GM to close 4 truck plants

jdoggivjc · 06-03-2008, 07:51 AM

IIRC there was a related off-topic thread last week - but I forget which...

LINK

GM to close 4 truck plants

Automaker plans to shut pickup and SUV plants by 2010, plans to build more fuel-efficient vehicles, and may dump the Hummer brand.

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June 3, 2008: 8:27 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- General Motors announced plans Tuesday to shut four pickup and SUV plants, saying high fuel prices have produced a rapid and permanent change in consumer preferences away from the truck models on which it has depended.
At a news conference in Wilmington, Del., GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner also unveiled plans to produce more fuel efficient vehicles
The plants to be closed include two U.S. facilities - Moraine, Ohio and Janesville, Wis., along with plants in Canada and Mexico. The plants will close in 2009 and 2010. Each plant has about 2,500 employees.
Wagoner also said GM is looking at possibly selling its Hummer brand, the large SUV based on military vehicles.
He also announced that GM has approved production of the Chevrolet Volt, a so-called plug-in hybrid vehicle that can run about 40 miles without any use of gasoline. That is due in showrooms by the end of 2010. .
The plans were announced ahead of GM's (GM, Fortune 500) annual meeting Tuesday. It follows similar plans unveiled last month by rival Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500), although Ford did not give details of plant closing plans.

mjones34 · 06-03-2008, 07:51 AM

Ha. when I first read this I thought Greg McDermott....

Wesley · 06-03-2008, 08:16 AM

http://www.moneynews.com/streettalk/.../29/99933.html

MoneyNews.com lead story yesterday shows there may be a silver lining to all those steel related import items:

High Oil Killing China Labor Advantage
What goes around, comes around. Chinese labor is cheap, but high oil — perversely, the direct result of quick Chinese growth — is now killing the Asian giant’s manufacturing cost advantage.
The cost of transporting heavy cargo over long distances will become so expensive it will completely erode China's low-wage economic advantage, says a key analyst. That could provide incentives to produce more goods at home.
"Exploding transport costs may soon remove the single most important brake on inflation over the last decade — wage arbitrage with China," CIBC World Markets Chief Economist Jeff Rubin told CNBC.
"The cost of moving goods, not the cost of tariffs, is the largest barrier to global trade today."
Indeed, oil price rises have already driven up shipping costs so much that Chinese imports are now high-cost and losing market share, a new CIBC research report shows.
The cost of shipping a 40-foot container from Shanghai to the U. S. eastern seaboard has quadrupled to $8,000 on high crude prices.
If oil reaches $200 a barrel it will double again, increasing the impact on entire global trade for goods that carry high freight costs.
"If that container is filled with diamonds, it doesn’t matter," Rubin says. "But for mass-manufactured products it means that a lot of those jobs may be coming home."
"This is going to cause a major re-think for people who have re-jigged their supply lines to China," Rubin says. "It’s going to turn global cost curves on their head."
Freight-sensitive Chinese exports to the U.S. now account for 42 percent of total exports, down from 52 percent in 2004.
Rubin estimates that were it not for the dramatic increase in transport costs, growth in Chinese exports to the U.S. since 2004 would have been 35 percent stronger than the actual tally.
As additional evidence, Rubin points out that Chinese steel exports to the U.S. dropped by 20 percent during the past year, and U.S. steel production increased 10 percent during the same period.
"That’s all about freight costs," Rubin says, adding that the more oil and transport costs rise for Chinese steel exporters, the more North American steel wage rates can grow.
"It’s great news for steelworkers, but not so great news if you’re the Federal Reserve Board," Rubin notes.
"But if you're a steel buyer, your costs are going up regardless of whether you're sourcing from China or Pittsburgh."
Even domestic transport costs are becoming a tough uphill battle — according to YRC Worldwide Chairman and CEO Bill Zollars.
About 70 percent of goods moved in the U.S. are moved by truck, and the 800,000 customers Zollars’ company serves include major players like Home Depot and Wal-Mart, which he says gives him a good overall view of the U.S. economy.
"It’s interesting that the biggest impact (Washington) thought it could have was yelling at the guys who are making money," Zollars told CNBC.
"I’d love to see Congress pick up the ball and start running with it."
"We’ve got to start drilling more, and we need more refineries and get serious about alternative fuels and conservation," Zollars says. "Our only saving grace now is a weak dollar holding up imports."

CyinCo · 06-03-2008, 08:21 AM

I see Winnebago is closing it's Charles City plant as well. Any large vehicles are going to take a big hit right now and in the forseeable future. Especially those considered recreational.

dmclone · 06-03-2008, 08:26 AM

Bye Bye Hummer.

Wesley · 06-03-2008, 08:27 AM

Originally Posted by CyinCo

I see Winnebago is closing it's Charles City plant as well. Any large vehicles are going to take a big hit right now and in the forseeable future. Especially those considered recreational.

Is Winnebago down to one plant then? I would not be surprised that recreatrional vehicles will significantly shrink forever. Buy your tailgate vehicle now at lower prices.

Maybe buses will get an hybrid engine at some point also with the high diesel prices.

Wesley · 06-03-2008, 08:29 AM

Hummer 2 is based on Tahoe frame. This wiull hurt Tahoe sales. Remmebert they have sold only about 1000 Tahoe hybrids at $53k.

dmclone · 06-03-2008, 08:43 AM

The big 3 are always so behind everyone else. When they were making all this money on SUV's they should have been working on some good small cars. For all that hard work they now have the following.

