Designer layoffs set at Chrysler
More buyouts on way, carmaker says
January 31, 2008
By TIM HIGGINS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Chrysler LLC plans to lay off 119 salaried UAW design workers today at the technology center in Auburn Hills and at the Plymouth Road Office Complex in Detroit.
This is part of the group that was expected to be laid [...]
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Ford plans to pump up incentives
In new twist, it will target regions and older vehicles, and will give dealers more say.
Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News
Ford Motor Co. will sharply increase incentive spending this year to counter aggressive pricing by competitors and ensure that demand for older vehicles like the Ford [...]
CHICAGO AUTO SHOW
Suzuki launches first pickup truck
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Automotive News | January 29, 2008 - 10:28 pm EST
Suzuki’s first pickup truck — the Equator — goes on sales the fourth quarter of this year. It will be shown for the first time at the Chicago Auto Show on Feb. 6. The small truck is a version of [...]
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Rebound progress still lags for GM
"We’ve got to get the job done in the United States," says vice chairman.
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
DETROIT – General Motors Corp. Vice Chairman Fritz Henderson, in a blunt assessment of the automaker’s standing, said on Tuesday that the company is still falling well short of [...]
GM case cited in hearing on discrimination bill
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Harry Stoffer
Automotive News | January 29, 2008 - 2:38 pm EST
WASHINGTON — Carey McClure, an electrician, told a congressional committee today that General Motors rescinded a job offer to him in 2000 because he has a form of muscular dystrophy.
McClure testified that he sued GM for discrimination [...]
CHICAGO AUTO SHOW
Hummer adds pickup truck traits to H3T
Vehicle to roll out in Chicago next week
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Jonathan Wong
Automotive News | January 28, 2008 - 8:08 pm EST
DETROIT — As it did with the H2, Hummer is adding pickup traits to its smallest sport/utility.
The H3T will roll out next week at the Chicago auto show and [...]
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Chrysler offering more buyouts
Carmaker to pitch packages to all UAW workers at Metro plants as it moves to cut 10,000 hourly jobs.
Eric Morath / The Detroit News
All UAW workers at Chrysler LLC’s Metro Detroit area plants are expected to be offered buyout or early retirement packages as the company moves to cut [...]
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Delphi trims $85 million from execs’ bonus fund
Company still plans to distribute $132 million to 560 top executives when it exits bankruptcy.
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Delphi Corp. again has shrunk the bonuses it will pay its executives when the parts supplier emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March, [...]
Is ‘The General’ on the Move?
Former giant GM uses product to get back in car battle.
By Lawrence Ulrich
View pictures
Cadillac’s new CTS, a great improvement over the past generation, is one of several impressive new products from General Motors.
Economically speaking, you could call this the winter of our discontent, especially if you’re a Detroit automaker. [...]
AUTO INDUSTRY DOWNSIZING
Workers who retire unlikely to hurt state
January 27, 2008
By KATIE MERX
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
With all three Detroit automakers beginning the process of offering widespread buyouts again this year, more than 130,000 U.S. autoworkers are or will soon face the decision: Should I stay or should I go?
While the choice is a tough one [...]
Chevy Beat: Nice looking microcar
The Chevy Beat is one of those concepts that might have a shot at niche market. A 1.2 leter engine is hooked to an automatic transmission.
If that sounds familiar, you’re right. The now defunct Chevy Metro had a 1.0 liter engine in the three cyclinder model, and a full 1.3 [...]
Photo finish: GM still No. 1
Carmaker sold only about 3,000 more vehicles worldwide than Toyota in 2007.
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
General Motors Corp., after 76 years as the undisputed leader of global auto sales, finished 2007 with a razor-thin lead over Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp.
The Detroit automaker said Wednesday that it sold 9,369,524 [...]
GM to report record annual loss on Feb. 12
January 25, 2008
By KATIE MERX
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
General Motors Corp. will announce its 2007 earnings on the morning of Tuesday, Feb. 12.
The automaker is expected to announce its worst annual loss in history, due to a $39-billion paper loss in the third quarter, primarily because of a [...]
CAW threatens to strike GM in Oshawa, Ontario
Contract expires Sept. 17
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Rick Kranz
Automotive News | January 25, 2008 - 3:29 pm EST
DETROIT — The Canadian Auto Workers union local representing employees at General Motors’ Oshawa, Ontario, assembly plant is threatening to strike this fall unless the automaker confirms additional products and jobs.
