GM Skips 2009 Oscars, Won’t Buy any Advertising Time

General Motors has pulled the plug off its 19-year long relationship with the Academy Awards, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Despite the fact that the Oscars are one of the biggest annual events on broadcast television, GM decided to end its long-time sponsorship of Hollywood’s flashy annual awards that included heaps of advertising time and the use of its vehicles to transport celebrities to the event and to Oscar-related parties. "It is a great property, but it simply didn't fit into our plans for 2009," said a GM spokeswoman. -Continued

The cash-strapped American automaker was one of the biggest advertisers for the Oscars spending $13.5 million for ad time last February and over $110 million the past 11 years according to TNS Media Intelligence. "With the current business challenges and tightening budgets, we've decided to focus our advertising and promotional dollars on activities that reach customers in the most impactful ways," a GM spokeswoman said. In other words, GM has decided to shift a large portion of its ad budget from the traditional media to digital marketing (internet) where the company’s execs believe they’re getting more bang for their bucks.

GM Releases Teaser Shots of Production Chevy Volt

If you’re wondering why GM has decided to release teaser photos of the production version of the all-electric Chevy Volt nearly two years before it hits the market in late 2010, the answer is for the same exact marketing reasons that we were bombarded by official photos of the new Camaro undergoing tests well before its scheduled launch in 2009.

As we've already seen in a video from ABC News, the new photos reveal that Chevy’s designers have reworked the Volt’s front end which now features faux air-vents in the grille, a new bumper design with a larger lower air intake and cool wraparound foglamps along with a new set of headlights. We also get a teaser glimpse of the Volt’s rear end with the characteristic model badge and several pictures of GM’s design and engineering teams working on the car. -Photo gallery after the jump

Opel to Launch Electric Model Derived Directly from the Volt in late 2011

GM Europe's President Carl Peter Forster has revealed details on what the company plans to do with the Chevrolet Volt in the European market. Assuming that all goes well during the development phase and the Volt is launched in the US in late 2010, GM's plan is to have the first electric-vehicles (EV) for sale in Europe about a year later, which is late in 2011. According to Forster, Opel and its UK arm Vauxhall will initially introduce a model derived directly from the Chevrolet Volt but more European-market specific EVs are planned for the future.

"The thinking goes that to have a significant impact on the environment, EREVs must be sold in high volumes, hence the reasoning for Chevrolet. The same logic is true for Europe, so the first EREV vehicle will be an Opel/Vauxhall, followed several months later by a Chevrolet,"said Carl Peter Forster. "The Opel/Vauxhall will be derived directly from the Chevrolet Volt to get into the market quickly, but I can assure you that more variations for Opel-specific designs of EREVs are already in the works but more on that at a much later time", he added. -Continued

Forster also stated in the company's official European blog that although the first EV variants will come from the States, GM will need to produce the cars in Europe as well.

"The first EREV variants will certainly come from the U.S., but the thinking goes that to get significant long-term volumes to impact our CO2 compliance strategy, we will need production capability in Europe," said Forster.

"Additionally, to deal with the huge cost implications of the new technology (the batteries initially are costing several of thousand Euros more than a typical engine/transmission setup), we need incentives for consumers to off-set the high costs and drive more volume. One thought that I floated in media discussions was that we get early adopter "super credits" under EU CO2 schedules for the initial volumes."

"By giving an Opel/Vauxhall EREV-powered vehicle (which will have an exceptionally low CO2 number) a high multiplier in CO2 fleet averaging, it would allow GM more flexibility in meeting the overall fleet average while pushing the vehicles into the fleet faster than otherwise would have happened. In other words, if one Volt was incentivized in the compliance plan to count as multiple vehicles at that low CO2 number, it would give GM incentive to offer a higher volume of Volts to the market than the affordability of the vehicle would normally warrant. This is a logical use of the regulations to get a desirable shift in consumer behaviour," added Forster.

GM’s U.S. Sales Plummet 26.7% in July

As if today’s announcement on the massive $15.5 billion loss in the second quarter of 2008 wasn’t enough bad news, GM also reported today that its vehicle sales dropped 26.7% in July to 235,184. According to GM’s data, July’s car sales were down 2.1 percent to 105,335 while light truck sales fell 35.4 percent to 129,849. Beyond the negative headlines, GM saw the Chevrolet Malibu’s total sales go up 79 percent, the Chevy Aveo up 17 percent, the Cadillac CTS up 38 percent, the Saturn Aura op 24 percent and the Saturn Sky up 14 percent compared to last July. (Picture: CarScoop)

GM Posts $15.5 Billion Loss in Q2 2008

General Motors today announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2008, which saw the largest U.S. automaker report a loss of $15.5 billion mainly due to plunging sales in its core North American market and the dramatic shift in consumer tastes from the very profitable large pick-up trucks and SUV segments to smaller and less lucrative passenger cars.

