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France's PSA Group (PEUP.PA) has agreed to buy Opel from General Motors (GM.N) in a deal valuing the business at 2.2 billion euros ($2.3 billion), creating a new European car giant to challenge market leader Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE).
The maker of Peugeot and Citroen cars vowed to return Opel and its British Vauxhall brand to profit, targeting an operating margin of 2 percent within three years and 6 percent by 2026 underpinned by 1.7 billion euros in joint cost savings.
PSA shares jumped as much as 5.2 percent after Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said GM's European arm could be turned around using lessons from the French group's own recovery. Opel recently recorded its 16th consecutive full-year loss.
"We're confident that the Opel-Vauxhall turnaround will significantly accelerate with our support," he said.
By acquiring Opel, PSA leapfrogs French rival Renault (RENA.PA) to become Europe's second-ranked carmaker by sales, with a 16 percent market share to VW's 24 percent.
The disposal seals GM's exit from Europe and ends a relationship dating back to the 1920s.
Eight years after coming close to a sale to Canada's Magna (MG.TO), the Detroit car giant has faced renewed investor pressure to offload the business to raise profitability, rather than chase the global sales crown currently held by VW.
Last year, PSA and GM Europe recorded a combined 72 billion euros in revenue and 4.3 million vehicle deliveries.
GM will receive 1.32 billion euros for the Opel manufacturing business in the form of 650 million euros in cash and 670 million in PSA share warrants.
An additional 900 million euros will be paid by the Paris-based carmaker and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) for Opel's financing arm, to be operated jointly and consolidated by the French bank.
'PROUD NOT RELIEVED'
After fending off 2015 merger overtures by Fiat Chrysler (FCHA.MI) with support from her board, GM boss Mary Barra agreed to target a 20 percent return on invested capital and pay out more cash to shareholders.
"The way I look at this is positioning Opel-Vauxhall to be incredibly successful in the future," Barra said on Monday when asked by a reporter whether she was relieved.
"General Motors doesn't have to be relieved," PSA's Tavares interjected. "They can be proud of giving Opel-Vauxhall a better future."
PSA shares were up 2.2 percent at 19.49 euros as of 0939 GMT, after reaching 20.06 euros earlier in the session. GM shares closed 1.2 percent higher on Friday after Reuters reported a deal had been struck.
The two carmakers, which already share some production in an existing European alliance, confirmed last month they were negotiating PSA's outright acquisition of Opel, sparking concern over possible job cuts.
Tavares said on Monday the targeted savings would come from purchasing and research and development - avoiding plant closures - as the Opel lineup is redeveloped with PSA technology and vehicle architectures.
An ambitious technical convergence push will begin with the Opel Corsa, the CEO indicated, as earlier reported by Reuters.
The next version of the popular subcompact will be delayed by a year to 2020 as it goes back to the drawing board, according to presentation slides shown to analysts.
"Our planning teams are already working on that," Tavares said when questioned about the model. Another five PSA-based Opel vehicles will follow by 2023.
LABOR COSTS
The Opel deal caps a stellar two-year recovery for PSA, which avoided bankruptcy in 2014 by selling 14 percent stakes to the French state and China's Dongfeng (0489.HK), matching the Peugeot family's diluted holding.
Tavares has since cut about 3,000 French assembly line jobs each year through voluntary departures to trim the wage bill to 11 percent of revenue from the 15 percent level he inherited - which is roughly where Opel's labor costs stand today.
PSA reiterated pledges to run Opel as a distinct German subsidiary and honor existing job guarantees, which tend to cover production plans for existing models.
Beyond those horizons, however, the outlook for Opel plants may be less certain.
"Tavares wants to create healthy competition between the plants," said one person involved in the tie-up talks. "They will be competing for workload."
With Europe's auto market near a peak, some analysts expect the new group to close two or three plants within five years. Britain's European Union exit adds to the uncertainty over Vauxhall's UK plants at Ellesmere Port and Luton.
But Tavares said exports could help fill Opel plants, adding that UK manufacturing brought opportunities as well as risks in the event of a "hard Brexit" in which Britain leaves the EU without a free-trade deal.
"This may look to you a little bit romantic," he conceded.
The transaction also sees GM retain most of Opel's pensions deficit, estimated by analysts at $10 billion. Earlier in the talks, the U.S. carmaker had sought to offload a larger share of the liabilities, sources said.
Some smaller pension funds will be transferred to PSA, along with a 3 billion euro payment to cover their full settlement, the companies said on Monday.
Existing Opel models will be barred from entering new overseas markets under "non-compete" agreements that had also complicated negotiations - while GM will be similarly excluded from marketing the same underlying technologies in Europe.
The PSA warrants, exercisable in five years and maturing in nine, provide a financial incentive for GM to continue cooperating. The U.S. carmaker has agreed to sell the shares received upon exercise, keeping no stake in PSA.
