Monday, November 17th, 2008
General Motors Corp. has announced that it will sell its 3% stake in Suzuki Motor Corp. back to Suzuki, for US$232 million, in a bid to raise cash. Suzuki will pay 1,363 yen per share to GM to buy back the 3.02% stake. GM had, back in March 2006, sold a 17.4% stake in Suzuki for around US$2 billion.
GM and Suzuki will, however, continue to work together in the area of automotive technology development. ‘We highly value our strategic relationship with Suzuki. This action will have no impact on our existing bilateral business relationships,’ said GM Chief Executive Officer, Rick Wagoner.
[via: indiaautomotive]
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Saturday, November 15th, 2008
The troubled US auto giant General Motors is now choosing to depend more on the Chinese market. “The financial crisis badly hits GM, but it will not affect GM China business,” GM China president Kevin Wale told Beijing Times, “GM will introduce 10 new models to produce and sell in China within three years.”
According to Kevin Wale, from 2009 to 2011 GM will bring each five new models for Buick and Chevrolet brands, including the new heavyweight Buick LaCrosse and Chevrolet Cruze . The financial crisis mainly impacts GM in the North American market, but it hasn’t affected GM’s business in China, Kevin Wale said. GM China and GM’s eight joint ventures in China have enough capital for investment, he added.
[Via: autoincar]
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Friday, November 14th, 2008
Delphi Corp. has signed an agreement with General Motors , to provide high-speed digital data (HSDD) connectivity systems for GM cars in Europe. Delphi provides HSDD connection systems for a broad range of high-speed protocols, including USB 2.0, 1394, LVDS, FlexRay, eMOST and Ethernet.
‘Delphi’s HSDD connectivity provides one system for connecting all protocols and all data bus systems, and is suitable for both automotive and commercial vehicle applications,’ says Matthias Weber, MD, Delphi Connection Systems Europe.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
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Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
Peugeot is planning to launch its small and compact car in India and China by the year 2011. The new 5-seater car is expected to be extremely spacious and cater to the growing small car demands in the country. The car is expected to make its debut in next two years which will mark the entry of the company in the small car segment in India.
Peugeot will manufacture its small car in Turkey or Poland. The car will also make its debut in other countries such as Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Russia, Africa, Turkey and South America.
India is one of the biggest auto markets for small car segment. Small car sales in India amount to nearly two-third of the total car sales in the country. Nearly every auto manufacturer plans to introduce its small car in India which would enable to company to expand its market share. Toyota, Ford , Renault-Nissan, General Motors , etc. have already lined up the launches of their small cars in the country. This segment is currently dominated by Maruti Suzuki which occupies more than 50 percent market share.
[Via: cartradeindia]
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Friday, October 31st, 2008
From its current market share of less around 4%, General Motors India (GMI) wants to go up to a market share of 10% by 2010. ‘Despite the sluggish growth of the Indian automotive industry at 6-6.5% due to the economic downturn, we are looking at growth of 20% this calendar year, with sales of about 80,000 units,’ says P Balendran, Director and Vice-president (Corporate Affairs), GMI.
‘By the end of this year, GMI will have around 195 sales points and service outlets each, up from the present 145 sales points and 148 service outlets,’ said Balendran. Also, as we first reported back in June this year, GMI is working on the development of CNG- and LPG-powered variants of some of its cars.
‘We are looking at CNG and LPG vehicles for India and are closely working with our regional partners in Thailand [for CNG] and Korea [for LPG] in this connection,’ says Ravi Desai, Director - Vehicles Integration, GMI. Desai added that GMI is also working on its biodiesel programme and has bought 80 hectares of land in Gujarat for Jatropha cultivation.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
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Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
While the proposed GM-Chrysler merger is still being speculated about, another player - Nissan - now seems to have jumped into the fray. The Japanese carmaker is said to be looking at picking up a 20% stake in Chrysler, bringing the troubled American car manufacturer into the Renault-Nissan alliance.
Nissan is said to have already made an offer to Cerberus Capital Management, which holds about 80% percent of Chrysler, though according to various sources, Stephen Feinberg (Cerberus founder and CEO) would rather do a deal with GM.
With slowing sales worldwide, Nissan is also looking at cutting production at some of its factories, and is asking its workers in some locations to take leave without pay. In the US alone, Nissan’s sales have dropped by 37% this year. In such a grim economic scenario, it seems incomprehensible for Nissan to pick up a 20% stake in Chrysler.
[Via: indiaautomotive]
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Monday, October 20th, 2008
According to various media reports worldwide, the possibility of a Chrysler- General Motors merger is getting stronger, with the deal getting support from various financial institutions. In fact, GM is said to be looking at finalizing the merger by as soon as the end of this month!
The two main parties interested in seeing the GM-Chrysler merger happen are JP Morgan Chase, primary holders of Chrysler debt and also an important lender for GM, and Cerberus Capital Management, which holds an 80% stake in Chrysler.
GM’s CEO and chairman, Rick Wagoner is said to be pushing for the deal so that some of Chrysler’s cash reserves - which currently amount to US$11 billion - can compensate for GM’s fast-emptying bank accounts. And in the meanwhile, Chrysler’s CEO, Bob Nardelli must be hoping a deal with GM might help in new product development, and synergies in sourcing, production, sales and marketing.
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Monday, October 20th, 2008
General Motors is said to be considering the possibility of deferring capacity expansion at its plant in Talegaon, in Maharashtra. Given the global recession that’s taken the automotive industry by storm, GMI may decide to not start a second shift at its Talegaon unit in the near future.
Running a single shift, GMI’s Talegaon facility produces around 190 cars per day, which would go up to 300 cars per day if a second shift were to be started. ‘We will introduce a second shift depending on market conditions. However, we are confident to start a second shift by next year. Our plans for India remain unchanged despite a global meltdown,’ says P Balendran, Vice President, GMI.
Speaking about new cars from the GMI stable, Balendran says, ‘We are working on a couple of cars across different segments. Our R&D centre in Bangalore is also involved in the exercise. We will introduce new products in the market in 2009 as we have seen that volumes are coming from new launches in the market.’
[via: indiaautomotive]
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Saturday, October 4th, 2008
General Motors says it will close its SUV plant in the Dayton suburb of Moraine on Dec. 23. Spokesman Chris Lee says the some 1,100 remaining workers were informed this afternoon of the closing date. The automaker earlier this year announced plans to close the plant by the summer of 2010 or sooner, then accelerated shutdown plans as part of companywide cost-cutting moves.
[Via: autoincar]
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Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
General Motors Corp. says it has notified several employment agencies that it intends to cut contract jobs as it continues to shrink its work force to match lower U.S. sales. GM spokesman Dan Flores wouldn’t say how many contract workers would be cut. He says the cuts began in March and will be made across GM’s U.S. facilities.
The cuts come as part of GM’s plan to reduce its U.S. white-collar costs by more than 20%. The company had about 32,000 salaried workers in the U.S. at the end of last year. GM has been cutting vehicle production as its sales have slumped. It plans to close four pickup and SUV plants and says it is working on further cuts at stamping and powertrain factories.
The automaker announced in June that it would close four truck and sport utility vehicle factories by 2011, but later said the closures could come sooner than originally planned. The plants are in Janesville, Wis.; Moraine, Ohio; Oshawa, Ontario; or Toluca, Mexico, would be shuttered early. The decision will cause the loss of about 8,350 jobs.
[Via: autoincar]
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