General Motors Cutting US Production

Mister-Jr

GM has not made a competitive passenger car in years, except for the Corvette.

General Motors Co. plans to make significant cuts to its North American workforce, cutting more than 8,000 salaried employees in the region and ending production at three factories, potentially affecting another 6,000 assembly line jobs.

The move comes as the Detroit car maker plans to drop several passenger-car models from its U.S. lineup, including the Chevrolet Cruze compact car and Chevrolet Impala large sedan, as part of a broader plan to cut costs.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/gm-says-it-will-cut-15-of-salaried-workforce-in-north-america-1543246232?mod=hp_lead_pos1

Spineyman

That is what happens when you make garbage and pay people too much to do so!

kellercl

I don't get America and our obsession with giant SUVs.

HomerSimpson

Ford dropped the passenger line as well not long ago.

when they announced that I started looking at what was on the streets.  Not many late model US passenger cars out there.  Lots of imports though.  Obviously SUV's have taken a higher market share, but the amount of import cars makes me think the problem is as much lousy quality US cars as much as dropped demand.  Quality is why I wouldn't buy one.

Police have switched to SUV's now as well so that's probably the final nail in the coffin

Bimini Twisted

You buried the lede:

GM to slash over 14,000 jobs from North American workforce

The reduction could include the closing of up to five domestic plants.

Mister-Jr

Barra is cutting staff from operations that make conventional cars and hiring people who can design electric cars or add software prowess to GM Cruise LLC, the automaker’s autonomous vehicle unit in San Francisco. That means GM needs to allocate more resources to purely electric cars, unlike the hybrid Volt, and to autonomous technology, Barra said.

mustang190

kellercl said:

I don't get America and our obsession with giant SUVs.

Maybe it is because no one wants a golf cart?
 Try hauling a family of 5 in a Chevy Leaf. 
 Or pulling a 22’ boat with a compact car. 
 My new F150 with the 5.0 v8 gets 24.5 mpg on the hi way. 
 It’s a no brainer why people like trucks and suv’s. 

kellercl

Except almost all suv and truck owners I know do not haul anything.  I get why some opt for those vehicles, but that has little to do with the general masses.  I love people with a 50k truck...  so they can get a few bags of mulch and a couple 2x4s...

cadman

Most truck owners I know either tow or haul things that need a truck. I would agree about SUV owners. Some have large families, but a lot just buy for the look. 

AC Man

kellercl said:

Except almost all suv and truck owners I know do not haul anything.  I get why some opt for those vehicles, but that has little to do with the general masses.  I love people with a 50k truck...  so they can get a few bags of mulch and a couple 2x4s...

That would be me. I have a F 350 crew cab long bed 4×4 diesel as a daily driver

I don't haul or tow much, but been driving them since '74 because I like them.

Finfinder

AC Man said:

kellercl said:

Except almost all suv and truck owners I know do not haul anything.  I get why some opt for those vehicles, but that has little to do with the general masses.  I love people with a 50k truck...  so they can get a few bags of mulch and a couple 2x4s...

That would be me. I have a F 350 crew cab long bed 4×4 diesel as a daily driver

I don't haul or tow much, but been driving them since '74 because I like them.

If you lived in France you'd be put in jail for that.  

kellercl

I used to like trucks, until the cost doubled in the last few decades.  Trucks are so expensive I personally wouldn't own one unless it was a necessity.  But to each their own.

Bimini Twisted

"The company has said tariffs on imported steel, imposed earlier this year, have cost it $1 billion."

mplspug

Bimini Twisted

Here is GM in June explicitly warning that tariffs would lead to downsizing of US workers:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-autos/gm-warns-u-s-import-tariffs-could-lead-to-smaller-company-fewer-jobs-idUSKBN1JP2PZ

HomerSimpson

they are on track for another 145B revenue which was expected.  They will be fine.

Bimini Twisted

HomerSimpson said:

they are on track for another 145B revenue which was expected.  They will be fine.

Of course they will be fine, opening new plants in China and Mexico is good business.

https://www.gmchina.com/company/cn/en/gm/company/about-gm-china.html

HomerSimpson

yep, opening plants in your largest retail market does make sense.

wonder if Chinese import tariffs had something to do with that decision?

Bimini Twisted

HomerSimpson said:

yep, opening plants in your largest retail market does make sense.

wonder if Chinese import tariffs had something to do with that decision?

Of course it did, but how's that working out for the American workers losing their jobs, and the effect of plant closings in towns across America?

By the way, China does not pay that tariff, American consumers do. 

