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NEW YORK: General Motors is upping production and calling 1,350 of its U.S. and Canadian auto workers back to work due to increased demand for its vehicles.The company said Tuesday it is raising production by about 60,000 vehicles in the third and fourth quarters, in response to the increased sales that accompanied the government’s Cash for Clunkers program. The increased production will come from added shifts and overtime, GM said. In addition, the company will keep select plants open during weeks that they had previously been forecast to be shut down. For example, the Orion Township, Mich., plant, which had been scheduled to close for nearly two-years in mid-September, will now remain in operation until just before Thanksgiving.Those additional hours should increase the paychecks for an about 10,000 GM workers beyond those called back to work.”The uptick is an encouraging sign that vehicle sales are turning around, and we will ramp up quickly to meet that demand,” said Tim Lee, GM group vice president for global manufacturing and labor, in a statement.Weak sales and a need to conserve cash led the company to shut most production during the spring and early summer months, leaving GM with a record low dealer inventory of about 300,000 vehicles, according to company officials.0:00
/5:52GM launches auto ’space race’Mark LaNeve, GM vice president, U.S. sales, added on a conference call that he expects additional production increases to be announced in coming weeks and that the increased production could continue into the early months of 2010. “We’re probably not done,” he said. The Cash for Clunkers program, which gives car buyers up to 4,500 from the federal government for older gas guzzlers if they buy a more efficient new car, caused a spike in sales across the industry during the last week of July. GM rival Ford Motor (F, Fortune 500) has also announced increased production for the second half of this year.LaNeve said that GM has continued to benefit from healthier demand since the end of July, putting it on pace to beat internal sales targets for August by about 50,000 vehicles. But he cautioned that strong sales to rental car companies and other so-called fleet customers last August will make it difficult for GM to post a year-over year gain in sales.GM, which filed for bankruptcy in early June as part of a government-mandated reorganization, emerged from bankruptcy protection last month.

Source:CNN

NEW YORK: More than 225 General Motors dealers in California will sell vehicles through the eBay online auction site in a four-week trial, the companies announced Monday. Under the program, which begins Tuesday, consumers will be able to bargain with the dealers for Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Pontiac cars and trucks from model years 2008, 2009 and 2010. The program ends Sept. 8.The new car shopping website, gm.ebay.com, will feature a “wide selection” of up to 20,000 new GM vehicles at “competitive prices,” the companies said in a press release. Customers will be able to buy cars outright at the advertised price using the Web site’s “Buy It Now” option. Alternatively, customers can suggest a price under the “Best Offer” option, which may then be negotiated with the dealer. “Together with eBay Motors, GM and our dealers are reinventing the car-buying experience for our California customers,” said Mark LaNeve, GM vice president of U.S. sales, in a statement.GM emerged from bankruptcy protection on July 10, concluding a 40-day stay in Chapter 11 with the sale of its key operations to a new company majority-owned by the U.S. Treasury. The company pledged to win back American consumers and taxpayers.The automaker has sold certain new and certified-used GM models on eBay Motors in the past. But the scale of the new program marks a significant shift for the online auction house, which is traditionally focused on used cars and auto parts. “Through this program, we are helping GM dealers to extend their physical showroom while at the same time delivering to our buyers the great deals and broad selection they expect from eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500),” said Rob Chesney, vice president of eBay Motors, in a statement. As part of its restructuring, GM shut hundreds of under-performing dealerships across the country. But the new program has been hailed by at least one of GM’s California dealers. Ted Nicholas, president and chief executive of a Chevrolet dealership in Bakersfield, said in a statement that he is “very excited” to participate in the new program. “We’ve found that serious shoppers want it to be easy, and have shifted from the traditional forms of researching and purchasing vehicles to getting it all done on the Internet,” said Nicholas.

