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General Motors Co. on Thursday reported a record profit of $7.6 billion for 2011, but losses in Europe and thin profit margins in the fourth quarter underscored challenges the company faces in 2012. But GM lost $747 million in Europe, where it is racing to turn around its troubled Opel unit. The company said its 47,500 United Auto Workers-represented hourly workers will receive profit-sharing checks of $7,000, the highest amount workers have received. In addition, they will receive $250 each for meeting quality targets.

General Motors Co. is eliminating annual pension contributions for U.S. salaried workers who still receive them and will pare 2011 bonuses for all salaried workers, the auto maker said on Wednesday. The Detroit company also won't give salaried workers pay raises this year, but will offer them an additional week of vacation. The company is looking for ways to reduce its pension obligations and overall costs, while improving quality and productivity throughout the company. GM is expected tell its 26,000 U.S. salaried workers they will receive smaller bonuses for 2011 than the prior year because the company failed to meet...

In the words of Yogi Berra, it looks like déjà vu all over again as General Motors plans to "relaunch" the Chevy Volt. Just in case you missed the first rollout that saw certain financial news networks dedicate loads of airtime to help GM build the hype surrounding a vehicle that was to be a savior for GM as support was garnered for a taxpayer bailout and subsequent IPO, we now get a second take on the failed first production. Many of the same cast will appear as cronies at Motor Trend will be cited for giving the Volt...

This post has been updated below. Among the objections about taxpayer subsidies for the high-profileChevy Volt, manufactured by Government Motors, is that the many grants, loans and tax breaks that lowered the sticker price on the electric hybrid car facilitated its (paltry) sales for the benefit of wealthier individuals who were purchasing it – those with average annual salaries of $170,000 . So can you imagine how happy the affluent customers (like Leonardo DiCaprio) of the heavily subsidized, $102,000 electric Fisker Karma are, to be able to purchase their gimmicky sports sedan at a discount, with a $7,500 tax...

General Motors appears to be looking to spur sales of its Chevrolet Volt by offering potential California customers a chance to lease the $40,000 extended-range plug-in vehicle with no cash down, GreenCarReports.com said, citing a California Chevrolet dealer. GM is offering a so-called "Quad $0" lease program on the Volt, in which leasing the car requires no down payment, no security deposit, no first-month's payment and no cash due upon sale, the website said, citing Randall Baum at Quality Chevrolet in Escondido, CA. That program gives those interested in driving the car a chance to lease one for as little...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced today that Chevrolet Volt purchasers are now eligible for the state’s $2,500 electric vehicle (EV) rebate. The rebate requires that consumers qualify for and participate in The EV Project, a national study on EV use and charging infrastructure deployment. The EV Project will provide participants with a free Blink® 240V networked charge station and a credit of up to $1,200 towards its installation. To be eligible, Tennessee residents must sign an EV Project participant agreement, purchase the Volt, take delivery of the car, and have SPX Corporation install...

Some very humorous (if not cost-effective) ads were exhibited by General Motors during this year's Super Bowl game. GM continues to freely spend its stockpile of taxpayer supplied cash reserve as it even aired a spot touting the Chevy Volt. At a cost of $3.5 million for a 30 second spot the expense equals about 15% of the total revenues GM brought in during the entire month of January for the Volt when sales fell to a dismal level of 603. What is the reasoning behind spending so much to advertise a vehicle that sells in such small numbers...

GM, Ford feud over Super Bowl ad (Reuters) - A simmering feud between General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co heated up on Sunday as Ford objected to GM's Super Bowl advertisement for its Chevy Silverado pickup truck. The ad, which will run on NBC's television broadcast of the Super Bowl on Sunday, depicts an apocalyptic scene in which Chevrolet Silverado pickup trucks and their owners escape death and make it to a pre-arranged meeting point. But, one of their friends, identified as "Dave," who drives a Ford, doesn't make it to the meeting site, in the video that plays...

I recently questioned the existence of a binding "no-strike clause" that the media reported on back when General Motors was making a plea for its taxpayer-funded bailout. The claims were that the UAW could not strike at GM or Chrysler until 2015. UAW Communications Coordinator, Tom Brune, has responded and gave a bit of clarification as to what the so-called no-strike clause actually means. The response by Mr. Brune is appreciated, but we still see this subject from two different points of view. My feeling is that the no-strike clause was misrepresented to the public and implied that UAW...

General Motors has thrown the transmission in reverse, exercising options to cancel a substantial portion of its second quarter upfront commitments. According to several sources, GM has pulled out of nearly 50 percent of its Q2 upfront buys in broadcast and cable, the maximum allowable under the terms of network ad contracts.

