From the monthly archives: February 2012
General Motors are heavily invested in electric vehicle technologies and this includes investing in small companies which deal with the technology. Unfortunately, One of those companies named Bright Automotive has folded. General Motors has invested a tremendous $5 million into the company.
The reason behind the closure of the company was said to be the failure to receive a federal loan from the American Government. The company’s office was based in Rochester Hills in former Chrysler premises.
The loss of plenty of direct and in direct job
Bright Automotive had 60 employees who have all lost their jobs. They were based in the regions of Michigan and Indiana. The employees included former workers of Ford, Chrysler and General Motors themselves. Future jobs set up by the company have also been cancelled which means thousands of workers will lose jobs indirectly. Bright Automotive had also signed an agreement with AM General which would have promises a total of 400 union workers being hired.
Closure of company confirmed through letter.Reuben Munger confirmed the company’s closure through a letter written to Mike Donoughe.
This makes Bright Automotive the second car company to shut down due to waiting for a loan. Aptera Motors also shut down as they were waiting for a loan from the Government. The company closed in December and were based in California.
Chrysler loan cancelled
Chrysler cancelled their application for a $3.5 billion loan after the Energy Department intervened adding regulations will prove to be more difficult for Chrysler to handle.
Severstal OAO loan rejected
Steel maker Severstal OAO was recently rejected a loan by the Energy Department. The amount was $730 million and would have brought about 675 jobs in the America and created more than 2,700 in direct jobs. The attempts at getting a loan were going on for a number of years and came as major disappointment when it was rejected. Severstal OAO would have produced work in association with lightweight road coupled plug in commercial work truck.
A deal doomed from the start
The deal between General Motors and Bright Automotive was established in August 2010. General Motors injected $5 million in cash. The deal was established in association with General Motors Ventures LLC, a $100 million start-up company.
The Energy Department have not yet officially commented on the closure of Bright Automotive as of yet.
Chevrolet have restarted production of the Volt at their Detroit factory. Previously there was no restart date for production as General Motors had not revealed the news. Production has been commencing since February 6th.
They are also resuming the process of exporting models of low carbon emissions to the state of California. Their presence will be seen at over 140 dealerships in the state before March General Motors have confirmed.
Production stopped for the holiday period
The halt in production was nothing to do with the complaints from the NHTSA involving the battery potentially provoke a fire. Production was stopped to accommodate the holiday period back in December. It has taken a fair while for production to resume many believe.
California tailored
The low emission Volt’s are sure to be a great hit within California. The state is known for it’s tremendous amount of carbon emissions and huge congestion within the city. Economical vehicles are just what California could be doing with at the moment. The car is so economical that the state itself will provide financial incentives to purchase one.
The Chevrolet Volt has an electric range of 35 miles, meaning for that distance the car does not emit any emissions. The car’s total driving range is 379 miles. With California tailored models, they are sure to prove to be a success within the state.
Changes still need to be made
Last year General Motors saw sales of the Volt standing at below 7,700. This was a fair deal below the hoped target of 10,000. The investigation into the safety hazards of potential fires as mentioned earlier were one of the main reasons for sales falling behind. In the end there was no recall of vehicles and the investigation was closed. General Motors did promise to make some changes however.
There are now some steel reinforcements added to the battery pack along with new sensors being developed. General Motors have not yet decided upon a date for recalls for these specific areas to be fixed.
Projections held back
Previously there was a target of 45,000 for the whole of this year. General Motors have subsequently turned their back on this projection claiming that there will not be enough demand. They had done the same last year with anticipations of Opel breaking even. Great losses contributed towards General Motors deciding on reversing their forecast.
Chevrolet is offering new deals to entice customers. After the company’s UK division announced some very ambitious targets for the UK this year, some of which were deemed unrealistic, this particular report has been coming.
There will be savings across the full range, including the Spark, Aveo, Cruze, Hatchback, Orlando and the Captiva. Chevrolet are certainly doing all they can to hit that sales target.
Savings on the Chevrolet Aveo
The Chevrolet Aveo, expected to be one of the most cars in the range, will cost just £8,995 for the Chevrolet Aveo 1.2 litre LS. That represents a saving of £1,000. This is a brand new addition to the UK market. The car’s handling will be superb; there is cruise control, air conditioning and plenty more all installed within as standard.
Savings on the Chevrolet Spark City Car
The Chevrolet Spark city car will contain a 1.0 litre engine. It is a very attractive proposition with the makings of a great vehicle. Its starting cost will be from £6,975. That represents a reduction of £1,500. That represents great value for money with the car’s equipment including an MP3 player, electric front windows, a CD player and six airbags throughout the car.
