5.5 billion in 2006, compared with $2.4 billion in 2005. GM has said it expects to spend between $6 billion and $7.5 billion to resolve its outstanding issues with Delphi, including its future business and how much it must defray Delphi's health care and pension costs.

Delphi wants to close 21 of its 29 U.S. plants, and about 20,000 of its hourly workers have accepted buyouts or early retirements. It has planned to cut its salaried work force by 8,500, or 25 percent.

While the convention this week is designed to allow the UAW to hammer out its negotiating strategy for upcoming contract talks, Gettelfinger used his speech to 1,500 delegates Tuesday to blast Delphi and its chairman, Robert S. "Steve" Miller, who stepped down as CEO in January and will end his tenure as the board's executive chairman when the company emerges from bankruptcy.

"With a $3 million signing bonus and $750,000 under his belt, and a mere 99 days on the payroll, Steve Miller steered U.S. Delphi operations into a mechanical bankruptcy," Gettelfinger said.

'Bankruptcy is a big business'

He said Delphi's bankruptcy was a clear example why the union needs to take a stronger stance in protecting its members.

In his speech, he cited Delphi's and Dana Corp.'s bankruptcies as maneuvers by companies to rid themselves of obligations to pension and health care for workers while making executives and bankruptcy lawyers rich in the process.

"To them, bankruptcy is a big business. Executives, attorneys, financial advisers and representatives of equity groups and hedge funds gather around the trough and salivate over which one of them can grab the most money," Gettelfinger said to the cheering delegates.

Last month, a bankruptcy judge approved $145 million in legal, accounting and consulting fees and expenses. Experts said Delphi's final bill will easily top $200 million.

Gettelfinger vowed the union will work to learn who will receive the $37 million in executive bonuses approved by a bankruptcy judge last week, saying the money will be split by up to 440 high-ranking employees at the company.

Gettelfinger vowed to strike if Delphi took steps to void UAW labor contracts in bankruptcy court.

But Delphi is not likely to void the contracts -- a person involved in the talks said earlier this month -- since they expire in September.

The UAW will have far less protection once the labor agreements have expired -- unless they have reached a new deal. They will have no contractual rights to health care or other benefits at that point.

Sides want to settle dispute

Delphi and GM appear eager to resolve the dispute, before the UAW opens contract talks with Detroit's automakers this summer.

In his speech, Gettelfinger took a swipe at Delphi's decision to file just before new, more restrictive bankruptcy regulations took effect.

"The filing took place on Oct. 8, 2005, ahead of the Oct. 18 new bankruptcy filing so Miller could ensure his $388 million key employee compensation plan and other perks would not be disturbed," he said. "Miller knew nothing about the business and even less about the workers but it did not matter because all he cared about was how much he and his bankruptcy gang could derive financially from dissecting a once proud company."

In fact, the key employee compensation plan -- as initially conceived -- could have been far more valuable, based upon the projected value of Delphi when it emerges from bankruptcy. But Delphi has delayed consideration of that issue and won't likely address that issue until the company emerges from bankruptcy, the company has said.

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GM answers one Spring Hill mystery, raises a new one

Lindsay Chappell  |  Automotive News / March 30, 2007 - 1:00 am   
 
Saturn workers can go on layoff without worry now -- they will return as Chevrolet workers.

But when?

General Motors officially let the car out of the bag this afternoon on the future of Saturn's soon-to-close factory in Spring Hill, Tenn.

The plant will produce a new Chevrolet crossover in 2009, GM North America President Troy Clarke told them during a plant visit.

The question has been a source of anxiety for some the 4,200 hourly workers at Spring Hill. Although sources have indicated that a Lambda-platform Chevy was definitely planned for Spring Hill, many workers had their doubts.

"We're just worried that GM hasn't told us what's coming," assembly worker Craig Fincher said earlier this week as he prepared for an extended layoff. "It would be nice to have that little reassurance that something's coming for us. Why haven't they said?"

Today, Clarke said.

"Do you know a plant that wants to build a Chevy crossover?" Clarke asked the cheering crowd. "Well, guess what? You're going to."

Clarke told workers the Chevy would start in 2009. He did not clarify whether he meant calendar year 2009 or model year 2009.

The difference is important, since a calendar-year 2009 start would mean a much longer lay-off for the thousands of Spring Hill employees and some 10,000 dependent supplier jobs. The plant has been planning on a 14-16 month suspension until now, which would indicate a late summer 2008 reopening.

