GM adding third shifts at three factories
Automaker expects increased demand; 2,400 workers will be recalled
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 DETROIT - General Motors Co. will go to
24-hour operations at factories in Kansas, Michigan and Indiana to
handle an expected increase in demand and to make up for production
lost from a large-scale factory consolidation announced earlier in the
year. The
automaker says it will add a third shift at its Fairfax plant in Kansas
City, Kan., in January. That will be followed in March or April by
third shifts at factories in Delta Township, Mich., near Lansing, and
Fort Wayne, Ind.
About
2,400 production workers will be recalled as a result of the added
shifts, and another 600 will be recalled at parts factories across the
country, said Tim Lee, group vice president for global manufacturing.
The increases announced Tuesday, coupled with
other production increases announced during the summer, will allow GM
to raise North American production from about 1.9 million vehicles this
year to 2.8 million in 2010, Lee said. The
increase also is necessary because of an expected sales increase next
year and because GM's inventory of cars and trucks was at a record-low
level of 378,000 at the end of August, said Mark LaNeve, vice president
of U.S. sales.
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'Clunkers' program even helped sell Hummers
|  WASHINGTON - Pickup trucks and sport utility
vehicles were big sellers under the Cash for Clunkers program despite
the federal government's focus on replacing gas guzzlers with more
fuel-efficient cars.Data
released late last week by the Department of Transportation shows that
tens of thousands of trucks, minivans and SUVs with relatively low gas
mileage were among the nearly 700,000 vehicles sold under the program
in late July and August. It even included a handful of Hummers, a
hulking vehicle not usually associated with fuel economy.
A
major goal of Cash for Clunkers was to remove older and polluting
vehicles from the road. In order to cash in on rebates of $3,500 to
$4,500, car buyers had to buy new vehicles with better gas mileage than
their trade-ins that were scrapped by dealers. For passenger cars, that
difference had to be at least 4 mpg. But for buyers of SUVs, pickups
and minivans, that difference had to be only 2 mpg.
That meant buyers trading in vehicles that dated back to the mid-1980s, well before manufacturers put a priority on fuel economy, could qualify for the credits while buying trucks and SUVs that get less than 20 mpg.The
data was the first account of all the new cars sold through the program
- prior to last week, the government had only released a list of top-10
sellers, which was loaded with smaller vehicles with higher gas mileage
like the Toyota Corolla and the Ford Focus.
The
Corolla was the top-selling new vehicle, with 29,488 vehicles sold. It
was followed by the Honda Civic with 28,456, the Toyota Camry with
27,137 and the Ford Focus with 22,388.
But
some crossovers and pickups were also among the best-selling vehicles
in the program when different versions of the vehicle were accounted
for. The government's analysis had considered two-wheel and four-wheel
versions of a car or truck to be a different vehicle.
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Chrysler to resume leasing after 1-year break
Shoppers shouldn't expect incentive-laden deals of years past
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 DETROIT - Chrysler Group LLC is getting back
into the leasing business in an effort to boost sales, but don't expect
a return to the inexpensive lease deals of the past. The automaker announced in a statement Wednesday that it will resume leasing for all 2010 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep models starting Thursday, and it will offer some special deals on selected vehicles through Sept. 30.
Chrysler
brand CEO Peter Fong said in the statement that leases will give more
options to consumers and will be competitive with the U.S. auto market. The leases will be underwritten by Chrysler's new preferred lender, GMAC Financial Services.
But the market isn't as competitive as it once
was. As recently as last summer, automakers were using cheap lease
deals to clear dealer lots of unwanted cars and trucks. But now most
automakers have cut factory production to match lower sales, and most
have record low inventories. "We
are going to be competitive in the marketplace," said Chrysler
spokeswoman Kathy Graham. "But it is today's marketplace we will be
competitive in."
Chrysler
Financial, the automaker's old preferred lender, got out of leasing in
August of last year when the financial markets collapsed and values
plunged for vehicles coming off leases. GMAC was later named by the
U.S. government as the lender for both Chrysler and General Motors.
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The mood at Frankfurt Auto Show is electric
Most automakers have prototypes, but charging, range issues persist
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 FRANKFURT - The race is on among the world's
auto companies to make electric cars go farther on a single charge,
bring the price down to compete with gas-powered vehicles, and give
drivers more places to recharge them than just the family garage.Electric
is the big buzz at the 63rd Frankfurt Auto Show this week, and nearly
every major automaker has at least one on display. Renault introduced
no fewer than four electric models, while Tesla, the only company
producing and selling purely electric cars, handed over the keys to its
700th all-electric vehicle, a blue Roadster Sport, to a German buyer at
the show.