The Opel sale cuts GM's cash balance requirement by $2 billion, the company said, allowing it to accelerate share repurchases. GM will also take a charge of $4 billion to $4.5 billion on the deal, expected to close in late 2017.
GM to cut second shift at Lordstown; 1,500 jobs affected
April 13, 2018
LORDSTOWN
This afternoon General Motors Lordstown Assembly Complex employees were informed that the second shift at the plant will be eliminated.
There will be 1,500 workers affected by the elimination that will take place June 15. One shift production will begin June 18. GM also announced a special attrition program to employees that could affect the number of people actually laid off. Sales of the plant’s compact car product, the Chevrolet Cruze, have declined for months. March marked the 11th consecutive month of sales declines for the Cruze. Last year, the plant lost its third shift and saw more than 10 weeks of down time because of the trend away from small cars.
The news comes after the United Auto Workers Local 1112 President Glenn Johnson was ousted by former UAW 1714 President Dave Green earlier this week. Earlier this year, the UAW 1714 and UAW 1112 merged to secure the future of GM Lordstown, union leadership said at the time.
Some good news for the plant came last week when GM announced the 2019 Cruze would be released later this year with an upgraded face and new features.
GM Posts Higher Profit, Lowers Outlook Amid Steel, Aluminum Costs
Auto maker says commodity costs in the quarter were about $300 million higher than a year earlier
July 25, 2018
General Motors Co.’s second-quarter net income rose amid strong results from its in-house finance arm and China, but the auto maker lowered its 2018 profit outlook based partly on unexpectedly high raw-materials costs in the wake of U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum.
GM on Wednesday said net income attributable to common shareholders totaled $2.4 billion for the April-to-June period, up 44% from a year earlier. GM said commodity costs in the quarter were about $300 million higher than a year earlier.
The nation’s largest car company by sales said it expects raw-materials costs to rise well beyond what it expected when it set its profit guidance at the beginning of the year. A combination of higher commodity prices—primarily steel and aluminum—and unfavorable foreign-exchange rates in South America will result in a hit of about $1 billion more than what the company originally forecast.
GM reduced its 2018 earnings-per-share forecast to $6, from a range of $6.30-$6.60. Analysts had forecast EPS of $6.41.
teel prices have risen sharply since spring, when the Trump administration signaled its plan to put a 25% tariff on steel and 10% on aluminum. The metals account for more than half the content in a typical automobile. The tariffs took effect June 1.
GM said second-quarter operating profit excluding one-time factors was $1.81 per share, surpassing Wall Street expectations of $1.78 per a share.
Revenue from continuing operations dipped less than 1%, to $36.8 billion, near the average analyst forecast of $36.9 billion.
GM’s downgraded profit outlook signals a likely end to a three-year string of record adjusted-operating profits, which totaled $12.8 billion in 2017. GM originally had forecast this year’s bottom line to be in the same range as last year’s.
The strong economy and job market have helped U.S. vehicle sales remain near record levels, while GM and other auto makers have benefited from a consumer shift toward larger—and more profitable—rides like pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles. U.S. auto sales have been on an unusually long run since the Great Recession, as American buyers have taken advantage of low interest rates and attractive lease deals.
GM may close up to 5 plants in North American restructuring in 2019
November 26, 2018 @ 9:40 am
DETROIT -- General Motors said it will significantly cut its salaried workforce and could close up to five plants in North America, including three assembly plants, as part of overhaul of its North American operations in 2019.
The automaker on Monday said Lordstown Assembly in Ohio, Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly in Michigan and Oshawa Assembly in Canada will not be allocated any products beginning in 2019. Propulsion plants in Maryland and Michigan also will not be given any product.
All of the products currently being assembled at those three plants are expected to stop being produced by the end of 2019.
GM expects the announced actions to annually contribute to $6 billion in cash savings by 2020, including $4.5 billion in cost reductions and $1.5 billion in lower capital expenditures.
Not allocating product doesn’t meant the plants will close, but it puts their future and the jobs of roughly 6,300 hourly and salaried factory employees -- 3,300 in the U.S. and 3,000 in Canada -- at risk heading into contract negotiations with the UAW in 2019 and Canadian union Unifor in 2020.
GM also announced it will close two unidentified assembly plants outside of North America by the end of next year and restructure its salaried workforce.
The salaried workforce restructuring includes cutting 15 percent of its 54,000 salaried employees in North America, including slashing global executives by 25 percent.
It was expected that GM, which announced the overhaul Monday, needed to address underutilization of its plants. The announcement comes ahead of negotiations with the UAW in 2019 and Unifor in 2020 is uncommon.
GM represents 1 million of the 3.2 million units of underutilized capacity in the U.S. through October, according to the Center for Automotive Research.
