Factory for Chevy Volt engine on hold
Cash-strapped auto giant General Motors has put plans on hold for a new factory to build the Chevy Volt engine, according to a report.
The Flint Journal of Flint, Mich., reported on Wednesday that the move is part of GM's efforts to reduce expenses as it appeals to the White House for federal aid.
General Motors' Chevy Volt. GM decided to delay plans for a new factory to build the engine.
(Credit: GM)"Given the situation that GM is in right now, all expenditures, anything that involves capital, is under review," GM spokeswoman Sharon Basel told the newspaper. "And such as the case with the Flint engine plant."
Basel added that GM still plans to start production of the Volt, a gas-electric car, in November of 2010. GM calls it a range-extended electric vehicle because it runs on batteries. The engine acts as a generator to recharge the batteries for rides beyond 40 miles.
Three months ago, GM announced that it would construct a new plant to manufacture the engine for use in the Volt and the Chevrolet Cruz, another highly touted fuel-efficient car.
The engine could still be manufactured at another plant in Flint, the city's mayor told the Flint Journal.
Separately, Chrysler said on Wednesday that it will close down production for a month in a bid to lower its expenses, according to reports.
Both Chrysler and GM--which are said to have explored a merger--are suffering from a sharp drop in sales in the past few months. They are seeking to reduce their costs and secure "bridge loans" from the U.S. government.
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin. 
We want the Volt because it is economic to drive, AND it is environmentally friendly. Get a clue GM.
This appears to be a sound decision to use existing facilities first, the expand as necessary.
So if GM declares bankruptcy and goes out of business because of the inaction of the Republicans, are you going to say they went out of business because they were "back-peddling on the Volt"? Sure, they will eliminate millions of jobs, cause major distress for current owners of their vehicles, and put the economy into a depression just to spite you.
Good lord are you a clown.
To your point, GM is not back-pedaling, but delaying construction of a factory design to create the volt's engine is not a good sign. It could delay the launch of Volt, which would be quite painful for all who want a car like a Volt. I would love to have a Volt as many would. If I have the money when it comes out I will get one. It could limit the number Volts made avialiable for sale. Just as painful, because many will have to wait.
GM is sadly sending a message that cars like the Volt are "secondary" in priority to their current production of the same old cars that got them in the boat they are in.
And secondly, they are simply trying to manipulate Congress with this move.
If GM goes bankrupt - you would blame Congress over GM's long, storied, and well-documented history of failing to be competitive? That's spoken like a true (and sadly typical - perhaps GM's only advantage) GM owner who hasn't comparison shopped since his Dad or big Bro voiced his loyalty to the brand....
No WONDER.
Delaying construction on the factory that might just help to save the company while still producing money-losing models makes no sense at all. I think this is just grandstanding but I think - hope - it will backfire.
If I were in congress, I'd consider this move to be very much like GM's renigging on everything that Saturn represented (which is now, very sadly, just another GM brand).
The message GM is sending to Congress is doubly damning:
1) Hey, Congress... here's proof that we'll never really reform. This project is "unnecessary spending".
2) Hey, Congress... if you don't give us what we want, we'll try to manipulate you into it.
Shame on GM.
In other words, they both don't need, and don't deserve the money.
Liquidate the executive team's assets and corporate-owned extraneous assets (like multi-million dollar private/corporate jets), and make a commitment to developing GM first.
If I was in Congress, I'd demand that first, and demand proof that GM is committed to Volt, that it isn't just a means of manipulating for a hand out.
The main reason GM is in trouble is because prior GM management (foolishly) agreed to pay all retirement benefits and health care costs for 700K retirees until they're all dead. Their retirees are bleeding them dry and adding $2K to the cost of each vehicle. With the exception of UAW job banks (people on stand-by getting payed for doing nothing), UAW wages are finally on-par with what Toyota/Honda pay. The current GM management team also bargained a solution to the retiree expense, but it doesn't activate until 2010. That's why GM needs loans (aka "bailout") to get them there.
It too bad people are so misinformed. If they actually knew the truth (and didn't keep spreading misinformation in blogs like this) GM would be in much better shape.
With GM (and the rest) cutting back on vehicle production big-time, the retiree overhead per vehicle also increases big-time. Probably more like $3K per vehicle very soon. Japan has no such overhead, thus they're making money.
The "bailouts" being discussed this week are separate from that. These are operational loans to get them through the economic/credit crisis until their cost reduction strategies with the UAW can finally kick in (see my other post on that above). Germany has already bailed out their auto industry. I expect Japan to bail out some of theirs too eventually.
I think it's time that companies that can actually build electric vehicles get financial aid to build them, not companies who have been proving for years they aren't able to handle the job getting all the funding. We're throwing good money after bad now.
GM's cars have improved over the years in terms of quality and safety but they are not "there" yet.
Do your research open-mind.
GM may have a comparable vehicle to every vehicle that Toyota/Honda sell but turn it around and show me an equivalent vehicle to monsters like the Cadillac Escalade - that's why GM is going down the tubes...no foresight.
That is, you agreed that GM has a match for each Toyotal (supposedly "what people want"), then you said that GM doesn't make what people want, apparently because they offer yet more choices. Huh? You feel extra customer choice is bad?
