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TALLAHASSEE (Bay News 9) -- Desperate for votes and armed with new technologies, political parties are changing the way they find their voters. They're tracking everything from the food people eat to the car they drive. The sophisticated strategy is called microtargeting. Republicans pioneered microtargeting four years ago. They say it contributed to George W. Bush being re-elected. Katie Gordon with the state GOP says people who own guns are their top microtargets. "What we do is contact people and ask them, and maybe people who have not supported a Republican in the past or who have not indicated that...

DETROIT, United States (AFP) - General Motors on Wednesday posted a five percent drop in global sales in the second quarter as a sharp drop in its home market offset strong gains overseas. GM's sales slipped to 2.29 million vehicles in the April through June period after North American sales fell 20 percent to 963,929, while sales outside the region grew by 10 percent to 1,322,765. < > Sales in the Asia-Pacific region grew 15 percent to 386,980 vehicles, GM said. Sales in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East rose 18 percent to 346,085 vehicles, powered by Chevrolet, which...

MILWAUKEE -- Air bags were designed to save lives, not put them in danger. So imagine driving on a freeway or crowded city street and your air bag deploys unexpectedly. When Fond du Lac, Wis., was drenched in heavy rain last month, Lynda Schultz's 1997 Chevrolet Cavalier became trapped in a heavily flooded parking lot. "I'm sure the floorboards were soaked because the floodwaters rose," Schultz said. Weeks earlier, heavy rains had leaked into Tom Kleist's 1996 Pontiac Grand Am. "I just went in my car and the floor had water all over it," Kleist said. Both drivers eventually dried...

GM showed a photo of the Cruze to employees during a TV presentation. Workers caught a brief glimpse of the car coming to the Lordstown plant, but General Motors still is keeping the Chevrolet Cruze under wraps. < > He noted that the Cruze promises success because GM is powering the car with a new 1.4-liter, turbocharged engine that is to have fuel efficiency of 45 mpg. < >

"The eyes of the world are now on the Volt," McCain said at a meeting... McCain: Electric car 'vital' to oil independence (AP) At GM plant, McCain calls for an electric vehicle tax credit Los Angeles Times, CA - 4 hours ago Trying to inject hope into a struggling auto industry, he says a $5000 credit should be given to consumers who buy cars like the Chevy Volt, now a prototype ... McCain Talks with GM workers Washington Post, United States - 2 hours ago By Juliet Eilperin WARREN, Mich.--Speaking to a group of General Motors Corp. employees, Sen. John...

WARREN, Mich.--Speaking to a group of General Motors Corp. employees, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) promised to provide a $5,000 tax credit for Americans who buy electric-powered cars such as the future Chevy Volt and "other automobiles that put us on the path to energy independence," even as he suggested he might alter his climate plan to aid the auto industry.

WARREN, Mich., July 18 (Reuters) - Republican White House hopeful John McCain told embattled GM employees on Friday he backs their development of an electric car and said Americans should be able to receive $5,000 tax credits to buy them. Battered by a deepening slump in sales and concerns about whether it can ride out an economic downturn, General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is counting on the Volt to break its reliance on gas-guzzling vehicles at a time when truck sales are tumbling and fuel prices are near record levels. McCain celebrated the electric plug-in Volt during a...

DETROIT (Reuters) - The United Auto Workers union has called a strike against a Johnson Controls Inc factory in Columbia, Tennessee, that will supply seats and consoles for the upcoming Chevrolet Traverse crossover vehicle from General Motors Corp. UAW Local 1853 President Mike O'Rourke, who also represents workers at GM's Spring Hill, Tennessee, assembly plant, said Johnson Controls' management had refused to recognize the union even though 170 of 172 workers at the plant had signed cards seeking UAW representation.

Competitiveness: As a venerable U.S. automaker cuts production by 150,000 trucks, a European producer is making plans to open a factory that will build 150,000 units a year. Guess which one is unionized.Not only will General Motors reduce truck production, it will shed jobs, cut executive salaries, freeze base salaries, eliminate health care benefits for retirees over 65 and sell assets. The short-term intent of GM's plan is to raise cash and to reassure a Wall Street that is afraid the company that has lost more than $50 billion in the past three years will file for bankruptcy. The long-term...

G.M. Suspends Dividend and Plans More Layoffs DETROIT — General Motors said Tuesday that it would reduce labor costs for salaried workers by 20 percent, eliminate its quarterly dividend and further reduce truck production to ensure that it has enough cash to finance its turnaround for at least two more years. The moves, which include selling at least $2 billion in assets and borrowing as much as $3 billion,... would stop providing health care coverage to salaried retirees at age 65...reduce its salaried work force and freeze base pay for salaried employees through 2009... executives will no longer receive discretionary...