Source:CNN

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Reuters) — General Motors Co. unveiled plans to launch a plug-in SUV for its Buick brand in 2011, its latest move away from gasoline-thirsty vehicles in response to higher fuel-economy standards.The new five-passenger Buick crossover is expected to be the first commercially available plug-in hybrid sport-utility vehicle by a major automaker, and would follow GM’s heavily touted Chevrolet Volt plug-in car into the market.GM Vice Chairman Tom Stephens, announcing plans for the Buick hybrid at an annual industry conference in Traverse City, Michigan, on Thursday, said the company’s “robust” balance sheet following its bankruptcy restructuring gives it flexibility to focus on product development.Major automakers, including GM (GM, Fortune 500) and Toyota Motor Corp. (TMC), have been ramping up plans for a range of electric vehicles to meet higher U.S. fuel-economy standards and increased consumer demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.The Buick plug-in will use some of the same technology GM is developing for the Chevrolet Volt. It will be powered by next-generation lithium-ion batteries to be built by South Korea’s LG Chem and its Compact Power unit, based in Troy, Michigan.LG Chem is also supplying lithium-ion batteries for the Volt, which is slated to hit showrooms in late 2010. The Volt is one of the most eagerly awaited GM vehicles.Last year GM said it would launch a plug-in version of its Saturn Vue SUV, but its dropped that plan earlier this year when it decided to sell the Saturn brand. That sale is pending.The automaker had said the vehicle that would replace the now-scrapped Saturn would be an SUV from one of the four brands it plans to retain after it completes its restructuring: Chevy, Cadillac, Buick and GMC.

Source:CNN

DETROIT (Reuters) — General Motors Wednesday posted a 22% global sales drop from a year earlier for the first six months of 2009 amid the economic slowdown and the automaker’s slide into bankruptcy.Still, GM global sales improved in the second quarter compared with the first quarter and the automaker’s chief sales analyst said the U.S. economy has been showing increasing signs of stability and the global recession is approaching an end.The automaker expects a modest recovery in the U.S. auto market into 2010. U.S. auto industry sales have been running at the worst levels in nearly three decades through the first half of the year.GM said its global first-half sales, which include brands the automaker is trimming from its lineup, fell 21.8% to 3.55 million vehicles. The automaker’s sales in the second quarter fell 15.4% to 1.94 million vehicles.The automaker said second-quarter sales reflected continuing economic pressures and production cuts in the United States. It estimated a 12% second-quarter global market share, down 0.3 percentage points from a year earlier.GM emerged from bankruptcy protection on July 10, concluding a 40-day stay in Chapter 11 with a sale of its key operations to a new company majority-owned by the U.S. Treasury and pledging to win back American consumers and taxpayers.The long run up to bankruptcy and through court protection no doubt had an impact on sales, but not as deeply as had been feared, GM officials said.”It’s like playing with one hand tied behind your back the last nine or 10 months,” GM sales analyst Mike DiGiovanni said. “It could have been a lot more difficult situation than it turned out.”GM lost its spot as the world’s largest automaker to Toyota Motor Corp (TM). last year and is expected to shrink more when it sheds the Hummer, Saab, Saturn and Pontiac brands.Sales from those brands were included in the first half for GM and an executive said in a conference call with analysts and reporters that efforts to sell Hummer and Saab were on track.One potential support for the U.S. auto market has been the adoption of a government program providing incentives to turn in less fuel efficient vehicles and buy new vehicles, commonly referred to as “cash for clunkers.”GM said U.S. auto industry sales had been soft in the early part of July as customers wait for the program to begin July 24, but sales could pick up significantly toward the end of the month.The U.S. auto market could post sales of 10 million to 10.5 million units on an annualized basis in July if the scrappage program incentives spur demand, GM said. That would be the strongest sales month of 2009 on an annualized basis.The world’s automakers sold about 30.6 million vehicles in the first half of 2009, down about 17% from a year earlier, GM said.

