Reports are coming out that there was more than just buyouts outlined in Wednesday’s email from GM’s leadership to employees. According to Automotive News, General Motors is suspending renovations to both its design center located in Warren, Mich. and an update to its global propulsion headquarters in Pontiac, Mich. in an effort to save money. It’s unclear how far along the renovations were, but they were understood to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The entire remodeling project for the Warren campus is said to be around $1 billion.
The historic General Motors Global Technical Center began its multi-year remodeling phase in 2015. The renovation to the GM Design Center was going to double its amount of studio space with an expansion surrounding the iconic Design Dome Auditorium. It was the final component of the $1 billion campus investment. If it was on schedule, the studio space construction was to begin in mid-2018, starting with a new parking structure for the design center. Following the garage, a new building that would have increased worker capacity would have then began construction.
Photo courtesy of Library of Congress.
Before the renovations were halted, it’s understood that the Warren Tech Center’s main building, the VEC, has been remodeled with an open floor plan that’s seen mixed reactions from workers. A parking garage was also completed, as was a state-of-the-art “alternative propulsion” laboratory, and pre-production operation center.
On the same day it reported $2.5 billion in third quarter earnings, General Motors notified workers of voluntary buyouts to roughly 18,000 salaried employees globally who have 12 years or more of experience, according to a company-wide email sent out this morning. The buyout applies to any salaried employee who began their employment at GM began Dec. 31, 2006 or sooner. Eligible employees only have until Nov. 19 to volunteer for a buyout, or risk an unceremonious layoff.
General Motors is currently facing multiple headwinds, including sales losses in both China and America, an estimated $1 billion-plus in unexpected commodities tariffs, and behind-schedule progress in its costly autonomous vehicle endeavors with Cruise Automation.
Comments
The flogging will continue until the morale improves…. One thing that is sure not to be cut is Barra’s and company’s executive bonuses.
good. prepare for the slowdown. if you you can’t do your best w/o new paint and carpet, that buyout was meant for you.
at least gm isn’t trying to rehab an old train station for $750 million. reminds of that movie “the money pit” with tom hanks and shelly long.
GM is doing the right thing as the auto industry is going to see changes as a whole. Rising interest rates are going to hurts.
GM also has some tough decisions on what to do with the dying car lines. Ford is leaving it. Chrysler’s is just building some old RWD models but not investing in new. The other brands are living on global sales with their cars not Nort American sales.
The buy out will remove the people who want out. This will save many who want to stay should lay off come.
It is good to see them proactive vs being reactive like in the past.
As for executive pay and bonuses get over it that money is small in multi billion dollar companies.
Did we not think Tariffs on cars was not going to effect all? $00 million lost to tariffs. Ford announce 1 Billion lost to tariffs. About the people wake up ! Toyota announce its cars could jump $1,000 as parts are imported to US.
I rather see the money spent on the cars the redesigning office space that are probably perfectly fine. Too many companies waste money on unneeded upgrades. As for the Tariffs you have to begin somewhere with trade. The only thing we really have against them is Trade. However our government should also get on the aluminum and steel companies and tell them to stop artificially increasing prices just because they can.
One interesting thing is Oil prices are falling .
That open office design at the VEC was an answer to a question nobody asked. It has been not very popular, imagine coming in every day and having to find a place to land for the day and never being able to establish your personal space or at least customize it as your own. A big lack of understanding about human nature.
“estimated $1 billion-plus in unexpected commodities tariffs”
Trump’s trade war is really going great! So much winning!
I bet a lot of these saps voted for Trump even though Obama saved GM from oblivion. Fools.
Paul this is not a short term deal.
You can feel some pain now under a good economy or let it go and be dominated later with what ever China wants to charge because you can’t make it yourself,
China is doing what Amazon does. They are undercutting prices to the point even they are not making money. They break the competition and then move back to take over markets at the prices they want to charge.
We then become slaves to the higher prices China charges as our steel industry would be totally gone by that point.
We were close to having nothing left and now they are starting to retire mills. Over time it will make for better prices as China will no longer hold an advantage.
China steel industry can sell below cost because they are goverment supported.