Rick Wagoner just finished briefing the employees, here are a few highlights... Cut truck production by 300,000 units Next gen truck development suspended Retirees will lose health care at age 65, but pensions will get a bump to fund private health care, plus medicade/medicare kick in then All salaried employee merit increase and bonuses eliminated (inc. execs) through the end of 2009 Engineering levels to be at 2006-2007 levels, no new hiring + head count reductions No mention of salary decreases Buyouts, MSP (mutual separation packages) and "other separation strategies" will be rolled out. Investment in small engine development and...

Southfield (WWJ) -- General Motors is preparing to announce a major downsizing and restructuring moves Tuesday in response to falling U.S. sales. A statement from the company says Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner will discuss the changes at a news conference at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Before the news conference, Wagoner will address employees. The company released no further details.

General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Rick Wagoner is set to announce further steps on Tuesday morning to cut costs in the face of slumping sales. GM executives, including Wagoner, scheduled a series of briefings for employees, analysts and reporters on Tuesday, starting at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT), the company said in a statement. The company said the briefings would detail what GM is doing to "align" its operations to current market conditions. The No. 1 U.S. automaker has been under intensifying pressure to cut costs because of a rapid shift away from trucks...

Rising fuel prices, both in the U.S. and abroad, means that automakers can now offer similar engines in vehicles sold throughout the world. According to Automotive News, General Motors' next small car, the Chevrolet Cruze, will be offered with a new 1.4-liter force-fed four-banger, putting out between 120 and 140 horsepower and returning fuel mileage in the 40 mpg range.

When Chevrolet officially announced the new Corvette ZR1 just before the Detroit Auto Show this year, it hadn't yet finished the certification of its new power-plant, the supercharged LS9. At that time, all the engineers would tell us was that the supercharged 6.2L V8 would produce a minimum of 100hp/L or 620 hp. Three months have passed since we got our first official look at the LS9 and the numbers are now in. According to GM, the LS9 has now been SAE Certified at 638 hp and 604 lb-ft of twist. The official EPA fuel economy testing hasn't been finished...

NEW YORK, July 10 (Reuters) - MasterCard Inc (MA.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's second-largest credit card network, will replace Ace Ltd (ACE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) in the Standard & Poor's 500 .SPX, and will also replace General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) in the S&P 100 index .OEX of major blue-chip companies, S&P said on Thursday. S&P said it is dropping Ace from its flagship index because the insurer is reincorporating in Switzerland, rendering it ineligible for including in S&P U.S. indexes. MasterCard shares have risen more than sixfold since the Purchase, New York-based company went public in...

In the wake of an economic downturn, General Motors Corp is hurrying production of its Chevy Volt. It now hopes to unveil a showroom-ready model in September, according to sources close to the project.

WHO shot General Motors? The company’s stock is at its lowest level in 50 years, and its market valuation has plunged to $5.9 billion, less than that of the Hershey candy-bar company. The automaker is weighing yet another round of layoffs — and maybe even a fire sale of venerable brands like Buick and Pontiac. General Motors once manufactured half the cars on the American road, but now it sells barely 2 in 10. Bankruptcy is not unthinkable for Detroit’s former king. The immediate cause of G.M.’s distress, of course, is the surging price of oil, which has put a...

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp is rushing to finish the production version of its Chevy Volt and plans to unveil a showroom-ready model of the heavily touted electric car in September, people familiar with the project say.

Bruised by a deep sales slump and a half-century-low in its stock price, General Motors Corp. is preparing to cut thousands more white-collar jobs and is considering whether it should sell or shutter more of its brands, people familiar with the matter said. Both moves are part of a broader re-evaluation of GM's strategy and of its ability to meet an internal projection of returning to profitability in 2010, these people said. [Snip] The company currently sells vehicles under eight different brands, but most, including Buick, Saturn and Saab, struggle to attract buyers despite offering new models that cost GM...

General Motors, the maker of the iconic off-road Hummer, may be gearing itself up to sell mini-cars in the US, in order to win back market share as soaring fuel costs turn Americans off gas-guzzlers. Usually sold only in Asia and Latin America, GM is thought to be developing a version of the Chevrolet Beat for America’s highways, according to a report by Bloomberg. Not much bigger than the Daimler Smart car, the Chevrolet Beat does 40 miles to the gallon - making its fuel efficiency second only to hybrid cars in the US. Chevrolet Beat: sold in Asia and...

