GM Tidbits

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Quite sad, but predictable. After 2008MY I wouldn't expect an oversupply of Astras in Canada either.

GM: Currency shift stalled Astra

Amy Wilson
Automotive News
September 8, 2008 - 12:01 am ET

CHICAGO — The Saturn Astra costs too much for U.S. customers, and sales and profitability of the small hatchback are suffering, says General Motors product chief Bob Lutz.

GM decided to import the Belgium-made Astra when the value of the U.S. dollar was stronger. At that time, the starting list price was planned at around $15,500. And it would have been marginally profitable, Lutz, GM vice chairman of global product development, said at a press event here.

"Well, I have to tell you, the price is no longer $15,500, and the profit is no longer there, either," Lutz said. "The car is priced too high."

The Astra's base price, including shipping, has risen since it went on sale in January, to $16,495 from $15,995.

Astra sales have been disappointing at 7,914 units for the year to date. The company's employee pricing promotion provided a lift in August: Astra sales were 1,994, up from a previous monthly high of 1,555 in July.

Saturn had aimed to sell at least 25,000 Astras annually. If the August sales figure could be sustained, the Astra would be back on pace with expectations, said Mark LaNeve, vice president of GM North American vehicle sales, service and marketing.

But outside of the employee pricing deal, LaNeve said, the currency exchange penalty on the Astra has kept GM from "being very aggressive with incentives or marketing the unit."

[carcrazy]

I only hope that GM doesn't conclude that small hatches are not selling in the US and abandon the idea of selling the next gen Astra and potentially Corsa in North America.
The key is to import the design and build the cars here.

[Zoo]

I only hope that GM doesn't conclude that small hatches are not selling in the US and abandon the idea of selling the next gen Astra and potentially Corsa in North America.
The key is to import the design and build the cars here.

Right car, right time.... Possibly wrong brand. The Astra might not sell as well as it could have if it were branded as a Chevy and marketed well.

There is a price point for 5 door hatches and the average Joe might not realize how much different an Astra is compared to say an Aveo. Completely different car that compares more to a Rabbit than a Korean hatchback.

Too bad the Astra isn't made here. Maybe GM will rectify this as this is exactly the sort of car that they should be fostering and improving.

[sirAQUAMAN64]

I only hope that GM doesn't conclude that small hatches are not selling in the US and abandon the idea of selling the next gen Astra and potentially Corsa in North America.
The key is to import the design and build the cars here.

That was my concern too, but appears Ford will show 'em all the way.

[carcrazy]

I only hope that GM doesn't conclude that small hatches are not selling in the US and abandon the idea of selling the next gen Astra and potentially Corsa in North America.
The key is to import the design and build the cars here.

That was my concern too, but appears Ford will show 'em all the way.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. However, I'm not sure if GM will follow.

[Wolfe]

Quite sad, but predictable. After 2008MY I wouldn't expect an oversupply of Astras in Canada either.

Very sad and predictable. The Astra will be an orphan very soon I'm sure.

What makes me shake my head is the lack of foresight on the part of GM's management. They made a decision to bring the car over here (a good decision IMO) but they knew at the beginning that their margins on the car would be very tight and that they were highly vulnerable to currency fluctuations yet they did nothing to either promote the car to push sales or hedge their currency exposure. If their profit margin was so small they should have protected it by hedging their F/X exposure so they could concentrate on making the car successful in North America.

GM has tons of people with MBAs and CPAs this currency stuff should not have caught them by surprise. That's simply gross incompetence ...unless, of course, they wanted the Astra to fail.

GM decided to import the Belgium-made Astra when the value of the U.S. dollar was stronger. At that time, the starting list price was planned at around $15,500. And it would have been marginally profitable, Lutz, GM vice chairman of global product development, said at a press event here.

"Well, I have to tell you, the price is no longer $15,500, and the profit is no longer there, either," Lutz said. "The car is priced too high."

 

[sirAQUAMAN64]

Obama says GM will be 'strong,' thrive after pain

May 23, 2009 - 12:00 pm ET
UPDATED: 5/23/09 1:20 p.m. ET


WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- President Barack Obama said he is confident General Motors would thrive after restructuring while making no mention whether GM might have to enter bankruptcy to complete reorganization.

Obama, in an interview with the C-SPAN cable television network, said he wanted the government to get out of the auto business as soon as possible, and he said if some auto jobs never return, the government will work to ensure workers are effectively retrained.

"Ultimately, I think that GM is going to be a strong company, and we are going to be pulling out as soon as the economy recovers and they've completed their restructuring," Obama said in the interview scheduled to air today.

GM is facing a government-imposed June 1 deadline to complete a sweeping restructuring that analysts believe will require a bankruptcy to complete. Obama was not asked about a potential GM bankruptcy during the C-SPAN interview and did not raise the issue himself.

