Autoblog

General Motor's car czar, Bob Lutz, sat down with the little people of the blogosphere after GM's announcement that it would be reducing white collar expenditures by 20-percent, cutting truck production and eliminating retired health care for salaried workers over 65, all in an effort to boost its liquidity by $15 billion by the end of 2009.

Maximum Bob addressed questions about GM's entire brand portfolio, saying, "Pontiac will be nourished with products" and confirming that GM is in talks with financial institutions about HUMMER, and that, "If we could sell the brand, we'd be interested in doing that."

Predictably, much of the conversation centered on fuel efficiency and the General's plans to address the growing demand for miserly transport in the U.S. Lutz made it clear that "as fuel costs in the U.S. begin to resemble those in the rest of the world" it will be easier for GM to realign its products on a global scale.

[Photo: David McNew/Getty]

General Motor's "commercial grade" truck unit may be losing two of its planned products, leaving some to contemplate the future of the nameplate in general. It's too early to consider GMC dead, but with the apparent cancellation of the next-generation Acadia CUV as well as the planned unibody truck inspired by the Denali XT Concept, GMC dealers are likely left wondering what, beyond the new GMC Terrain, they are supposed to be selling in the next few years. We're not all that sad to see the Acadia go as the Chevy Traverse is a better looking overall package and it makes more sense to offer the CUV as a Chevrolet anyway. What's more, with most GMC dealers also offering Buick vehicles, they'll still have the Enclave to offer potential customers.

Current rumors also predict an end to the Saturn Outlook, the slowest seller of the original Lambda-based trio, which would leave the Enclave and the Traverse as the two remaining GM crossovers. There still seems to be a good chance that Chevrolet will get an SUT based off the platform as well, so nothing too important seems to have been lost with this decision.

[Source: GM Inside News]

During a dealer teleconference today, General Motors announced it would be launching a zero-percent financing sale beginning tomorrow, while simultaneously raising the prices of its 2009 vehicles.

The "72-hour sale" will run from June 24th through the 30th, and will offer customers 0-percent interest rates for 72 months on most Chevys, Buicks, Pontiacs and GMC vehicles. So far, there's no word on whether the offer will extend to Cadillac and Saturn. GM will also offer $500 in "bonus cash" to buyers who opt to purchase GM products outright rather than leasing them.

At the same time, the General is going to be raising the prices of 2009 models by an average of 3.5-percent "across the board," something that was bound to happen, according to Mark LaNeve, GM's vice president of vehicles sales, service and marketing.

On the production front, GM will be adding a third shift to its Lordstown, Ohio plant to increase production of the Pontiac G5 and Chevy Cobalt, while at the same time boosting production of the Pontiac G6, Chevy Malibu and Saturn Aura through the use of maximum overtime. Also of note: GM has hired Citibank to investigate the future of the HUMMER brand, which comes in the wake of GM's CEO, Rick Wagoner's announcement that "all options" are on the table regarding GM's faltering off-road brand.

[Source: Automotive News – sub. req.]

This has been a big year for GM's organization alignment, with President Fritz Henderson opening up about the brand issue snafu and the appointment of four brand czars. HUMMER was meant to join forces with Cadillac and Saab in a premium channel, but while HUMMER is still in the family, it's apparently been put out on the lawn. GM Inside News (GMI) reports that GM is treating HUMMER as a goner, saying that the H4 program is on life support for handover to the next buyer, and the H3 GMT-700 program is kaput.

The bigger hearsay is that GM's board is considering euthanizing GMC or Pontiac. Those two brands were to be aligned in a brand channel with Buick (PBG). Getting rid of GMC could make some kind of sense, since it's entirely brand-engineered vehicles with some of the worst mileage numbers in the fleet. Shunning Pontiac would be a surprise to us since the Solstice and G8 have given it a nice brand awareness boost and it's got some products in the pipeline. If GMC or Pontiac did go, the GM board would consider folding Saturn into the PBG channel to maintain sales volume. In corporate-speak, we believe this is called GM's "gloves off" phase. Thanks for the tip, Dan!

[Source: GM Inside News]

Way back in February, the NHTSA began investigating certain full-size trucks and SUVs from General Motors for the possibility of their engines spontaneously combusting, even when the ignition key is in the 'off' position. At that time, the investigation covered some 423,000 vehicles, and GM seemed pretty confident that the issue would not be widespread. Yeah, it appears as if the General was a little off in that assessment. The engine fire issue may now affect about 2.7 million vehicles, including all of the latest Chevrolet, GMC and HUMMER full-size models.

A preliminary examination of the electric systems throughout these vehicles is being conducted at this time. Depending on the results of the NHTSA's 'Engineering Analysis', a recall could follow. So far, there exists 41 reported cases of non-crash-related underhood fires, with 16 of those supposedly with the ignition turned off. Check after the jump for a complete list of all the possibly affected vehicles.

[Source: Consumer Affairs]

click above image for a high-res gallery of the Chevy Tahoe 2-mode Hybrid

We've been waiting for General Motors to step up to the plate with its own incentives now that Ford has offered employee pricing on its F-Series trucks and Dodge has offered $2.99 fuel to go along with its various incentives for the Ram. It seems that GM has finally anted up and increased the incentives for the Silverado, Avalanche and Sierra trucks, along with the Tahoe, Yukon, Escalade and Suburban. The pickups all get $2,000 in customer cash to go along with an extra $3,000 if you already own a GM product for a total of $5,000 total off the sticker price. Those shopping for an SUV will even get an extra grand. In what may be an even larger sign of the times, for the first time ever GM's hybrid Tahoe and Yukon get $4,000 off, but only if you already own a product from the General.