CAW Local 222 warned [...]
Lutz: U.S. won’t embrace small cars at today’s gas prices
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Jamie LaReau
Automotive News | January 24, 2008 - 12:01 am EST
DETROIT — General Motors sees E-85 and biofuels as the best near-term solution to lowering U.S. usage of petroleum.
But new federal fuel regulations will only mean higher vehicle prices, slower new vehicle sales and [...]
GM exec: Dealer network should shrink by 30 percent
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — General Motors Corp.’s marketing and sales chief said the Detroit automaker wants to shrink its number of dealers in urban areas by roughly 30 percent.
Mark LaNeve, GM’s vice president for marketing and sales, said the company needed to reduce [...]
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Auto briefs
Grammys to use Chevrolet ‘green’ cars
Chevrolet, on a mission to create a green image for itself, will deliver dozens of stars to next month’s Grammy awards in hybrid and ethanol-ready SUVs as part of a major marketing deal with the show. Presenters, performers and other celebrities will arrive at the Feb. [...]
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Delphi told to cut exec bonuses
Judge orders compensation package reduced by more than $70M as part of bankruptcy exit plan.
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
A federal bankruptcy judge told Delphi Corp. Tuesday to slash the amount of cash bonuses it planned to pay its top 560 executives more than $70 million, [...]
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Ford set to offer more buyouts
Ailing automaker wants to make room for lower-paid work force in its U.S. factories.
Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News
Ford Motor Co. is preparing to offer another round of buyouts to all of its approximately 54,000 U.S. hourly employees, and sources say an announcement could come as [...]
Chrysler sets up new team for global mid-size vehicles
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Bradford Wernle
Automotive News | January 22, 2008 - 10:53 pm EST
DETROIT — As part of its product development realignment, Chrysler LLC will create a kind of experimental “skunk works” to design mid-size vehicles, according to CEO Bob Nardelli.
Nardelli told reporters at Tuesday’s Automotive News World Congress [...]
Renault battery car to be sold in Israel
Sedan likely to feature Nissan power source in deal to begin in 2011.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Christine Tierney / The Detroit News
The Renault-Nissan alliance plans to start selling thousands of electric cars in Israel in 2011 in what it believes will be the first mass commercialization of the zero-emission [...]
GM to offer buyouts to 46,000
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
General Motors Corp. CEO Rick Wagoner said Thursday that the company could have to shutter more U.S. factories or eliminate shifts at plants to bring the automaker’s production in line with declining demand for cars and trucks in its home market.
He didn’t [...]
Delphi creditors vote to accept reorganization plan
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Brent Snavely
and Philip Nussel
Automotive News | January 17, 2008 - 12:01 am EST
DETROIT - Auto parts maker Delphi Corp. said late Wednesday that 81 percent of ballots cast by general unsecured creditors voted to accept its proposed reorganization plan.
The approval was another in a series of key [...]
American Axle lands key extension of GM business
GM light-truck contract equals half of company revenue
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Robert Sherefkin
Automotive News | January 17, 2008 - 10:36 am EST
DETROIT — American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. said today that it will be the driveline supplier for the next generation of full-sized General Motors light trucks. The contract award [...]
GM looks to make further cost and job cuts
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Jamie LaReau
Automotive News
January 17, 2008 - 1:56 pm ET
DETROIT — General Motors executives told analysts that GM expects to gain $4 billion to $5 billion in savings in 2010 once the impact of the 2007 labor agreement occurs. GM also plans for improved automotive pretax [...]
GM to begin selling 2009 Traverse crossover
January 17, 2008
By KATIE MERX
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
General Motors Corp. will start selling the 2009 Chevrolet Traverse crossover this fall, Mark LaNeve, GM North America’s head of sales, service and marketing confirmed this week at the North American International Auto Show.
The cousin of the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and [...]
Going green puts the squeeze on suppliers
Thursday, January 17, 2008
2008 Detroit auto show
Eric Morath / The Detroit News
While it’s the automakers that are touting their new, green machines at this year’s Detroit auto show, it’s the suppliers that have to do the heavy lifting to make the vehicles a reality — and at minimal cost.
Suppliers [...]