Source:CNN

NEW YORK: Fresh out of bankruptcy, the new General Motors hopes to soon start selling its whole line of cars on eBay through a pilot program. While the marketing effort would initially be limited to California, it could go national if it proves to be successful, said GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson at a news conference Friday.A tie-up with eBay wouldn’t be entirely new for GM. The automaker has been placing all of its “GM Certified” used cars on eBay for over a year. Toyota and Chrysler have similar programs for their certified used cars, as well.However, there is no definitive agreement in place and discussions are still ongoing, said both GM and eBay.”At this time, no plans have been finalized with General Motors,” said Rob Chesney, vice president for eBay Motors in a prepared statement. “We hope to support GM’s new company and vision going forward.”0:00
/1:21New GM’s management changesAutomakers are prevented by state laws from selling cars, new or used, directly to consumers. Only licensed auto dealers can do that. Under GM’s plan, California GM dealers will put their entire new vehicle inventories on the auction site and eBay users can bid on them. Each vehicle would also have a “Buy it now” price for shoppers who don’t want to risk losing out in a bidding process.Winning bidders, or “Buy it now” buyers, would complete the purchase at the dealership, said Susan Docherty, general manager for GM’s Buick, Pontiac and GMC brands.She said GM decided to try selling cars on eBay because 80% to 90% of GM shoppers already spend a lot of time researching their purchase online.Shoppers can check vehicle inventories online now by looking at dealers’ own individual Web sites, but the eBay pilot project would allow users to search multiple dealerships at once and more easily compare products, features and prices.”The power of the eBay brand mated up with the four core brands from GM could be a really good thing,” Docherty said. “It takes the shopping process online up about 4 notches because you’ve got a lot more information at your fingertips.”Shoppers will also be able to complete the negotiation process online once they’ve found the vehicle they want.Docherty has been working on the plan along with her counterparts from GM’s Chevrolet and Cadillac brands. The carmaker expects to have more details of the pilot project worked out within the next week or so, she said.A lot of that work will take place in meetings with dealers, she said. Among the things dealers will have to work out will be how to respond to those who could be shopping for cars and even buying them in the middle of the night.”What we’ve got to talk to them about is if someone goes in there at two o’clock in the morning,” Docherty said, “They’re going to need to respond to that consumer in ways they haven’t had to in the past.”Whether GM’s eBay listings prove to be beneficial will depend on how much freedom GM gives dealers to set their own “Buy it Now” prices, said Scott Painter, chief executive of the auto pricing Web site TrueCar.com.”The proof in the pudding for GM will be if the “Buy it now” price is set above the market price,” he said.The market price is what most people are actually paying for the car in the real world. If dealers are genuinely competing for buyers on eBay, “Buy it Now” prices should reflect that, he said.If the eBay program ultimately really works, shoppers will begin using eBay as a research tool — to see what people are paying for cars — even if they don’t intend to buy through eBay, he said. That information alone will be valuable for consumers, said Painter.
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Source:CNN

NEW YORK: A leaner General Motors is close to starting a new life under government ownership after a judge denied an 11th-hour request Thursday to block the automaker’s quick exit from bankruptcy.In approving the automaker’s restructuring plan late Sunday night, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Gerber gave parties that objected four days to file appeals. Those objectors include lawyers who had legal actions pending against GM, as well as some bondholders and smaller labor unions.U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Thursday denied a request by a committee of some of those objectors to delay Gerber’s order.Creditors at Chrysler Group were able to win a brief stay of a similar order during its bankruptcy process in June. But that stay was lifted without any court hearing arguments. So the chances of blocking the GM sale were seen as a long-shot.While the company could emerge from bankruptcy as soon as Thursday afternoon, a person familiar with plans said it is unlike to do so until Friday. GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson is planning a press conference for Friday morning, although the company has yet to announce details.0:00
/09:21One-on-one with GM’s CEOGM, which despite decades of declining market share is still the nation’s largest automaker, filed for bankruptcy on June 1. It has been able to quickly move through the bankruptcy process by taking its more valuable brands, factories, dealerships and overseas operations and selling them in a “new GM” owned mostly by the U.S. government.The new company will include the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GM Brands, along with its overseas operations. About 4,100 of its 6,000 U.S. dealerships will remain with the new company, although there will be a slow wind down over the next 14 months of the dealerships that GM plans to shed as part of this process. The company will also have only a fraction of the 54 billion in unsecured debt it had heading into bankruptcy.Other holdings, contracts and liabilities that GM wanted to shed as part of the bankruptcy process will be held by the old company, now to be known as Motors Liquidation Co. (GMGMQ).The process of disposing of those assets and liabilities could take two or three years. These holdings include about 16 U.S. plants and facilities that employ about 20,000 workers. While some of the plants will stay open through 2012, many of those plants will close and many of the workers will leave the company before the end of the year.The federal government will initially hold 60.8% of the stock in the new company, with a union-controlled health care trust fund owning 17.5%, the Canadian and Ontario governments owning 11.7% and bondholders of the old GM eventually getting about 10%. Those who owned the shares in the old company will be left with nothing.