Obama's comments echo remarks he made on March 29 about Chrysler LLC before its U.S. deadline.

"I'm actually very hopeful, more hopeful than I was 30 days ago, that we can see a resolution that maintains a viable Chrysler auto company out there," Obama said the night before Chrysler filed for bankruptcy.

The Chrysler plan is to sell substantially all of its assets to a new company owned by Fiat S.p.A., a UAW health care trust, and the U.S. and Canadian governments.

Keeping GM solvent

The Obama administration has injected $19.4 billion to keep GM afloat since the beginning of the year, including another $4 billion on Friday. The government stake is commitment is expected to rise to $27 billion after June 1.

GM has said it could file for bankruptcy if it fails to convince bondholders to agree to forgive some $24 billion they are owed, about 90 percent of the total.

Under Obama administration orders, GM has offered bondholders a 10 percent stake in the restructured company, a deal they view as unfair.

"My hope ... is that we will see both GM and Chrysler having emerged from this restructuring process leaner, meaner, more competitive with a set of product lines that appeal to consumers, good cars that are fuel efficient and that look at the markets of tomorrow," Obama told C-SPAN.

He predicted a jump in auto sales once the U.S. economy recovers from the current recession because Americans are not buying enough vehicles to replace the ones that are being worn out.

"You are looking at a substantial market that is going to be available for U.S. automakers if they've made some good decisions now, and if they are building the kinds of fuel-efficient, high-performance cars that American consumers are hungry for," Obama said.

"I think GM and Chrysler can do that," he added. "We're confident that they can emerge and take advantage of that new market and actually be very profitable and thrive, but it means going through some pain now."

Obama reiterated that he did not want the U.S. government, which would hold a majority stake in GM under the company's proposal, to remain in the car business for long.

"We want to get out of the business of helping auto companies as quickly as we can," he said. "I have got more enough to do without that."

[articsteve]

GMAC receives $7.5 billion in new Treasury aid
By JEANNINE AVERSA and MARCY GORDON - Associated Press Writers
Published: Thu, May. 21, 2009 10:39AMModified Fri, May. 22, 2009 01:28AM
 

WASHINGTON -- Auto lender GMAC Financial Services will receive $7.5 billion in additional government aid to keep loans flowing to would-be buyers of GM and Chrysler vehicles and shore up its capital postion - marking the second time the government has stepped in to prop up the lender.

To help GMAC raise additional funds, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took the rare step Thursday of allowing the junk-rated company to gain access to its debt guarantee program. GMAC will be allowed to issue as much as $7.4 billion in debt, guaranteed by the FDIC in case the company defaults on payment.

In addition, the Federal Reserve waived rules to give GMAC's new bank, called Ally Bank, more leeway to make loans to GM customers.

 File - Exterior of General Motors Acceptance Corp. headquarters in Horsham, Pa., in this Thursday, March 23, 2006 file photo. The government deepened its support of the battered domestic auto industry on Thursday May 21, 2009, providing auto lender GMAC Financial Services with $7.5 billion in additional aid to keep loans flowing to would-be buyers of GM and Chrysler vehicles.

The GM and Chrsyler US vehicle TV ads are back with 0%/60 months.  Can Ford compete with this 

[Leviathan]

Henderson Speaks Informally to Detroit-based Reporters

Speaks of Opel, incentives and suggests that they'll release financials in November amongst other stuff.

I found this entertaining

On U.S. incentives, pickups are a big driver of the discussion. We built '09 pickups longer for technical reasons. … I think that certainly we will see some moderation in incentives on the '10s as we clear out the '09s. …The other thing is that we are, as we reduced the inventory, we lowered the water level in so much of our inventory that (what) was remaining over aged. And, we are aggressively clearing out the over-aged stock which is a good thing to do. But it does take some money. And, it is funny when you think of it this way, if you ran 900,000 units of inventory and 30 percent of it over aged, then, you have 270,000 units of over aged inventory. When you run 400,000 units of inventory, that over age(d) (inventory) unfortunately, didn't diminish per rate. We are aggressively progressing. These (are) vehicles greater than 90 days and 120 days in the lot. Those two thing(s), over-aged (inventory) as well as pickup trucks, are what is driving the incentive levels reasonably higher. Higher than what we with like them to be today. … I think… one factor that will tend to go the other way a little bit, leasing is growing. But I don't think that is going to be, you know, we think… leasing winds up at 6-7 percent of our business here, with the majority of it in Cadillac. It won't be a big driver of real incentives spend(ing). When leasing was 22 percent of the business, it was a big driver of the incentives.