In Detroit, GM would only confirm in a brief prepared statement that it had shared business information with employees "that they will have a future product upon their return."

"We are not prepared to discuss the specific product at this time," the statement read, "as it is still more than two years away."

[Allen]

GM to lay off 375 in Windsor, union says
Canadian Press

WINDSOR, Ont. — Union officials say General Motors of Canada Ltd. will be handing out indefinite layoff notices to 375 workers at its transmission plant in southwestern Ontario next week.

The layoffs, to affect 288 production workers and 87 skilled trades at the Windsor plant, are to take effect on July 2.

Bill Reeves, president of CAW Local 1973, said Friday the layoff notices are troubling but held out the possibility they will be cancelled if sales pick up or new work is allocated to the plant, which employs about 1,300 people.

“Last year the same thing happened,” Mr. Reeves told Windsor radio station CKLW. “We were supposed to have it last year but sales picked up and it was cancelled. We hope that'll happen this time.”

The Windsor plant produces about 4,000 transmissions a day for models of the Chevrolet Cobalt and Malibu, Pontiac Pursuit, Saturn Vu and Aura and others for export to China.

General Motors Corp., the Canadian company's U.S. parent, is undergoing a massive restructuring of its North American operations that includes more than 34,000 blue-collar workers taking buyouts or early retirement offers.

Troy Clarke, president of GM's North American operations, said last November that the company was “only beginning” a transformation that started in 2005.

Still the world's biggest auto maker, General Motors has seen its share of the U.S. market eroded over the past decades from 50 per cent to about 25 per cent, with Asian-based auto makers such as Japan's Toyota and Honda making major gains during the same period.

[Snowman]

Michigan and Southern Ontario will continue to feel the effects of the Domestic Auto Makers loss of market share. Part suppliers are next.

[Allen]

GM sales in China rise 25%
Associated Press

SHANGHAI, CHINA — General Motors Corp. and its joint venture partners said Tuesday their combined sales in China jumped 25 per cent in the first quarter, a boon for the U.S. automaker struggling to revive sales in North America.

GM is the No. 1 seller of autos in China, the world's second-biggest — and fastest-growing — vehicle market.

The company said its sales in China totalled 291,588 vehicles in the first three months of the year. In March alone, it moved 100,538 units, just the second time single-month sales have topped 100,000, it said in a release.

The first-quarter performance nudged GM's share of the Chinese vehicle market up 0.5 per cent over the same period last year to an estimated 13.9 per cent, it said.
 
In 2005, GM overtook Germany's Volkswagen AG as China's biggest automaker. In 2006, GM's sales in the country rose 32 per cent to 876,747 vehicles.

“Coming off a record year in 2006, China's vehicle market has remained remarkably strong thus far in 2007,” Kevin Wale, president of GM China, said in the release.

Mr. Wale said growth was led by demand for passenger cars.

Shanghai General Motors Corp., one of the company's seven joint ventures in China, chalked up sales growth at 26.5 per cent with 113,768 vehicles.

Buick continued to be Shanghai GM's top brand in China, with sales rising 25.3 per cent to 82,195 vehicles in the first-quarter. The Buick Excelle was the brand's best selling model, although the news release gave no exact sales numbers.

Chevrolet, the company's second mainstream brand in China, saw a 19 per cent jump in sales to 41,144 vehicles, with 4,428 Sparks and 3,629 Epicas sold in March alone. Sales of the Cadillac marque soared 62.2 per cent in the first quarter to 1,797 units.

Another joint venture, minivan and subcompact maker SAIC-GM-Wuling, accounted for sales of 177,077, up 24 per cent. The remaining 743 vehicles sold were imports.

GM has leaned heavily on China to balance out sluggish sales and crippling legacy costs in the U.S. and elsewhere, and on Monday said it would use this month's Shanghai Auto Show to debut a pair of concept cars in its Chevrolet and Buick lines.

China surpassed Japan last year to become the world's No. 2 vehicle market after the United States based on strong truck and bus sales, but is still in third place for passenger cars.

[airbalancer]

How long before China pass the US for sales.
How long before auto makes make Canada head office just part of the US division?