If you want to get in on the savings and don't mind guzzling some gas, you have until June 7 to make it to your nearest Chevrolet or GMC dealer. No rush, we doubt there'll be a line.

[Source: Bloomberg]

At the General Motors annual meeting in Delaware today, CEO Rick Wagoner will be publicly announcing the latest restructuring round for the beleaguered automaker. In response to plummeting sales of large trucks, GM will close down four more North American Assembly plants by 2010. The plants in Janesville, Wisconsin, Oshawa Ontario, Moraine, Ohio, and Toluca, Mexico are already running reduced production schedules and will cease operations entirely as products are discontinued or shifted to other plants. The Janesville plant builds medium trucks and SUVs while Moraine builds the old body on frame Trailblazer, GMC Envoy and Saab 9-7x SUVs. The other plants build full-size pickup trucks. The closures affect 10,000 employees at those plants. Those that aren't among the 19,000 who are taking buyouts will be offered transfers to other locations to fill spaces vacated by the departing workers. The closures are expected to save GM about $1 billion a year.

Wagoner will also be announcing that GM has begun a strategic review of the HUMMER brand. We contacted GM spokesperson Joanne Krell this morning who told us that the review has just begun and there is no time frame for a decision. "The HUMMER brand is a great brand and we're probably not maximizing it to its fullest. Perhaps somebody else would have that opportunity." All options are being considered including "ramping up the portfolio," shutting the brand down or "selling it in whole or in part." At this point, GM has not had any discussions with other manufacturers about the possibility of a sale, which won't happen until the review is completed.

On the positive side of things, the board of directors has approved production of a new small Delta platform car (the eventual Cobalt replacement) at the Lordstown, OH assembly plant next year. The Chevrolet Volt has also been approved for production in 2010 at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant. Thanks to Craig and Matthew for the tips!

[Sources: Chicago Tribune, General Motors]

With closure to the American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings strike in sight, General Motors is pushing forward to resume production at the idled and slowed plants -- assuming UAW members approve a tentative contract later this week. As of Monday, the following plants were back in operation:

• Bay City, Mich. (engines, transmissions, components)
• Flint, Mich., North and South (engines, components)
• Livonia, Mich. (engines, components)
• Parma, Ohio (components)
• Romulus, Mich. (engines)
• Saginaw, Mich. (metal casting)
• Silao, Mexico (engines)
• St. Catharines, Ontario (engines, components)
• Tonawanda, N.Y. (engines)
• Willow Run, Mich. (transmissions)

Each week the strike has dragged out, GM has lost significant production (29,925 vehicles were lost in the week ending April 26 alone). If GM cannot boost additional manufacturing output, by the end of this week the total number of lost units could be as high as 285,503. Even if the American Axle strike is settled, the UAW is still striking at GM's Fairfax assembly plant over the role of seniority in job placement. That labor dispute alone is costing the company 4,627 units each week.

[Source: Automotive News, subs. req'd]

When the UAW went on strike against American Axle & Manufacturing in late February, analysts expected a settlement within days. The supplier of axles, driveshafts, and other related components to General Motors and other automakers had a stockpile of inventory on hand, and few expected the strike to affect production. However, as talks failed to bring workers back, the situation quickly went downhill. By early March, nearly GM 20 GM truck plants were threatening to idle or shut down. By late March, GM's car plants were feeling the effects. Earlier this month, it was GM who offered up to $200 million to help bring the strike to an end -- the automaker has suffered production stops or cut backs at 30 plants in North America as of last week.

Today, American Axle made an offer to the union to bring the 11-week strike to an end. It includes buyouts to workers who have been on the job for more than 10 years, retirement packages to senior workers, and payouts to ease salary adjustments as American Axle makes pay cuts to keep their U.S. operations competitive. The latest agreement will be voted on by union members in New York and Michigan tomorrow. Let's hope they come to terms, as the strike has already cost GM an estimated $800 million.

[Source: Bloomberg]

When the current GMT900 SUVs hit the market in 2006, gas prices were already near $3.00 per gallon, but the super-sized transports sold in prodigious numbers anyway. The reasoning from the General and its customers was that there were still people with big boats or trailers to tow, and unibody CUVs just aren't up to the task. In the two years that followed, gas prices have gone from pesky to pandemic, and buyers are leaving their body-on-frame SUVs by the thousands.

The General isn't blind to the trend, and a report from Bloomberg says that GM may be ready to take the drastic step of separating the platforms of its trucks and full-size SUVs by 2012. The move is extreme because SUVs and trucks have saved development time and money by sharing a platform for many decades, but with such a dramatic shift away from the handy but fuel-thirsty rigs, GM has little choice but to think of alternatives. A unibody Tahoe or Escalade wouldn't be able to tow quite like its predecessor, but they would be lighter and have better fuel economy.

Our first thought was that GM already has eight-passenger unibody CUVs like the Enclave, Acadia, Outlook and upcoming Traverse, but without more utilitarian SUVs like the Tahoe, there should be room for a more purpose-built CUV in the lineup. While this news isn't exactly earth-shattering, we're thinking it very accurately illustrates just how fast these times they are-a-changing, and how far automakers will go to stay viable. Thanks for the tip, Fro!

[Source: Bloomberg]