Friday, February 29, 2008

Daniel Howes:

Reality squeezes Dauch, UAW
 

Dick Dauch, the chairman of American Axle & Manufacturing Inc., is never [...]

Daimler says Chrysler lost nearly $3 billion in brief time

 
Automotive News | February 27, 2008 - 9:45 am EST

 
FRANKFURT [...]

Consumers Union: 9 of 10 top vehicle picks are imports

Harry Stoffer

Automotive News | February 28, 2008 - 3:16 pm EST
[...]

Honda ending U.S. motorcycle production
Posted Feb 28th 2008 9:31AM by Alex Nunez
Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Honda, Motorcycles

Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2008 Honda VTX
Honda has announced that next year it will cease motorcycle production at its Marysville, OH manufacturing plant. That facility’s output, along with that of the Hamamatsu, Japan factory, will be [...]

Thursday, February 28, 2008

American Axle strike shuts GM plant

It’s latest fallout as auto industry upheaval stirs up labor unrest.

Eric Morath and Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News

General Motors Corp. will shut down its Pontiac truck plant today, forcing the layoff of about 2,500 workers, in the first major fallout from the UAW’s strike against auto [...]

UAW workers strike after American Axle talks end

Robert Sherefkin

Automotive News

February 26, 2008 - 12:30 am ET
[...]

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Detroit’s changing work force
$14 per hour: The new auto dream job
Lower-paying jobs are welcome opportunity for new Delphi workers
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News
FLINT — A $14-an-hour job at auto supplier Delphi Corp. means that Tricia Sermeno no longer chooses between buying groceries or paying the rest of her bills.
For Mike Rick, [...]

Saturday, February 23, 2008
GMAC loans $635M to its mortgage unit
David Mildenberg / Bloomberg News
GMAC LLC, the lender partially owned by General Motors Corp., agreed to loan as much as $750 million to its residential mortgage unit as it seeks to sell a business that finances vacation resorts.
Residential Capital LLC borrowed $635 million under the agreement [...]

Former UAW president Fraser dies at 91

Douglas Fraser, who led the United Auto Workers as president from 1977 to 1983, died in a Southfield, Mich., hospital Saturday, the union said today. He was 91.
His wife Winnie Fraser told the Associated Press that Fraser had emphysema and went into Providence Hospital with breathing problems.
"It’s a huge [...]

GM exec stands by calling global warming a ‘crock’

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Automotive News | February 22, 2008 - 3:15 pm EST
 
 
DETROIT (Reuters) — General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz has defended remarks he made dismissing global warming as a "total crock of shit," saying his views had no bearing on GM’s commitment to build environmentally friendly vehicles.
Lutz, GM’s [...]

Friday, February 22, 2008
UAW proposal paves the way for union-run health care trust
The Detroit News
The United Auto Workers union announced today that is has filed a settlement proposal in U.S. District Court related to health care claims against General Motors Corp.
If approved, the union said, the settlement will pave the way for the creation of [...]

Friday, February 22, 2008
Shuttered GM Lansing plants to be razed starting Monday
Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. — General Motors Corp. on Monday will begin tearing down two plants it closed in 2006.
A GM spokeswoman says it will take about 20 months to demolish the Lansing Craft Centre and Lansing Metal Center, both located in Lansing Township near [...]

Delphi gets court approval to sell steering unit

queryvar=”delphi,gets,court,approval,to,sell,steering,unit”;

Automotive News | February 21, 2008 - 2:00 pm EST
 
 
DETROIT (Reuters) — Bankrupt auto parts supplier Delphi Corp.said today it had received final bankruptcy court approval to sell off its steering business to a unit of private equity firm Platinum Equity LLC.
The transaction is expected to close March [...]

Thursday, February 21, 2008
GMAC will slash 930 jobs
Financial company will close 15 field offices and idle 930 workers after posting $4.3B deficit in 2007.
Sharon Terlep / The Detroit News
With its massive mortgage operations deep in red ink, financial firm GMAC LLC is now moving to slash costs on the still-lucrative auto lending side of its [...]

GM dedicates new Mexican transmission plant

queryvar=”gm,dedicates,new,mexican,transmission,plant”;

Stephen Downer
Automotive News | February 21, 2008 - 9:38 am EST
 
 
SILAO, Mexico — General Motors dedicated a $660 million transmission plant at its vehicle assembly, engine and stamping complex here Tuesday, Feb. 19.
The plant began operations about a month ago. It has an installed capacity of 1,500 six-speed transmissions [...]