The massive second-quarter loss, which compares with an $891m net income in Q2 2007, includes $9.1 billion in special items, such as $3.3 billion relating to the GM’s North American hourly special attrition program, $2.8 billion adjustment to the Delphi reserve and $1.1 billion in restructuring and capacity related costs. Although GM posted a profit of $400 million for its automotive operations outside North America, a $4.4 billion loss in its problematic home turf resulted to an adjusted loss of $4.0 billion on automotive operations. -Continued

GM recorded $9.1 billion of special items, predominantly non-cash in nature for the current quarter or near-term periods, which include:

$3.3 billion relating to the 2008 GMNA hourly special attrition program

$2.8 billion adjustment to the Delphi reserve

$1.1 billion GMNA restructuring and capacity related costs

$1.3 billion impairment of GM’s equity interest in GMAC

$340 million Canadian Auto Workers contract-related accounting charges

$197 million related to settlement of the strike at American Axle

GM Cuts U.S. SAAB Warranty to Four-Years or 50,000 Miles

As part of its never-ending cost cutting scheme, General Motors announced to its dealers that it has reduced the warranty terms on all Saabs sold in the United States from five-years or 100,000 miles to four-years or 50,000 miles. Surprisingly, the reduced warranty is effective immediately. Luckily for Saab dealers, GM decided to continue to offer free scheduled maintenance for three-years or 36,000 miles on Saab vehicles in order to compete with other luxury brands.

Toyota Beats GM in Global Sales During First Half of the Year

Toyota is well under way to become the world’s undisputed number-one carmaker in global sales as the Japanese company managed to sell 4.82 million vehicles during the first half of 2008, up 2.2% from a year ago. GM on the other hand saw its sales slip by 3% to 4.53 million vehicles in the same period. For the second quarter of 2008, GM reported sales of more than 2.28 million vehicles, down 5% from 2007. While GM’s Q2 sales outside of North America grew 10% (up 116,000 vehicles), in the U.S. sales were down 20% (236,000 vehicles). Toyota’s reported Q2 sales of 2.41 million, up 1.8% from a year ago.

GM VP Carl-Peter Forster: “The culture of good enough has pretty much left”

We just finished reading an interesting article from Carl-Peter Forster, GM Group's VP and President of GM Europe on the company’s official blog, concerning the quality issues of the past and the change in mentality that has occurred in the Group. As you can see for yourselves in the extraction below, Forster was surprisingly honest referring to GM’s past culture in terms of quality as being “simply OK”. Forster also dedicated a part of his article to BMW and the way that every single employee at the Bavarian company took particular pride in their work striving to be the best person in the industry at that position. -Continued

«It’s taken some time and it’s still an on-going process, but the culture of “good enough” has pretty much left GM. Quality is not just about good process; it’s a foundation of the culture of the company. When I was at BMW, no matter where you worked – even if you were the second-ranking librarian in the corporate library—you strived to be the very best person in the industry at your position. It wasn’t something you preached, or had to remind people about, it was simply how most all employees viewed themselves. I think that passion bled through to all the products it created.»

«At GM, I’ve found some of the most talented and inspiring people I’ve ever worked with, but the culture in the past always seemed to come up with a “simply OK” mindset. That’s not to say that GM hasn’t done outstanding products in the recent past, but if we’re honest, the sum total of the parts was not always compelling.»

Read the whole article here

2010 Chevy Cruze, Cadillac SRX, Saab 9-4x & Buick Equinox Images Revealed by GM

Aside from announcing that GM will improve its economic situation through 2009 by laying off salaried workers, suspending future dividends on common stock, cutting truck production and selling many assets, the company’s CEO Rick Wagoner also let out the first photos of the 2010 Chevy Cruze, 2010 Cadillac SRX, 2010 Saab 9-4x and 2010 Chevy Equinox. Furthermore, Wagoner revealed that 18 of GM’s next 19 major launches will be cars and crossovers, including the new Cadillac CTS Coupe and Sport Wagon and the Buick La Crosse. -Images after the jump






Pics Via: Jalopnik

GM Building World's Largest Rooftop Solar Power Station in Spain

General Motors is planning to install the world’s largest collection of solar panels on the rooftop of its Spanish car assembly plant in Zaragoza that builds the Opel Corsa, Meriva and Combo models. When the project is completed in the fall of 2008, the Zaragoza solar installation will comprise of about 85,000 solar panels covering 2,000,000 sq. ft. of space on the rooftop.