[Leviathan]

General Motors: The Year Ahead

GM's To-Do List for 2010

By Bob Lutz, General Motors Vice Chairman | Published Jan 6, 2010

The editors at Edmunds' Inside Line have graciously given me this virtual space to write about virtually anything I want, so I thank them for the opportunity, and I'll tell you how I'm going to use it.

What follows is a to-do list for General Motors for 2010. It's technically not a list of New Year's resolutions, because that is such a trite and tired format...and, what's more, New Year's resolutions are rarely, if ever, kept. These are things that GM can, must and shall do this year. So, without further ado....

1. Remain focused on the product above all else.
GM builds cars and trucks and crossovers. That is what we do. In 2009, we were given an opportunity to continue doing so, and we must not squander that opportunity. Therefore, we are resolved, if you will, not to lose sight of the fact that if we don't build the best cars, trucks and crossovers on the planet, that opportunity will go for naught.

It may sound simple, and you may think it would go without saying, but it's hugely important and it's the most essential element that all of us here need to keep top of mind as we begin 2010.

2. Remain focused on the product above all else.
That's how important it is. I'm listing it twice. After that edict, the rest of this list is not going to be in order of importance. And, you could argue that we can't just be great to win consumers. With our image challenges, we've learned the need to be exceptional.

3. Change minds.
This is the big one. It's the most important thing we have to do, other than #1 (and #2). We have to make more people aware of what's going on in relation to #1 (and #2).

Let me digress for a moment and say that I've seen it written that GM's marketing strategy is based on the fact that the consumer is too dumb to know what great vehicles it makes. I take huge issue with that. That's an example of the media trying to ascribe some of the old GM arrogance where none exists.

It's not arrogant to think you have great vehicles, so long as you do, and to try to spread the word about them. No one at GM has said that every vehicle we have is world-class — we still have room to improve. And no one at GM, including me, has said that the consumer is too dumb to realize how good our new products are. All we've said is that the consumer perhaps is unaware of said fact. That's a far cry from being dumb.

And the typical consumer's unawareness is a result of one of two things. First, the consumer literally may not know about our products and what they offer; or second, the consumer knows of them but chooses not to consider them, for a variety of reasons ranging from a bad previous experience to a relative's bad previous experience to a neighbor down the street who has a relative who knows someone else who had a bad previous experience. In short, it's reputation.

We face an enormous reputational deficit, one that took decades to develop and one that, unfortunately, we earned. And it's going to take a long time to turn it around, but we certainly can do it. That's what our satisfaction guarantee and "May The Best Car Win" campaign were all about. Those are just the first steps to putting consumers on notice that we believe in the appeal and quality of our vehicles and we feel they deserve more consideration than they're getting. And increased GM consideration numbers from here at Edmunds and other sources show that the campaign was a very good first step.

From here, the plan is to continue to put our message out there, aggressively, and take away every last excuse people have for not trying a Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick or GMC product. We're stepping up our marketing and communications spending to ensure that, and we'll be reaching more and more consumers, especially on a grassroots level, to make sure they make an informed choice when they decide upon their next vehicle.

The best and perhaps quickest way to improve a reputation is to improve relationships with customers, because that is the nature of this business. You want customers to fall in love with your vehicle the moment they lay eyes on it, and you want them to stay in love with it when they own it. One customer at a time, one vehicle at a time. You can change the opinion of generations that way.

4. Be vigilant about quality and technology.
Of course, if you don't have the quality, reliability and durability dialed in, that's what destroys relationships and reputations. We know that as well as anyone, and other companies have also found out (or will find out) about this the hard way. We will be vigilant about quality, as well as leadership in advanced technology and fuel economy — we'll have new entries in the small-car segment that are aimed at best-in-class.

As we ramp up in the new year, we face a lot of challenges in adjusting to fewer brands and fewer nameplates and moving ever more quickly. We simply cannot afford to let things slip in the process; we cannot overlook one detail that would adversely affect quality, reliability and durability. One step up and two steps back gets us nowhere.

5. Design is still king.
I've been saying this ad nauseum for years now, so I don't feel the need to go into great detail. Suffice it to say that, like quality, we cannot afford to let our guard down on great design. It's not a difficult concept to grasp: The only way to turn an auto company around is to build vehicles that people want. Period. And the only way to build vehicles that people want is to design them so they look good. Period.

That's not to say that's the only criterion. See quality, reliability, durability and reputation, above. But you can have the world's best quality and the world's best fuel economy and the world's longest-lasting vehicles, and if all that comes wrapped in ugly boring packages, you won't sell any.

I'm proud of the strides GM Global Design has made in recent years, and the awards we've won show that people have noticed. And we will continue to put that message out (see #3). Just as we will continue to empower GM Global Design and give it the freedom it needs to create. Ed Whitacre, Tom Stephens, Ed Welburn and I are in lockstep on this one.

