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GM may have something big in store for its 100th anniversary in September

General Motors is treading in some dangerous waters these days. The company -- along with a number of other auto manufacturers with a truck-heavy product lineup -- is seeing a huge decline in sales as gas prices soar. GM’s stock price hit $9.92 last week -- a 54-year low. 

The company is in full crisis mode now and already announced plans to either idle or close some of its full-size truck production facilities. GM also halted plans for the next generation of its highly profitable full-size trucks and put its engineers to work on more fuel efficient car platforms.

GM is also considering slashing its sizeable brand portfolio. There are already talks in place to sell its Hummer brand, but other possible candidates include Pontiac, Saab, and Buick.

With all of the negative vibes surrounding GM these days, the company needs something to get public's mind off its problems. Thankfully for GM, it has the perfect cure-all in the form of the Chevrolet Volt.

According to sources familiar with the Volt program, GM is working overtime to ready a production version of the vehicle to celebrate its 100th anniversary on September 16. Although it’s highly possible that GM could pull off showing a production version of the Volt within the next few months, the vehicle still won't arrive at dealerships until 2010 at the earliest.

The production version of the Volt is expected to differ greatly visually from the concept vehicle that has been on display at numerous auto shows and technology expos. Significant changes have been made to improve the aerodynamics and make the vehicle meet all federal safety regulations.

The Chevy Volt houses a powerful lithium-ion battery pack and electric motors to propel the vehicle for 40 miles. A 1.0-liter turbocharged gasoline engine springs to life to recharge the battery pack once it reaches a predetermined level. Most, however, will likely plug their Volt into a standard household outlet to charge the battery pack overnight.

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This always amazes me...
By Bender 123 on 7/8/2008 9:35:23 AM , Rating: 5
Did the American car makers not see this coming? I laughed as my sister in law bought an H2 last year...she is not very bright, so I could understand that she would not understand world oil pricing...but the leadership of GM not figuring this out?




RE: This always amazes me...
By Brandon Hill (blog) on 7/8/2008 9:41:16 AM , Rating: 5
Granted, even Toyota "didn't see it coming".

Toyota built a brand new truck plant in Texas (IIRC) for its full-size Tundra. And it just recently introduced a full-size Sequoia based on the Tundra. And I believe they have more same-branded SUVs than anyone else:

RAV4
Highlander
Venza (coming soon)
4-Runner
FJ Cruiser
Sequoia
Land Cruiser

Toyota's trucks sales tanked last month as well.


RE: This always amazes me...
By jay401 on 7/8/08, Rating: 0
RE: This always amazes me...
By creathir on 7/8/2008 1:09:25 PM , Rating: 5
Wow... this is totally untrue.

The plant was not closed at all, production was just slowed. The plant is located in San Antonio, but it has not closed.

- Creathir


RE: This always amazes me...
By erikejw on 7/8/08, Rating: -1
RE: This always amazes me...
By masher2 (blog) on 7/8/2008 4:14:55 PM , Rating: 4
> "Toyota sells 90% small-medium sized cars"

Passing off fabricated statistics is difficult on this board. As of last year, 43% of Toyota's sales came from pickups and SUVs. And even of the remaining 57% from cars, well over 10% came from its full-sized Avalon and Lexus models:

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f78/us-septembe...


RE: This always amazes me...
By erikejw on 7/8/2008 6:43:02 PM , Rating: 1
Well, for most of us the world is not USA.
Using figures that suit your purpose that you pulls from your arse won’t do anyone any good.
This board will not tolerate it anyway.

I guess you've never been outside the US. In Japan they barely use them at all and in Europe they are scarce.

Toyota sold 9.08 million cars fiscal year 2007.
http://www.toyota.co.jp/en/ir/library/annual/pdf/2...

A pickup is a light truck and not a car.
I don’t see families driving pickups but lots of small companies.

Wikipedia:In North America, the word pickup generally refers to a small or medium sized truck. This light commercial vehicle features:
and rear load area or compartment (separate cargo bed).

Avalon is not sold outside USA, 50k in USA.

Lexus sold 490k world wide and about 350k in the US.
Not all Lexuses are “large” cars.

SUV sells with an even larger ratio USA/World wide.
But use the same ratio as in the Lexus case, hell most of the SUVs doesn’t sell at all outside the US.

353k SUV makes 494k worldwide and another 3 months gives 659k.

(50+490+659)/9080 = 13.2%

Add the sales declines for SUV and large cars this year the figure might be 12% for 2008.

Add a percent or two for some other large cars that don't go into those categories and remove the small Lexuses and we have the same percantage.


RE: This always amazes me...
By masher2 (blog) on 7/8/2008 11:36:14 PM , Rating: 3
> "Using figures that suit your purpose that you pulls from your arse won’t do anyone any good."

My figures were exact data. Yours were fabricated from thin air.

> "a pickup is a light truck and not a car."

Yes, which means it can't possibly be a "small/medium car", now can it?

