EnG Snippets
First of all, thanks once again to all that expressed concern after the tornado scare near my home in Franklin, Tennessee. At the time, I was in San Diego, California on a lengthy trip, and my information was coming solely from the national media. Once I returned, I was surprised to find that a powerful tornado had touched down and carved a three-mile (5 km) swath only about 8 miles (13 km) from my house! This portion of the storm story wasn’t featured on the national news since there were no fatalities and most of the damage was to farmland dormant for winter. We spent a good portion of Saturday volunteering with others to cut up and move a few trees that were blocking access to power lines and such.
Thanks again to all.
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There’s a freight train coming from the opposite direction, it seems. According to Bloomberg, General Motors posted another huge loss in the fourth quarter of 2007, and they are offering another incentive package to rid themselves of a union labor force that continues to strangle the company with huge costs. They are offering packages for 74,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) union employees — those close to retirement get a package to retire now with benefits, those with more than 10 years of tenure will receive a US$140,000 lump-sum payment, and those eligible with less than 10 years on the job will receive a US$70,000 buy out option.
For those of you that may be doubting that the UAW is killing the American auto companies, thinking that these workers are just “getting their due” from some fat-cat corporation, I ask you this: Why in the world would GM shove that much money in their pockets to leave? This is a crisis of monumental proportions — and certainly it shows in the reaction from GM management.
Saab has to feel the squeeze in marketing and development funds at some point. There is only so much to go around, and Chevrolet and Cadillac seem to be the leading candidates for investment these days. Where this leaves Saab, one can only guess, but my bet is that Saab will gain ground on the other GM brands due to the unqualified successes of the AeroX and 9-4x concepts. On the other hand, if sales of the ‘08 9-3 don’t start ramping up, we could be in for a bumpy ride.
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And, in a belated tip of the hat to Schiff71, there certainly are a growing number of folks that are recognizing that our competition isn’t simply the Germans anymore.
As Richo has found, Subaru has not-so-quietly developed a great follow-up to the Impreza that created the basis for the Saab 9-2x.
I certainly feel for Richo and his predicament. I’ve had those thoughts, too; my 9-5 could have easily been a Chrysler 300C or a Jaguar XJS. I stuck with Saab because it still feels right to me.
I hope that Saab is aiming very, very high with the 9-1.
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Finally, a short game of “Guess which one is the rental” from beautiful and absolutely frigid Chicago, Illinois.
If you guessed the Saab 9-3 regally appointed in red, you are dreaming, obviously. That’s right — I have a week to become intimate with the Saturn Ion. It’s always been a nightmare dream of mine to drive a car that positions the guages in the center of the dash, has a fussy automatic transmission that kicks down a gear simply to keep constant speed and puts my knees so near the steering wheel that I have to change seating postions to make a turn. This car is horrible.
The new Avis slogan should be: Trying harder didn’t work out, so we’re giving up.
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I was reading an article the other day saying that getting rid of those UAW employees would save about on average $1000/vehicle on labour. I don’t recall where I read it though.
So, GM just beat Toyota for being the #1 auto manufacturer in the world. But it had a price (think of all the incentives…)
I wonder what the cost difference is between a UAW built car vs. a Trollhattan built car with the weak dollar factored in.
I would avoid the Ion rental by downgrading to a smaller car if I had to
Why Avis?
NinetwoX: yes, that figure has been very consistent. GM and Ford have also said that $1400 of each vehicle made pays for health care costs for current and pensioned employees, which I believe.
Brian: I tried everything possible to get out of that Ion. Dispite a reservation and “Preferred Plus” status with Avis, I got stuck with this. Avis and National are our corporate standards. National was sold out according to our online travel portal, so I’m stuck with avis and their inane “EzFuel” policy. At Midway, however, Avis is in the main terminal — no shuttle bus, just 30 feet or so from baggage. Convenient.
National is great these days — as a ranking renter I pick any car sitting on the lot and drive up to the exit gate, show my driver’s license and I’m out. Love it.
I just hope these changes keep the manufacturing jobs in both Canada & the US.
NineTwox: If Mr. Gettlefinger is still negotiating the UAW contract, I highly doubt it.
I love the new slogan you came up with. Fantastic.