[airbalancer]

March GM sales
http://media.gm.com/servlet/GatewayServlet?target=http://image.emerald.gm.com/gmnews/viewpressreldetail.do?domain=2&docid=34960

[articsteve]

GM is the No. 1 seller of autos in China, the world's second-biggest — and fastest-growing — vehicle market.

GM is the No. 1 seller of autos in North America     

Is that a good thing? 

[sirAQUAMAN64]

YES! Geez, if GM dismisses and waits, missing this opportunity they really do need an awakening.

GM wonders: Is U.S. ready for a minicar?

Rick Kranz  |  Automotive News / April 9, 2007 - 1:00 am   

NEW YORK -- General Motors is studying whether U.S. buyers want a car a half-foot shorter than the smallest Chevrolet sold here, the Aveo.

At the New York auto show last week, GM showed three contenders, all designed at its operations in Korea. GM will choose one of the three for sale globally in about two years. A three-cylinder engine is envisioned for the winner.

Although no minicar is planned for the United States, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said the next-generation minicar platform was engineered with the U.S. market in mind.

At the show, GM unveiled the Beat, a three-door hatchback; the Groove, a retro-styled wagon; and the Trax, a small crossover.

On a Web site, GM asked consumers to vote for their favorite of the three. Late last week, the Groove was ahead.

If approved for the United States, the minicar would be priced below the Aveo, which starts at $10,560, including shipping. It would compete against cars expected from China.

Ed Peper, Chevrolet's general manager, said the car would be pitched to shoppers seeking expressive styling and small parking spots. "It is going to be targeted at younger, very metro, urban, diverse consumers."

Meanwhile, GM's design chief, Ed Welburn, said the next-generation Aveo could adopt design themes in one of the three concepts.

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GM to UAW: Let's cut costs
Lordstown test case: Nonunion janitors, 10-hour straight-time

Jamie LaReau and Dave Barkholz  |  Automotive News / April 16, 2007 - 1:00 am   

General Motors' Lordstown, Ohio, assembly plant has become the test site for a companywide cost-cutting effort that could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

As part of an ambitious productivity strategy dubbed "True North," GM is asking local UAW leaders at all plants to consider a variety of once-taboo efficiency measures.

In late February, GM opened negotiations with Lordstown's union officials. GM wants the union to accept nonunion janitors, work 10-hour shifts without overtime pay, allow nonunion workers to replenish parts bins and let nonunion truckers deliver and unload parts shipments.

The unstated threat: If the workers reject GM's proposals, production of the 2009 Cobalt might move to Mexico.

If the union allows it, True North could generate big savings. According to a knowledgeable source, the companywide use of nonunion janitors -- who would earn about $12 per hour instead of $28 per hour -- alone could save GM $300 million to $500 million a year.

Each UAW GM local would have to negotiate its own deal, but sources say the Lordstown talks could become an important precedent. Says a source close to GM: "The changes you see in Lordstown could foreshadow what you see in the rest of GM's contracts."
 


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Changing the rules
GM wants to save money by

Hiring nonunion janitors

Using nonunion truckers to haul parts and unload shipments

Scheduling 10-hour shifts without overtime pay


 

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Unprecedented concessions

Traditionally, local union leaders negotiate each plant's work rules in the same year the UAW bargains new labor contracts with GM, Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler group.

The national negotiations, which cover wages and benefits, get all the media attention. But local work rules have a big effect on each plant's productivity. And this year the Detroit 3 are demanding unprecedented concessions.

"There's a lot of negotiating going on right now -- not just at GM, but Ford and Chrysler as well," says Laurie Harbour-Felax, a manufacturing consultant who is president of Harbour-Felax Group in suburban Detroit. "They need to get their … labor agreements to be as competitive as possible."

A similar plant-by-plant cost-cutting program launched last year by Ford could generate more than $600 million in annual savings. An agreement signed last year at just one plant -- Ford's Rouge assembly plant in Dearborn, Mich. -- will save $100 million a year.

A GM source confirmed True North's existence, but declined an on-the-record interview. Lordstown appears to be a test site in part because it produces small cars -- a product segment that has not been profitable for the Detroit 3.

No guarantees

UAW Local 1112, which represents about 2,600 workers at Lordstown assembly, already has accepted some changes on behalf of some members who make headliners for Lear Corp. The Lear workers accepted a five-year pay freeze and eased work rules, and agreed to $12 weekly benefit co-pays.

