Dan Akerson Takes Over as GM CEO
On September 1, 2010 Ed Whitacre, Jr. will no longer be the CEO of General Motors; Dan Akerson will be taking over the reigns and will continue to direct GM on its path toward success.
Dan Akerson
We all know the devastating losses that GM incurred throughout these past few years – but Whitacre was able to push GM forward and turn the company’s outlook around, and Akerson will continue to do the same.
Ed Whitacre
Dan Akerson, 61, joined the GM board in July of 2009. “Dan Akerson has been actively engaged in and supportive of the key decisions and changes made at the new GM. He brings broad business experience, decisive leadership, and continuity to this role,” said Pat Russo, lead director on the GM board. “The board of directors deeply appreciates the leadership Ed has provided and is pleased with the serious commitment Dan is making to the company. We look forward to his leadership.”
GM Logo
“There are remarkable opportunities ahead for the new GM, and I am honored to lead the company through this next chapter,” said Akerson. “Ed Whitacre established a foundation upon which we will continue building a great automobile company.”
GM Keeps ‘Em Coming
GM has really made its mark this year, in terms of awards, and it continues to do so as the days go by. One of the most impressive milestones for GM is that J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study (IQS) recognized 10 GM models as top three vehicles in their segments for quality performance within the first 90 days of ownership. Some of those models are: Malibu, CTS, Suburban, Lucerne, and Yukon XL.
2010 GMC Yukon
I am happy to announce that the Tahoe, Avalanche, Escalade and Sierra 1500 have each received quality awards as top vehicles in their class! Also, along with all of the awards going to GM vehicles, the Lansing Grand River assembly plant in Michigan won the Bronze Plant Award in North/South America region, as well as being recognized as the top-ranking plant in the US!
Lansing Grand River Plant
Kudos to GM for this amazing award year!
GM To Create New Jobs and Produce More Equinox!
On Friday, March 26th, 2010, GM announced a new way to produce more of its Equinox and GMC Terrains. GM is going to expand the CAMI Automotive plant in Ingersoll, Ontario to produce more Equinox bodies and then it will have those bodies shipped to the Oshawa plant for paint and final assembly. “This plan for CAMI and Oshawa allows us to meet customer demand for hot products while avoiding a potential production overcapacity situation by creatively using our assets and facilities,” said Mark Reuss, GM North America president. Reuss also stated that, “This agreement is pretty cost-effective and they could easily get 50,000 to 60,000 more units of … production…” Who doesn’t love the idea of having more Equinox readily available?
Another great aspect to this announcement is the creation of 600 jobs for the Oshawa plant and 70 jobs for the CAMI plant! In a time of world-wide economic hardship, it is great to see a company re-opening jobs for people.
GM wants to restore more ‘good dealers’ :
General Motors Company Chairman Ed Whitacre said today that he want “a lot more” rejected dealerships to be restored only if they are good dealers. Talking to the Detroit Auto Show, Whitacre went beyond remarks he made last week, expressing his preferences and hinting at how General Motors will proceed in upcoming arbitration.
Last week, Whitacre said that “a large number” of dealerships will be restored in arbitration for more than 100. In a statement later posted on its website, GM said it is difficult to say how many dealerships will be restored. It could be some one hundred and more than one hundred. Dealer attorney Leonard Bellavia said last week he suspected that GM wants to restore rejected dealerships to try to increase sales. While asking about this, Whitacre said: “I want them to be restored if they’re good dealers.” Good dealers will increase sales. If they are good dealers, we’ll take a lot more.
Under the arbitration process outlined in a law signed by President Barack Obama last month, rejected dealerships have until Jan. 25 to give notice that they intend to file for neutral arbitration. Arbitrators have until June to hand down decisions on any dealer appeals that are submitted. GM has the discretion to influence the process by calibrating how staunchly it opposes any dealer appeal. By not submitting a response to arbitrators or by expressing lukewarm opposition, the company could signal that it doesn’t object to reinstatement of a particular dealer.
Whitacre said last week that GM used a “pretty arbitrary” cutoff point in choosing the 1,350 dealerships it rejected and probably made mistakes by cutting some good dealerships and leaving some bad ones. “The bad thing would be if they’re a lousy dealer that has a lousy storefront and through some process they’re put back in arbitrarily,” he said. “If they’re a good dealer and would really push GM in a classy manner, like we want it done, then it would be really good.”
GM treads on difficult month
September month was a difficult one for the GM vehicle sales; all the dealership was low in retail as well as certified car sales. GM sales volumes were low in comparison with month-over-month and year-over-year sales figures. GM had lost 36% volume in a month; the total car sale was 156,673 in the month across US market.
The company had launched new marketing campaigns to boost the sales for their core brands and non core brands. The two major launch were Pre-Cash for Clunkers and 60 Days Satisfaction Guarantee program.
It has helped the leader manufacturer to manage the show for this quarter. Vice President Sales, Mark, confirmed that the month was very tough for the company, but we are enthusiastic about the fourth quarter, the market is now taking shape and growing with new brands and campaign launch.
GM had lost grounds on their certified car segment as well. Their Saturn, Cadillac, Saab and Hummer Certified pre-owned vehicles combined sales was 22,885 vehicles in the month of September.
GM certified used vehicle sales were 34% down from last month, a total of 19,877 vehicles down. In Saturn used car the downfall is of 15% with a sales volume of 692 vehicles. Cadillac certified used vehicles sold 1819 vehicles, a down run of 44%, Hummer following the trend fallen 30% with 135 vehicles being sold.
Mark LaNeve shared his customer satisfaction survey data, showing, GM ranks high on value for money, brand name and dealer reputation. Quality is the main power play in the industry and GM is leading all fronts.
GM was in talk with Penske for their Saturn brand supply and production. Penske Automotive is a very reputed and large player in automobile industry. GM, the creator of Saturn brand cars, is now dealing with Penske for retail supply chain and once the contract gets over, Penske will take over the production facility for the same.
This whole negotiation had gained much hype and there were 350 dealers who have registered for their Saturn dealership and service agencies. The deal was a much sought after deal in the automobile industry. But all of a sudden the deal broke off and left dealers stranded with no future option left apart from quit.
The breaking of deal had created 13000 US job cuts and dealers looking for new dealership. But within their own self, the dealers are still hopeful that the deal might kick off once again. As, Roger Penske, is a very smart man and will not pursue any matter, unless there is a point in it.
Such optimist views are widespread among the dealers, but today the news stands that the GM and Penske deal is down.
2010 Silverado, Sierra models get 22 mpg highway rating
The consumer demand for high fuel efficient cars is being met by General Motor with roll out of its latest fuel efficiency models, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC sierra. They are being rated at 22 MPG on the highway. According to Chevrolet spokesman, this was achieved through GM refinement processes, which include optimization of fuel save mode by shift pattern optimization, six speed transmissions, addition of variable valve timings and full exhaustive comprehensive cylinder shut off to optimize the pickup to meet the fuel efficiency goal.
According to Brian Goebel, the fuel improvement does not compromise anyway in terms of payload, horsepower and other specifications being the same as GMC and full size pickups.
Fuel efficient cars were introduced last year and have become very popular with consumers due to high rise of gas as much as $4/ gallon in United States last year.
The XFE (Extra fuel economy) label are now very popular and in high demand by car drivers. The trucks are rated at 15 mpg in the city and 21 mpg in the highway.
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