GM’s continued losses in North America highlight why Chevrolet and Cadillac get the bulk of GM’s money. If GM can not make sustained profits in NA they will fail. Ford is in the same boat, that is why they are selling Jag and LR to focus on the Ford brand. Imagine if VW was losing money in Germany, they could not survive.
The Ion is history. Replaced by the Saturn/Opel/Vauhall/Astra made in Belgium and now in Canadian Saturn-SAAB showrooms. Looks like the WRX and the Mazda3. Good bets the 9-1 is on the same platform? It needs a better interior than the Astra as well as an upgraded engine.
Put the TTid engine in the 9-1 and bring it to Canada…pleeeeeaaase!
eggs: isn’t Saturn HQ’d in your home state of Tennessee? You probably know that when GM started Saturn it was intended to be GM’s “import killer” arm, and was strictly non-union to cut down on costs. As you know, this dream has long been abandoned as the UAW took over there and now instead of being the “import killer”, they’re now GM’s distributor of Opel cars in the U.S. Talk about a total departure of the original vision…
Unfortunately for Saab, Saturn has been deemed GM’s “green” division. Saab seems to be the unwanted stepchild in GM’s household.
Saturn Aura: North American Car of the Year 2007
Chevy Malibu: North American Car of the Year 2008
Cadillac CTS: Motor Trend Car of the Year 2008
Buick Enclave: Joins Malibu and CTS on list of cars whose demand outstrips supply
Pontiac G8: highly anticipated Holden Commodore rebadge
So while just about every other GM brand sold in America gets a critically-acclaimed and/or highly anticipated model Saab gets a refresh of a five-year-old model and looks forward to a new crossover in mid-2009.
The 9-1 had better win some “Car of the Year” accolades. Yes, it has to be THAT good.
And to be fair, a majority of GM’s record loss last year was a one-time charge they took in the third quarter to make-up for a prior tax credit. So things weren’t really as bad as they look. They’re still paying for borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.
LOL on the Saturn and Avis remarks. I don’t think they intended the Ion for giants like you, eggs.
Bruce: the Astra made in Belgium is the last-gen one. The next-gen Astra is supposed to be based on GM’s Daewoo-designed global sub-compact platform Gamma II (according to the Delta entry in Wikipedia). The 9-1 is supposed to be based on Delta II, but that doesn’t make any sense since we heard that Trollhattan got the contract to build the next-gen Astra. Also, just because the 9-1 may be based on the Astra platform does not mean it will be a modified Astra. It means that it needs to use the Astra floorpan and wheelbase. Everything else will be unique. That’s the difference between “platform sharing” to capitalize on “economies of scale” and “badge engineering”.
re: UAW killing American Auto Companies.
The issue isn’t simply salaries, or the big bad unions — it’s health care costs of unionized employees. GM is still on the hook for retiree health care until 2010, when the health plan for most UAW employees switches over to the union. That’s the bulk of that $1,000 per car savings alluded to.
Wages are only part of the story. .
Of course, GM would be well within its rights to ship all of its manufacturing jobs to China where wages are a fraction of those in the US. But that would likely send people on both sides of the political spectrum into cardiac arrest.
Or maybe Saab can continue making cars in Europe, where it can pay comparatively lower wages and remain profitable despite a strong union — but where the bulk of its workers are covered under — gasp! — national health care plans.
Or maybe we’ll see some interesting changes when the 9-4x is made, possibly at a GM Mexico plant — where the bulk of the workers are covered under — eeep! — a national health care plan.
Oh, the horror.
Nice coverage Eggs.
This year I’ve resolved to be less diplomatic & call things as I see them. So here goes for this topic:
GM just announced the biggest reported loss in US ( ?world) corporate history in 2007. I know there were some complicated tax write-downs in there but - this is not a good result, no matter how you spin it. It even makes Ford look good.
I’m still not convinced GM know that Saab exists. I don’t care what they did in Detroit at the show. Saab has had more concepts than it does actual cars in the last 10 years. This is not good either, no matter how you spin it.
Hey Eggs, next time your at The Stadium in Schaumburg, in your snazzy Ion, give me a buzz. Ages ago, that used to be my weekly watering hole.