While U.S. President Donald Trump unleashed a Twitter tirade last week at General Motors and its CEO Mary Barra about its decision to propose idling four U.S. factories, Barra said she and the automaker are committed to growing jobs in the U.S., according to Fox Business. Barra iterated many of the same talking points first aired by CNBC last week, saying GM wants to create good-paying jobs. However, she did caution that while GM wants to add jobs, it must do so with a sustainable business model.
“I think when we talk about jobs and investing in the U.S. workforce and the American worker—that’s where General Motors and I think the president are very aligned,” Barra said in an interview with Fox Business.
Trump, in a series of tweets, excoriated Mary Barra and GM for ending operations at its Lordstown plant. Chevrolet Cruze production ended earlier this month with no public plans about the future of the plant known. This has worried area community leaders as the loss of jobs it could cost the Lordstown area economy $3B this year alone. Barra said 500 Lordstown employees have moved to other locations.
General Motors also received criticism for its move to produce the Chevrolet Blazer in Mexico. The news came as the automaker continued with its restructuring, laying off workers and idling factories. However, such a decision has to understood in context. While GM will build the Blazer in Mexico, production of the Cadillac XT5 moved to the U.S.
Some say GM’s PR navigation of the matter could use refinement. The announcement of idled factories and layoffs doesn’t gel well with the public or politicians who are seeing a strong U.S. economy, which could help some of those affected by GM’s restructuring quickly find new jobs. GM is reshaping itself for a future likely filled with electric and autonomous vehicles. However, to achieve success going forward, CEO Mary Barra is making the necessary changes to finance the future. It’s a political and PR nightmare for the automaker; however, if GM is right in its vision for the next generation of transportation, could turn into a windfall.
Comments
Miss Mary Barra is suddenly “aligned” with President Trump on jobs, etc.? LOL
Looks like Miss Mary is starting to feel the heat of her failures at the helm of GM…Falling stock price, collapsing sales, profit down huge, Americans and Canadians angry at GM and Mary for the job cuts and plant closures, bad bet on China that is not paying off as predicted and won’t for many years or ever, and making our President angry when he is just trying to protect American jobs and prosperity…Sorry, Mary, you made your own bed.
There is the GMA political bias again…
“GM CEO Mary Barra”…Big title and all.
“TRUMP”
“PRESIDENT Trump” bunch of sore losers at GMA. We aren’t fooled by your bs articles trying to pretend to be fair…No wonder this site is a mess and readership falling.
You’re nuts man. absolutely nuts. Take your pills, please. Get refills. Stock up.
PS: why do you post from different user names? You have posted on this thread alone…. GMer, Mary Mary, J. Hannah, and On the line.
Want me to black list you?
Hey Alex, see the up-down votes? See the consensus on the boards lately? People don’t agree much with Mary’s handling of GM or your excuses and constantly trying to paint anyone who disagrees with your narrative as idiots. Your site’s visitor count and time is down for a reason.
And please, Alex and Sean, get some medicine and therapy for that Trump Derangement Syndrome. It seems to be consuming your lives. Lots of good therapy out there for the taking.
Let’s see, Alex…As mostly a lurker and sometimes poster I have seen you and your crew lash out at other readers and sometimes be downright rude to those who have a different opinion or don’t buy your commentary. And you have to admit your writers have a certain political bias that you seem to support also. Do you blame people for calling out the harsh treatment when anyone can have an opinion or your political bias?
Blacklisting readers? Thought you were doing that before? Are you saying you can find the real IP address of the supposed poster? Prove it because I have some experience with that and it isn’t easy. Blowing hard about the odd poster here and there that you can’t do crap about on a puvlic board is not going to help things. If someone is trolling you (and seems to be doing a good job of it based on your reaction), then you will just draw more attention from those you don’t want here. And you look really immature and unprofessional in the process.
Alex, if the troll isn’t getting his way trying to rile people up on GMA, all that’s needed to kill his ambitions is to drop the voting script.
That’s the only real thing he’s getting a thrill from, apart from pretending to be multiple users.
GM is doing everything on their terms. They decided to cut jobs and cars to fund electric vehicle programs and are adding jobs back as the new electric cars enter production (somebody has to build them). That wouldn’t change based on what the president says or does, unless he had given GM major incentives to keep some of the factories open.
“Where’s the Z/28?” arrives on schedule. Look for Edward M Pate, Steve, and Grawdaddy to follow soon. It is a President Trump-Miss Mary article on GMA after all.
