Free Republic

Faced with the bad news from GM — which is discontinuing several passenger-car lines, shuttering five North American factories, and laying off thousands of workers — President Donald Trump responded with his habitual bluster, telling GM they “better damn well open a new plant” in Ohio, and boasting that he was “very tough” on the automaker’s CEO. As is often the case, President Trump’s bluster is unhelpful. General Motors almost certainly is doing the right thing, as painful as that is going to be for the workers who lose their jobs and for the communities that had relied on —...

FULL TITLE: 'This is the THANKS we get!' Trump warns General Motors he'll cut ALL its government subsidies in retaliation for closing U.S. auto plants President Donald Trump threatened to punish General Motors following the company's decision to shutter Midwest manufacturing plants and lay off thousands of U.S. workers. A day after the news of the layoffs rattled the industry and raised a potential political problem for the president, the president followed up on an earlier threat that the automaker 'better damn well' open a new plant. He threatened to yank subsidies for electric cars – as GM seeks to...

Shame on Trump for ordering General Motors to “put something else in” Reuters just published this article about General Motors planning to close a plant in Ohio due to there being less demand for small cars.Trump responded by saying:“They better put something else in.”It’s not the job of the President to tell private companies what products to make or how many kinds of products to make.Shame on Trump for trying to give himself powers that are not authorized in the Constitution!

Just when it looked like employers were getting less fearful about what President Obama might do next to worsen the business climate, the National Labor Relations Board (now with its first Democratic majority in a decade, thanks to Obama's appointees) has announced that private employers will be required to display pro-unionizing posters in their businesses under a newly proposed federal rule. "The planned rule," reported the Associated Press, "would require businesses to post notices in employee break rooms or other prominent locations to explain workers' rights to bargain collectively, distribute union literature or engage in other union activities without reprisal."...

That was then: Over six years ago, then-vice president Joe Biden (D) was campaigning for a second term for the Democratic administration of Barack Hussein Obama and himself with this proud theme: If you are looking for a bumper sticker to sum up how President Obama has handled what we inherited, it's pretty simple: Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.  He was referring, of course, to the assassination of terrorist Osama bin Laden, indicating a successful American foreign policy during the Obama administration, and simultaneously the government bailout of General Motors indicating a successful domestic policy of providing...

Its easy to feel good about security enhancement at the southern border to keep people from Mexico and points south from getting into the country, people who may be criminals, people who may take jobs from Americans. But then along comes General Motors announcing a "restructuring" which will close down four plants in the US and affect more than 10,000 jobs in America. They plan to move those jobs to Mexico and even China. So the jobs are lost to Americans anyway because of the machinations of a multi-national corporation. President Trump is not happy and is talking about cutting...

President Donald Trump threatened on Twitter to end government subsidies for General Motors in retaliation for layoffs the company announced Monday. What layoffs? General Motors announced that it would be laying off 14,700 workers, including 6,000 factory workers, and closing down four plants in the United States and one in Canada. While GM, and other car companies, have spoken out against rising production costs caused by the Trump administration’s protectionist tariffs, a spokeswoman for the company told TheBlaze that the layoffs and plant closures “are being made as part of our ongoing transformation and are not related to recent trade...

General Motors will end production of six sedans by the end of 2019. North American customers want SUVs, crossovers, hatchbacks and trucks. Sedans have fallen out of favor. As GM (GM) adjusts to changing customer behavior it is also planning ahead for the future. The company announced massive layoffs and is closing five North American facilities as it transitions to self-driving, electric cars of the future. The soon-to-be closed plants mean GM will no longer make these cars: Buick LaCrosse January - September sales: 13,409, down 14.2% The LaCrosse is a large car built by a brand that was a...

Amid flagging sales, General Motors confirmed on Monday that it will no longer make the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt, ceasing production on March 1st, 2019. The news comes as part of a wider plan by GM to slash car production in North America and halt production of several low-selling brands. Trading on GM shares was briefly halted on the stock exchange early on Monday in anticipation of “major operational changes,” according to CNBC. GM plans to “unallocate” three assembly plants — in Oshawa, Ontario; Detroit, Michigan; and Warren, Ohio — putting the future of those plants in doubt, Reuters reports....

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors will lay off up to 14,000 factory and white-collar workers in North America and put five plants up for possible closure as it restructures to cut costs and focus more on autonomous and electric vehicles. The reduction includes 8,100 white-collar workers, some of whom will take buyouts and others who will be laid off. Some U.S. factory workers could transfer to truck or SUV factories that are increasing production.

