GM investing $200M to expand powertrain engineering; consolidation in Pontiac

General Motors will invest $200 million into its Global Powertrain Engineering Headquarters to build a new 138,000 sq.-ft. test wing, which is expected to be completed during the second half of 2014. The plan is part of GM’s previously announced commitment to invest $1.5 billion in its North American facilities in 2013.

The expansion will enable the company to consolidate work being done at four locations remote to the Pontiac campus, helping to reduce development timing for GM’s next-generation advanced propulsion technologies.

Under the expansion plan, engineering development work currently being done at leased facilities in Wixom, Mich.; Castleton, Ind. and Torrance, Calif., will move to Pontiac. Also, GM R&D’s Propulsion Systems Research lab in Warren, Mich. will relocate to the Pontiac campus. GM previously announced that work being performed at its hydrogen fuel cell facility in Honeoye Falls, N.Y., would be consolidated in Pontiac in mid-2013.

In addition, the Performance Build Center, currently located at the Wixom facility, will move to GM’s Chevrolet Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green, Ky., by the first quarter of 2014.

The work GM conducts at its Wixom Advanced Engineering Lab, including electric motor engineering development and performance engineering, will be transferred to Pontiac by mid-2015. Electric motor design and production is a core business for GM in the development and manufacture of electric vehicles.

The Torrance Advanced Technology Center’s work on electric motor and power electronics engineering development will be transferred to Pontiac by the end of 2014. GM considers these technologies key to the future of sustainable transportation.

Heavy-duty transmission, power electronics, hybrid and battery electric drive unit development work done at Castleton will be transferred to Pontiac by mid-2014. GM’s work on heavy-duty transmissions is core to its pickup truck development.

GM R&D’s Propulsion Systems Research Lab will be relocated to Pontiac during the second half of 2015. This work is critical to providing technologies for GM’s engines, transmissions, and hybrid systems.

Roanoke College Students Convert Classic Pontiac To Battery Power

If you’re like me, you think the pinnacle of American car design reached its zenith just prior to World War II. There is a reason most hot rods remain firmly planted in the 1920’s and 30’s, as this was an era when aesthetics, rather than aerodynamics, safety, or pure horsepower took precedence.

That is why this story about a group of Roanoke College students converting a ‘39 Pontiac Silver Streak to a battery-electric vehicle really resonates with me. Classic American looks with a modern electric drive train? Yes please!

The students are enrolled in a class on alternative fuels, and what better way to put what they are learning to use than converting a classic car to electricity? Some of you might argue that modifying any car made prior to 1970 is sacrilege. To you people, I say  shut up. Hot rodders have been mixing and matching drive trains for nearly 100 years. Here is a unique project that can get young people excited about old cars again, though it isn’t the first hot rod with electric ambitions.
As far as the conversion goes, the students have a lot of work ahead of them. The Pontiac body (which they bought for just $1,500) has been sandblasted and painted, though the actual electric motor has yet to be installed. I know that if you showed up at many classic car shows with a ‘39 Pontiac EV, heads would spin and insults would be hurled. But for every angry comment, I’d be willing to bet these students will get twice as many pats on the back.
It’s no secret that Generation Y is not very interested in cars, and the classic car community is doing nothing to reach out and pass on their passion. Projects like this electric Pontiac can bridge that gap, and I hope to see more projects like this in the future.
Personally, if I had the money, I’d want to convert an old Cord into an EV. Cord’s are amongst the most beautiful cars ever conceived (if you ask me) and that big, sleek body is just beginning for the instant torque of an electric motor, but that’s just me. What antique cars would you want to convert to an electric vehicle?



Source: Gas2.0

General Motors Discontinuing Several Models

The Pontiac GX GXP




What do you think of General Motor's efforts to return to profitibility? Are they doing enough or too little? How much longer should the company be bailed out using public funds?

The latest news is that the company will discontinue the Pontiac G6 GXP, Chevy Impala SS and Cobalt SS. Also on the chopping block is the Cadillac STS-V. The Pontiac G6 announcement is not that surprising, given the entire brand will be phased out by 2010.

What more can GM do at this point? The CEO is gone, brands are being phased out or sold, but the fact remains that GM doesn't sell "must have" products. They have a boring lineup of gas gazzling non-descript cars and trucks. Instead of focusing on hybrids and electrics, they have pushed e85, which is simply not catching on here in the States.

Also, it is taking the company three years to bring a plug-in hybrid vehicle to market when they had the EV1 on the road 10 years ago. Would it have been so difficult to revive that car with lead acid batteries and a small genset? They have all the components needed to start up production once again. Toyota and Honda both have great hybrids at great prices and there is GM, dumbfounded on the sidelines.

Maybe the best possible scenario would be a GM bankruptcy and a start from scratch. Even then, they still have to sell the same old, same old in the showrooms, which is a script for failure. How can they possibly right the ship and get back in the game? Any ideas?

GM to Slash US Jobs as Well as Pontiac

General Motors Corp. said it will cut 21,000 U.S. factory jobs by next year, phase out its storied Pontiac brand and ask the government to take company stock in exchange for half GM's government debt as part of a major restructuring effort needed to get more government aid.

The struggling automaker also said it will offer 225 shares of common stock for every $1,000 in notes held by bondholders as part of a debt-for-equity swap.

The annoucements came in a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

GM is living on $15.4 billion in government loans and faces a June 1 deadline to restructure and get more government money. If the restructuring doesn't satisfy the government, the company could go into bankruptcy protection.

GM said in a press release that it also will ask the government to take 50 percent of its common stock in exchange for canceling half the government loans to the company as of June 1.

GM said the bond exchange would wipe away $27 billion in unsecured debt if successful. The company estimates that after the exchange, bondholders would own 10 percent of the company.

In addition, GM is offering the United Auto Workers stock for at least 50 percent of the $20 billion the company must pay into a union run trust that will take over retiree health care expenses starting next year.

All the stock offerings mean that current common stockholders would own only 1 percent of the company under the deals, the press release says.

In premarket trading, GM shares rose 10 cents, or 5.9 percent, to $1.79.

Source: Yahoo News

General Motors to Announce Pontiac Closure Next Week

The Stylish and Comely Pontiac G8





General Motors may announce early next week that its Pontiac brand will be eliminated, said a source familiar with the company's plans. The announcement will be made as part of an updated viability plan to the U.S. auto task force, the source said.

A second source indicated earlier this week that GM was considering phasing out the brand instead of sticking with the current plan to have it continue as a niche marque.

GM, surviving with $15.4 billion in U.S. government loans, had planned to keep Pontiac along with mainstream brands Buick, GMC, Chevrolet and Cadillac. Saturn, Hummer and Saab are up for sale.

Reports that GM is contemplating killing Pontiac surfaced today in Australia, where GM builds the Pontiac G8 sedan.

GM still needs to sell Hummer as well although, if they head into bankruptcy, then someone may scoop up the brand at a discounted price.

Source: Automotive News

General Motors to Keep GMC and Pontiac

GM CEO, Fritz Henderson




GM disputed the claims from the previous post, going on record as saying both GMC and Pontiac will remain. Look for updates today as CEO Fritz Henderson holds a press conference to delineate further plans.

From Automotive News:

A senior General Motors executive today denied reports that President Barack Obama's automotive task force has pressured the automaker to dump GMC and Pontiac.

Company sales chief Mark LaNeve also denied rumors that GM plans to terminate the franchise agreements of poorly performing dealers before June 1 to accelerate its dealership consolidation campaign.

"The strategy we laid out for you [in February] is still the strategy," LaNeve, GM's vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing, said today in an interview with Automotive News.

"Are we working it, tweaking it, examining every aspect of it? Yes, but nothing has changed with our strategy," he said. Reports that "GMC is going away are just unfounded, unsubstantiated and untrue," LaNeve said.

In a Feb. 17 report to the U.S. Treasury Department, GM said it planned to go to market with four core brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. Pontiac would remain as a much smaller brand. GM is trying to sell Hummer, Saab and Saturn.

And that is still the plan, LaNeve said. "They're not pressuring us to give up on anything," he said. "Buick and GMC are very profitable brands, and we have plans to make them even more profitable."

Targeting metro markets LaNeve confirmed that GM will target metro markets to consolidate dealerships, but the company does not have a June 1 timetable to do so. As part of its consolidation effort, GM will consider such criteria as operator's effectiveness, location and working capital when it targets those stores for closure. Meanwhile, GM's new CEO Fritz Henderson has scheduled a conference call with journalists tomorrow at 10:15 a.m. to update the company's restructuring plans. "We anticipate that this will be the first of a series of updates designed to provide perspective on GM's situation, decisions and actions," according to a statement released by GM.

Pontiac and GMC May Bite the Dust as GM Continues to Streamline

What a shock it would be if GMC suddenly ceased to exist. The demise of Pontiac would not be as surprising as GM has already stated it would strip the brand down to specialty vehicles. It would be hard to imagine General Motors without GMC trucks though.

From Automotive News:

Facing a June 1 deadline to restructure under U.S. government oversight, General Motors may drop its Pontiac and GMC brands as part of broader cost-cutting moves, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The two brands are being studied as part of talks with an Obama administration task force assessing whether GM can be restructured without bankruptcy, sources told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

GM's Chevrolet, Cadillac and Buick brands are likely to be safe, the news agency reported.

GM had said earlier it would keep Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, GMC and Pontiac while selling or closing Hummer, Saab and Saturn.

An investor group including private equity firm Black Oak Partners has approached GM about buying its Saturn brand assets and dealership network, both sides said on Wednesday.

GM's Hummer brand has received interest from three bidders, none of them automakers, sources told Reuters on April 8.

The current offers for Hummer range from $100-$200 million, the sources said. GM has taken $13.4 billion of U.S. government loans since the beginning of the year.

A decision is yet to be reached on what would happen to Pontiac or GMC should GM opt not to keep them, Bloomberg reported, citing unidentified sources.

The GMC brand has a better chance of surviving than Pontiac, one of the sources told the agency.

A GM spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the report.

GM Announces Layoffs and Deeper Production Cuts

More bad news today for our ailing US economy. General Motors stated that it will lay off 2,000 workers at two of its plants and will further cut production in response to continuing sluggish sales. All of the jobs will be cut from two facilities, one in Lordstown, Ohio and one in Delta Township, Michigan.

General Motors has received about $13 billion in federal loans over the past month or so but it appears uncertain how they intend to prove to Washington that they can reverse the current sales trend. Could it be that the US populace has lost its infatuation with the automobile? Certainly in hard economic times, the last thing people really need is a new vehicle. At any rate, these announcements will affect production for the first two quarters of 2009.

From Automotive News:

"General Motors will cut about 2,000 jobs at two plants and plans periodic shutdowns at about half of its 19 U.S. factories as consumers continue to shun new vehicles.

The automaker will eliminate one shift at the end of the quarter at its Lordstown, Ohio, plant and its Lansing Delta factory in Delta Township, Mich.

The cuts mean a loss of about 800 jobs in Lordstown, where workers make the compact Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G5. The Delta Township plant will lose about 1,200 workers, who make the Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook crossovers.

In addition, GM will stop production intermittently at nine other U.S. plants and one Canadian factory for "some number" of weeks in the first and second quarters, GM spokesman Chris Lee said today.

The production cuts stem from depressed sales, Lee said. This month GM lowered its 2009 industry sales forecast to 10.5 million vehicles from a projection as high as 12 million in December.

"We're just aligning production with market demand," Lee said. "Nobody was able to buy any cars," he said, referring to the credit crunch that has deepened the U.S. recession.

The Lordstown plant ramped up from two shifts to three last summer as soaring gasoline prices increased sales of compact cars. But in November GM said it would return the plant to two shifts Feb. 2.

The changes announced today mean Lordstown will drop to one shift April 6, with the first and second shifts working alternate weeks starting Feb. 9.

The Delta Township plant's two shifts will alternate starting Feb. 2, with the reduction to a single shift going into effect March 30.

GM began 2009 with a 102-day supply of new vehicles, down from a 139-day stock Dec. 1. GM's figure is higher than the Jan. 1 industry average of 94 vehicles, which in turn is 50 percent higher than the level considered normal.

GM sold 3 million vehicles in the United States last year, down from 3.8 million in 2007. The industrywide total last year was 13.2 million, following fourth-quarter sales rates that dropped to 26-year lows."