The manufacturing overhaul follows recent cost-cutting measures by GM such as offering buyouts to 18,000 salaried employees and exiting or restructuring unprofitable markets such as Europe and South Korea.
Oshawa currently has two assembly lines. The flex line produces the low-volume Cadillac XTS and Chevrolet Impala while the truck line produces the light- and heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. It employs 1,542 employees, including 1,348 hourly union workers.
Detroit-Hamtramck currently builds the Chevrolet Volt, Chevrolet Impala, Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CT6. U.S. sales of the Impala were down 13 percent through September.
Lordstown, which has dropped from three shifts to one in recent years, exclusively produces the Chevrolet Cruze. Sales of the compact car were down 27 percent through September, GM said.
GM is dropping 6 sedans from it's lineup with these plant closures. I'm guessing this, along with Ford dropping all sedans next year, is the beginning of the end for sedans in the US market.
It will be interesting to see what Toyota, Honda, and the Germans do. The Cruze and Impala just don't sell like the Japanese models. I feel terrible for those workers and their families.
WASHINGTON -- General Motors hit 200,000 total electric vehicles sold in the United States by the end of 2018, reaching a threshold that triggers a phaseout of a $7,500 federal tax credit over the next 15 months, a person briefed on the matter said Wednesday.
The largest U.S. automaker reached the figure in the fourth quarter of 2018, which means the credit will fall to $3,750 in April, and then drop to $1,875 in October for six months. The credit will completely disappear by April 2020. The 200,000 figure covers GM's cumulative EV sales since 2010.
The tax credit is aimed at defraying the cost of electric vehicles that are more expensive than similarly sized internal combustion engine vehicles. In 2009, Congress set the phase-out threshold at 200,000 vehicles per manufacturer.
GM, which said previously it expected to reach the 200,000 sales figure before the end of 2018, declined to comment ahead of the release of its quarterly sales results on Thursday.
GM and Tesla Inc., which hit the 200,000 figure in July 2018, have both lobbied Congress to lift the cap or extend the existing tax credit. Tesla's EV tax credit fell to $3,750 on Tuesday and Tesla said it was cutting prices on its EVs by $2,000 to partially offset the lower tax credit.
In March, GM CEO Mary Barra called on Congress to expand the consumer tax credit for electric vehicles as the company boosted production of the EV Bolt in response to consumer demand. She repeated the request last month during a visit to Capitol Hill.
GM said in November it was doubling resources allocated to developing electric and self-driving vehicles as part of a significant restructuring that includes ending production at five North American plants. GM also announced it would halt production of the plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt by March.
In a recent ad campaign, Chevrolet made the claim that their cars are “more reliable” than Honda, Toyota, and Ford. This claim is based on some very selective survey data that Chevy sponsored. Toyota has disputed Chevrolet’s claim—and now the ad’s been pulled from the rotation.
The ad that came out early January is just one in a long line of cringe-inducing “real people” commercials, only this time it was, Chevy “surprising” people when it comes to reliability. In case you missed it here it is again:
Last week I detailed how some of the variables in the study were not released and therefore Chevrolet was able to make a technically correct claim about the reliability of their 2015 model year cars using a narrow operational definition and a selective data set.
However, your average consumer may take issue with this definition of “reliability” and may feel that Chevrolet is being a bit deceptive in their presentation of the data.
I was sent a tip from a salesperson at a Toyota dealer who received a communication from Toyota corporate addressing this ad. It seems the “real people” at Toyota called Chevrolet out and now the ad is being pulled from the rotation.
So then I went to Chevrolet’s YouTube channel and while the video’s hyperlink is still live, the ad is no longer on the playlist when you sort by date starting with the most recent ad.
I reached out to representatives from both Chevrolet and Toyota. A Toyota spokesperson said:
“Toyota corporate did send that message to our dealers.
Our understanding is Chevy has decided to pull the ad.”
Chevrolet responded by saying:
Chevrolet stands by the reliability claim and the ad. The ad is part of a series of creative executions of our campaign that we have been using to promote the brand overall, the all-new Silverado, our crossovers and the most affordable vehicles in our lineup. We regularly make adjustments to our advertising and media strategy to support our business needs and it should be no surprise that our primary focus is on launching our all-new Silverado, therefore we will be debuting additional new Silverado creative in the coming week that will take the place of the reliability ad. We have not altered our marketing campaigns because of any concerns with the accuracy of our ad content.
The Chevrolet rep did not directly refute the Toyota’s claim that the ad was challenged by Toyota and therefore pulled out of the rotation. Often brands will run multiple commercials for their various products during the same time frame, so this makes us wonder: if Chevy is just moving on not “concerned about the accuracy of the content,” why pull the ad completely and no longer make it available on their playlist?
The Detroit News also has a bit more detail on the back and forth, which also included Ford and Honda.