The project is being co-developed with Clairvoyant Energy, Veolia Environmental and the Government of Aragon. GM will lease their roof space to Clairvoyant Energy and Veolia Environment, who will build, own and operate the rooftop solar installation. -Continued

Once operational, the solar installation is expected to generate about 12 megawatts of power at its highest output. The installation will generate about 15.1 million kWh of power annually, which according to GM, is equivalent to the demand of 4,575 households with an average annual consumption of 3,300 kWh in Spain.

US June Sales: GM Drop 18.5%, Toyota Down 21.4%

We’ve already told you about Ford Motor Company’s and Chrysler LLC’s June sales (along with the top-20 best selling vehicles for the previous month), so its time to see the results for the two top contenders in the U.S. market. Despite an 18.5% decline in sales compared to June 2007 (326,300 units), GM easily maintained first place with 265,937 units. In second place we find Toyota (including Lexus and Scion) that saw its June sales drop 21.4% compare to the same month last year (193,234 vs 245,739 units).

For the first half of the year, GM sold a total of 1,604,942 vehicles (down 16.5%) while Toyota, 1,240,086 units representing a 6.8% decline compared to the same period in 2007.

GM to Merger with Ford? The Idea was actually thrown on the Table!

Some could see it as a “MegaMerger”, others as a “MegaDisaster”. Either way, BusinessWeek magazine learned from an unnamed source that at a few recent meetings, unammed General Motors executives shared their thoughts about the possibility of a merger with arch American rival, Ford Motor Company.

However, some narrow minded fellow execs (before you start commenting, we’re being sarcastic now…) dismissed the idea as they believed a merger with a company that has even worse problems than GM would be a huge distraction at a time when management needs to focus on a turnaround.

Commenting on the report, David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research said, "I don't think a merger is likely. But you'll see a lot of options considered if they think bigger problems will come by." -Continued

What do you think about the idea of a “MegaMerger” between Ford and GM? Would GMF (that stands for General Motors Ford and not for Genetically Modified Fords…) be something worth looking into or would it be the end of both automakers?

Via: BusinessWeek

GM Raises Prices by 3.5% for ’09 Models, Launches New 0% Interest for 72 months Sale

Details from a teleconference between GM execs and the automaker’s dealers that took place today and found their way into the internet, reveal that GM is planning to raise prices on average by 3.5% for most 2009 vehicles.

It was also revealed that most Chevrolet and Buick-Pontiac-GMC products will be offered for a week with a 0% financing sale. According to dealers, the sale starts tomorrow, Tuesday June 24 and runs through June 30 offering customers 0% interest for 72 months.

Via: Autonews (sub, req)

18,657 GM Hourly Workers Accept Buyouts

More than 18,000 of GM’s U.S. hourly workers or about a quarter of its American blue-collar work force have accepted the automaker’s buyout packages, the company announced today. Most of the employees are expected to be gone by July 1, 2008. Although GM won’t replace all of the workers who opted for the buyouts, it’s expected that the automaker will replace an unidentified number of highly paid veterans with lower-wage workers.

GM Halts SUV & Pick Truck Redesigns

Along with shutting off many production lines that build large SUVs and full-sized pick-up trucks, GM is now postponing the redesign of these models as it is revaluating its whole vehicle line up, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. GM’s spokesperson Tom Wilkinson told the newspaper that the company will extend the life cycle of its current range of full-size pickups and SUVs (know internally as GMT900) that include the Cadillac Escalade SUV and the Chevrolet Silverado pickup.

Although the replacements for these models weren't set to hit the market until at least 2012, due to the crumbling full-size SUV/Pick Up segment, GM will take these resources to develop more fuel-efficient vehicles for the U.S. market.

GM Delivers First Chevy Malibu & Tahoe Hybrid Taxis to Dubai Goverment

Not that they're facing any problems with gas prices in Dubai -or with anything that involves money for that matter, but GM delivered its first hybrid vehicles in the Middle East to the Government of Dubai and the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). The Chevrolet Tahoe & Malibu hybrids are part of project that involves a 12-month trial using eco-friendly vehicles as public taxis.