DETROIT, July 4 (UPI) -- A mini-car designed by the General Motors (NYSE:BGM) Corp. for Asia and Latin America may soon be available in U.S. showrooms, a company spokesman says. GM spokesman Dee Allen said the automobile giant was reviewing its current sales plan in the United States following new demands in the domestic auto market because of soaring gasoline prices, The Detroit News said Friday. "Everything is under review," Allen said. "Obviously, the market has been changing rather rapidly." General Motors already used a 2007 New York auto show to unveil its new two-door hatchback, the 11 and a...

General Motors is considering a new Chevrolet mini car for the United States as it reworks its product lineup to cope with a dramatic consumer shift to more fuel efficient vehicles, a spokesman said. GM spokesman Dee Allen said bringing the Chevrolet Beat to the U.S. market is among the options the company is studying. About the size of a Honda Fit or Toyota Yaris, the Beat is a front-wheel-drive, three-door hatchback. The Beat, to be built in South Korea, will be rolled out in other global markets faster than it would in the United States, Allen said. The car...

DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (NYSE:GM - News) will need to raise as much as $15 billion in cash to shore up liquidity and bankruptcy is "not impossible" if the U.S. auto market continues to slump, Merrill Lynch said. Other analysts have suggested GM, whose shares fell to a new 54-year low on Wednesday, needs to raise funds to ride out the downturn in the U.S. auto market through 2009. But Merrill's estimate of GM's financing needs is the highest yet. It also carried the most stark warning of the bankruptcy risk for the largest U.S. automaker. GM declined...

General Motors has been an American fixture for 111 years, but some warn that might be ending. The Michigan automaker faces tough obstacles ahead critical to its survival. Brian Williams raised the possibility of General Motors (NYSE:GM) going out of business on the June 26 “NBC Nightly News” to Jim Cramer, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money.” “[J]im, I know you talk about this, think about this everyday for a living and have a formula regarding this,” Williams said. “But first, what’s going on out there? I heard one analyst today said, ‘GM will go out of business,’ though I know...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Why is General Motors still in the Dow? GM (GM, Fortune 500) may still be the biggest of the Big Three. But it's getting more and more difficult to justify keeping GM in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an exclusive list of what's supposed to be the 30 leaders in the U.S. markets and economy. GM confirmed on Monday that it is looking into selling its Hummer brand of monstrously-sized vehicles. And in a major sign of desperation, it also announced that it would offer six-year, zero-percent loans for 2008 models until the end of June...

The price of oil surged 3 percent after OPEC President Chakib Khelil said in an interview that oil prices could rise to as much as $170 per barrel this summer.

The Chevy Volt will cost $30,000. No, $35,000. Alright, how about $40,000… GM Vice Chairman and product development chief Bob Lutz told the Seattle Times that "the first-generation Volt will retail for about $40,000 and generate no profit for GM." The Times adds, "The company hopes to make money as it rolls out later versions of the vehicle and other plug-in models." This follows assurances from CEO Rick Wagoner back in May that the Volt would make its target price of $30,000, and could sell for even less. Car Domain, after sharing dinner with Lutz and other GM executives, reports...

The crisis at General Motors is not of its making. The economy is weak, gasoline prices are at record levels and the U.S. auto industry is in a big slump. Much of the blame lies elsewhere, but the auto giant is in peril. It has been no secret that the GM bank account has been shrinking by $1 billion a month, maybe more right now. It just introduced a new round of sales incentives to help reduce inventories. At this rate, the money runs out in two years--or even sooner. We also hear that the company is rethinking its product...

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. told dealers Monday it plans to raise prices on 2009 models by an average of 3.5% despite a tough market that is forcing the automaker to cut production and discount its 2008 models. Company officials said in conference calls to dealers that the increases will allow GM to recover only part of the rising cost of steel and other commodities and the cost of safety and other features on the new models. The increases will amount to about $1,000 per vehicle. GM already had increased the prices of its 2008 model year vehicles twice because...

Our government will soon have to decide if we want a domestic automobile industry. If it does nothing, that industry will be dead in three years. There would still be an auto industry here: Toyota, Honda, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes, Hyundai and Kia, maybe even Volkswagen and Fiat, would be assembling cars in the U.S. But we would be like Britain, which has no British-owned auto companies. The Japanese and Americans build cars there. The workers are British but the nameplates are Toyota (nyse: TM) and Ford. This foreign-owned auto industry in the U.S. would be a nonunion industry, and largely...

