WheelTronix

GM may be detaching its bad assets, but it will have to do away with something else also and that is its title as the top-selling brand in America.

This is because Ford is likely to take the first place as the top selling brands in America.

A report from Bloomberg states, “Ford Motor Co., gaining ground on its distressed domestic competitors, may surpass General Motors Corp. this year to become the top-selling automaker in the U.S. for the first time since 1931.”

The Street reported as “Ford reported its smallest sales decline in 11 months, making it the country’s No. 2 automaker in June and raising the possibility that it could move to the top spot.  Ford sales decreased by 11%, while Toyota sales decreased by 33% and at General Motors sales decreased by 34%.”

Some forecaster remark that demand is expected to increase in the approaching weeks as consumers look to take advantage of the government’s Cash for Clunkers program.

Fiat is planning to take over GM Europe which would result in job losses and this has been warned by industry experts.
Fiat at present has losses which amount to around £7 billion.

Even though Vauxhall factories at Ellesmere Port and Luton have undergone foremost reformation and efficiency savings, it is said that more could follow under Fiat ownership.

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General Motors has announced that its multi-billion-dollar bailout from the US government will not prevent it from running out of cash.  GM’s auditors Deloitte & Touche have conveyed ’substantial doubt’ that the car maker can continue as a going concern. A Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing from GM has spot lit the degree of the car maker’s problems, forewarning that it may not be able to repay a $1bn bond. Deloitte & Touche’s doubts about GM’s endurance are established on sustained operating losses, negative shareholders’ equity and the helplessness to make enough cash flow through sales.

The car maker revealed that its liquidity fell below the levels needed to run its business before it began to get emergency loans from the government last December.  GM has till now received $13.4bn from the US government and has applied for another $16.6bn. It is also of the opinion that it will receive around $6bn from governments in other countries where it manufactures, including the UK, Germany, Canada, Sweden and Thailand.

General Motors has declared that it will axe 47,000 jobs and close 5 more factories.
Chrysler has also declared a job cull of 3,000 jobs and a cut in the amount of models it produces.
Both companies are going to beg the US government for an additional financial aid of £14.7bn on top of the £12.2bn they have already received. The move to shut an additional 5 factories will see GM reduce the number of its factories from the present 47 plants to just 33 manufacturing facilities by 2012.

The number of brands produced by GM will also be decreased from the present 8 to 4 with only Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC surviving.  The appeal for additional financial aid is anticipated to be lashed out by industry evaluators who consider the US automotive industry too incompetent and backward to endure the depression.

The production of Hummer H2 has been put off till March and rumors are there saying that it may never restart.

The AM general facility in Mishawaka, Indiana, has shut down the line and has axed 200 workers since demand for the huge gas-gulping 4×4 has almost come to a standstill.

General Motors has put Hummer brand up for sale, but no serious offers has yet been received by it. Production of the military-issue Hummers will not be affected.

Outgoing US president George W Bush has agreed a $17.4billion (£11.6billion) loan to two of America’s struggling car companies.

The money will be taken from the $700billion ring-fenced for the Wall Street bail-out, with $13.4billion available in the short-term and a further $4billion to follow later next year.

The loan to General Motors and Chrysler (Ford is in a less desperate situation) is contingent upon their submitting a viable ongoing business plan by the end of March 2009.
The US Senate had earlier rejected appeals from the car companies for direct aid, but Bush said that ‘these are not ordinary circumstances. In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the US auto industry to collapse is not a responsible action.’

GM and Chrysler will be expected to come to an agreement with workers’ unions over pay and benefit deals, offering packages on a par with the less generous deals given by the foreign car-makers manufacturing in North America, and to reduce their debt.

They will also be required to make concessions such as getting rid of private corporate jets and cutting executive pay and bonuses.

If the companies’ submitted survival plans do not meet with approval next March, the Senate has the power to recall the loans and, if these are not repaid, thus instigate bankruptcy procedures. The ultimate decision on this, however, will be down to President-elect Barrack Obama.

General Motors and the Environmental Protection Agency have in fact started a squabble over what in fact is GM’s forthcoming plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt? This argument will determine whether the Volt gets a jaw-dropping EPA rating of over 100 mpg which will make it the most fuel-competent car sold by a chief automaker or will it just be another Prius-like 48 mpg.

General Motors considers their Chevy Volt as an electric car where as the EPA wants to classify it as a hybrid.
PC Magazine explicates, “Its drive train is entirely electric, since the companion gas engine powers a generator, not the car itself. The Volt is not a hybrid in the usual sense, in other words. GM claims it can run 40 miles before the gas engine even kicks in.”
The car applies its batteries to render most of its ability, setting off the electric generator only when they are exhausted to a certain point. The car is so planned that it arrives to its destination at approximately 30%-35% of the battery’s status of charge.

For hybrid cars like these, you will receive a  nice discount on your insurance for your cars in many states.

General Motors signed an agreement with the western Indian state of Maharashtra to unfold an engine and contagion plant to be located in Talegaon. GM previously has a 2nd vehicle plant in Talegaon that will begin procedures next week.

The Chevrolet Aveo, Chevrolet Tavera, Chevrolet Optra , and Chevrolet Spark are already constructed in India in Gujarat. The capability that will begin procedures next week will have a facility of 140,000, boosting GM’s overall capacity in India to 225,000.

With the sale of passenger vehicles per year in India figured to reach 2 million units by 2010, the country constitutes a ripe market for GM, particularly in the genre of small cars.

GM will be in direct rivalry there with the Nano, a product of Tata Motors costing roughly $2,283 per car and set to commence in October.

Rival automaker Ford also began operation in May at its engine assembly plant in Chennai, located in southern India. That facility is anticipated to reach an ultimate capability of 250,000 units.

Although Toyota is sheltered in a showdown with General Motors to become the major automaker in the world, the company has proven not capable to flee the penalty of global economic shifting. President of Toyota declared less sales estimates on Thursday, August 28 and forecast cut down numbers through 2009.
The retooled anticipations now have Toyota selling 9.7 million cars and trucks in 2009. Even though 2.1% higher than the project 9.5 million units for 2008, the figure is 700,000 units lower than master estimates.
The alteration lets in a 10% pull-back on anticipated U.S. sales to 2.7 million units. The company is being hit hard in the U.S. where it greatly stressed trucks and SUVs, form factors that have plunged from favor with the general public in the fact of high gasoline prices and growing environmental fears.
Overall, sales of automobiles have declined in both North America and Western Europe, the world’s two most significant markets. Sales in the U.S. are down 10.6 % for the January-July period over 2007 and European sales dropped 2 % in the first six months of this year.