Ford, Honda and Toyota confirmed they each challenged the 60-second TV spot, which aired in Metro Detroit during the North American International Auto Show. Its title: “Chevy Surprises Competitive Owners When It Comes To Reliability.”
A lawyer for one of the three automakers who challenged the ad sent an email to GM’s legal counsel this month demanding that the automaker stop making the reliability comparison claims in its advertising campaign, according to sources familiar with the correspondence. GM was given until 5 p.m. Jan. 14 to respond to the demands.
In a verbal response, a lawyer for GM told a counterpart at one of the rival automakers that Chevrolet is moving in a different marketing direction as it ramps up its campaign for the new Silverado pickup trucks, the sources said. And the GM lawyer added that the ad already had stopped airing nationally, with plans to remove the commercial from local markets in the coming weeks, the sources said.
General Motors Profit Dragged Down by Weak China Sales
Feb. 6, 2019
General Motors Co.’s said its fourth-quarter operating profit dropped 8%, as strong sales in its home U.S. market were offset by weaker results in China.
The largest U.S. auto maker in terms of sales said pretax profit excluding one-time factors for the October-to-December period was $2.8 billion, or $1.43 a share, surpassing the average analysts’ estimate of $1.24 a share.
The company said strong pricing on pickup trucks and crossover SUVs in North America drove results, though a 25% drop in China sales during the quarter hurt the bottom line by about $200 million.
Net income totaled $2 billion, compared with a $5.1 billion net loss in the fourth quarter of 2017 stemming from a charge related to tax-law changes. The most recent quarter included a $1.3 billion charge related to job cuts under a continuing restructuring in North America, offset partly by a tailwind from foreign tax credits.
Fourth-quarter revenue rose 2% to $38.4 billion, better than the average analysts’ forecast of $36.5 billion.
GM shares rose about 3% in morning trading. They had rallied 17% this year through Tuesday, after the auto maker last month gave a bullish outlook for 2019, surprising analysts. Last year, they sank 18%, hampered by trade uncertainty and concerns about an eventual downturn in U.S. vehicle sales, analysts have said.
GM’s finance chief Dhivya Suryadevara said higher commodity costs in 2018, which partly stemmed from the effect of tariffs on steel and aluminum, hurt the company’s bottom line last year by more than $1 billion. She said GM cut some costs in other areas to mitigate the impact.
GM Chief Executive Mary Barra has narrowed the auto maker’s focus on the U.S. and China, the world’s largest markets, after exiting Europe and other money-losing regions in recent years. The company could be pressured if vehicle sales in the U.S. and China don’t hold steady this year, as GM has forecast, an outlook that some analysts say is overly optimistic.
Last year, GM blunted weaker sales in North America and China with stronger pricing in the U.S., where consumers paid nearly $37,000 on average for a GM vehicle in the fourth quarter, a record for the period.
GM is well positioned as more buyers choose SUVs and pickup trucks, which carry higher price tags than passenger cars and are areas of strength for the auto maker.
For the year, GM earned $11.8 billion in operating profit, below the record $12.8 billion it generated in 2017. Last year’s results were hurt by higher commodity costs, which partly stemmed from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. It earned $6.54 per share in 2018, above the $6.25 forecast among analysts.
GM expects its bottom line to rebound this year, partly driven by more than $2 billion in expected savings from cutting as many as 14,000 jobs in North America, moves that have drawn criticism from President Trump. The company confirmed this week that it has begun laying off thousands of salaried workers, part of the restructuring disclosed in November.
GM said Wednesday it will cut profit-sharing checks of up to $10,750 to about 46,500 U.S. factory workers, under terms of its contract with the United Auto Workers union. The payouts are based on operating profit in North America, which slipped 9%, to $10.8 billion.
GM is going 'all-electric,' but it doesn't expect to make money off battery-powered cars until early next decade
General Motors does not expect its electric vehicles to turn a profit for at least a few more years, CEO Mary Barra told investors on Wednesday.
The largest U.S. automaker repeated its commitment Wednesday to make its entire vehicle lineup "all-electric," but provided investors with few details of those plans on a conference call after GM reported fourth quarter earnings that beat expectations.
However, GM is clear that its electric vehicles won't make money until "early next decade," Barra said.
Making money off electric vehicles has long been considered a major challenge for automakers, which are pouring money into electric vehicle, EV, technology in the face of fluctuating oil prices, government initiatives to reduce carbon pollution and excitement over Tesla.
The California-based electric car maker has recently pulled off two profitable quarters in a row after losing money for years. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said in the past he expected Tesla to start turning regular profits beginning in the third quarter of 2018. So far the company has made good on that promise, but some investors are still cautious, if not skeptical the company can maintain that momentum.
Barra also demurred when asked when customers can expect to see an electric pickup truck from GM, saying simply that GM is "committed to an all-electric future" and to "stay tuned" for more news.
