General Motors
-
With confirmation Saturn is up for sale coming from General Motors earlier this month, a number of potential investors and buyers have come out of the woodwork recently and confirmed interest in the struggling brand. Two main groups include investment firm Telesto Ventures and Roger Penske’s dealer conglomerate Penske Automotive Group. Even Renault-Nissan and auto parts supplier Magna International has been rumored to be eyeing a possible Saturn purchase, and while the field of potential suitors is varied there remains one common factor. Any new owner of Saturn will need to source new...
-
Study: Toyota, Ford set to pass GM in market share, productionAs General Motors peers over the brink of the abyss into a future that very likely holds a bankruptcy, the hits just keep coming. Today industry forecasters revealed that Toyota will pass GM in U.S. market share by 2010 at current rates, while Ford will push past the General in North American...
Nelson Ireson -
Toyota doubts widespread acceptance of plug-in hybridsThe idea that plug-in hybrids aren't all they're cracked up to be isn't a new one. Carnegie Mellon University has even published a study that calls the technology inefficient and cost-prohibitive. Now it looks like Toyota may be in agreement, saying it doesn't expect more than 50,000 plug-in hybrid...
Nelson Ireson -
GM and UAW reach tentative dealThe U.S. Treasury, General Motors and the United Auto Workers have reached a tentative bargain on how they'll deal with changes to the current agreement in the face of the industry's problems and GM's increasingly probably bankruptcy. The details of the deal are being kept quiet until the local...
Ralph Hanson -
Cadillac boss Mark McNabb resignsLast April General Motors made some structural changes to its brand operations, consolidating a lot of redundant work into a single channel. As part of that change, Mark McNabb was appointed head of Cadillac, Hummer and Saab as chief of GM's premium division. Things have changed at GM since then...
Nelson Ireson -
Holden engineering lighter and more fuel-efficient RWD Zeta platformGeneral Motors’ RWD Zeta platform was pioneered in Australia for the locally built Holden Commodore sedan but right from the start Detroit had global intentions for the design. Today, Zeta running gear can be found in models sold in China, South Korea, the UK, and in North America, but GM has...
Jeremy Weber -
The symptoms of America's ailing carmakers don't recognize borders, and no nation is more keenly aware of that fact than Canada. That's doubly true after today's announcement of General Motors' planned closure of 42% of the company's Canadian dealerships. In all about 300 dealers will be shuttered. Like their far more numerous American counterparts, the axed Canadian dealers will have until the expiry of their franchise agreements in October 2010 to liquidate inventory and other holdings. The dealership cuts were explained as a necessary reduction, focused largely on over-saturated urban...
-
Report: GM planning ‘Bumblebee’ Camaro to coincide with Transformers 2 movie launchWith the sequel to last year’s Transformers hit – Revenge of the Fallen - set to open across cinemas in the U.S. on June 24, Chevrolet is reportedly planning to start production of a new special edition Camaro based on the ‘Bumblebee’ version that very same day. Expected to...
James Martinez -
Camaro too popular for GM's own good?There's no denying the new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro is an eye-catcher, and it has the performance to match it, with even the V6 variant checking in at over 300hp. But all that mean and too little green could be making it harder for General Motors, despite over 18,000 sales so far. GM's new de facto...
Ralph Hanson -
GM ties with Saab will remain in future modelsThe future of Saab is starting to look much brighter, thanks in part to important concessions from General Motors to help it build and design its own range of cars in the future, as well as a likely extension from Swedish courts for its restructuring deadline. For a while it looked as though Saab...
Alex Kaufmann -
Cadillac tops brand satisfaction survey for the second year runningIn today's competitive market building reliable cars that customers are satisfied with is the key to improving sales and maintaining market share. A number of companies conduct vehicle satisfaction surveys to offer consumers a comparison between brands and specific models, and one of the most...
Jeremy Weber -
Fiat not planning to close plants in Europe as result of Opel dealFiat and Magna are still working with the German government on the takeover of Opel from General Motors' European operations, but Fiat is already being forced to quell concerns that it might shut down European Fiat plants if it does acquire Opel. Today Italian Industry Minister Claudio Scajola made...