Terry Johnsson, President of GM’s Middle East Operations, said "When the Dubai Government decided to investigate the feasibility of alternative propulsion systems in the Middle East, GM moved very quickly to support them. Naturally, we are very pleased to be part of such an historic and important project."

GM Considering to Export Chevrolet Models to South Korea

General Motor’s Asia Pacific executive director James Reymond told reporters in Seoul today that the American carmaker may add the Chevrolet brand in its South Korean portfolio. “Sales of imported vehicles are gradually growing, so it's natural for us to see an opportunity to increase our sales here,'' said Reymond.

In South Korea and apart from its domestic Daewoo brand, GM currently sells Cadillacs and Saabs. The reason why GM is thinking of adding mid-size Chevy’s in its range, is because sales of imported cars surged at seven times the pace of the overall market last year. Plus, there’s a huge growth potential as Hyundai and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp still hold an amazing 75% of the total South Korean car market.

Via: Bloomberg

GM Introduces New 1.4-liter Turbo With 120-140Hp and 1.6-liter Turbo CNG With 150Hp

General Motors has developed two brand-new engines for vehicles marketed in Europe and other regions, a 1.4-liter Turbo gasoline unit and a 1.6-liter Turbo natural gas unit. Starting off with the new 1.4-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, it will be offered in vehicles worldwide starting in 2010 with outputs ranging from 120 hp to 140 hp and torque values of 175 to 200 Nm.

It is estimated that this unit will deliver an approximate 8% improvement in fuel consumption compared to a higher displacement naturally aspirated engine with similar output and will be EURO 5 compliant. The 1.4 Turbo variants will be manufactured at the GM Powertrain assembly facility in Aspern, Austria.

The 1.6-liter Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that generates an estimated output of 150 hp and 210 Nm of torque will be introduced in the Opel Zafira minivan in 2009. The 1.6-liter CNG Turbo features a 25% lower CO2 value than a comparable gasoline engine and it will be produced in the GM Powertrain assembly facility in Szentgotthard, Hungary.

GM May Adopt Car-Like Construction For Its Future Large SUVs

The days of GM’s pick-up frame based large SUVs may soon be over as the American carmaker is considering a shift in 2012 to a car-like construction for the successors to the Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade and other large SUVs according to a report from Bloomberg citing sources familiar with the effort.

The reason is none other than the rising fuel prices which have resulted to a decline in light truck and pickup sales. GM recently announced that it will cut one shift each at three truck plants and one making SUVs starting in July because of this.

While a shift to a unibody construction for large SUVs will not only add to the cost but it will also alienate customers in search of a frame-built model because of their towing abilities, on the other hand, these types of SUVs are lighter which means reduced emissions and better fuel economy. -Continued

“It's a sea change in the type of vehicle that Americans are going to be driving,”' said Rebecca Lindland, an analyst at consulting firm Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. “This is a big thing. For a long time, GM has been able to rely mostly on profits from trucks. That's changing.''

Via: Bloomberg

GM Slashes Pickup & SUV Production by 138,000 Units

In what is deemed as one of the biggest one-time production cuts in the past few years, GM announced that it is eliminating one shift at its full-size pickup truck assembly plants in Pontiac, Michicgan; Flint, Michigan; and Oshawa, Ontario; and its full-size SUV assembly plant in Janesville, Wisconsin.

What this means is that GM will produce 88,000 full-size pickups and 50,000 full-size SUVs less than it planned this year. This also means that the General will proceed to layoffs, and even though the American carmaker is still working on the details, it is speculated that approximately 3,500 workers would be laid off.

GM says that this move was necessary in order to bring production in line with market demand as the full-size pickup truck and full-size SUV segments were down (for the whole industry) by 15 and 26 percent, respectively, through the first quarter of 2008. -Continued

“With rising fuel prices, a softening economy, and a downward trend on current and future market demand for full-size trucks, a significant adjustment was needed to align our production with market realities,” said Troy Clarke, president GM North America. “This is a difficult move, but we remain committed to retaining and growing our leadership position in the full-size truck market.”

Clarke noted that with the market shifting toward cars and crossovers, GM is seeing strong sales of the new Chevrolet Malibu, Cadillac CTS, Chevrolet Cobalt, Pontiac G6, Chevrolet Impala, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia. He added that the company is continuing to explore options to increase car and crossover production, but there are no changes to car production at this time.