NEW YORK: General Motors’ plan to emerge from bankruptcy, with a lot of help from the federal government, has been approved by a federal judge. Judge Robert Gerber gave his approval late Sunday after three days of hearings last week, saying it “is the only available means to preserve the continuation of GM’s business.” Under the plan, the Detroit-based automaker, which filed for court protection on June 1, creates a new company and sheds crushing debt and expensive contracts.Under the plan, which was worked out between the struggling company and the Obama administration, U.S. taxpayers end up owning 60% of the “new GM,” with other stakes held by Canadian governments, bondholders and the United Auto Workers union.Holders of 27 billion in GM (GMGMQ) bonds get stock in the reorganized company, as will a union-controlled trust fund that will take stock rather than the 20 billion in cash it had been owed to pay future retiree health care costs. Those 650,000 retirees will have their coverage reduced. But the U.S. Treasury had conditioned its aid on approval of a bankruptcy plan by July 10, and Gerber addressed that in his ruling.”GM cannot survive with its continuing losses and associated loss of liquidity, and without the governmental funding that will expire in matter of days,” Gerber said in the decision.Pared down: GM plans to close more than a dozen factories, drop U.S. brands and shut down up to 40% of its network of 6,000 dealerships. A successful and swift move through bankruptcy was crucial to GM’s restructuring and a key test of the Obama administration’s efforts to rescue GM and Chrysler.Chrysler’s bankruptcy was approved on June 1, just hours before GM entered Chapter 11. An attempt by creditors to block the Chrysler bankruptcy was turned back by the U.S. Supreme Court.On Friday, in a move that could smooth its restructuring, GM filed documents in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York saying that it had agreed to accept legal responsibility, post-bankruptcy, for drivers who are injured by vehicle defects in old cars.’Business is doing better’: General Motors is trying to turn itself around amid slumping auto sales and a severe recession.On Tuesday, GM’s chief executive testified at the bankruptcy hearing that the company’s June sales were stronger than expected — in part because the bankruptcy process is going swiftly. 0:00
/04:27Inside GM’s fight for survival”Business is doing better for a number of reasons, one of which being that this process will be quick,” said General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson. In 2008, GM announced its largest-ever annual loss of 38.7 billion. The company has 27 billion in debt. In May, its stock slipped below 1 a share for the first time since the Great Depression. Lawyers representing a variety of claims against GM — including asbestos-related and consumer — subjected Henderson to a barrage of questions in testimony. They wanted to know why clients had been left behind in the bankruptcy process. Henderson said the decision to leave the claims out of the bankruptcy process was concluded during negotiations with the U.S. Treasury.