Those workers also agreed that skilled-trades workers would assume additional duties, such as sweeping the floors, without any change in pay.

But Rich Rankin, Local 1112's Lear shop chairman, says he still is worried that Lordstown might lose the next-generation Cobalt. "Everybody is very nervous and on edge," Rankin says. "We're just fed up. We keep giving and giving with no guarantees."

Other plants face similar cuts. At the Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan., GM's cost-cutting target is $54 million.

GM wants to shift about 20 percent of the work now performed by UAW members to outside contractors, says Jeff Manning, president of UAW Local 31. That would affect about 500 of the plant's 2,500 union jobs, he said.

Outside workers would assemble doors, wheels and engines. Outsiders also would operate forklifts and handle janitorial jobs.

In exchange for the loss of those high-paying jobs, Fairfax would get a shot at a replacement vehicle when the plant stops producing the Chevrolet Malibu and Malibu Maxx and Saturn Aura in 2011.

Management sacrifice?

But Manning says the rank-and-file might not approve True North unless GM management shares the financial sacrifice. "It's going to be tough," he said. "It'd be far easier if management shared in the $54 million."

GM has been cagey about its future plans for each assembly plant. Even if workers at Fairfax and Lordstown embrace True North, GM is not guaranteeing that those plants will stay open, union officials say.

GM has not threatened to shut Lordstown if the plant's hourly workers refuse to budge. But UAW leaders know they're in a predicament.

"They're asking us to come up with these new work rules, but with no guarantee of a product," says Dave Green, president of UAW 1714, which represents Lordstown's stamping plant. "That's one of the sticking points. Everybody is on pins and needles."

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http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070413/AUTO01/704130379/1148/AUTO01
GM to hire 400 tech engineers

Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Amid the tens of thousands of job cuts that are rapidly shrinking Michigan's manufacturing industry, General Motors Corp. is hanging out a "Help Wanted" sign.

The industrywide scramble to come up with new technologies to improve fuel economy and create energy alternatives to oil has the world's largest automaker scouring for hundreds of highly specialized engineers.

GM will hold an invitation-only job fair May 5 with the goal of filling up to 400 new engineering and technical positions in fields such powertrain engineering, product development and fuel cells. The automaker also is looking to fill openings in its OnStar and information technology divisions.

GM plans to publicize the event during next week's Society of Automotive Engineers conference in Detroit. Prospective candidates must register for the fair and submit a resume online.

Qualified workers in demand

Competition is intense for workers qualified in advanced propulsion technologies and many areas of information technology, because they are growing fields that require highly specialized skills.

"We're looking for people with the technical expertise to help us change the way the world drives," GM North America President Troy Clarke said in a statement.

GM is looking for a handful of people to help develop the battery technology to drive a vehicle known as the Volt, a plug-in hybrid car designed with an electric drivetrain and an internal combustion engine that recharges the vehicle's batteries while on the road. The Volt could be out by 2010 if GM can develop the battery technology required to operate it.

Other jobs would go to workers with expertise in a wide range of areas such as hydrogen fuel cells, hybrid vehicles and diesel engines.

While GM's new jobs don't come close to replacing the 218,000 manufacturing jobs Michigan has lost since 2000, the additions are welcome news in a state whose unemployment rate has hovered well above the national average for more than five years.

"It's that one step forward after the one-and-a-half steps backwards," said Scott Watkins, a consultant with Anderson Economic Group in East Lansing. The new jobs are welcome, "but when you put it next to the jobs that have been cut, it's a small drop in the bucket."

Advanced auto jobs waning

Amid the dramatic downsizing of the U.S. auto industry, Michigan has pinned its future on growing jobs in high-tech fields such as advanced manufacturing and information technology.

The state has seen a steady decline in advanced automotive jobs like the ones GM looks to fill. The state had 127,800 of those jobs in 2004, down from 163,485 in 1998, according to data compiled by Automation Alley, a technology consortium based in Oakland County.

The jobs that remain in the field, however, are becoming increasingly lucrative, according to the data. Workers with an advanced automotive job earned an average salary of $62,500 in 2004, up from $53,500 in 1998.

"The lower-wage, less-skilled jobs are the ones leaving," Watkins said. "The more advanced ones that really involve the future of the industry and developing new products are the ones staying."