Anyway, you asked for an Escalade (eg Big SUV) equivalent from Toyota. That's easy. How about the Toyota Sequoia or Toyota Land Cruiser? Both get 13MPG city. The Escalade gets 12MPG city or 20 MPG city if you buy the Hybrid version. So about the same or better.
So I gotta ask ... did you honestly not know about the Toyota Sequoia and Land Cruiser? Do you have some reason to hate GM or Detroit? Do you work for Toyota? Your bias is obvious and leading you to ignore facts .... like actual vehicles and mileage ratings. And it's not just you .... I see this over and over and over and over again. I would really like to understand it. Thanks.
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-autos/idUSTRE4BG6L820081217
The other thing to consider is that electric cars do not reduce pollution, they just displace it from the road to the power plant. Higher fuel economy cars are the real answer to the problem. The challenge with that is that the EPA rules are not sensible, as they are based in parts per million of pollution, rather than pounds per mile.
Fix the pollution standards to be useful, and you will be able to remove the power robbing emission controls from the vehicles, making them more efficient, and in the end, having less pollution total.
Pontiac G5
Pontiac G6 (isn't it just the same as a G5?)
Buick LaCrosse
Buick Lucerne
Cadillac DTS
Chevy Tahoe
Chevy Suburban (bloated crap)
GMC Yukon (I mean c'mon, how many different SUVs do you need?)
Get rid of competiting GMC and Chevy trucks/pickups
Chevy HHR
Chevy Equinox
I'm sure if you got rid of only 2 or 3 of those vehicles, you could pour that money into the Volt production. GM will never learn what people really want. We keep screaming it to them, but they don't listen.
You and I maybe screaming but the beautiful people aren't really affected by high gas prices. And they're the ones that replace their vehicles every year so, who do you think Detroit is going to listen to?
Even ignoring the fact that your idea is impossible (because sufficient batteries don't yet exist) and impractical (because the batteries are still expensive adding about $10K to each vehicle) and risky (because we're entering a recession/depression), I'm curious...
Honda and Toyota have a comparable vehicle to nearly each one you mentioned. Should Honda/Toyota also get rid of all those "crap" vehicles that "nobody wants"?
If you're US citizen, then your attitude is foolish. That's because you're celebrating the demise of the last great US manufacturing base that is responsible for much of the wealth created in the US.
Fact is, Detroit is failing for the same reasons the entire US electronics industry failed several years ago. The US government is making Detroit fail by giving unions too much power (allowing them to buy political favors and bleed companies dry in the name of workers), giving tax advantages to foreign competitors (The US has some of the highest tax rates), and giving trade protection to Japan (Detroit is not allowed to sell or manufacture there, yet Japan is given huge incentives to manufacture here. In short, the deck is stacked against Detroit.
Of course, Japan would like you to believe the deck is not stacked, and they've done a good job at that. I submit the massive amounts of misinformation in this blog as proof. Japan would like you to believe that their cars today are better and their engineers are smarter. Not so. Japan is winning because their workers work harder (US citizens have become lazy, expecting everything for free), because they have a protective government (that protects their markets and companies), and because their consumers are more loyal (most only buy Japanese products in support of their home country).
They were talking about just how American American cars are on NPR (National Public Radio). Studies have been done that show at best American made cars from the bug three are less then 30% US. On the other side 70% of the forigne cars like Toyota and Honda are made here in the US. So A) What makes a US card and US card (It can't be how much of it is made here in the US because our big three loose that one) B) Why should we be proud that so little of the "US" cars are made here in the US?
Robert
What a loser! Think about what you say. And think about the history of Detroit!
Any really good Idea to come out of Detroit has been bought up, brought down,
or someone went to jail for fraud. Think about it! EV-1 come to mind????
Tucker should have given you a clue! The biggest was the oil embargo of the '70's.
Did Detroit learn. Evedently not!
Wake Up!
And EV1 story goes a little deeper than it was portrayed in "Who Killed The Electric Car". That documentary didn't mention that it was an $80K car, and few would have bought them at that price.
All three companies should go belly up. Maybe next time they will pull their heads out and run their business properly and develop cars and technology for the 21st century and not the 20th.
Robert
- by phil3569 December 19, 2008 7:29 AM PST
- Now that the "Administration" has given in to the short sighted ways of the big 3's money flushing management. Who at GM is going to step up to the plate and tell the UAW to step back and let the people that work hard everyday in this country, to let us open our garages on the production of the VOLT instead of falling behind to the foreign automakers again. I see these retired employees of the UAW as a threat to the money just approved. Not to mention the UAW to provide such unheard of benefits.
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- by open-mind December 19, 2008 8:37 AM PST
- Unfortunately, GM has no authority to tell the UAW anything. Michigan law and the US government (now controlled by democrats) are on the side of the UAW, giving them the advantage. Yet they blame GM for wasting money (probably true, but not the main problem) or making junk (no longer true, since their quality is now good) or making the wrong cars (not true, since they now match the Japanese). Oh well ... at least it's easy to tell when politicians are lying .... it's when their lips move. ;-)
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