This is better for jobs, economy and national security in the long run.
so explain mexico and canada. if you really think china wants to take over the steel and aluminum market, wouldn’t more competitors be better?
I hope the team of employees responsible for the 2019 Camaro redesign are part of the 18000 employees being let go.
I have an even simpler solution to the financial issues that GM is having. Cut ties with Europe and China altogether and focus on home. How can you help the people in the streets when you can’t even help the people in your own home. We spend so much money trying to be global when we really need to focus on the American infrastructure and the North American car market. Focus on building Detroit back up, focus on manufacturing stuff here in America, where the jobs aren’t right now because we’ve secured so many jobs for people overseas. Open up warehouses and manufacturing plants here. There is ample space in Philadelphia and some of the surrounding places like Chester, with people who will line up for jobs. GM should focus on the North American Market, the South American Market, the African Market and the Australian Holden Market. Let go of Opel, it’s hurting you. Let go of China, let ford have china, no one cares about that right now. Let Ford innovate and “build the future” GM just needs to build good cars. Set your focus on things like Military Vehicles, police vehicles, fleet vehicles and things like that. innovative tech is nothing without a structure to stand on, the structure i’m talking about is the USA and it’s people. I’m all for GM building hybrid and electric vehicles. Do it for fleet services, do it for commercial services like limo services, light to medium transportation trucks, UPS, USPS and things like that. partner with companies like General Electric for a lot of those things, it’s not rocket science guys. Let those things be a Niche market that you can take over and build back up from.
Once you’ve gotten that taken care of, Remodel the whole entire GM lineup from Chevrolet to Cadillac. Most of our biggest gripe with GM was the cancellation of Pontiac because Pontiac made good solid cars. Another thing is for GM to stop focusing on European and chinese luxury and bring back American themed luxury and things like that. GM had good, solid engines, always has, probably some of the best engines in the American market hands down. The whole entire worlds knows the power and reliability of the infamous “350 Chevy small block” and Chevy is still using pushrod V8 engines to rule the world. Being that i am an enthusiast, I will touch back on that in a moment but for now i want to focus on the everyday pedestrian vehicles that will be the ones most buyers would go for.
Instead of focusing on turbocharged four cylinder engines that take up alot of tech and time trying to get them to produce power, efficiency and be cafe compliant and all that other stuff. Chevrolet has some other very good naturally aspirated engines that if they were mated to the right transmissions, they’d be phenomenal for daily driver vehicles. Two of those engines are the 335hp 3.6L engine and the 4.3L V6. The 3.6L V6 is an absolute gem and can be used in both FWD and RWD setups in alot of cars and ranges in power from roughly 300-335hp depending on application and could easily be bumped in power to the range of about 350hp with tweaks to tuning and fuel delivery systems. The 4.3L V6 is a reliable and simple small-bock derived workhorse with 285hp and 305lb-ft of torque, it works admirably in trucks and could be used to work just as well (if not better) in cars and with some tweaks, could yield up to 310hp and 330lb-ft of torque. Both of those numbers outshine cars such as the Maxima and the Camry and come close to some number of some of the lower end German engineered vehicles such as BMW & Mercedes Benz, none of which are front wheel drive vehicles and people buy them left and right. and they’re in semi-affordable price ranges. Now me, I’m a sucker for nostalgia in away but i still appreciate the new but right now, a lot of people are wanting simple, naturally aspirated vehicles to drive and to work on and to enjoy and news flash, people still love sedans, hence why the Charger is still a very popular car but the charger is also an exciting car with performance, options and practicality as well. Now, here is where modern steps in. GM is planning to reduce the platforms of their cars down to a few specific models, known to us GM followers as VSS (Vehicle Strategy Set). Now as it has been put out there, GM is planning to have four major sets: VSS-F front drive, VSS-R rear drive, VSS-S