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Despite a surprise $15.5 billion loss in the second quarter, and the drumbeat of lower truck sales and shrinking market share, General Motors' board of directors is firmly behind Rick Wagoner.
Friend of the TCC house John Stoll reports over at the
Wall Street Journal today that Wagoner's leadership at GM isn't in question whatsoever, despite the dark news surrounding the company throughout the past six months. While Wagoner and his executive team carved out and implemented a recovery plan for the automaker, the world changed around them--and that's why he's in no danger, Stoll reports.
"The board is totally behind Rick, realizing nobody could deal with this situation any better than he," a source close to the GM board told the Journal. "It's a case of an excellent plan, [and] delivering on all promises."
Wagoner has survived a remarkable downturn at General Motors since his arrival in 2000. A continuing drop in market share has left GM with only about 20 percent of the U.S. market right now; at the start of the decade, GM execs were working feverishly to preserve a 28-percent share, even then a historic low.
To Wagoner's credit, the piece says, GM has cut equally historic deals with the United Auto Workers, turned around the quality of its cars and
trucks, and seeded strong growth in China and other world markets outside of stagnant Europe and shrinking North America.
To give some momentum to its latest turnaround plan, GM announced last month it would cut more
trucks from its production plan while it pushed ahead the launches of several new cars and crossover vehicles, including the 2011
Chevrolet Cruze; the 2010
Cadillac SRX and
Saab 9-4X; the
Chevrolet Equinox; and an unnamed
Buick sedan that likely will replace the
Lucerne in 2010.
Posted in : 2008, GM, Industry News
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A
Toyota engineer who died in 2006 was killed by too much work, a labor organization in Japan has ruled.
The Associated Press reports that in 2006, an
Toyota vehicle engineer died of ischemic heart disease. (The engineer's name was not reported at the family's request.) The disease, his family argued, was brought on by excessive work--as much as 80 hours of overtime a month at the worker's office in
Toyota City.
The news agency reports the engineer worked nights and weekends to get a vital car ready for the 2006 North American International
Auto Show in Detroit--the same show that saw the world debut of the latest
Toyota Camry as well as the new
Lexus LS sedan. The 45-year-old had been working on developing the
Camry Hybrid for the show, but died before the car made its way to Cobo Hall.
The ruling allows the man's family to collect work benefits.
READ MORE:
AP Wire Stories
Posted in : Industry News, Toyota
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Armchair quarterbacking about GM shutting down another brand is just rumor, says GM's Mark LaNeve, who told dealers in a letter that
Saturn,
Buick,
Pontiac, and
Saab are only being studied, not yanked from the GM corral.
In the letter to dealers--obtained by Dow Jones reporters--LaNeve says to dealers that GM is merely trying to improve its business--"that is the extent of the 'examination' that is going on at this time for
Saturn or any other GM brand," he writes.
LaNeve explains that the company's trying to find way to make the brands profitable--in rough agreement with the Wall Street Journal's assertion earlier this week that
Saturn never has turned a profit.
GM shares have fallen to 50-year lows and sales dropped dramatically in June, though less than analysts expected--and less than Japanese automaker Toyota's sales fell. In recent weeks, GM has confirmed it's put its
HUMMER brand under "strategic review," which has been understood in
Detroit to mean either a range of small new
HUMMERs has to be developed, or the brand will be sold or joint-ventured with a foreign automaker.
READ MORE:
GM Sales Chief Says No Plans to Ax More Brands - WSJ.com
Posted in : Buick, GM, Industry News, Pontiac, Saturn
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Could more brands join
HUMMER on the chopping block? The
Wall Street Journal says
Saturn has stopped work on the next Aura, and that
Saab and
Buick are being vetted for possible sale or shutdown.
Toyota's planning
solar power for the new Prius--but only to run its air conditioning.
Suzuki's testing a
fuel-cell version of its SX4 compact on the road.
Volvo wants to push its products upscale--even while
Ford's still looking at potential partners for the Swedes.
Nissan's delivered
the first GT-R in the U.S. to a lucky California customer. (Stay tuned this week as we write about our exclusive drive of the GT-R, too.)
Meanwhile, in South Carolina, Christians will be able to proclaim their
faith on a license plate.
Finally, the long-awaited deal between
Sirius and XM could be on the final leg to approval.
Posted in : Industry News
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It's possible her campaign is finding a speck of hope in the weeks before
the Pennsylvania primary--and now, Sen. Hillary Clinton's trying to turn that faint hope brighter by appealing to Rust Belt voters in a promise to bail out the Big Three.
The
Detroit News reports that Clinton's offering a government-backed bailout for the Big Three automakers to prevent any of the trio from going out of business. The News quotes the Senator's interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Monday, in which she says she wouldn't let General Motors,
Ford, or
Chrysler go out of business without a fight. But a government bailout wouldn't be free: The money wouldn't come "unless they change their direction," Clinton said with no small amount of imprecision.
The fly in the campaign ointment? None of the three companies involved is asking for any federal money to stay in business. But GM and
Ford spokespeople were appreciative nonetheless, in one of the few signs of outreach from the Presidential campaign to
Detroit's auto industry. A GM spokesperson was "pleased that the senator recognizes the importance of the domestic auto industry," while
Ford's PR said they appreciated the Senator's support.
The comments are in sharp contrast to statements from Sen. Barack Obama, who railed against
Detroit's automakers in their own backyard rather famously last year--and even to President George W. Bush, who said two years ago that
Detroit should "build a product that's relevant."
Posted in : 2008, Industry News, Shoppers
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Despite a surprise $15.5 billion loss in the second quarter, and the drumbeat of lower truck sales and shrinking market share, General Motors' board of directors is firmly behind Rick Wagoner.;)
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