 
Detroit 3 near $14-an-hour hiring blitz
New production employees could start work in ‘09
By TIM HIGGINS • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • February 20, 2008
Detroit’s automakers, while undergoing great efforts to eliminate jobs, are perhaps a year away from the largest local hiring spree in recent years.
Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. will [...]

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Scott Burgess:
‘VETTE & WILD: Mean, green Z06 goes from zero to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds on less gas

PHOENIX — The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 used to play first chair in the Corvette hierarchy. It’s the performance-oriented virtuoso from a powerful family; the ultimate achievement after 50 years of fabulous vehicles.
The upcoming supercharged [...]

Wednesday, February 20, 2008
GMAC to shut 75% of auto sites
Lender to have only five auto-finance outlets in U.S., Canada after $2.3 billion loss in 2007.
Greg Bensinger / Bloomberg News
GMAC LLC, the lender partially owned by General Motors Corp., plans to close about 75 percent of its auto-financing offices in the U.S. and Canada after losing [...]

Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Chrysler workers split on buyouts
Many not eligible for retirement don’t take cash, concerned about lower-paid replacements.
Eric Morath / The Detroit News
WARREN — Hundreds of Chrysler LLC hourly workers appeared poised to accept early retirement and buyout packages Monday — the last day most Metro Detroit manufacturing employees could accept offers.
Many more, however, [...]

Monday, February 18, 2008
Daniel Howes
Ford’s ‘F’ fixation fouls its future

Ford Motor Co. evidently hasn’t rid itself of its effing problem.
By that I mean the ingrained reflex to bestow new models with names beginning with the letter "F" — Fusion, Flex and now Fiesta, the global subcompact that would have been just fine, thank you, beginning [...]

Monday, February 18, 2008
Glowing appeal: In car design, energy use, LEDs add ‘cool factor’
Scott Burgess / The Detroit News
Bright little lights, known as Light Emitting Diodes, are changing the face of autos, inside and out, designers and engineers say.
Once a beacon for the plush interiors of Lexus, Mercedes and Cadillac, LEDs have made their way [...]

Monday, February 18, 2008
Chavez: Venezuela does not plan on halting oil exports to the United States
CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER / Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez sent a soothing message to American motorists on Sunday, saying that Venezuela is not preparing to cut off oil shipments to the United States.
The socialist leader rattled oil markets a [...]

Friday, February 15, 2008
Ford revives Fiesta
Firm tosses out ‘Verve’ to use ’70s nameplate for new subcompact
Christine Tierney / The Detroit News
What’s in a name? That was the big question as Ford Motor Co. executives debated what to call the stylish new subcompact they will start rolling out later this year.
Ford called the concept version of [...]

Friday, February 15, 2008
Ford pitches buyouts hard
Workers told it’s their last chance for deal
Bryce G. Hoffman / The Detroit News
Ford Motor Co. is launching an unprecedented marketing campaign to sell as many workers as possible on the latest — and, it says, last — round of nationwide buyouts.
The Dearborn automaker is eager to take advantage [...]

Gettelfinger wary about using pension funds to help Delphi

Gettelfinger also addresses GM buyouts, Plastech bankruptcy

 
David Barkholz

Automotive News | [...]

GM workers again ask: Should I stay or go?
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News
At General Motors Corp. Tuesday, yet another lucrative buyout offer and retirement incentives that most American workers can only dream about didn’t seem to impress several longtime employees.
"I just can’t see taking it; I’d thought it would be more money," said Ron [...]

Thursday, February 14, 2008
GM adds cash incentives
Automaker hopes to boost sales with up to $3,000 in discounts on more than 15 models.
Greg Bensinger / Bloomberg News
General Motors Corp. is increasing cash offers for the final two weeks of the month on many 2007 and 2008 models as it seeks to sustain its surprise January sales [...]

Ford, GM and JCI support Chrysler in Plastech dispute

Quality issues emerge in court testimony
queryvar=”ford,gm,and,jci,support,chrysler,in,plastech,dispute”;

Ryan Beene
and Brent Snavely
Automotive News | February 13, 2008 - 12:43 pm EST
 
 
 
DETROIT — Lawyers representing Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Johnson Controls Inc. today voiced support in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Chrysler LLC’s effort to retrieve tooling from [...]