Meanwhile, other automakers have announced their intentions to move further into electric vehicles. For example, Ford is planning an all-electric version of its best-selling F-150 full-size pickup. Its first foray into EV's will be a new crossover inspired by the Mustang that executives say will be built for driving enthusiasts.
GM recently said it plans to make its luxury brand Cadillac the lead brand for its electrification efforts.
Good news for fans of big American sedans: GM has announced that it will extend production at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant for another six months.
As a result, the Cadillac CT6 luxury sedan and Chevrolet Impala full-size sedan will remain in production at the Michigan plant until the beginning of 2020; originally, production for these vehicles was scheduled to end in June.
“GM notified employees, suppliers and dealers today that the completion of Impala and CT6 production at Detroit/Hamtramck will extend into January 2020,” the company announced in a statement. “We are balancing production timing while continuing the availability of Cadillac advanced technology features currently included in the CT6-V, the Blackwing Twin-Turbo V-8 and Super Cruise,” GM added.
The announcement means the CT6 and Impala get a new lease of life in the United States for at least another six months. In the meantime, GM will likely arrange alternative production sites for the CT6. Company execs said earlier this year that GM never meant to discontinue the luxury sedan, which was only introduced in 2016 and received its first facelift for the 2019 model year.
We’re not so sure the Impala will live on for long, though. The full-size sedan entered production in 2013 as a 2014 model year, so it’s nearing the end of its lifecycle. Add to that its dwindling sales, and it’s not hard to anticipate the Impala’s demise when production ends in January 2020 at Detroit-Hamtramck.
While there’s a glimmer of hope for the Impala, the fate of the Chevrolet Volt and Buick LaCrosse, which are also built at the same plant, seems sealed. GM’s statement says nothing about the Volt and LaCrosse, which means they will go out of production on March 1, as originally planned. We’ve contacted GM asking them to confirm that date and will update this story as soon as we get a reply.
General Motors is bailing on CES 2020, the big annual consumer technology showcase in Las Vegas, after its plans to showcase an autonomous, electric vehicle were derailed by the 40-day UAW strike this fall. New evidence suggests that vehicle may have been Cadillac’s upcoming EV crossover.
MotorTrend got GM to confirm that it was pulling out of CES, which takes place in January, though CEO Mary Barra in an interview said only that the vehicle they had planned to unveil was electric and featured autonomous technology — two key areas where the automaker plans to focus in the future. The automaker said the model simply wasn’t ready. But MT said it then received an invitation from Cruise, GM’s self-driving vehicle subsidiary, to an event later in January in San Francisco. That suggests the automaker could have been planning a different vehicle to show at CES than its self-driving Cruise AV “robotaxi,” which famously features no steering wheel or pedals.
Whatever the vehicle was, or is, Barra said it’ll be ready for viewing in the first half of 2020.
GM has been developing the Chevrolet Bolt-based Cruise AV, a fully autonomous car, alongside its Cruise self-driving technology subsidiary, and building them at Orion Assembly plant near Detroit. It had once planned to debut a fleet of ride-hailing Cruise AV robot axis by the end of this year but realized the timeline was not realistic.
Testing of the robot axis continues in San Francisco, Phoenix and Michigan. As for timing on a new timeline for fleets of Cruise AVs to take over the streets, Barra wouldn’t show her hand. “We see a line of sight but we’re not going to put another date out there,” she told MT, adding it was more important to “gain customer trust and usage.”
As for Cadillac, any new reveal would likely come after the all-new Escalade SUV in February and amid a product blitz that will see it introduce a new or redesigned model roughly every six months through 2021. Cadillac President Steve Carlisle toldAutomotive News the new Escalade will get Super Cruise with expanded features, possibly including automatic lane-changing capability.
GM Europe is nothing more than a shadow of its former self. Restructured after the 2008 financial crisis, the European division then sold Opel and Vauxhall to Groupe PSA in 2017 because neither brand was turning a profit for General Motors. 13 photos
To sum things up as simply as possible, General Motors failed in this part of the world. Even more worrying is that the higher-ups in Michigan decided to wind down Holden in Australia, morphing it into General Motors Special Vehicles.
Now we’ll turn our attention back to the Old Continent, namely to the city of Turin in Italy. The Big G is running an engineering center there – General Motors Propulsion Systems, which was formerly known as GM Powertrain Europe. This is the place where the U.S. manufacturer researched and developed the 1.6- and 3.0-liter turbo diesels powering the North American versions of the Chevrolet Equinox, Silverado 1500 pickup truck, as well as the all-new 2021 Cadillac Escalade.
General Motors’ employees in Turin will soon work for the Punch Group, which has acquired the company for an undisclosed amount of euros. An agreement between the two parties will ensure the smooth transition to Punch while GM will be able to utilize the Italian center’s engineering ops until the end of 2021.