Chevy Aveo (See Yugo)
Ford Focus (Decent)
Dodge Neon (wasn't that good 13 years ago and hasn't changed much since.)

Way to go!!!!!!!!!!! All three struggle to get 30mpg.

dmclone · 06-03-2008, 08:54 AM

Cnn has this story on 16 good fuel saving used cars. One American car which is really a rebadged Toyota Corrola.
16 sweet used fuel sippers - 2000 Honda Insight (1) - CNNMoney.com

CyinCo · 06-03-2008, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by dmclone

The big 3 are always so behind everyone else. When they were making all this money on SUV's they should have been working on some good small cars. For all that hard work they now have the following.

Chevy Aveo (See Yugo)
Ford Focus (Decent)
Dodge Neon (wasn't that good 13 years ago and hasn't changed much since.)

Way to go!!!!!!!!!!! All three struggle to get 30mpg.

I believe the Neon is dead and has been phased out in favor of the Caliber. Not sure what kind of mpg the Caliber gets.

jdoggivjc · 06-03-2008, 08:59 AM

Originally Posted by dmclone

The big 3 are always so behind everyone else. When they were making all this money on SUV's they should have been working on some good small cars. For all that hard work they now have the following.

Chevy Aveo (See Yugo)
Ford Focus (Decent)
Dodge Neon (wasn't that good 13 years ago and hasn't changed much since.)

Way to go!!!!!!!!!!! All three struggle to get 30mpg.

First, are you talking compacts or subcompacts? If it's compacts, you should be discussing the Chevy Cobalt, not the Aveo.

Second, Dodge stopped making the Neon 4 years ago - their compact vehicle is now the Caliber.

Finally, considering a Honda Civic only does 25/36 (link) while a Chevy Cobalt is capable of doing 25/36 (link) and Ford Focus does 24/35 (link), your last statement is quite ridiculous as well. It's not that I'm so totally in love with the Big 3 - it's just come up with a valid argument instead of libelous, unresearched statements...

(your argument does hold for Caliber, however - it only does 24/29 (link))

mramseyISU · 06-03-2008, 09:03 AM

Can't say this was much of a surprise.

dmclone · 06-03-2008, 09:39 AM

Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

First, are you talking compacts or subcompacts? If it's compacts, you should be discussing the Chevy Cobalt, not the Aveo.

Second, Dodge stopped making the Neon 4 years ago - their compact vehicle is not the Caliber.

Finally, considering a Honda Civic only does 25/36 (link) while a Chevy Cobalt is capable of doing 25/36 (link) and Ford Focus does 24/35 (link), your last statement is quite ridiculous as well. It's not that I'm so totally in love with the Big 3 - it's just come up with a valid argument instead of libelous, unresearched statements...

(your argument does hold for Caliber, however - it only does 24/29 (link))

I was wrong on the Neon. I guess they only had it for around for 10 years without any major changes.

So what sub-compacts do the Big 3 produce besides the Aveo? Honda has the Fit and Toyota has the Yaris.

As far as MPG. How about we look at real world mpg.
Hyundai Elantra Beats Thrifty Toyota Corolla in Consumer Reports’ Tests of Five Small Sedans - Yahoo! News

Toyota Corrola-32mpg
Honda Fit 32mpg
Toyota Yaris 33mpg
Hyundai Elantra 27mpg
Chevy Cobalt 24mpg
Chevy Aveo 25mpg (With a 103hp motor)

As far as "libelous, unresearched statements". You don't have to do a lot of research to see that the Big 3 are far behind when it comes to small cars (both sub compact and compact). I agree that some cars like the Honda Civic should be getting better gas mileage but if you look at the car overall you can see that Honda/Toyota have did a lot better with their small cars than any of the Big 3.

cys_av8r · 06-03-2008, 09:46 AM

Originally Posted by dmclone

Bye Bye Hummer.

What is the difference between a Hummer and a Cactus?

With the Cactus, the ****** are on the outside.

Since we will never be rid of ******, we will never be rid of Hummers.

herbicide · 06-03-2008, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by dmclone

I was wrong on the Neon. I guess they only had it for around for 10 years without any major changes.

So what sub-compacts do the Big 3 produce besides the Aveo? Honda has the Fit and Toyota has the Yaris.

As far as MPG. How about we look at real world mpg.
Hyundai Elantra Beats Thrifty Toyota Corolla in Consumer Reports’ Tests of Five Small Sedans - Yahoo! News

Toyota Corrola-32mpg
Honda Fit 32mpg
Toyota Yaris 33mpg
Hyundai Elantra 27mpg
Chevy Cobalt 24mpg
Chevy Aveo 25mpg (With a 103hp motor)

As far as "libelous, unresearched statements". You don't have to do a lot of research to see that the Big 3 are far behind when it comes to small cars (both sub compact and compact). I agree that some cars like the Honda Civic should be getting better gas mileage but if you look at the car overall you can see that Honda/Toyota have did a lot better with their small cars than any of the Big 3.

Holy cow. My 2000 Oldsmobile Intrigue with a 215 Hp V-6 averages 27mpg between fill-ups, 30-31 on highway. That car is 2x the size of all those listed.

Of course, I don't think GM makes that motor anymore.