crossovers and VSS-T for body on frame trucks & SUVS along with the fact that each will have their subsets. This is a great plan by GM but I’m going to simplify it down even more to just three sets VSS-R, VSS-S and VSS-T. Front wheel drive vehicles are not needed because there is alot more that goes into a front wheel drive vehicle than a rear wheel drive vehicle and there is really no need for them because we can make all-wheel drive cars on rear-drive platforms. This means, cars have better balance and are more neutral to drive (even in bad weather conditions with AWD). This also gets rid of problematic FWD transaxles and GM will go back to having two automatic transmissions an 8spd auto and a 10-speed auto and move to a 7-speed manual transmission option. All of that saves boatloads of money because now GM doesn’t have to manufacture any of that stuff anymore and they can save that money for other things. It also moves Chevrolet down to a smaller car lineup now to the Cruze, the Camaro, the Malibu and the Impala (I’ll go more into detail about this later). As I mentioned before, people are still grieving over Pontiac. Pontiac made a good solid car with alot of features and reasonable pricing. Under the GMC umbrella, Pontiac should come back as GMC’s car lineup with models that sister the Chevrolet line being the Grand Am hatch (Cruze), the Firebird (Camaro), the Grand Prix (Malibu) and the Bonneville (Impala). This leaves the GMC lineup to its current SUVs and Trucks but now adds a solid list of cars to slot below the upper echelons of Buick and Cadillac. As far as Buick goes, Buick is a great spot to place your hybrid and electric cars and well as a few of those turbo-4 cylinder and twin turbo V6 engines GM has. As far as Cadillac goes, their full lineup should be nothing but twin turbo V6 and the new twin turbo V8 engines and Corvette should definitely become a member of the Cadillac family (not Chevrolet) and become a mid-engine twin turbo DOHC V8 supercar to take on the world.
Now, getting back to the lineups and diving in a bit more specifically. For Chevrolet, The Cruze would turn into a hatchback only vehicle receiving a base model 4.3L V6 rated at 285hp/305tq and backed by an 8-speed automatic with an optional AWD system. The car will also have an optional diesel model with the 2.8L Duramax 181hp/369lb-ft torque I-4 turbo diesel engine with standard AWD drivetrain. along with an RS 3.6L Model with the 335hp v6, 10-speed or optional 7spd manual AWD drivetrain with Brembo brakes, 1LE type suspension, dual mode exhaust, ground effects, specific wheels, rear hatch spoiler, performance interior (non-recaro), etc. The Pontiac Grand Am would follow this as the Grand Am (base), Grand Am Diesel (self explanatory) and Grand am Ram Air GXP (RS). Next you have the Camaro. With a base LT model 4.3L V6 making 310hp and 335lb ft-of torque from a small-block looking V6 under the hood, Camaro lovers will finally be happy that there isn’t a four-cylinder model of their car. equip the base or LT (luxury type) model with an AWD setup (yes it adds weight but its a four cylinder so handling it truly key here and All-season use), 8-speed auto or 6-speed manual. a 1LE package and a few other things will truly make the car something the entry-camaro buyer will be proud of. Next up would be a 350hp 3.6L RS package car with the full SS-1LE upgrades standard but with the options of a 10-speed auto or a 7-speed manual. Above that would be a 5.7L (5.3L Derived) Z/28 with 425hp/425tq. This car would be the entry level V8 camaro with big (non brembo brakes but they will have the new AC-Delco S-Slotted rotors and GM Performance 4-piston non-Brembo brakes (Brembos will be optional), performance suspension (1LE suspension optional) , sport interior w/ AGR seats with alcantara inserts (heated & Cooled) 10-speed auto or 7-speed manual options, optional dual mode exhaust system, upgrades to stereo system, etc. Above that will be the new SS-396 with a 495hp variant of the new 6.6L GM V8 with hot LT1 heads and cam and performance rotating assembly. All of the 1LE hard parts will be standard on the SS-396 with the 10 speed auto or 7-speed manual options of a drag pack with the 10-speed auto only, Recaro 1LE interior is standard on the SS-396 and a few other things. Above that will be the Camaro ZL1 with a revised 550hp 7.0L V8 both 10-speed auto and 7-speed manual and all current ZL1 type upgrades should be available on this car. Topping it all off with the Camaro ZL1-1LE with the new 755hp LT5 V8. This new Camaro should take on more of the 1970-1973 Camaro styling with modern touches both inside and out. These