General Motors is back at the scene of the crime. When the Detroit automaker pulled the plug on its unprofitable electric-vehicle program in 2000, it became known, in the words of a popular documentary, as the company that killed the electric car. Its love affair with the Hummer didn't help either. Now the company is betting big bucks — most of its current research-and-development budget — that the internal-combustion engine's time is running out. By spearheading a new generation of electric automobiles, the beleaguered giant also is hoping it can reclaim from Toyota the title of world's top carmaker.

American automakers responded with great enthusiasm to yesterday's decision by General Motors to compost its gas-guzzling business model and close four pickup truck and SUV plants - a unilateral gesture of good will towards the environment that will result in 10,000 lost jobs. The automaker communities are widely celebrating the event with eco-friendly block parties, Earth fairs, outdoor concerts of New Age music, drum circles in the wilderness, meditations, body painting, and unrhymed poetry readings that venerate the earth as a living, spiritual being that feels pain when it is bring drilled for oil.

NEW YORK (AFP) - The iconic Chrysler and Flatiron skycrapers may soon join New York's GM Building as landmarks sold in part to Arab or European investors as the weak dollar spurs property grabs in the Big Apple, reports said Friday. The 50-story General Motors Building, constructed in 1968 and which includes the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue, has already been sold -- for a record-breaking 2.8 billion dollars -- to US real estate firm Boston Properties, backed by investors from Dubai, Kuwait and Qatar. The deal, concluded on Tuesday, makes the GM Building the most expensive skyscraper in the...

Political conventions are known for a certain conviviality which often spills into the local watering holes when all the floor speeches are finished. But this is taking beer-power to a whole new level: Our colleagues at The Stew report that the official General Motors vehicles at the Democratic National Convention - the ones shuttling delegates, candidates and the rest from place to place - will not only be running on flex-fuel, but also will get their ethanol from a uniquely Coloradan source: The Molson Coors Brewing Company.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As part of a green marketing bid, automotive giant General Motors plans to unveil a lighthearted television ad that begins "Dear Oil," and proceeds to suggest a cooling off of its "relationship" with petroleum products. GM marketing executive Kathryn Benoit spoke about the ad in a panel discussion at the American Advertising Federation conference Monday, said Kelly Cusinato, GM (GM, Fortune 500) spokeswoman. While discussing green marketing, Benoit cited the company's plans for the new spot, which is aimed at promoting alternative fuel, said Cusinato.

In the end, it was General Motors who settled the debate over fuel economy standards in the United States. Responding to plummeting demand for the full-size trucks and sport-utility vehicles that prompted Detroit’s resurgence during the ’90s, GM announced this week that it is going to change its business model. It will no longer focus on trucks, and plans to close four plants that builds them – focusing instead on cars that burn gasoline more efficiently. In doing so, the company was following the oldest rule in capitalism – supply must follow demand. American consumers had finally reached their breaking...

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - General Motors Corp said on Tuesday its all-electric Chevrolet Volt was on track for a launch in 2010 after the company's board approved funding for production of the high-profile plug-in vehicle. ...Unlike gas-electric hybrids such as the Prius, which run on a system that twins battery power and a combustion engine, the Volt will be powered entirely by an electric motor and have a battery that can be charged through an ordinary power socket. The Volt's on-board engine will be used only to power the battery on longer trips, GM has said. GM is designing the...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. auto sales tumbled in May as buyers fled from pickups and sport utility vehicles in the face of average gas prices that are now just shy of $4 a gallon. The trouble hit not only U.S. automakers General Motors (GM, Fortune 500), Ford Motor and Chrysler LLC -- which have long depended on sales of pickups and SUVs -- but also trimmed the sales of their top Japanese rival Toyota Motor (TM). But other Asian automakers held up reasonably well. Nissan (NSANY) reported a narrow sales gain while Honda Motor (HMC) and Kia rode American...

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — General Motors is closing four truck and SUV plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico as surging fuel prices hasten a dramatic shift to smaller vehicles. CEO Rick Wagoner said Tuesday before the automaker's annual meeting in Delaware the plants to be closed are in Oshawa, Ontario; Moraine, Ohio; Janesville, Wis.; and Toluca, Mexico. He also said the iconic Hummer brand will be reviewed and potentially sold or revamped. Wagoner said the GM board has approved production of a new small Chevrolet car at a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in mid-2010 and the Chevy Volt electric...

The rapid decline in truck sales in the last month has pushed General Motors Corp. to the brink of a once-unimaginable trough: Its U.S. market share could fall below 20% on Tuesday when the auto industry reports vehicle sales for May. Sales of pickup trucks and big sport-utility vehicles -- Detroit's bread-and-butter products -- have been falling for the past few years, pulled down by the slumping economy, falling home values and rising gasoline prices. But the declines accelerated this year and showed an unexpectedly steep drop in May, as gasoline prices reached $4 a gallon in many parts of...