Source:CNN

NEW YORK: General Motors’ plan to emerge from bankruptcy, with a lot of help from the federal government, has been approved by a federal judge. Judge Robert Gerber gave his approval late Sunday after three days of hearings last week, saying it “is the only available means to preserve the continuation of GM’s business.” Under the plan, the Detroit-based automaker, which filed for court protection on June 1, creates a new company and sheds crushing debt and expensive contracts.Under the plan, which was worked out between the struggling company and the Obama administration, U.S. taxpayers end up owning 60% of the “new GM,” with other stakes held by Canadian governments, bondholders and the United Auto Workers union.Holders of 27 billion in GM (GMGMQ) bonds get stock in the reorganized company, as will a union-controlled trust fund that will take stock rather than the 20 billion in cash it had been owed to pay future retiree health care costs. Those 650,000 retirees will have their coverage reduced. But the U.S. Treasury had conditioned its aid on approval of a bankruptcy plan by July 10, and Gerber addressed that in his ruling.”GM cannot survive with its continuing losses and associated loss of liquidity, and without the governmental funding that will expire in matter of days,” Gerber said in the decision.Pared down: GM plans to close more than a dozen factories, drop U.S. brands and shut down up to 40% of its network of 6,000 dealerships. A successful and swift move through bankruptcy was crucial to GM’s restructuring and a key test of the Obama administration’s efforts to rescue GM and Chrysler.Chrysler’s bankruptcy was approved on June 1, just hours before GM entered Chapter 11. An attempt by creditors to block the Chrysler bankruptcy was turned back by the U.S. Supreme Court.On Friday, in a move that could smooth its restructuring, GM filed documents in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York saying that it had agreed to accept legal responsibility, post-bankruptcy, for drivers who are injured by vehicle defects in old cars.’Business is doing better’: General Motors is trying to turn itself around amid slumping auto sales and a severe recession.On Tuesday, GM’s chief executive testified at the bankruptcy hearing that the company’s June sales were stronger than expected — in part because the bankruptcy process is going swiftly. 0:00
/04:27Inside GM’s fight for survival”Business is doing better for a number of reasons, one of which being that this process will be quick,” said General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson. In 2008, GM announced its largest-ever annual loss of 38.7 billion. The company has 27 billion in debt. In May, its stock slipped below 1 a share for the first time since the Great Depression. Lawyers representing a variety of claims against GM — including asbestos-related and consumer — subjected Henderson to a barrage of questions in testimony. They wanted to know why clients had been left behind in the bankruptcy process. Henderson said the decision to leave the claims out of the bankruptcy process was concluded during negotiations with the U.S. Treasury.

Source:CNN

NEW YORK: General Motors returns to bankruptcy court on Wednesday to seek approval of its plan to restructure and create a “new GM.”The Detroit-based automaker, which filed for court protection on June 1, wants to use bankruptcy to create a new company and shed crushing debt and expensive contracts.Judge Robert Gerber is reconvening for a second day after holding a hearing Tuesday that continued late into the evening. Under the plan, U.S. taxpayers would end up owning 60% of the new GM, with other stakes held by Canadian governments, bondholders and the United Auto Workers union.Holders of 27 billion in GM bonds would get stock in the reorganized company, as will a union-controlled trust fund that will take stock rather than the 20 billion in cash it had been owed to pay future retiree health care costs. Those 650,000 retirees will have their coverage reduced. GM plans to close more than a dozen factories, drop U.S. brands and shut down up to 40% of its network of 6,000 dealerships. A successful and swift move through bankruptcy is crucial to GM’s restructuring and a key test of the Obama administration’s efforts to rescue GM and Chrysler.Chrysler’s bankruptcy was approved on June 1, just hours before GM entered Chapter 11. An attempt by creditors to block the Chrysler bankruptcy was turned back by the U.S. Supreme Court.On Friday, in a move that could smooth its restructuring, GM filed documents in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York saying that it had agreed to accept legal responsibility, post-bankruptcy, for drivers who are injured by vehicle defects in old cars.Hard timesGeneral Motors is trying to turn itself around amid slumping auto sales and a severe recession.On Tuesday, GM’s chief executive testified that the company’s June sales were stronger than expected — in part because the bankruptcy process is going swiftly. 0:00
/04:27Inside GM’s fight for survival”Business is doing better for a number of reasons, one of which being that this process will be quick,” said General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson. In 2008, GM announced its largest-ever annual loss of 38.7 billion. The company has 27 billion in debt. In May, its stock slipped below 1 a share for the first time since the Great Depression. Lawyers representing a variety of claims against GM — including asbestos-related and consumer — subjected Henderson to a barrage of questions in testimony. They wanted to know why clients had been left behind in the bankruptcy process.Henderson said the decision to leave the claims out of the bankruptcy process was concluded during negotiations with the U.S. Treasury.This prompted Sander Esserman, a lawyer from the Dallas-based firm of Stutzman, Bromberg, Esserman & Plifka representing GM brake line mechanics, to ask, “Isn’t the new GM the same as the old, without assuming old liabilites?” Henderson denied that claim. “Our new business has a new capital structure,” he said.But Esserman noted that the offices would remain the same with the new company, along with many of the employees and possibly the leadership.

Source:CNN