cars (from RS to ZL1-1LE should have GM performance upgrades and SVE YENKO upgrades available which would include things such as cold air intakes, supercharger packages, street legal headers and exhaust upgrades, styling upgrades, wheel upgrades, graphics. stereo upgrades from Rockford fosgate, MTX, Kicker, Harman Kardon, JL Audio, etc which would make them customizable but all backed by factory warranties. The Pontiac Firebird should follow this same lineup with the base firebird (Camaro RS) formula (Z28), Trans Am (SS) Firehawk (ZL1) Firehawk GXP (ZL1-1LE). Beyond that the new Malibu would have more of the ’69 Fastback styling and be offered in Malibu ( 285hp 4.3L AWD with options and trim levels) Malibu RS (sport oriented 3.6L 350hp AWD w/ 10-speed auto) Malibu Diesel (self explanatory AWD Sedan with options and trim levels) Chevelle (Z/28 5.7L 425hp RWD 10-speed auto or 7-speed manual) Chevelle SS-396 (SS-396 6.6L 495hp, RWD sedan). The Pontiac Grand Prix would come in as Grand Prix, Grand Prix diesel, Grand Prix GT and Grand Prix GXP. Lastly for the Cars you have the Impala. Being that the Impala is a large car, the diesel would be the base model with AWD and the Impala RS would come in as the base gasoline engine with the 350hp 3.6L V6 and then up from that would be the Impala SS with the 6.6L V8 and all of the Camaro SS-396 drivetrain, suspension and brake options. The Bonneville would receive only the 3.6L 350hp V6 and a 6.6L V8 with 10-speed auto only behind both engines. The differences between the Chevrolet and Pontiac cars would be largely cosmetic with more tech features, more upscale interiors and differences in wheels, lighting and ride quality as the Pontiac cars will be marginally nicer, smoother riding vehicles than their Chevy counterparts. Moving on to the SUV lineup, a new Trailblazer should come in as a durango fighting SUV while Chevy could keep the new Blazer right where its at and drop the Traverse, equinox and trax completely from the lineup. Not going into this as deep as the car lineup, the Trailblazer would of course have the use of the new 3.0L Duramax as its diesel option while other engines such as the new 2.7L turbo i-4 from the Silverado and of course two V8 options being the 5.7L 425hp V8 and the 495hp 6.6L V8 should be under the hood of this SUV with performance suspension, brakes, exhaust, exterior and interior styling with it’s sister car being a Revised GMC Acadia. Moving on from that, the Chevy GMC truck lineup is okay. The silverado needs a few different and key models being an SS454 V8 performance street truck to compete with the new Rebel TRX from Ram, a Cheyenne Performance luxury street truck with all of the SS454 performance parts but with a 495hp 6.6L V8, 10-speed auto and have more of a focus on powerful luxury (like what the F150 Harley Davidson used to be) along with classic styled 22″ wheels and two tone paint, a hot 425hp 5.7L RST Street truck, a ZR2 off road truck with a 425hp 5.7L and optional 495hp 6.6L V8, and that would round out the Silverado 1500 lineup. The Tahoe needs a Z71 Blazer off road package with a 425hp 5.7L V8, The Suburban needs to move to the 2500HD platform but still be smooth and daily driver friendly. The Silverado class needs an off road Scottsdale pickup (and off road Scottsdale Suburban) as well as a ZH2 extreme off roader to fight the Ram Power Wagon. The Colorado needs to have the engines changed out to the 2.7L turbo and the 3.0L Duramax and offer the 10-speed transmission behind the 2.7L turbo. That pretty much sums it up for the Chevrolet/GMC-Pontiac lineup. Like I said Buick needs to focus on hybrids, electrics and maybe a few twin turbo-V6 and turbo-4 setups. The Buick Avista truly needs to come to life as a performance Buick but not in the conventional way. yes it should have conventional engines as well but this car could be GM’s answer to Tesla. Chevy just produced the E-COPO camaro which is an electric drag car. Taking that technology and putting it into an ultra fast electric Camaro based luxury sport coupe would seriously take the fight to tesla. Buick would seriously have its own niche in the GM lineup of taking expressive entry level luxury and performance to new heights. Of course, Cadillac would still be at the top of this food chain with their new twin turbo V6 and V8 engines, coupling them with hyrbid-electric AWD drivetrains, top notch luxury & tech which would leave them to rival any luxury brand on the market. But of course, these are just my thoughts and opinions, but i think this would help GM out in the long run and give them a lineup that would reach every angle of the market.