Savings on the Chevrolet Cruze
The Chevrolet Cruze 1.6 litre LS 5 door hatchback will start from £11,995. That price represents £2,000 in savings. The standard features within this car include air conditioning and electronic stability control (otherwise known as ESC) to keep everyone within the car as safe as possible during those sticky situations.
Savings on the Chevrolet Orlando
The Chevrolet Orlando is a seven seater family vehicle available for just £13,995 for the 1.8 LS model. This equates to savings of a staggering £2,500. The car is well worth the price tag and extremely competitive when comparing prices with rivals. The Orlando will come with features such as air conditioning and electronic stability control. Being designed for the modern day family, the Orlando will come with extra features within designed around that. This includes a folding down mirror which the driver can use to keep an eye on the children in the back.
Savings on the Chevrolet Captiva SUV
The Chevrolet Captiva SUV vehicle represents the biggest savings of them all, with the Captiva 2.2 LS costing just £17,995. This equates to savings of £4,000. It is a standout vehicle that will be well worth the money in our opinion.
Chevrolet’s profile was not so big here in the UK. More motorists are set to take notice now.
General Motors have named Jon Lauckner has their new Chief technology officer. The highly respected job will coincide with his current position as the President of General Motors Ventures.
He will be wholly responsible for discovering new car technologies being the head of the companies Research and Development. He replaces Tom Stephens who has announced that he be retiring from duty in April and Alan Taub, who is responsible for Research and Development current. Again Mr Taub has announced his retirement.
Investing in start up’s who develop new automotive technology
Mr Lauckner will report to the General Motors Vice Chairman like normal, Stephen Girsky who has been in his role since 2010. His job role doesn’t stop there. He will also be appointed a member of the global product development staff. Mr Lauckner will take on the task of investing in small or start up companies who develop automotive technology.
A brilliant choice for the job
Mr Girsky was full of praise of Mr Laucker and was clearly looking forward to his appointment. He said “Jon’s vast knowledge and experience in product development and engineering, combined with his ability to identify new and innovative external technology partners, make him a perfect fit for this critically important role.”
The charitable work of General Motors
The General Motors CEO, Dan Akerson along with his wife have generously donated $1 million to the Habitat for Humanity Detroit initiative named the Leaders to re-build Detroit. Mr Akerson is closely connected to the city of Detroit as he lives here as well as in Washington.
The news was confirmed by General Motors spokesman Greg Martin.”Dan has a long track record of supporting strong communities both in the greater Washington, D.C. area and certainly now that he has moved to Detroit. This is just one more example of Dan rolling up his sleeves and getting actively involved in the communities where he lives and works.”
Other charitable events
This is not the first time that Mr Akerson and Mr Martin have been involved in such events to help the city of Detroit. Both were involved in the Karmanos Cancer Institute as well as the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.
General Motors as a company have also been in involved in charitable projects. These include a $27.1 million investment to help graduation rates at various Michigan secondary schools.
General Motors and Peugeot Citroen may join forces it has been reported across the automotive industry.
Aiding a poor European performance
General Motors are attempting to turn around their extremely poor performances in Europe. Last year most of their record profit and sales came from the United States. Imagine if they had actually performed well with Vauxhall and Opel in Europe, they would certainly be way ahead of the competition. Both made a loss last year for General Motors. Although the loss was a lot less than the loss made in 2010, break even projections were forced to be withdrawn leaving the company red faced. Many experts believe that there could be an alliance between the two major automotive company’s following a disastrous European performance.
Production costs lowered
General Motors want to lower the costs of production. Peugeot and Citroen could be just the company to help that happen. The current talks discuss the possibility of vehicle and parts sharing, which would greatly save costs.
Shares increased
The actual talks have not officially confirmed however but Peugeot have said that talks are currently underway with an unnamed company. Shares have soared since La Tribune reported that unnamed partner to be General Motors. Shares increased by 9.5 % at one point earlier this week.
Previously failed talks
Peugeot are said to be taking progressions with great caution. They will be mindful of previous talks with Mitsubishi when talks failed back in 2010 following advanced discussions.
Help with overseas operations?
Peugeot themselves are not performing greatly at present. Like Opel, they also face a reconstruction process whereby losses need to be made up for. They are specialised to sales across Europe and lack a decent export market, just like Opel. It is for this reason that many believe that the companies cannot help each other as they are in the same boat in terms of European performance.
Many believe that there is a lot more to this story. Some believe that it is not only European operations that are set to benefit. Plenty of overseas matter will be attended too. That would make complete sense as both companies could use an export market to avoid being stuck in the European market.
Peugeot could use General Motors’ expertise to improve their performance in Latin America where the company is greatly losing money.
Either way, Peugeot will be adamant that any sort of deal will allow the French company to remain independent.