“The work will continue to support our global operations and allow us to focus our internal efforts on long-term solutions,” said GM executive vice president Doug Parks. Reading between the lines, the Detroit-based automaker decided to focus on electrified powertrains instead of pouring money into turbo diesels.
General Motors has high hopes in this regard, having recently confirmed the return of the Hummer as a GMC-branded electric truck. There’s talk about Cadillac electrifying the Escalade as well in addition to the already confirmed three-row SUV.
“The focus of this business will be to deliver world-class engineering services to GM and new clients," said Punch Group head honcho Guido Dumarey. "This includes developing engine applications for new segments, supporting the manufacturing of engines, and providing both engine and transmission solutions in markets worldwide.”
I’m getting a feeling that GM will soon turn into a local truck manufacturer servicing North America only. It’s glory days spanning the world are definitely gone. That too only if it’s EV plans work out well. That’s their Karma for killing the EV -1.
GM Authority found a General Motors trademark filing with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property for the phrase "Cadillac Symboliq" and the name "Symboliq." The documents submitted on July 22 were for the category of "Motorized land vehicles, namely automobiles.” It appears the Swiss action was GM following up on what it had done the day before in the U.S. On July 21, GM filed paperwork with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to secure three words and three phrases: Symboliq and Cadillac Symboliq, Optiq and Cadillac Optiq, and Celestiq and Cadillac Celestiq.
Every name is listed for application to "Motor land vehicles, namely, automobiles." Cadillac recently explained its switch to model names that end in "iq," pronounced "ick," and the fact that the Celestiq name is among the recent trio leads us to believe the automaker has strong intent to use the other two on future products.
We know the Celestiq — a large, hand-built, flagship sedan that will follow the Lyriq to market, predicted to retail for close to $200,000 whenever it goes on sale. We also know Cadillac has three more battery-electric products in the works after the XT5-sized Lyriq and "massive" Celestiq. As laid out in a 2019 GM Sustainability Report pitching 20 new electric vehicles across all brands by 2023, from Cadillac we're anticipating an XT4-sized crossover, an XT6-sized three-row crossover, and an electric take on the Escalade. Two of those three could get the Symboliq and Optiq names.
The lineup, and more important, Cadillac's vision, will make more sense on August 6 when we finally get to see the Lyriq concept, with its single pane of 33-inch glass forming the instrument and infotainment display across the dash, tall taillights, and 22-inch wheels.
The electric vehicles are coming. Following closely behind General Motors' announcement to rebrand the Detroit-Hamtramck production plant "Factory Zero," along with a $2.2 billion investment, the automaker announced Tuesday a separate $2 billion investment in another plant: Spring Hill, Tennessee.
The factory, which right now builds the GMC Acadia, Cadillac XT6 and XT5, will also build the Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV in late 2022, thanks to the hefty investment. GM said work on the factory improvements start immediately and boy are they far-reaching. The facility is in for new machines, conveyors, controls and tooling -- nothing cheap or easy to overhaul. Then again, building EVs is a lot less complex than building cars with an engine.
The automaker added the Spring Hill plant will continue to build Cadillacs with traditional internal-combustion engines alongside future EVs. As for the GMC Acadia, which calls Tennessee home, it's moving back to the Lansing Delta assembly plant in Michigan. The Acadia used to roll out of the Lansing Delta plant, but moved to Spring Hill with the SUV's most recent generation, which notably downsized the model to a midsize, two-row vehicle rather than a three-row.
Perhaps the next Acadia will once again grow larger to match the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave, which the Acadia used to form a triplet squad with. GM said it'll have more to share on the Acadia in the future.
Today's investment brings GM's total funds pledged to EV manufacturing in the US to $4.5 billion. And with the plant in Spring Hill scheduled to build EVs, the automaker will soon operate three plants to build electric cars, including the plant in Orion Township, Michigan, home to the Chevrolet Bolt EV.
New campaign, and logo, for GM in a bid to electrify image
TOM KRISHER
Fri, January 8, 2021, 12:00 PM EST·3 min readThis image provided by General Motors shows the new company logo. General Motors is changing its corporate logo and starting an electric vehicle marketing campaign as it tries to refurbish its image from a maker of gas-powered pickups and SUVs to a clean vehicle company. The 112-year-old Detroit automaker says, Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, the campaign will show GM’s progressive company vision as it promises to roll out 30 new battery-powered vehicles globally by the end of 2025. (General Motors via AP)DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is changing its corporate logo and launching an electric vehicle marketing campaign to reshape its image as clean vehicle company, rather than a builder of gas-powered pickups and SUVs.
The 112-year-old Detroit automaker has promised to roll out 30 new battery-powered vehicles globally by the end of 2025 and said Friday that the new campaign will highlight its progressive vision for the future.
GM said the industry has reached a history-changing inflection point for mass adoption of electric vehicles.