Quite a rambling response. You opened by stating that GM should forget about China. That is NEVER going to happen. All the automakers realized that China is the world’s largest car market and will grow even bigger. The US is relatively flat and the market here will stay that way. 99% of your suggestions will never see the light of day there. You have to understand how that place works.
You say about how flat the North American market is, which is true, the American market is slow. But also look at the fact that most of our factories and jobs have been exported to “save a dollar” which hasn’t helped out economy much at all. China is a massive market, one that neither ford nor Chevy are doing that hot with and one that fca won’t touch. Now I’m not saying the gm shouldn’t get into it eventually but it needs to develop a strong base first before trying to stretch itself elsewhere. Now GM has been very strong in Australia with the Holden brand and it also has a foothold in South America and Africa. I’m not saying that gm should completely close its doors to international markets, but it needs to get itself together first. My above statements were for gm to make reliable simple cars and sell them on sheer volume and to focus its hybrid and electric markets to fleets. Figure that most fleets want vehicles that will be reliable and cut down on costs of operation and be able to work year round without a high rate a failure. Police officers need vehicles that can endure the stress and torture their cars go through Day in and day out plus be fast enough to chase cars down. The military has their specific needs that they need met as well. If gm could fill those niches with their hybrid vehicles or electric vehicles, it would improve their revenue and give them a name in the hybrid and electric market. As far as the pedestrian vehicle idea, making fewer platforms and simplifying them along with using more straightforward engines and improved drivetrains that have reliability and excitement would decrease money spent on materials and certain other things and increase sales because now you don’t have to mark cars up astronomically high you just steadily produce cars that the masses will appreciate. Another point I made was to bring back manufacturing plants to America. Now I used Philadelphia and Chester because I live in the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania and I see the areas here that could be used and realize how many jobs it would give people and the fact that it would bring revenue back to the area. When you do that, you “unflatten” the market and you also build brand loyalty in areas because now your company is its own advertisement. It’s in peoples faces every day. And if you price your cars where people can afford them you build a market for yourself because now people have an option to buy an inexpensive reliable vehicle no matter what they’re looking for. You start doing that and it spreads and before you know it, you have a serious nest egg, brand loyalty and a safety net to fall back on because you’ve filled several different spots in the market. Now, when gm steps into the Chinese market, they can bring something really worthwhile to the table.
You also commented on my collaboration with Harley. You are correct, gm and Harley have never collaborated. There was also a time where Ford and Mazda hadn’t collaborated either but it happpened. My reason for mentioning that is because those two companies are icons of the American road. I mean seriously what’s cooler than a lifted K5 blazer, a 1970 z/28 and a Harley sportster? Okay so there are cooler combinations out there but still these guys are all American like baseball and apple pie. My point in saying that they should invest in each other is simply to keep each other moving into the future. Granted I’d love to see the world covered in American muscle, American bikes and American trucks and all that kinds of stuff but back to my original point, take care of home first because home is where your support comes from so when you step out, you can step out correctly and not get hurt.
Also, I nearly Forgot. GM needs to help Harley Davidson out as well. Both of these companies are truly iconic American brands that are honestly like Brothers. Like I said, let Ford go do what it wants over seas. let for loose itself in whatever it’s doing. That’s fine. General Motors and Harley Davidson need to really come together and build towards an American future. Chevy Smallblocks and Harley Panheads, Hugger orange and harley orange, all scream USA!
Not going to happen. GM has no shared history with Harley, Ford yes. Everything at GM about electrification, self driving cars, zero emissions and zero crashes. And most importantly maximizing free cash flow.
Yeah, because HD is doing so well these days. Unless they completely reinvent their image to appeal to anyone other than boomers, or be bought up by another company, HD is done for.