In recent years, GM has added about 1,000 employees a year in some of the most technologically advanced positions, GM spokeswoman Brenda Rios said.

"We're trying to tap the best people we can," Rios said. "This is an expanding area."

A spokesman for DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group said the automaker is regularly filling high-tech positions, but no new jobs are being created. Officials at Ford Motor Co. didn't know if the automaker is adding positions in high-tech fields.

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Antwerp loses out on new GM Astra work

Jason Stein  |  Automotive News / April 17, 2007 - 9:00 am / UPDATED: 4/17/2007 10:42 A.M.
 
MUNICH -- General Motors has decided to build its next-generation global compact cars in Poland, Germany, Sweden and England –- but not Belgium.

GM will eliminate one shift at its Antwerp, Belgium plant this year -– the equivalent of 1,400 jobs -- but will continue to assemble vehicles there, the automaker said.

GM makes the current Opel Astra in Antwerp, Bochum in Germany and at Ellesmere Port in northwest England.

Its Gliwice plant in Poland and the Trollhättan factory in Sweden also won work on the new Astra, which is due in 2010.

There are no plans to allocate compact car production to the Antwerp factory beyond 2010, GM said.

Ellesmere Port and Antwerp had been mentioned as potential candidates for closure. GM’s Antwerp plant currently employs 4,500 people to produce the 3- and 5-door version, the station wagon and the convertible of the current-generation Astra.

“Product allocations are extraordinarily difficult decisions to take,” said GM Europe President Carl-Peter Forster, in a statement released by the company. “All of our western European plants have significantly improved over the past few years and are now very close in terms of the various measures of performance, such as cost, productivity and quality. In the end, it is a strategic decision based on a number of factors such as capacity planning, brand and market considerations, as well as ongoing restructuring activities.”

The Astra, which is based on GM’s compact-car architecture, is GM Europe’s biggest seller accounting for about one quarter of its volume. Last year the automaker sold 332,679 Astras in Europe, down from 358,071 units in 2005, according to UK-based JATO Dynamics.

Fragmentation has been a growing issue in the lower-medium segment. In 2006 overall sales in the segment fell for the seventh consecutive year, according to JATO.

The lower-medium segment accounted for 24.5 percent in 2000. Now that is just above 20 percent.

GM’s workforce has already offered to cut costs by about $393 million (€290 million) to improve competitiveness in the hope of preventing the closure of another European plant, labor representatives said this month.

GM said it was targeting productivity improvements of 30 percent for the new compact-car platform.

Forster added: "GM must continue to focus on increasing productivity and efficiency in order to compete effectively.”

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GM improves safety on some Buicks, Cadillacs

General Motors Corp . will roll out two new crash-avoiding safety features this year in some Buick and Cadillac models. One of the new systems will alert drivers when they inadvertently drift from their lane by using a camera system to detect lane markings. The other feature uses radar sensors to alert drivers to other vehicles traveling in a blind spot. The features will be available on the 2008 Buick Lucerne sedan and the Cadillac STS and DTS sedans.

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GM plans $3 billion investment in Korea

Gary Anglebrandt  |  Automotive News / April 18, 2007 - 11:29 am   


SEOUL -- General Motors says it will invest $3.2 billion in Korean subsidiary GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. over 2008 and 2009.

The money will be used for "product and powertrain," GM CFO Fritz Henderson said at a press conference here Tuesday, April 17. GM's global small-car platform, called Gamma, will be redesigned. GM declined to provide specifics.

Supplier and industry sources say some production is scheduled for late 2009, with most to begin in 2010. Engine sizes will range from 1.2 to 1.8 liters, with gasoline and diesel versions.

Smaller models off the platform also will be built, with a projected volume of 300,000 units, suppliers say. Those versions will be assembled in various countries, including Korea, India, China and Poland.

GM Daewoo is winding up a $3.2 billion investment period begun in 2005. GM spent the money on the Chevrolet Captiva SUV, Aveo small car and Epica sedan, models sold variously in Europe and North America. GM plans to introduce a redesigned Aveo in the United States next year. Previously sold by Daewoo as the Kalos, it debuted in the United States in 2004.

The GM investment also will fund an r&d center to be completed in two to three years, diesel engine development, and a new six-speed transmission to be launched at year end.