Kenneth Hall -
Just a few days ago we brought you a story about General Motors considering bringing small cars from China to the U.S. in order to bolster its sales in the segment. Currently, the carmaker is looking to sell around 17,300 Chinese-made vehicles in the U.S. by 2011 and over 50,000 units by 2014. Until now, however, it was uncertain just what type of vehicles the carmaker would be bringing to local showrooms. Speaking with the Detroit Free Press, a senior Global Insight market analyst in Shanghai predicted that GM would likely bring Chinese-built versions of the Chevrolet Spark and...
-
Report: Magna considers using Opel to build cars for other brandsBidding for General Motors’ Opel division has intensified recently, with the German government revealing late last week that only two parties remain in the bidding war – Fiat and Magna International (together with Russia’s GAZ Group). While it’s been speculated that Fiat is...
Jeremy Weber -
GM reveals more details on 1,124 dealer cutbackCutting back production and right-sizing brands and lineups is just one aspect of the restructuring underway at the hands of the U.S. federal government. Earlier this week hard cuts in both labor and dealership numbers were discussed, foreshadowing the next steps to come, and just yesterday a...
Ralph Hanson -
Chrysler reveals more details on plans to cut 789 dealers by June 9Cutting back production and right-sizing brands and lineups is just one aspect of the restructuring underway at the hands of the U.S. federal government. Earlier this week hard cuts in both labor and dealership numbers were discussed, foreshadowing the next steps to come, and today a Chrysler memo...
Ralph Hanson -
Honda could leapfrog Chrysler in North American production, salesWith almost all of its plants shuttered through the bankruptcy period and faith in the company at an all-time low, Chrysler is soon to be passed in both North American production and sales by Honda. The Japanese #2 carmaker has already cut the gap to Chrysler's production figures to 17,011 vehicles...
Ralph Hanson -
Russia’s GAZ emerges as potential bidder for OpelLess than 24 hours after GM CEO Fritz Henderson announced that a new buyer for Opel would be picked by the end of this month, Russia’s GAZ Group has confirmed that it would be interested in creating a joint venture with Magna International and Opel. Magna, as previously reported, is competing...
Jeremy Weber -
General Motors' OnStar in-car information service can already automatically slow down a stolen vehicle, as well as monitor traffic situations in real time. Now, GM has upgraded the functionality of OnStar to electronically transmit a vehicle’s precise longitude and latitude co-ordinates directly to 911 centers during emergency calls. The new automatic system means that emergency service response times will be quicker, and thanks to the electronic system the location will be precise. Prior to an electronic system, OnStar would need someone to relay location information to emergency...
-
GM looking to China to source next-gen affordable cars for U.S.Just a few days ago we told you General Motors would be looking to build more and more cars overseas as part of its restructuring plans, and that China was one of the first places they'd look. Today news that GM will in fact be bringing Chinese cars to the U.S. has begun to trickle out into the...
Ralph Hanson -
Preview: Opel Insignia 'GTC' CoupeWe’ve already seen Opel expand its Insignia lineup with the Hatchback and Sports Tourer, as well as the more recent OPC performance variant, but there’s one more model in the works that’s destined to be the most exciting and extreme. The model in question is a new coupe variant...
Ralph Hanson -
Chrysler resale values down 6% in a week as uncertainty rules the dayIt's simple math: carmaker plus bankruptcy equals uncertainty and lower resale values. But Chrysler owners are feeling the bite of that equation as the value of their vehicles dropped 6% on average in a single week. In the week after Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, owners of...
Ralph Hanson -
GM says Camaro is 'core model', Solstice, Sky may live onThough bankruptcy is looking more and more like the way General Motors will go, the company is fighting to preserve its most adored models - one way or another. In the case of the Camaro, the car will live on within GM as a 'core model' says CEO Fritz Henderson. The Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky...
Nelson Ireson -
As GM rebuilds itself, it will build more cars overseasIt's an old story, one that's been told with increasing regularity since the end of World War II. Jobs are moving overseas. Today, it's General Motors that will be shifting more of its production elsewhere as part of its restructuring plan. Lower wages, lower production costs, cheaper plant...
Ralph Hanson