That's the beginning of a pretty good to-do list. There's a lot more. Continue to pursue leadership in advanced technology and the electrification of the automobile, get the Chevy Volt on the road, pay back the loans on or ahead of schedule.... I could go on, and I will go on, just not in this space. I should also point out that all of these things, and more, will be done against the backdrop of developing our four brands to their full potential.

We realize, and this may be a little inside baseball for you, that "General Motors" itself may be what someone could label a "damaged brand." (Someone might say that, but not me!) Even if that were true, and it may be, that alone would not be the reason we would choose to emphasize our brands more than the parent company. The reason for emphasizing the brands is that we're proud of them, and their heritage, and their vehicle lineups, and what they represent: a glorious past and a potentially bright future.

Besides, there may still be that one person out there who says, "GM? They went bankrupt! Took money from the government! I'm not buying any GM car! Chevrolet? Yeah, Chevrolet's OK. American car, right? I'd look at a Chevrolet..."

I'd put that guy in an Equinox in a heartbeat.

[airbalancer]

 Good news for this area

General Motors will build a replacement for the Chevrolet Impala and produce a Cadillac sedan at its Oshawa car complex, creating up to 1,000 new jobs during the next few years, industry officials say.

http://www.thestar.com/business/auto/article/746648--1-000-new-gm-jobs-in-works-for-oshawa?bn=1

[TopGun]

General Motors: The Year Ahead
GM's To-Do List for 2010
.....

Gee...this sounds like one of "us" wrote it...nice job.

[safristi]

"REMAIN"....would be enuf.................... ..tho' tha Focus is NICE ....

[Erik]

General Motors: The Year Ahead
GM's To-Do List for 2010
.....

Gee...this sounds like one of "us" wrote it...nice job.

Agreed. Blunt and honest. Just what I would expect from Maximum Bob, but not always from GM.

[toolatecrew]

Good news for this area

General Motors will build a replacement for the Chevrolet Impala and produce a Cadillac sedan at its Oshawa car complex, creating up to 1,000 new jobs during the next few years, industry officials say.

http://www.thestar.com/business/auto/article/746648--1-000-new-gm-jobs-in-works-for-oshawa?bn=1

While I agree that it is indeed good news that there may be work for 1000 people I have to say that the continuous use by GM of the words"new jobs" is a little misleading. Didn't they just lay of 2600people when they slosed the Oshawa truck plant.
Its great that they are "restoring" 1000 of the 2600 lost jobs. I just find is wrong to paint it as if they are creating "new jobs". Its kind of like the way they are "paying back" the loans.

Once again congrats to those people who will get their jobs back. I'm sure this will nhelp many families.

As to Lutz's letter?

He was quoted years ago as saying "I can't belive we were so stupid".

I don't want to see promises. What I want is for GM to build and sell profitable cars and pay back the money the taxpayers were forced to give.

[airbalancer]

They are new jobs, the truck plant is shutdown
So it will be 1000 jobs that were not there before
Also I believe the spin off for every new job at GM plant there is about 3 other jobs created outside of GM

[toolatecrew]

They are new jobs, the truck plant is shutdown
So it will be 1000 jobs that were not there before
Also I believe the spin off for every new job at GM plant there is about 3 other jobs created outside of GM

Well the jobs were there before. The same company eliminated 2600 jobs. Now they are creating 1000 jobs. By my math it still shows a net loss of 1600 jobs?

The spin off numbers are interesting. I can certainly understand if GM built a NEW plant that there would be that type of spinoff but is it reasonable to think that adding a shift to an existing plant would create the same spinoff numbers?

[airbalancer]

If you lived around the area then you would understand
What happens to Dartmouth, when Shearwater adds more troops?

 

[Greg B.]

If you lived around the area then you would understand
What happens to Dartmouth, when Shearwater adds more troops?

People probably b!tch about the increased traffic... 

[articsteve]

So it will be 1000 jobs that were not there before

How long ago was the truck plant shut down?

How long do CAW assembly ppl keep their seniority after layoff.

Can other CAW workers from other locals or other soon to be shutter plants bump into these new 1000 assembly jobs.

Point is there maybe too many senior (worn out) assembly ppl in one plant.  Having a mix of senior and young ppl in a plant works best.  In addition, if other CAW workers are leaving other cities/locals for a bumping position in Oshawa their stress levels will be very high due to family issues.

Short of it is;   like any "team", it will take a significant period of time to get things running smoothly, as in a couple of years.  I would not want to be the recipient of one of the first year cars.  Unions don't function well in these circumstance.

Pity the D3; they operate at such a disadvantage.