Auto show creates less buzz
Imports’ executives re-evaluating where to showcase their brands amid tighter budgets.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
2008 Detroit auto show
Christine Tierney / The Detroit News
After the flash, bright lights and cattle run that accompanied chief product revelations this week at the Detroit auto show, the buzz on the show floor was the lack of [...]
Auto analysts: 2008 ‘down but not dire’
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Eric Morath and Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
Economists from Detroit’s Big Three automakers today see the outlook for the industry as down but not dire.
A moribund housing market, continued fuel-price concerns and worrisome consumer sentiment are expected to lead to declining auto sales in 2008, [...]
Hyundai may yank Super Bowl ads
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Mary Connelly
Automotive News | January 15, 2008 - 4:18 pm EST
DETROIT — Hyundai Motor America is considering withdrawing as a Super Bowl advertiser.
The automaker blames a worsening economy, says Chris Hosford, Hyundai spokesman.
“We are reviewing whether or not we want to advertise on the Super Bowl,” Hosford tells Automotive [...]
GM buyouts coming early
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David Barkholz
Automotive News | January 14, 2008 - 4:04 pm EST
DETROIT — General Motors is getting a head start on its employee buyout program.
Hourly workers represented by the UAW have been retiring since Sept. 30, with a promise that they will receive a $35,000 incentive to leave.
About 70 workers at GM’s [...]
Toyota targets Venza crossover for North America
Monday, January 14, 2008
Greg Piatt / Special to The Detroit News
Toyota Motor Corp. — going even deeper with its U.S. product offensive — introduced a crossover sedan today the automaker thinks will be ideal for active Boomers and young couples with small families. The 2009 Venza is targeted specifically [...]
New automaker Fisker to sell battery-powered hybrid
Monday, January 14, 2008
John McCormick / Autos Insider
Former Aston Martin designer Henrik Fisker jumped into the green performance car arena today with a striking four-door, coupe styled, plug-in hybrid sedan.
With a claimed range of 50 miles on its lithium-ion battery before the small gasoline engine kicks in, and a [...]
GM hopes to have E-Flex test vehicles by June
Toyota hybrid plans up the ante
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Jamie LaReau
Automotive News | January 14, 2008 - 11:19 am EST
DETROIT — General Motors plans to have vehicles powered by lithium ion batteries ready to demonstrate by June and remains confident in its ability to build the Chevrolet Volt by 2010.
“I’m [...]
CTS coupe concept takes aim at BMW, Mercedes
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Jamie LaReau
Automotive News | January 14, 2008 - 10:40 am EST
DETROIT — Cadillac revealed a new CTS coupe concept here today at the auto show.
The coupe would add to a lineup that includes a sedan and a performance sedan that also was revealed today.
The coupe took styling [...]
Chevy Malibu wins top award
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DETROIT AUTO SHOW
Automotive News | January 13, 2008 - 9:36 am EST
The 2008 Chevy Malibu won the North American Car of the Year award today.
DETROIT — For the second straight year, General Motors has won North American [...]
Saturn flexes its green muscle………Plug in concept offers a taste of future Saturn design
Saturn Flextreme
By JONATHAN WONG
We first saw the Flextreme concept wearing an Opel badge at last year’s Frankfurt Auto Show, but for its Detroit debut it carries the Saturn badge.
Besides that, details remain the same. As a product of a collaborative [...]
GM to save most from pact
January 13, 2008
By KATIE MERX
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
And the winner of the 2007 UAW negotiations is … General Motors Corp.
Not that the union lost out, but GM will reap savings from the contract faster than Ford Motor Co. or Chrysler LLC will, labor economist Sean McAlinden, from the Center [...]
GM Style event kicks off Detroit auto show
Saturday, January 12, 2008
2008 North American International Auto Show
Chuck Bennett / Special to The Detroit News
Former Detroit Lions’ great Robert Porcher summed it up best: "I hate when people say this doesn’t seem like Detroit. This is Detroit. And these are the kinds of events that go on [...]
Nissan, Chrysler small-car deal near
Friday, January 11, 2008
Christine Tierney / The Detroit News
Chrysler LLC and Nissan Motor Co. are close to finalizing a deal for Nissan to supply Chrysler with a small car to be built in North America, sources familiar with the negotiations said late Thursday.
The deal could be announced as early as today, [...]