If the
models unveiled Tuesday are any indication, the notion of electric cars
as small, stunted boxes with little range is about to be junked.
"People have realized that ... electric vehicles
don't have to be golf carts," said Diarmuid O'Connell, vice president
of business development for Tesla Motors Inc. "They don't have to be
anemic little putt-putts."The
company's sleek, two-seat Roadster sells for $101,500 in the U.S. and
has a range of 244 miles on one charge. Its planned Model S, which will
seat seven and has a 300-mile range, will go for $49,900.
Others automakers, including BMW, General Motors and Daimler, are also developing electric-powered vehicles, including hybrid cars
that boast a small gas or diesel engine backed up with an electrical
motor, and say the prices will drop as bulky batteries become smaller,
faster to charge and easier to replace.
Daimler said it will put its first electricity generating fuel-cell
car on the road by the end of this year, the B-Class F-Cell. It will
also develop a high-performance electric sports car, its Mercedes-Benz
SLS AMG.
Volkswagen
AG will put its new E-Up! electric compact into production in 2013. VW
did not disclose how much it will cost or when it might be available in
the U.S. It said the battery will give drivers a range of around 80
miles, or about 130 kilometers.
Analysts
expect global production of purely electric cars to expand rapidly in
the coming years. IHS Global Insight forecast that it will grow from
nearly 9,500 this year to more than 58,000 in 2011.
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Some dealers suffer post-'Clunkers' hangover
Few buyers on lots as dealers await inventory, payment from government
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 YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, Mich. - As Gene Butman Ford
opened its doors Saturday, salesmen outnumbered the shoppers looking at
a depleted stock of cars and trucks, and it didn't appear that many
customers were ready to buy.Like
many dealers across the countr y, the dealership in Ypsilanti Township,
Mich., west of Detroit, is suffering from a Cash for Clunkers hangover,
and Sales Manager Paul Grahl isn't sure when it will end.
"We're
getting some traffic, but my business is a long way from healthy," said
the longtime salesman. "We suspect it's going to be 90 days before we
get back to any kind of normalcy."
The clunkers program lured hundreds of
thousands of people to dealers in July and August with government
rebates of up to $4,500 to trade in older, inefficient vehicles for
newer, more fuel-efficient ones.While
most dealers are grateful for the boost, they're paying for it now with
fewer customers. The government rebates drew people into the market who
otherwise would have kept driving their clunkers due to uncertainty
over the sputtering economy. Those customers might have made their
purchases later in the year.
"It
was good while it lasted," said Phil Warren, sales manager at Toyota
Direct in Columbus, Ohio. "Now we're a little bit concerned about what
happens next. The program may have just taken a lot of people out of
the market."
Making
matters worse, many dealers depleted their stocks with clunker sales,
and automakers have been slow to ramp up production to replenish the
lots. Grahl says Ford has built the cars he ordered but mysteriously
hasn't shipped them. So the selection isn't very good for people who do
want to buy.
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GM to offer money back for up to 60 days
Automaker makes guarantee as part of 'May the best car win' promotion
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 DETROIT - Looking to regain consumers' trust,
General Motors Co. said Thursday new car buyers will be able to return
their vehicles within two months of purchase for a full refund, part of
a long-awaited new marketing campaign for the biggest American
automaker. The
effort is part of a major marketing campaign that will break next week
seeking to make connections again with American consumers who may be
leery of the company since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection earlier this year.
There
is a "monumental chasm" between the public's perception of GM's
vehicles and the autos in its current line-up, said GM Vice Chairman
Bob Lutz, who delayed retirement to head GM's marketing efforts.
The company stands behind its cars now and can
offer full money-back guarantees, he told reporters on a conference
call Thursday. As recently as three years ago, GM would have been faced
with a huge risk if it made such an offer, but the company's current
lineup is strong and can take on any competitors, especially
foreign-made cars, he said. "We
 really are in a position today where we can look anybody in the eye and
say 'we are as good as or better than everybody else,'" Lutz said.
The
program is part of a sweeping, new marketing campaign, called "May the
Best Car Win," that pits the company's four remaining brands -
Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC - directly against competitors.
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I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is - try to please everybody.
- Herbert Bayard Swope
Sincerely,
Frank Kimbrough
Franks Automobile Shipping & Transport
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