General Motors recorded their highest profit level ever in 2011. The company managed to record a $7.6 billion figure in profit, with $7.2 billion of that coming from the United States. Yearly revenue was increased by 11%. This equated to earnings of $150.3 billion turnover. Earnings before interest and tax was $8.3 billion which is up from the to $7 billion figure in 2010.
Beaten the previous record back in 1997
Compared to 2010, the difference in profit was $2.4 billion. The previous record of annual profit for the company was $6.7 billion which was achieved back in 1997.
European operations underperforming
General Motors European operations lost $747 million. This was a great improvement by $1.3 billion but it is the 12th consecutive loss for the company within the region. General Motors are considering completely dropping the Opel brand altogether. The European market for General Motors is currently struggling to match massive capacity figures with non demand. Some believe that it was a mistake not to sell off the Opel brand back in 2009.
Dan Ammann – “A lot of work still to do”
Dan Ammann is clearly aware of the problems that General Motors are facing and is not getting carried away with the tremendous amount of profit that the company has recently made. He said “We grew share around the world. Clearly, we have work to do in Europe and South America.”
Profit sharing
Lucky workers within the country will receive $7,000 each based on shared profits. This is the highest figure of profit sharing since 1983 when the method originally started.
The amount stated is greater than what Ford are offering. Their $6.2 billion profits last year in North America equated to them sharing profits of $6,200 with each employee. Chrysler are paying out their staff $1,500 after making $1.97 billion profit, 85 per cent of which came from North America. There have only been two occasions when Ford and Chrysler have both been beaten on profit sharing payouts. Last year saw the record broken again but at only $4,000. Most years the profit sharing was only $1,000.
Senior salary paid workers will receive a 401k type pension. Some of the 26,000 will receive higher bonuses.
Ford has announced that their employees will receive bonuses and merit raises. This is the first time since 2008 that this has occurred.
Can General Motors improve their European operations and record even higher profits?
General Motors are planning a turnaround on the company’s failing European brand Opel and Vauxhall. Despite posting a profit for 2011 of $9.19 billion, performances in Europe have not fared well at all.
Dan Akerson has recently that demand is simply not keeping up with the amount of cars being produced. Therefore cuts somewhere will have to be made.
Tremendous losses
General Motor’s European operations lost a staggering $747 million in 2011 before taxes and any interest. An original break even figure was hoped for before original forecasts were withdrawn. Although the loss was an improvement with the $1.95 billion back in 2010, it still makes for very poor reading. General Motors lost $562 million in the fourth quarter of last year. There was hardly any difference in that statistic when compared to 2010 when $568 million was lost.
Best profits in 103 years
General Motors have made a full recovery from their bankruptcy and are once again the world’s number one car producer overtaking Toyota. They have now made more profits than at any time during the company’s 103 year history. Sales were largely down to a great performance in the company’s homeland of North America. Mr Akerson is hoping that this turnaround will brush off within European operations.
Failure to cope
Vauxhall and Opel continue to lose out in Europe to rivals such as Volkswagen, who are Europe’s largest car manufacturer and Hyundai Motors. Both companies clearly need rescuing. When Europe’s financial state weakened, Vauxhall and Opel failed to cope with the pressure according to some experts.
Reduction in shifts
Shifts are currently under scrutiny to be cut down from three to two in Opel factories. This will help the reduction of costs and help the company to break even. The talks will apparently take a couple of months according to the Chief Executive Officer of Opel, Karl Friedrich Stracke.
There has not been an annual profit for more than 10 years for General Motors. Closure of Opel has crossed the minds of the top executives.
Export market needed
Part of the problem is that Vauxhall and Opel are able to produce a staggering amount of cars but all of which are destined for European markets. The export market beyond Europe for both brands are currently almost nonexistent.
Importing vehicles to Europe from other parts of the world has also been considered. Material and product costs need to be heavily reduced.
Are Opel and Vauxhall able to survive? This year is expected to another poor year.
Vauxhall owners, General Motor’s owners are suffering great losses in the European region. This could lead to the closure of the Vauxhall Ellesmere Port Factory.
There is a stark contrast between the Jaguar Land Rover plant based in Halewood, with both companies recording a difference of a staggering £1 billion. Jaguar managed to register profits of £559 million in the last three months of last year. Opel and Vauxhall combined recorded a poor £355 million loss. It is now no wonder that General Motors are considering closing the famous Ellesmere Port factory down. Opel’s Bochum plant may also close in 2014.
The Range Rover Evoque
The Range Rover Evoque has a lot to do with Jaguar Land Rover’s recent success. The car, produced in the companies Halewood factory reached record sales figures last year.
Dan Ammann, the General Motors Chief financial officer has described the losses as completely unacceptable.
A great factory for the UK automotive industry
To lose such an effective and productive car factory would come as a great shame to the UK automotive industry. Since the automotive recession, it has been one of the main leaders for car production. If Vauxhall are making such great losses, it would appear that none of that matters.