Really, Miss Mary is going to add 20,000 jobs in EV production? Really, the same EV cars that aren’t selling?! Why didn’t she transition the jobs to EV production? What about all the supplier and service provider jobs lost? FCA, Toyota, etc are all making billion-dollar investments in plants and jobs while GM/ Barra is cutting plants and jobs. You can’t spin GM’s failure anymore. It’s laughable when you try.
P.S. “GM is doing everything on their own terms”
That might explain why GM sales are falling, stock dropping, profit down big time, and people angry at them. Meanwhile the competition is doing the opposite and fairing better as is the American economy under Trump. Being “different” just to be different sounds like a 6 year old.
I currently own two GM vehicles (and an old Ford truck). I have owned several GM vehicles over the years. The two I currently have might be my last. I hope Mary is listening.
I am so baffled that some people here do not understand how the Auto Industry works.
While it is unfortunate that GM is closing the Lordstown plant, there is NOTHING a sitting President can do. Doesn’t matter if it is Trump or Obama or whomever else is there. Nobody wants to see American jobs lost but maybe just maybe GM should have done a Better Cruze. The Cruze is just NOT GOOD ENOUGH in the segment.
Vehicle decisions on Factory allocations are done probably a year or so before the car is even launched. The Lordstown Plant is huge. What vehicle can GM magically allocate there right away?
More misinformation
The Cruze was the consumer reports best rated car. Better than Honda and Toyota but somehow GM didn’t want to sell it. Toyota and Honda sell plenty of cars and they make them in the USA
GM changed its business model about 2017 from building customer base with starting car buyers with the Cruze to 2019 model of max profits.
It’s not the design it’s not the workers. It’s the GM leadersheep.
I’m worried about the long term health of General Motors. How do you become the largest car company in the USA. You start out as the largest car company in the world.
You are right about everything except “GM leadership.” There is no leadership at GM
If you think that the Cruze is the best vehicle in the Segment, I honestly do not know what to say. Name me one thing that the Cruze is best at.
Engine? Noooooooooo
Engine Choices? No
Exterior design? No
Interior design? No
Interior Materials? No
MPG? No
So by all means please let us know how amazing the currant Cruze is.
What are all the Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Subaru, Hyundai, Kia, and VW buyers out there missing out on.
That’s not what I said. Reread. I said that’s what consumers report said.
I guess you would need to do something and read the review and see what it says. But that would take away time for you listening to yourself babble. No sense for me to reply to any further babble from you.
GMer, don’t get all worked up because it really shows the opposite…
Like Affirmative Action, Miss Mary needs all the support and big titles for her and others to feel she is important. President Trump doesn’t need that. His power and recognition is world renown. He has his own brand name and power. Trump is King. No fancy titles needed.
Oh no, not another
Got to love the Mary Photo Op, first pic in the story. Is she telling the woman they are about to get fired? Or trying to sell the women on why she makes $22 million per year plus a massive stock and benefits package while they make very little and are afraid for their jobs.
Mary needs to do less photo ops and less talking and just fix the problems at GM. I am sure stockholders would agree.
Here’s a more appropriate picture (about halfway down to the left) on how Machete Mary looks when the camera is not on her. I wonder if this is before or after Bolger told Machete Mary she is leaving?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjOhpKUmp_hAhVLcq0KHZWIAF0QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lansingstatejournal.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2F2019%2F02%2F18%2Fgm-invest-36-m-lansing-delta-township-assembly-plant%2F2882343002%2F&psig=AOvVaw05U55jjRvwx_3WNZ26s80Y&ust=1553668987882530
Good, then we should expect new product announcements for Lordstown, Hamtramck, Warren, and Baltimore real soon.
Mary Barra is doing all she can, considering her predicament. Steel tariffs have driven up her costs, so making small cars like the Cruze is not profitable. Legacy companies like GM spend more on benefits for current employees and retirees than they do for labor in Mexico. America’s legacy companies simply can’t compete with other Countries where those benefits are backed by their government.
An analogy to this is what happened in the Airline industry several years ago. United and American declared bankruptcy and dumped all there pensioners on the Federal Pension Guarantee program because they couldn’t compete with Southwest and Jet-Blue. That may be great for the companies, but it’s bad retirees.
As a nation we need modernize our benefits systems be competitive with other developed nations.
We are a 1 suv , 1 car family. What are we going to replace our Cruze with in 2 years? A Honda? Sounds like an end to 20 loyal years to GM. F-Mary!