GM: Profitable in North America by 2010 or 2011

White House reacts to automaker’s losses
queryvar=”gm:,profitable,in,north,america,by,2010,or,2011″;

Automotive News | February 12, 2008 - 7:30 am EST
 
 
DETROIT — By 2010 or 2011, General Motors should be solidly profitable in North America, says CFO Fritz Henderson.
“In order to get North America sustainably profitable and generating cash, we need to win [...]

GM offers all U.S. union workers buyouts, retirement

Automotive News | February 12, 2008 - 7:10 am EST
 
 
DETROIT (Reuters) — General Motors will offer buyouts or early retirements to all 74,000 U.S. hourly workers represented by the UAW in a sweeping deal with the union intended to clear the way for GM to hire lower-cost replacements.
The [...]

Rival backs Chrysler consolidation
February 12, 2008
BY TIM HIGGINS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
SAN FRANCISCO — A top Toyota Motor Corp. executive Monday endorsed Chrysler LLC President Jim Press’ stepped-up efforts to consolidate its dealer network.
"It’s what has to happen," Jim Lentz, president of Toyota’s U.S. sales arm, told the Free Press following the American International Automobile Dealers [...]

Monday, February 11, 2008
Clinton visits GM hybrid plant, promises help for automakers
Deb Price / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WHITE MARSH, Md. — After sitting behind the wheel of a black Tahoe Hybrid SUV, Democrat Hillary Clinton told General Motors workers at a plant here today that she, as president, would help the auto industry through research [...]

Ford recalls about 180,000 trucks

Harry Stoffer

Automotive News

February 11, 2008 - 3:54 pm ET
WASHINGTON — Ford Motor Co. [...]

Interest rate cuts could help auto sales

February 11, 2008
BY TIM HIGGINS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
SAN FRANCISCO — The Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate cuts could help keep the U.S. car and truck sales from falling as badly in 2008 as previously predicted, the National Automobile [...]

Hoffa touts union organizing efforts to gain members
David Shepardson / Detroit News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said Friday the union recruited 23,000 new members in 2007 and ended the year with membership above where it was in 2006.
"That might not sound like a lot, but it is a lot," Hoffa told [...]

GM could share Volt technology among brands

queryvar=”gm,could,share,volt,technology,among,brands”;

Jamie LaReau
Automotive News | February 10, 2008 - 6:31 pm EST
 
 
SAN FRANCISCO — General Motors told dealers during its annual all-brand meeting here today that if it produces the Chevrolet Volt, other GM brands may get a variant of the battery-powered car.
Lynn Thompson, owner of Thompson Sales Co. [...]

GM will sell used cars on eBay Motors
Arlena Sawyers
Automotive News | February 8, 2008 - 2:10 pm EST

 
 
SAN FRANCISCO — In a move that could radically alter the used-car business, General Motors said today that 3,900 auto dealers who sell GM’s Certified Used Cars will list their entire inventories on eBay Motors.
The listings will [...]

GM seeks fewer dealers
 
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Jamie LaReau
Automotive News | February 9, 2008 - 10:22 pm EST
 
 
GM will continue to push for dealer consolidation this year with a strong emphasis on channeling its luxury brands - Cadillac, Hummer and Saab.
That’s the main message GM will give to dealers in the all-GM make meeting today, CEO Rick Wagoner [...]

Reynolds drops out of GM dealer system

queryvar=”reynolds,drops,out,of,gm,dealer,system”;

Ralph Kisiel
Automotive News | February 9, 2008 - 7:44 pm EST
 
 
SAN FRANCISCO — Reynolds and Reynolds Co. says it is out of the General Motors Integrated Dealer Management System business.
That means Reynolds, the largest vendor of dealership software in the United States, no longer will sell GM’s Integrated [...]

Thursday, February 7, 2008
Dodge challenge: Sell muscle car to young and old
Eric Morath / The Detroit news
The Dodge Challenger SRT8, a baby-boomer dream machine, is intended to fill a dual role for Chrysler LLC: bring those who drove the original back to showrooms and serve as a lighting rod to attract younger drivers to the [...]