GM has not decided what vehicles will get the transmission, but it be installed in exported models, said spokesperson Yu Seung Hyun. That is likely, given that exports accounted for about 1.4 million of GM Daewoo's 1.5 million sales last year.

GM Daewoo launched diesel versions of its Lacetti and Epica models in Europe this year. The vehicles are branded as Chevrolets in Europe.

Henderson said the money will not be used to expand capacity.

"We like our capacity, and we are confident we are going to fully use it," Henderson said.

He added that GM plans to upgrade its powertrains in China at the same time, so the GM can source suppliers all at once for both operations. 

[Snowman]

General Motors posts record worldwide sales in first quarter

Associated Press

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. said strong demand in Asia, Latin America and other emerging markets led to record global sales in the first quarter of 2007, according to preliminary sales figures released Thursday.
The Detroit automaker said it sold 2.26 million vehicles worldwide in the quarter. Sales were up 67,000, or 3 percent, compared with the first quarter last year. GM's global market share is estimated at 13 percent, compared with 13.1 percent a year ago.
First-quarter 2007 sales of 1.36 million outside the United States accounted for about 60 percent of GM's total global sales, growing close to 10 percent compared with the same period a year ago. That outpaces the industry average growth rate of 5 percent, the automaker said.
GM said it had more than 20 percent growth in the Asia-Pacific region and 17 percent growth in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.
One North American success it cited was Saturn. GM said its sales were up 19 percent in the U.S. and Canada based largely on demand for the 2007 models, including the Vue Green Line Hybrid and Outlook crossover utility vehicle.

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Cerberus pulls out of deal to buy Delphi

David Barkholz  |  Automotive News / April 19, 2007 - 10:32 am   

DETROIT -- Private equity fund Cerberus Capital Management LP is exiting a deal to buy Delphi Corp. out of Chapter 11 reorganization.

Delphi said Cerberus is pulling out over differences over Delphi's future value.

Other private equity players leading a bid to buy Delphi for as much as $3.4 billion will remain, including Appaloosa Management LP, Delphi said in a release this morning.

Cerberus still may participate in the company's exit financing when it leaves Chapter 11, the statement said.

Delphi, which put its U.S. operations in Chapter 11 in October 2005, said these developments are not expected to prevent the company from filing its reorganization plan by July 31. Delphi, the release said, still intends to emerge from Chapter 11 reorganization this year.

You may e-mail David Barkholz at dbarkholz@crain.com
 


Delphi press release
This is a press release issued by Delphi this morning:

Delphi Announces Potential Changes to Investor Group and Plan Framework Agreements

Plan Investment and Reorganization Framework Remains Subject to Conditions Including Reaching Consensual Agreements with U.S. Labor Unions and General Motors Corporation

TROY, Mich. — Delphi Corp. (OTC:DPHIQ) confirmed today that it anticipates negotiating changes to the Equity Purchase and Commitment Agreement it entered into in December 2006 with its Plan Investors (affiliates of Appaloosa Management L.P., Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., and Harbinger Capital Partners Master Fund I, Ltd., as well as Merrill Lynch & Co. and UBS Securities LLC). Delphi also anticipates negotiating an amendment to the related Plan Framework Support Agreement also entered into in December 2006, by Delphi, the Plan Investors and General Motors Corp. (GM), which outlined the expected treatment of the company's stakeholders in its anticipated plan of reorganization.

Any changes would be primarily as a result of addressing differences in views regarding the Company's reorganization enterprise value among the Plan Investors, GM, the Company's statutory creditors' and equity committees and the Company. Delphi expects that under amended framework agreements, Appaloosa, Harbinger, Merrill Lynch and UBS will continue to participate as Plan Investors (together with possible additional investors that may include members of the Statutory Committees), and that Cerberus may participate in the Company's exit financing but not as a plan investor.

Delphi is hopeful that GM will support amended framework agreements and will be a party to any revised Plan Framework Support Agreement. Delphi is meeting with its statutory committees to review these developments and potential revisions to previously announced treatment of the company's stakeholders in a reorganization plan. As part of those discussions, Delphi expects that its Creditors' Committee will consider increasing the equity portion of the recovery that it is seeking for general unsecured creditors.

The Company said that these developments are not expected to preclude the Company from filing its plan of reorganization and related documents with the Bankruptcy Court prior to the current expiration of the Company's exclusivity period on July 31, 2007 or emergence from Chapter 11 reorganization this year.