> "I guess you've never been outside the US. "

You're close -- I've been to a bit less than 50 countries, actually.

In any case, if you include world sales, your figures are just as far off. You forget GM owns such brands as Opel (many small cars), Saab (several small cars), and the small Matiz/Spark and Aveo models. In Asia, more than half of all GM cars sold are from its Daewoo acquisition; nearly all these are small cars.


RE: This always amazes me...
By erikejw on 7/9/2008 12:37:45 PM , Rating: 1
So you are arguing that 43% is closer to 10% than 12%. That is hilarious.

Of course I did not include the pickup sales in the world overall sales.

Your sales were US sales which is about as worthless it can be to compare small, medium and large cars sold in a company persepctive.

The world is larger than USA.

Why not mention that large cars in Japan is 4% of Toyotas sales.


RE: This always amazes me...
By griffynz on 7/8/2008 11:53:48 PM , Rating: 2
http://www.toyota.co.nz/AboutUs/Press+Releases/200...

Avalon is not sold outside USA, 50k in USA.

who are you? get your facts right or go home...


RE: This always amazes me...
By paydirt on 7/9/2008 9:58:45 AM , Rating: 2
In the early 1980s, oil prices spiked, every one bought Yugo's and Vega's, businesses became more energy efficient, and demand/usage crashed. Over the next 20 years, the price of oil fell 90% when you include inflation.

Then everyone traded in their fuel efficient cars for SUVs because it seemed gas/oil would "always" be low. Now oil has spiked again and everyone is trading in SUVs for fuel-efficient cars and oil will likely decline in price.


RE: This always amazes me...
By erikejw on 7/9/2008 12:33:06 PM , Rating: 2
I any major market that is. No EU or Japan.

Add those 50 Avalons that is sold in New Zealand then and be happy about it


RE: This always amazes me...
By creathir on 7/8/2008 10:16:01 AM , Rating: 5
I would say the "slump" is just a minor issue here.

GM and Ford's major issue at hand is the fact that they are slaves to the unions. While they had cash reserves, they should have closed down legacy plants, and oppened new ones in non-union states. Their costs would be much lower, meaning they could charge much less, meaning more cars would be sold, meaning their stock would be much higher.

- Creathir


RE: This always amazes me...
By FITCamaro on 7/8/2008 11:51:48 AM , Rating: 4
Definitely agree. Close the old plants where the unions are entrenched like a tick. Reopen in new areas offering pay competitive with the competition. Hell they could pay higher and still be spending far less.


RE: This always amazes me...
By rudy on 7/8/2008 5:27:41 PM , Rating: 2
yeah but they cant shake the legacy costs of all the employees on retirement which will not go away the major cost in their business. The reality is that the big 3 are in a rut they cannot get out of. For years they covered it up by making cheaper cars and cutting costs which resulted in lower customer satisfaction but they sold the junk because it was "American" Then they started shifting jobs to Canada and Mexico. And now they have lost all credibility. Americans are jaded because the big 3 are not really supporting them with jobs and were selling them junk and so they have decided to try foreign cars. The Unions are not willing to help. The only way I see out is to crash the company take all the talent and start new car companies. The japanese auto makers have mostly seen this mistake and have made moves to make sure that in the long run legacy employees will not drag the company to the ground. Make sure in your future if you have employees and retirement you write into their contracts that their retirement check is directly proportional to your companies performance. That should keep them buying your cars and keep them working on the job instead of the terrible inefficiency the unions have created in the US auto market. Also its really difficult for the big 3 to open plants and not see them become unionized. And the foreign car makers are for some reason not being effected by this, most likely because right now pay and profits are good.


RE: This always amazes me...
By theapparition on 7/8/2008 12:09:32 PM , Rating: 5
It's far more difficult than that. States have no jurisdiction over the Union's established contracts with GM/Ford, et al.
You can't just close a factory (BTW, states fight it since they don't want the unemployment burden on their economy) and open another one. That violates the contracts that were signed.

While I agree with you in intent, it's just not going to happen that way. Instead, the big 3 have taken the next step, to seriously undermine the power that unions have. Remember GM's last hold out when negotiating and forcing the union to pay pensions? Trust me, in twenty-thirty years, unions in the auto industry will be long gone. Change takes time.

While the intent of unions was noble when formed decades ago, thier time has long since passed.


RE: This always amazes me...
By theapparition on 7/8/2008 12:16:54 PM , Rating: 4
Just to give you an example, GM is prohibited from making a Firebird, Formula or TransAm model, since the right to build that car still resides with a Union.

If GM wants to make a Chevy Camero, no problem. But if they want to make a Pontiac Firebird......that vehicle must be made by union labor in St. Therese, Quebec. They can't make it in the US, Austrailia, or anywhere else for that matter.
(FYI, to everyone who doesn't know Chevy Camaro and Pontiac Firebird were basically the same models with different badges).

I don't know why such contracts exist (a concession for something more important I'm guessing), but contracts exist and can be enforced.