The campaign comes as stock market investors are enthralled with companies that make electric vehicles. Shares of global EV leader Tesla Inc. have skyrocketed more than 800% in the past year, and the company's market value has passed $800 billion. GM's shares are only up slightly in the past year and its value is around $61 billion.
Shares of GM were down 1.6% to $42.61 in Friday afternoon trading.
GM is scrapping its old square blue logo and replacing it with a lower case gm surrounded by rounded corners. The company says it's the biggest change to its logo since 1964. The 'm' in the logo is underlined to look more like an electrical plug.
“We felt it was just such a transformative moment that this is the time that we would change again,” said Deborah Wahl, GM global chief marketing officer. “Our message here is that we believe there should be an EV for everyone.”
GM is hoping the “Everybody In” campaign prepares buyers for a new era of vehicle propulsion.
Wahl said the marketing campaign will be “very significant,” but she wouldn't say how much money would be spent or where it will show up. “You will see it in many places throughout the year,” she said Friday. She said the campaign will start in the United States but eventually will become global. It will not be in brand ads for vehicles, Wahl said.
Late last year, GM said it was nearing a battery chemistry breakthrough that will make electric vehicles as affordable as those with internal combustion engines in less than 5 years. Some will be able to go up to 450 miles per charge and from 0 to 60 mph (97 kilometers per hour) in as quickly as three seconds.
The company has promised to spend $27 billion on battery vehicles through 2025.
The new logo will go wherever GM now has a logo, including websites and buildings, Wahl said.
The company stopped putting the logo on car bodies about a decade ago as it started to emphasize individual brands. But GM says the new logo eventually will replace the old 1 on window glass and some other parts.
The marketing campaign will feature celebrities including Malcom Gladwell, author of “The Tipping Point.”
A campaign of “Everyone In” conflicts a bit with GM's announced plans for electric vehicles such as a GMC Hummer pickup and Cadillac Lyriq SUV, both higher-priced vehicles. But Wahl said lower priced vehicles are among the 30 new electric vehicles that are coming.
GM officials have said previously that they will have a small electric SUV that will cost less than $30,000 within five years.
The campaign will run ahead of current electric vehicle sales trends in the U.S. Last year automakers sold just over 260,000 fully electric vehicles. Although sales were up nearly 10% over 2019, electric vehicles still were less than 2% of new vehicle sales.
New campaign, and logo, for GM in a bid to electrify image
TOM KRISHER
Fri, January 8, 2021, 12:00 PM EST·3 min readThis image provided by General Motors shows the new company logo. General Motors is changing its corporate logo and starting an electric vehicle marketing campaign as it tries to refurbish its image from a maker of gas-powered pickups and SUVs to a clean vehicle company. The 112-year-old Detroit automaker says, Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, the campaign will show GM’s progressive company vision as it promises to roll out 30 new battery-powered vehicles globally by the end of 2025. (General Motors via AP)DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is changing its corporate logo and launching an electric vehicle marketing campaign to reshape its image as clean vehicle company, rather than a builder of gas-powered pickups and SUVs.
The 112-year-old Detroit automaker has promised to roll out 30 new battery-powered vehicles globally by the end of 2025 and said Friday that the new campaign will highlight its progressive vision for the future.
GM said the industry has reached a history-changing inflection point for mass adoption of electric vehicles.
The campaign comes as stock market investors are enthralled with companies that make electric vehicles. Shares of global EV leader Tesla Inc. have skyrocketed more than 800% in the past year, and the company's market value has passed $800 billion. GM's shares are only up slightly in the past year and its value is around $61 billion.
Shares of GM were down 1.6% to $42.61 in Friday afternoon trading.
GM is scrapping its old square blue logo and replacing it with a lower case gm surrounded by rounded corners. The company says it's the biggest change to its logo since 1964. The 'm' in the logo is underlined to look more like an electrical plug.
“We felt it was just such a transformative moment that this is the time that we would change again,” said Deborah Wahl, GM global chief marketing officer. “Our message here is that we believe there should be an EV for everyone.”
GM is hoping the “Everybody In” campaign prepares buyers for a new era of vehicle propulsion.
Wahl said the marketing campaign will be “very significant,” but she wouldn't say how much money would be spent or where it will show up. “You will see it in many places throughout the year,” she said Friday. She said the campaign will start in the United States but eventually will become global. It will not be in brand ads for vehicles, Wahl said.
Late last year, GM said it was nearing a battery chemistry breakthrough that will make electric vehicles as affordable as those with internal combustion engines in less than 5 years. Some will be able to go up to 450 miles per charge and from 0 to 60 mph (97 kilometers per hour) in as quickly as three seconds.
The company has promised to spend $27 billion on battery vehicles through 2025.
The new logo will go wherever GM now has a logo, including websites and buildings, Wahl said.