The world’s largest automaker avoided embarrassment but became the only American automaker with negative sales in January 2012: it was down 6.1 percent to 167,962 sales. Sales were down across all four of GM’s brands, although the automaker’s most improved models were unlikely heroes, the Chevrolet Volt and GMC Canyon... As for the most improved models, there were some interesting inclusions: the best model was the Volt, which rose 87.9 percent to 603 sales.... Buick: Down 23.1 Percent to 10,208 Cadillac: 8924 Sales, Down 29.1 Percent Chevrolet: 123,864 Sales, Down 1.2 Percent GMC: Down 9.7 Percent to 24,966 Sales

Also video interview link below in comment on Gov't Conflict of Interest on Chevy Volt Probe? Well-respected car guy and General Motors supporter, Bob Lutz, posted a piece on Forbes that attacked "right-wing" criticism of the Chevy Volt. With all due respect and noting that I have nowhere near the credentials of Mr. Lutz, I feel it appropriate to respond to the ridiculous defense that we have seen of a vehicle that is costing taxpayers billions of dollars while offering little in return. I also have some questions of my own for Mr. Lutz and GM. First, let's address the...

Washington - Lest anyone doubt his solidarity with the American blue-collar worker, President Obama left the office Tuesday afternoon and spent some quality time with a Camaro. He never cranked up the stereo and took it for a spin, of course, but rather admired it on the showroom floor of the Washington Auto Show. But the photo op with the classic American muscle car gave Obama the chance to brag that the 2009 bailout he pushed through Congress ended up saving the big automakers. “The U.S. auto industry is back!” Obama declared. Cars are becoming a regular talking point for...

Back during the days of General Motors' bankruptcy proceedings, media reports cited the many "sacrifices" made by the politically favored UAW. I have long wondered what these many sacrifices were, as UAW members seem to be doing pretty well since the GM bankruptcy. One such "sacrifice" was a supposed agreement that the UAW could not go on strike at GM until after 2015, as mentioned in this Bloomberg piece, and accepted as fact by all media sources. I questioned this assertion in a piece I wrote in December of 2010 , but as has been the case with much...

Despite their small share of total vehicle sales, the Chevrolet Volt, Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius garner a lot of attention from new-car shoppers, according to J.D. Power and Associates' 2012 Avoider Study. For people who like the Volt, the most cited reason is its impact on a person's image; that's a good shout-out to Chevrolet's successful marketing campaign. Consumers think the Volt costs too much and that's why a lot of shoppers avoid the plug-in hybrid, according to the study. When people decide to skip over the Leaf or Prius, the most cited reason is the styling is unattractive....

Cry me a river. General Motors' CEO is complaining that the Chevy Volt has become a "political punching bag." As the Detroit Free Press reports , GM CEO Dan Akerson defended the Volt before a House of Representatives subcommittee Wednesday, saying that the hybrid electric vehicle seemed to be under attack as much for political as practical reasons. 'We did not design the Volt to become a political punching bag, and that’s what it’s become,' Akerson said. The optics of Akerson, CEO of a company whose very existence today stems completely from an infusion of tens of billions of...

On Thursday, General Motors announced an alert system under development that would instruct the Chevy Volt to charge only when a relatively high percentage of renewable energy was available. Being plugged in at those times would further minimize the carbon footprint of the plug-in hybrid. When a substantial percentage of the energy transmitted to the grid came from a renewable source like wind power, OnStar would receive a signal from P.J.M. Interconnection, a company that manages the electric-power transmission grid for numerous utility companies. The telematics system would then cue the vehicle to begin charging. “This demonstration shows that in...

(CNNMoney) -- Now that the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin station has closed its investigation into vehicle fires in the Chevrolet Volt, General Motors is left to clean up the public relations damage. The media counter-attack started Wednesday with newspaper and television advertisements. In a TV ad, which was also broadcast Wednesday, Chevrolet Volts are shown being built on an assembly down the middle of a suburban American street. Since Volt sales are so small, to begin with, and GM executives have admitted that the car isn't profitable, the automaker's ad campaign will cost it more than it will ever...

General Motors' CEO, Dan Akerson, is scheduled to testify at congressional hearings on the NHTSA delay in reporting Chevy Volt fires. GM and the government agency waited about five months to report an incident involving a Volt which erupted in flames weeks after a crash-test. Up to this point, Akerson has not exactly been honest about the Volt; can we now expect him to come clean? A culture of deceit has been evident at GM since the Obama Administration orchestrated a manipulated bankruptcy process that favored the politically powerful UAW over other classes. It was during the time of...

With NHTSA's closure of the investigation into the Chevy Volt, General Motors is now trying to rebuild the plug-in hybrid's image . But a new stumbling block has appeared on the road to higher sales — dealers turning down Volts from GM. General Motors sold only 7,671 Volts in the United States in 2011, well short of its 10,000-unit target for the first year. GM spokespeople have attributed weakness in demand to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's investigation into the risk of fires in the car's battery pack. But I'm not entirely certain that can all be blamed...