General Motors Corp.'s stock dropped almost 5 percent Friday after the company reported that strikes at some of its own plants and parts supplier American Axle will cost the automaker about $2 billion before taxes in the second quarter. GM also expects to produce 230,000 fewer vehicles during the quarter due to the nearly three-month American Axle strike, which crippled its production of large sport utility vehicles and pickups. The other strikes will cost it 33,000 vehicles. "We anticipate only a portion of this lost production will be recovered, due to the current economic environment in the United States and...

Motorheads don’t want to hear it; refuse to believe it — but ugly realities are coming down hard on the ‘09 Camaro that will very possibly cause GM to pull the plug before the first one ever rolls off the line. Doubt that? Consider the stillborn rear-wheel-drive next generation Chevy Impala — nixed because of concerns within GM about the possibility of meeting the pending (2012) 35 mpg fuel economy edict recently passed by Congress. A lighter front-drive car with a V-6 instead of a V-8 can make the cut; a V-8 RWD Impala can’t. So it’s gone. So is...

General Motors Headquarters, Detroit(DETROIT) - General Motors Corp. says it has bought its previously leased headquarters in downtown Detroit's towering Renaissance Center for $626 million. GM revealed the May 1 purchase in a filing Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. GM says it paid $626 million cash for the headquarters and $200 million cash for two office properties in nearby Pontiac, Mich. GM moved its headquarters from Detroit's Midtown neighborhood to the Renaissance Center in 1996 and has spent tens of millions of dollars on improvements to the complex, which includes Detroit's tallest building.

General Motors announced today it would be entering into a strategic relationship with Mascoma Corp., a second-generation biofuel company with the technology to produce cellulosic ethanol from non-food sources via a single-step biochemical conversion. The undisclosed equity share aims to contribute to joint research and development along with technology exchange, plant siting, and rapid commercialization of cellulosic ethanol technology and infrastructure. This is GM’s second investment in a cellulosic ethanol company, after announcing partnership with Coskata back in January. Mascoma is a 3 year old energy biotech company based in Boston. Their proprietary production process, called Consolidated Bioprocessing, limits the...

Sagging pickup truck and sport utility vehicle sales have forced General Motors Corp. to shut down one shift each at four North American factories and lay off about 3,500 workers. The world's largest automaker by sales said Monday that the cuts, to take effect starting this summer, were brought on by weak demand due to high gasoline prices and an economic downturn. The cuts will affect pickup factories in Pontiac and Flint, Mich., and Oshawa, Ontario, as well as the full-size SUV plant in Janesville, Wis. The layoffs represent just over 4 percent of GM's hourly manufacturing work force of...

BEIJING, April 19 /CNW/ -- The sleek Buick Invicta show car revealed here in conjunction with Auto China 2008 is Buick's strongest statement yet of its deliberately international plans. The four-door midsize sedan with a coupe-like roofline presents bold direction for Buick's new generation of vehicles in the world's two biggest automotive markets -- the United States and China.

In a further sign of weakening demand for large, gas-guzzling SUVs, GM has announced it is idling its 54-year-old Arlington, Texas plant for three weeks. This comes only two weeks after a GM spokeswoman said this about Arlington: "We are currently running at full production and foresee continuing to run at full production indefinitely..." Workers at the plant had been producing 900-1000 Chevrolet Tahoes and Suburbans, GMC Yukons, and Cadillac Escalades a day. Ten months ago, Autoblog reported large SUVs were holding their own. Now, these models are seeing reduced sales compared with last year as consumers react to...

Now, ladies and gentlemen, just to show you that I participate, I told you last week General Motors is going to be bringing a car by here for us to drive, as they introduce new models. The first car they're going to be bringing by is the Malibu. I love General Motors. General Motors, Ford, the automaker industry in this country is one that we have been told to hate and one that we have been told to despise, they make worthless garbage and they try to sell it to us. This is what the left has tried to do...

GM, Daimler, Honda Betting on Hydrogen Fuel Cells Posted: Apr. 08, 2008 10:04 a.m. Car and Driver reports, “Fuel-cell vehicles -- where hydrogen is converted to electricity onboard and there are no emissions -- are real today and even more feasible tomorrow under a carefully scripted development plan at General Motors that culminates in as many as one million affordable FCVs by 2020.” GM has nearly completed development on a fuel cell propulsion system “that has been reduced to half the size for half the materials, less weight, and less cost” that previous models. “The next-gen fuel-cell stack will hit...