Poor results over the European market
The current Euro Zone crisis is clearly having a major effect on the European car market. The overall car industry has recently reported poor sales results.
In January of this year car sales were down by 7.1 %. Sales in Portugal fell by 47.4 %, sales in France were down by 20.7 %, sales in Italy were down by 16.9 % and sales in Greece were down by 13.3 %. Everything is expected to get worse before it can get better.
With Opel and Vauxhall having dedicated sales mainly with the European region, it is difficult for the both companies to reach positive sales. Losses have been occurring within the Europe for more than a decade.
The UK British Government has expressed their dismay. Closure of the Vauxhall Ellesmere Port factory will mean a loss of 2,100 staff. The UK automotive industry could lose 187,000 vehicles in production. Opel’s Bochum site in Germany may lose a total of 160,000 vehicles and 3,100 staff.
It seems as if General Motors may give in to calls to end the Opel and Vauxhall brand as they continue to make tremendous losses.
Today we take a look at the Vauxhall Astra CC. The convertible looks splendid and offers some of the practicality that comes with the normal version.
Today we review the car and discuss it’s strongest features.
Looks
Compared to the last Vauxhall Astra convertible, the car looks highly updated and appears to be a lot more stylish. When the 17 inch alloys option is selected, there is certainly a more appealing look to the Astra CC.
Practicality
The room at the back is adequate enough for two passengers but they need to reposition themselves over long journeys. When the roof is off there is 440 litres of space within, which effectively gives the boot a respectable 205 litres of room. The roof is easily lowered through a touch of a button is only 26 seconds. Considering that the car is a Vauxhall Astra it is quite safe to assume that the car would come with a decent amount of practicality.
Performance
There are four in total engine choices to select from. They consist of a 2.0 litre turbo, a 1.8 litre petrol and a 1.9 CDTi diesel.
The 1.8 litre petrol is able to hit 0 – 60 MPH in just 10.7 seconds reaching a top speed of 130 MPH. The sports mode button adds more thrill and offers a more engaging drive.
Running costs
The car is able to average around 36.7 MPH when driving the 1.8 petrol which is a very respectable figure indeed. The CDTi diesel variant achieves a tremendous 46.3 MPG with the 2.0 litre petrol achieving 29.7 MPG.
Safety
The car has plenty of safety features. These include front as well as side airbags. The windscreen is well protected with surrounding material an itself being quite resilient and strong. Stability control is just an optional feature on the car but is one worth having.
Equipment
The Astra CC comes with an electric folding roof as standard on all models. Air conditioning and a CD player is also included.
The models above the 1.6 petrol offer remote audio controls, automatic lights and wipers and those stylish 17 inch alloy wheels.
Conclusion
Owning the Vauxhall Astra CC is like having the typical sporty convertible but without all of the hassle of high fuel and insurance costs. It is a great car to go for in our opinion. It’s safe and practical too, options you don’t usually hear of in a convertible.
The new Vauxhall Astra VXR due out this year will have brand new lightweight seats. We take a look at why the seats represent a significant change in the car and the exact benefits in which they are able to offer all new customers.
Suited for fast cars
The seating position is lower with a stronger grip on the body too. When travelling at high speeds, the driver and front passenger will be synced in with the speed. The fact that they are being made lighter will enhance the performance of the car, making it quicker off the mark. The seats are placed a staggering 17 mm lower than the Astra GTC and 40 mm lower than the Vauxhall Astra Hatch. The lower the better in terms of sporty cars.
Number of seating positions
They not only look good, but they are exceptionally comfortable too. Versatility is also an important factor which Vauxhall are taking seriously. There are said to be up to 18 different adjustments for the new seats helping the driver to find the most comfortable position possible. The only thing missing is a back massager and a heat setting.
Technology
Developments of new ground breaking technology made it all possible, with other car manufactures sure to follow suit in the future. The seats weight is reduced by 45 %. They are made through injection moulded sheet in seat shells which help to dramatically reduce the weight. The actual sheet is made from polyamide and fibreglass. This enables the material to be just two or three millimetres deep thanks to it’s strength and agility.
The new Vauxhall VXR will be the most powerful yet. Fans will get to preview the car at the Geneva Motor Show scheduled for March.
Seat adjustments
- Entire seat backwards and forwards x 2
- Entire seat upwards and downwards x 2
- Seat backrest forwards and backwards x 2
- Seat cushion angle adjustment x 2
- Seat cushion length adjustment x 2
- Four-way lumbar support adjustment x 4
- Adjustable side bolster support in back x 2
- Adjustable side bolster support in seat cushion x 2
They are the first ever car seats to be certified by independent back experts. An organisation named Action for Healthy (ASR) approved the seats. They managed to meet the strenuous criteria which the German company set out, including checks for spine support.