HomerSimpson

huh???  american consumers pay for tariffs that china implements on imports?

the american worker does not necessarily loose his job because the augment can be made that the only way for GM to build cars cheap enough to sell in china is to build them in china.  now....if we get rid of that Chinese tariff then the playing field becomes a bit more leveled, wouldn't you say?



regardless of the back and forth..........GM doesn't change quickly.  All this stuff has been set in motion years ago.  The recent tariffs is just something they can use as an excuse.

treemanjohn

Unidirectional blame and no mention of ridiculous pensions

Bimini Twisted

HomerSimpson said:

huh???  american consumers pay for tariffs that china implements on imports?

the american worker does not necessarily loose his job because the augment can be made that the only way for GM to build cars cheap enough to sell in china is to build them in china.  now....if we get rid of that Chinese tariff then the playing field becomes a bit more leveled, wouldn't you say?



regardless of the back and forth..........GM doesn't change quickly.  All this stuff has been set in motion years ago.  The recent tariffs is just something they can use as an excuse.

No, American consumers pay the tariff that has been implemented on Chinese steel, so it's not just cars.

Though it's sort of hard to build a car here without importing tariffed steel, and thus charging consumers more, right?

But you know all that.

HomerSimpson

we are talking about GM factories in China.  

GM America doesn't buy steel from China using money collected from American consumers and then ship that steel back to China to build in it's plants there.

i'm assuming you knew all that

Bimini Twisted

HomerSimpson said:

we are talking about GM factories in China.  

GM America doesn't buy steel from China using money collected from American consumers and then ship that steel back to China to build in it's plants there.

i'm assuming you knew all that

AC Man

kellercl said:

I used to like trucks, until the cost doubled in the last few decades.  Trucks are so expensive I personally wouldn't own one unless it was a necessity.  But to each their own.

So you don't like a truck because you can't afford I't?

How about a used truck several years old.

What do you do with rotten garbage to haul to the dump. I guess you have  garbage service in the city. How do you load a washer, dirt bike, trash, anything? Not a week goes by I couldn't live without a truck. And make that a 8 ft bed the way they were designed from the get go.

NewberryJeff

AC Man said:

kellercl said:

I used to like trucks, until the cost doubled in the last few decades.  Trucks are so expensive I personally wouldn't own one unless it was a necessity.  But to each their own.

So you don't like a truck because you can't afford I't?

How about a used truck several years old.

What do you do with rotten garbage to haul to the dump. I guess you have  garbage service in the city. How do you load a washer, dirt bike, trash, anything? Not a week goes by I couldn't live without a truck. And make that a 8 ft bed the way they were designed from the get go.

Sounds like you could get by with a Honda Ridgeline 

dave44

AC Man said:

kellercl said:

I used to like trucks, until the cost doubled in the last few decades.  Trucks are so expensive I personally wouldn't own one unless it was a necessity.  But to each their own.

So you don't like a truck because you can't afford I't?

How about a used truck several years old.

What do you do with rotten garbage to haul to the dump. I guess you have  garbage service in the city. How do you load a washer, dirt bike, trash, anything? Not a week goes by I couldn't live without a truck. And make that a 8 ft bed the way they were designed from the get go.

Have you noticed it’s not as easy to find an 8 foot bed? They are trying to make them more appealing to city types, I guess. 

Parkerboy

Bimini Twisted said:

HomerSimpson said:

yep, opening plants in your largest retail market does make sense.

wonder if Chinese import tariffs had something to do with that decision?

Of course it did, but how's that working out for the American workers losing their jobs, and the effect of plant closings in towns across America?

By the way, China does not pay that tariff, American consumers do. 

How is working out for the American workers employed by Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, Hundai, etc employed here in the U.S.? 

HomerSimpson

lol......i think bimini needs to do some more investigating.  Maybe read the articles and not just the titles????

he'll probably find that the china factories are to build cars for the china market.  In order to build cars to be competitive over there, you have to build over there.  

good news is that if GM decided to import those cars to America, the new tariffs will be applied.  That helps the american auto worker

kellercl

AC Man said:

kellercl said:

I used to like trucks, until the cost doubled in the last few decades.  Trucks are so expensive I personally wouldn't own one unless it was a necessity.  But to each their own.

So you don't like a truck because you can't afford I't?

How about a used truck several years old.

What do you do with rotten garbage to haul to the dump. I guess you have  garbage service in the city. How do you load a washer, dirt bike, trash, anything? Not a week goes by I couldn't live without a truck. And make that a 8 ft bed the way they were designed from the get go.

You are confusing overpriced with unaffordable.  Could I afford a 50k truck?  Absolutely but I won't spend that much on a vehicle for a variety of reasons.  And yes I have garbage pick up and all appliances can be bought with free delivery.  I want a truck for lumber and kayaks.  But it is far smarter financially to buy a trailer, given I'm hauling light weight items.  Shockingly what I want in a truck is an 8 ft bed, not double cab with international space shuttle hauling capabilities.  Trucks, imho, have gotten stupid.

Gardawg

I've found it's much cheaper to have things delivered than to buy a pick up.

Why do so many Americans buy  SUVs?

Because that's the only thing they can squeeze their big fat S into.