Delphi also confirmed that none of the parties entitled to give notice of termination of the framework agreements has yet done so and that these agreements remain effective as previously filed until modified or terminated. The Company said that it does not intend to comment further regarding its discussions on the framework agreements until such time as those agreements are either modified or terminated. Also, consistent with its prior practice, the Company does not intend to comment further regarding its discussions with GM or its unions while those discussions are ongoing.

Delphi cautioned that nothing in the framework agreements, the Court or regulatory filings being made in connection with the agreements or the company's public disclosures (including this press release) shall be deemed a solicitation to accept or reject a plan in contravention of the Bankruptcy Code or an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of the company.

More information on Delphi's U.S. restructuring and access to court documents is available at www.delphidocket.com. For more information about Delphi and its operating subsidiaries, visit Delphi's website at www.delphi.com.

[sirAQUAMAN64]

OnStar partners with MapQuest on navigation service

Chrystal Johnson  |  Automotive News / April 25, 2007 - 1:00 am   
 
DETROIT -- OnStar subscribers will be able to send driving directions to their vehicles, under a new partnership between General Motors' telematics service and the MapQuest Web site.

The navigation program, called OnStar Web Destination Entry, is scheduled to begin this summer. It will allow customers to use MapQuest to plan driving routes and send the directions to OnStar's turn-by-turn navigation system. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

"This technology allows drivers to plan for their destination ahead of time," OnStar President Chet Huber said at a press event here Tuesday, April 24. "Two clicks -- it's that simple," he said.

Huber said he expected the program's rollout to be complete by year end. It will be available on GM models equipped with the OnStar turn-by-turn system. That includes more than 2 million vehicles this year and another 3 million in 2008, OnStar says.

The premium navigation package will be standard during the first year of OnStar service for select 2007 Buick, Cadillac, GMC and Saab vehicles. It will be available as an upgrade for $100 during the first year of OnStar service on select Chevrolet, Pontiac, Saturn, GMC and Hummer vehicles.

After the first year of service, the premium package, including turn-by-turn navigation, costs $299 a year.

OnStar has more than 4.5 million subscribers in the United States and Canada.

MapQuest is owned by AOL LLC.

[UmroAyyar]

OnStar thoroughly impresses me everytime they make a move. 

[G0dspd]

Here we go again.    I agree that something must be done but nothing is going to happen anytime soon. 

Fortune writer calls for death of Buick, Pontiac, HUMMER, GMC and Saab
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/04/26/fortune-writer-calls-for-death-of-buick-pontiac-hummer-gmc-an/

Now that GM is officially Number Two, many Monday morning quarterbacks are popping up to "help" the general right the ship. Count Alex Taylor III, Fortune's senior writer, among them. In an interesting article, Taylor outlines reasons why GM should cut loose the anchors of Buick, Pontiac, HUMMER, GMC and Saab in order to move forward and prosper. Reckoning that GM is too bloated with brands and capacity that were fine 50 years ago, Fortune says it's time to move on.

Where GM has 7 brands, new Number One, Toyota, has just three. Toyota, Lexus and Scion seem to be good enough to cover most buyers' needs, argues Taylor. But GM maintains that cutting brands would be cutting buyers since there are too many loyalists in the fold. The argument is that people want choice and more brands allows more specific targeting of the audience. But Fortune argues that the cost of that level of specification is too high. Taylor proposes keeping Chevy as the Toyota-equivalent volume brand, expanding Cadillac's offerings to go head-to-head with Lexus, and keeping Saturn to compete with Scion in the import-minded segment.

GMC can go completely commercial, but the author sees no redeeming qualities in HUMMER, Pontiac, Buick, or Saab (he might want to check out Buick's prospects in other regions like China before he shrugs it off so easily). It seems like a pretty logical plan that just makes too much sense in an industry fueled by passion and huge egos. It miight make good business sense on the surface, but these are emotional decisions, too. Nobody likes seeing a brand die, especially ones with such heritage. Chrysler has had to do it a lot over the years and GM has had to do it recently with Oldsmobile, but killing off a brand does come with considerable expense, as well. Buying out dealers, losing brand loyalists, and shuffling/reducing your workforce will hit the bottom line hard, too. .

Click through the Read link for Taylor's argument in full.
http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/25/news/companies/pluggedin_taylor_deadbrands.fortune/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote