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Posts Tagged ‘detroit automakers’

GM to Boost Volt Production

General Motors Co. plans to boost production for its range-extending electric car, the Chevrolet Volt, to 16,000 vehicles this year, and 60,000 in 2012, the company said today.

The Detroit carmaker had originally planned to build 15,000 Volts this year, and 45,000 in 2012, but strong demand for the battery-powered car has prompted the company to churn out more.

The announcement comes just two weeks before a four-week shutdown at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, where GM builds the Volt, for retooling.

Ford Offers Buyouts to All UAW Workers

 DETROIT, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Ford Motor Co (F.N) said on
Monday it is offering its 41,000 U.S. factory workers buyouts
and early retirement offers in a bid to reduce its payroll
costs as it aims to return to profit by 2011.

 The buyouts mark the second round of such offers for Ford
workers represented by the United Auto Workers union this year.
About 1,000 workers took Ford's earlier offer in July.

 While Ford was the only U.S. automaker to have avoided
bankruptcy in the past year, its relative success has
complicated efforts to win concessions from its major union.

 Ford workers have until late January to accept the offer,
which includes payouts of up to $70,000 cash for newer hires to
$60,000 cash for veterans already eligible for retirement.

 "Despite a strengthening in our business, we still have a
surplus in employees," said Ford spokesman Mark Truby.

 Ford did not provide a target for how many workers it
expected would take the buyout offers.

Cash For Clunkers Bill Approved by Congress

The Senate approved a $1 billion program yesterday to give vouchers to consumers who trade in their gas-guzzling clunkers for more fuel-efficient models — a move that dealers hope will revive slumping auto sales.

Congressional leaders attached the legislation to a $106 billion spending bill to fund troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The spending bill passed by a 91 to 5 vote but not before some Republican lawmakers unsuccessfully sought to strip the measure from the bill.

Dealers, unions, trade groups and automakers have been lobbying for months for the legislation in hopes that it would stop the streak of dismal U.S. auto sales.

“The simple fact is that we need to get Americans into car showrooms, and this is the bill that will do it,” Rep. Candice S. Miller (R-Mich.), a co-sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement.

Consumers would be able to start using the $4,500 vouchers as soon as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalizes the rules — a process that must conclude within 30 days of the president’s approval.

Chrysler Files For Bankruptcy

Washington — The White House will force Chrysler LLC to file for bankruptcy protection today, after talks between the Treasury Department and the Auburn Hills automaker’s creditors failed last night to reach an agreement.

“This will be quick, it will be efficient, it is designed to deal with those last few holdouts” who blocked an out-of-court restructuring, President Barack Obama said in a televised announcement from the White House. Obama pledged the bankruptcy filing would not disrupt the company’s operations or the lives of its workers.

The president had harsh words for the group of investment companies and hedge funds that balked at a debt restructuring. “I do not stand with them,” Obama said, calling them “speculators” who sought to endanger Chrysler’s future for their own benefit.

Detroit Auto Industry Is Forever Changed Due to Credit Crunch

LANSING, Mich. — Detroit’s Big Three automakers are forever changed by the current credit crisis, according to a study done by a well-known Michigan economics firm.

The study, from Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group, gives a stark peek into the auto business and reports bankruptcy, radical restructuring and even a merger between two of the auto giants are just a few of the limited options the industry has left.

“Although the metaphor has been abused recently, it is indeed the worst crisis since the Great Depression for the domestic industry,” analysts wrote in the summary of their findings. The study projects annual sales for the Big Three may be less than 10.5 million units.That number is down from 16 million in 2007, a nearly 40 percent drop.

On a more positive note, analysts write in the study that they disagree “with the notion that the entire industry is a herd of ‘dinosaurs’ or that the Detroit 3 do not produce vehicles Americans want.”The next 18 months are both critical and full of possibility for automakers, according to the study.