First the larger availability of flex fuels car/trucks, then the OK to build the Camaro, now the trimming of large SUVs.
Not only GM is trimming the large SUVs, but Ford too. Times are changing.
'bout time!!!
From Forbes:
DETROIT, Michigan (AFX) - General Motors Corp has also trimmed production, the automaker's chairman and CEO Richard Wagoner said hours after Ford Motor Co announced a 21 pct cut in fourth quarter production because of a sharp drop in sales of fuel-guzzling trucks and sports utility vehicles.
'I'm not sure that's bad news,' Wagoner said of his company's cuts Friday. 'The fact is, you've got to build from market demand back. That's what it seems to be these actions are all about.'
GM trimmed production 7-8 pct during the summer and has scaled back production of new full-size sports utility vehicles by suspending overtime, said Wagoner, who declined to detail his fourth-quarter production targets.
'I think the fuel price situation has been a little surprising to everyone,' Wagoner said during an appearance in suburban Detroit.
'It would have been hard to predict, for example, the current issues we have in the Middle East. These things hang out there. We have to react to that.'
Wagoner noted GM will be launching a number of new cars and crossovers that offer better fuel economy later in the year.
He said he is growing more optimistic about GM's future although he warned that sales will be weak in the coming months.
Sales last year were driven up by big incentives and GM made a deliberate decision to hold down sales to rental fleets this year, Wagoner said.
'I think what we've doing is beginning to paying some dividends as far as some of the cutbacks early in the year,' Wagoner told reporters. 'We've been able to get a little more steady pace of retail sales without the kind of incentives and the costliness of the incentives we were running a year ago.'
The decision to move ahead with the development of the Chevrolet Camaro is one sign of how GM, which lost 10.6 bln usd in 2005, has changed over the past year, he said. GM had abandoned the so-called muscle-car segment earlier in the decade.
'It's an exclamation point on our commitment to do great cars and trucks,' Wagoner said after the showing off the Camaro during the annual Woodward Dream Cruise.
'It talks profoundly about a new way of doing business at GM,' he added.
Wagoner emphasized there was nothing new to report on the ongoing discussion with Renault-Nissan.
'It's moving along according to an expected schedule,' said Wagoner, who indicated both sides are still exchanging and collecting information.
Wagoner also noted he remains optimistic about the prospects for settlement between Delphi and its various unions. The talks are complex but they have not broken down, he said.
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-----The orginal Mr.Goodwrench on the JBO since 11/99-----
When did they abandon muscle car? 03 and 07 are the only years w/o a v8 rwd car other than the vette.
Edit: Also, they had a large portion of things planned already they just couldn't do them yet.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Monday, August 21, 2006 4:29 PM
05 M6 YJ GTO 1 of 447
To think GM spent what would have been the next Camaro's resources on the SSR. Now the SSR is dead and Camaro is a go. Changing of times? Hmmm
SSR=Flop
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-----The orginal Mr.Goodwrench on the JBO since 11/99-----
Yeah^ when i saw the SSR i had a feeling that would happen.
Mid size SUV was just a couple of years ago
3 shifts Moraine Assembly 360
2 Shifts Oklahoma 370
2 Shifts Linden 330
Linden 2 shifts got cut last year
Oklahoma 2 shifts got cut earlier this year
Moraine Assembly cuts 1 shift June 30th.
Yeah I say that GM scaled back.
Also when that Lambda platform comes out. I see Moraine Assembly sales go down even more.
It's about time.. Now bring on the diesels...
Red 2005 Saturn Ion-3 Coupe
i think they are starting to get it
put more money and resources in cars!!!! something tells me the next gen coablt is going to be right on the level of corolla and civic
It took them a while to realise that 50% of buyers bought cars instead of trucks.
And now for something completely different... Click the Minister.
97cavy22 wrote:i think they are starting to get it
put more money and resources in cars!!!! something tells me the next gen coablt is going to be right on the level of corolla and civic
In order for that to happen, they will need a clean sheet design.
>>>For Sale? Clicky!<<<
-----The orginal Mr.Goodwrench on the JBO since 11/99-----
i hope so
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98' Pontiac Sunfire SE