TORONTO, Nov 25 (Reuters) - General Motors Co is planning to close all operations at a plant near Toronto and an announcement is expected on Monday, a local TV news channel reported on Sunday Citing multiple sources, CTV News reported that the plant closure in Oshawa in the province of Ontario was expected to affect “thousands” of high-paying jobs. GM builds sedans on one assembly line and pickup trucks on another. The plant closure is part of global restructuring, the report added. A Canada-based GM spokesman declined comment. GM employs about 2,500 union staff and roughly 300 salaried employees in...

At a near-empty Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) showroom in the Chinese mega city of Chongqing, the store manager is grumbling about his shortage of customers and a lack of bigger, cheaper SUV models popular in the world’s largest auto market. Even with discounting of as much as 25 percent, his dealership was selling barely a hundred vehicles a month, said the manager surnamed Li. A nearby Nissan (7201.T) dealership was selling about 400 vehicles a month, a store manager there said. “The sales are simply poor,” Li told Reuters. “Look at the Nissan store next door, they have tens of customers...

NameThe name, which was DeLorean's idea, was inspired by the Ferrari 250 GTO, the successful race car. It is an Italian abbreviation for Gran Turismo Omologato ("grand tourer homologated"), which means officially certified for racing in the grand tourer class. But in reality, the Pontiac GTO was never really a certified Grand Tourer race car. Internally, it was initially called the "Grand Tempest Option", one of many automobiles in the Pontiac line up with a 'Grand' in it. Despite these things, the GTO is one of the fastest cars ever manufactured by Pontiac. First generation: 1964-67 Second generation: 1968-72 Third...

According to the latest available U.S. Commerce Department data, the number of Michiganders employed in the auto and auto parts manufacturing industry is about half what it was at the turn of the millennium. United Auto Workers (UAW) union bosses, who for decades have wielded their government-granted monopoly-bargaining power to foist counterproductive work rules and inefficient benefit plans on unionized autoworkers and automakers, bear a large part of the responsibility. Of the roughly 170,000 remaining Michigan auto manufacturing employees, it’s likely that more than 100,000 are subject to UAW officials’ monopoly-bargaining power. In order to keep their jobs, employees must...

The Detroit-based company's proposal, modeled after a California program the Trump administration is seeking to undermine, would mandate that manufacturers garner an escalating percentage of total vehicle sales from automobiles powered by electricity or hydrogen fuel cells.

CE car sales are down and EV sales are up. Most people know this much. Also, EV sales are not up by as much as ICE car sales are down. The two metrics are believed to be independent of one another. I believe they are related. When someone purchases a Tesla Model 3, that car sale is an EV and not a new ICE vehicle. So that is a first sale the ICE industry loses. Next, the new EV owner often trades in a used ICE car and someone else will purchase that car. Some number of car buyers will...

Michael Moore set the record for the highest-grossing documentary of all time (1989’s “Roger & Me”). Then he broke his own record (2002’s “Bowling for Columbine”). Then he broke it again, with what remains the highest-grossing doc in US history, 2004’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Along the way he won an Oscar and predicted Donald Trump’s presidential victory when no one else saw it coming. That was then. These days Moore’s IRS-reported income is (according to legal papers filed by his ex-wife, Kathleen Glynn) negative-$350,862 (in 2014) and negative-$221,025 (in 2016). He’s still making movies, but America is yawning. Already there have...

Stocks rose sharply on Monday as investors cheered news of Canada joining a trade deal with the United States and Mexico. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 264 points as American Express and Boeing outperformed. The S&P 500 gained 0.8 percent, led by 1 percent jumps in materials and industrials. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.7 percent as Amazon and Apple both climbed more than 1 percent. "The biggest risk factor [in the market] is a trade war and we've dialed that down a bit," said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners. Bailey noted, however, the market may...

President Donald Trump has officially arrived at a public event where he debuted his new presidential limo—"The Beast," as it's known colloquially. Like the previous Beast, first used by President Barack Obama in 2009, the new version is built by General Motors and visually denoted as a Cadillac, and its latest iteration adopts more modern styling cues and surely packs more advanced technology. Although the details are kept secret, the new Beast is, like its predecessor, a heavily armored stretch limousine that, despite looking like a stretched CT6 or XTS sedan, is actually built on a heavy-duty GMC TopKick truck...

...snip... Weaver was a teenager in March 1968 when his dad offered to “buy me something new.” They lived in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and first visited Grabiak Chevrolet “down the road,” where the 19-year-old spotted a black 427 Corvette coupe that he “was interested in getting.” Except, “My God, the insurance was over $1,000 a year,” which was “a fortune” in those days. “So we went up to Yenko [Chevrolet] to see about getting a Camaro.” They entered a candy land of “at least 50 Z/28s, different colors, different gear ratios—4.10s, 4.56s, 4.88s.” Weaver recalled it like it was yesterday. “I...