The company stopped putting the logo on car bodies about a decade ago as it started to emphasize individual brands. But GM says the new logo eventually will replace the old 1 on window glass and some other parts.
The marketing campaign will feature celebrities including Malcom Gladwell, author of “The Tipping Point.”
A campaign of “Everyone In” conflicts a bit with GM's announced plans for electric vehicles such as a GMC Hummer pickup and Cadillac Lyriq SUV, both higher-priced vehicles. But Wahl said lower priced vehicles are among the 30 new electric vehicles that are coming.
GM officials have said previously that they will have a small electric SUV that will cost less than $30,000 within five years.
The campaign will run ahead of current electric vehicle sales trends in the U.S. Last year automakers sold just over 260,000 fully electric vehicles. Although sales were up nearly 10% over 2019, electric vehicles still were less than 2% of new vehicle sales.
not sure why they wanted to change it. To identify with Elon may be.....
General Motors is changing its corporate logo and launching an electric vehicle marketing campaign to reshape its image as clean vehicle company, rather than a builder of gas-powered pickups and SUVs.
The 112-year-old Detroit automaker has promised to roll out 30 new battery-powered vehicles globally by the end of 2025 and said Friday that the new campaign will highlight its progressive vision for the future.
FCA: HEY! I bet the Hellcat motor will fit in that one too!!
Destination charges have been rising industry wide. No one knows why. Automakers are aware of it as well. It’s why they advertise vehicle MSRP’s without them. And the charges vary between vehicles and make no sense. A basic Cadillac CT4 has a $1,195 destination charge while a CT4-V Blackwing has a $995 destination charge. Could it be greed? Apparently, some customers think so, as Car Complaints and GM Authority report a class action suit has been filed against GM over the charges.
Destination fees generally range from $995 to about $1,700 and vary model by model, as TrueCar notes, but don’t vary depending on the distance. For example, a destination fee for a buyer living near the BMW plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina would be the same as a buyer of the same model two thousand miles away. Automakers claim they don’t make a profit.
In this suit, however, filed in the Southern District of California, the plaintiffs have alleged that GM makes a profit off of the charges and that GM “deceives customers into paying far more than the actual cost of vehicle delivery.” All of this is over a grand or two; California plaintiff Robert Romoff paid a $1,195 destination charge on a 2021 Chevy Equinox and New Jersey plaintiff Joe Siciliano paid a $995 destination charge on a 2019 Cadillac Escalade. Car Complaints quotes the suit:
“[A] destination fee is generally understood in the automotive industry to reflect the manufacturer’s average cost of delivering one of its vehicles to a dealership. That destination fee is charged to the dealer and passed on to the purchaser or lessee of that vehicle. Consumers similarly have the expectation that they are covering an automotive manufacturer’s cost for the delivery of the manufacturer’s vehicles when paying the “destination fee” as part of their new-vehicle lease or purchase.”
Both plaintiffs claim they did not know that GM makes a profit from its destination charges, and argue they were misled.
The suit essentially claims destination charges are bullshit and have little to do with anything involving the transportation of the vehicle. GM hasn’t responded to the suit. But the fact that charges are the same for a person living 30 miles from the factory being the same for someone living on the other side of the country suggests it’s all profits for automakers.
I don’t think the lawsuit will prevail since, by definition destination cost is an average cost. Therefore it should be the same regardless of where it was delivered. On top of it, they are stating that manufacturers do not make a profit from it (I find that part hard to believe, may be court should consider and independent auditor for that).
But why bother with all of these things with dealerships. Just do away with them and that issue would settle itself.
I don’t think the lawsuit will prevail since, by definition destination cost is an average cost. Therefore it should be the same regardless of where it was delivered. On top of it, they are stating that manufacturers do not make a profit from it (I find that part hard to believe, may be court should consider and independent auditor for that). But why bother with all of these things with dealerships. Just do away with them and that issue would settle itself.
Tesla charges pretty hefty destination fees. They have no dealerships. I think it's like $1300 or $1400.
03-06-2017, 05:03 AM
I guess everyone did it.
I heard those commercials on my Spotify, definitely some very selective categories for Chvrolet to rank above Toyota & Honda.
Logo
This image provided by General Motors shows the new company logo. General Motors is changing its corporate logo and starting an electric vehicle marketing campaign as it tries to refurbish its image from a maker of gas-powered pickups and SUVs to a clean vehicle company. The 112-year-old Detroit automaker says, Friday, Jan. 8, 2021, the campaign will show GM’s progressive company vision as it promises to roll out 30 new battery-powered vehicles globally by the end of 2025. (General Motors via AP)DETROIT (AP) — General Motors is changing its corporate logo and launching an electric vehicle marketing campaign to reshape its image as clean vehicle company, rather than a builder of gas-powered pickups and SUVs.
