GM is better at losing money then they are at making cars, says the Associated Press. The auto-maker lost $38.7 billion in 2007, a record for the industry. Still, they’re optimistic:
During a conference call with analysts and media, Chief Financial Officer Fritz Henderson said 2008 will be difficult, but the company sees the potential for significant earnings increases by 2010 or 2011 once it reduces its work force and labor costs and transfers its retiree health-care costs to a new UAW-run trust.
The Detroit-based automaker said it was offering a new round of buyouts to all 74,000 of its U.S. hourly workers who are represented by the United Auto Workers.
GM won’t say how many workers it hopes to shed, but under its new contract with the UAW, it will be able to replace up to 16,000 workers doing non-assembly jobs with new employees who will be paid half the old wage of $28 per hour.
Ouch. Let’s hope the predicted tsunami of bad auto loans doesn’t affect their plans.
GM posts $38.7B loss for 2007, offers buyouts to 74,000 hourly workers [LA Times]
(Photo:RebekahSue)
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@HRHKingFriday: I’m not actually downing your degree or your education. Just that sometimes people who didn’t go to college are better at the same job regardless and deserve better pay.
And a lot of internships don’t teach you the real deal at jobs, they give you stuff they don’t want to do.
I also doubt that all of the jobs at a auto factory are just “pushing a button”, plus there is that little fact that it’s probably a somewhat dangerous environment where injuries can happen very easily, injuries that may keep you from working again or at least working at a decent job.
@mzs: I didn’t say they NEVER have such recalls — my point was that GM has a LOT more of the nasty recalls, and how likely is it that your washer fluid tank is going to cause a fire vs. your GM-mobile is going to have major problems given the relative reputations of the two automakers?
I’ll stick with the miniscule chance of washer tank related problems (well, I would if I had that model, which I don’t). I feel a lot more confident about than I do about driving something that could have the transmission disintegrate on me.
@Troy F.: And who exactly hauls that crap daily? If you do, you’re in a small minority unless you own a business that does that kind of thing. If you don’t, then why are you buying an SUV? Why aren’t you buying something small and fuel-efficient and renting that large gas-guzzler for the ONE DAY that you need it to get that huge appliance or piece of furniture home from the store that inexplicably doesn’t have its own truck and delivery service?
@chiieddy: Sq Ft is a measure of area. Cu Ft is a measure of volume. And fairly useless as far as figuring out how much a car can carry. They do not directly translate. Yes, if you could fold up a sheet of plywood you could fit oodles of them in a Cherokee. But it doesn’t work that way in reality.
For a look at the fundamental problem, go here:
[www.wjjeeps.com]
I have no idea what year Cherokee this is but it’s fine for this example.
As you can see, the hatch opening is neither 48″ high nor 48″ wide. It looks like you might actually be able to get them in on the diagonal in a Cherokee (in a lot of cars the wheel well makes it impossible to do this), but of course your question was why can’t people replace their big SUV with a wagon.
I can’t find a similar diagram for a passat but it’s a safe bet that there is not 48″ of clearance.
Like I said I don’t want an SUV, I want a big enough wagon. The extra few inches needed to make it work would not reduce the fuel economy by much. My dad’s V6 Roadmaster got mid-20s and that was 10 years ago. A 4-cyl today? They could probably make one that gets close to 30MPG.
And again – just because *you* would only need that capacity once a year doesn’t mean *everyone* is the same!
You asked. The answer is that in practice the SUV has replaced the full-sized wagon. They call it full-sized but that just means it’s the biggest one they make.
I don’t GM is too concerned… right now they’re main focus is on the Chinese market, and they have Saabs to balance out the other lackluster brands.
However, being a current Saab owner, I will most definitely avoid getting another one at all costs.
Saab = heavy maintenance.
*they’re = their :/
@Buran:
You’re a fucking idiot.
@Buran:
No really… Someone shows you a fact and you brush it off for a name. I hope you never have children and that your VW does catch on fire and you burn slowly to realize how much of an idiot you really are.
@coaster.n3rd: WTF? You wish death on me because I posted something you don’t like, and when pointing out what I was getting at, you say I shoudln’t ever have kids?
Fine. I hope you’re in Iran when the A-bomb finally gets dropped on them and you die of radiation sickness and that your dick falls off and you bleed out through teh hole and you have to watch through the excruciating pain.
I really wish to support domestic brands. But I also do not have the cash to burn on all those heavy maintenances/repairs bills from domestic cars (Talking from my past experience).
No need to argue here. Let the market speak for itself. If GM does make quality cars then people will buy them. Just like how everyone buys Toyotas and Hondas.
where are all the early bought out factory workers going to work?
@Buran:
I never said anything about death. Your stupidity will probably kill you off on its own.
@coaster.n3rd: If stupidity is “anyone who posts something I don’t agree with in a forum” then how the hell did you get out of kindergarten? Wishing that someone burn in a fire is wishing death on someone, and I’m tagging your bullshit.
@chouchou: Or Subaru.
@joeblevins: Depends where they live. Also price of fuel and food way out there along with everything else.
@bbbici: To say that GM killed the electric car is overstated. It’s just one model, one brand. Many more out there. Yeah, they could have sold the cars to their customers and said, “As is, no support”. Think there’s two sides to that story.
@Buran: Actually a Subaru Baja gets decent mileage and can haul that refrigerator home. Not only that, the bed is low enough to get heavy stuff into. Good luck finding one, it went out of production two years ago.
@ HRHKingFriday
“As someone who has invested in an education and thus, higher skills, I find it offensive that people who can barely get out of high school and did not make any such investment in themselves be paid as much or more than me (with equal years of experience).”
What an asshole comment. “Higher Skills” means what…?
Please come down from your fucking mountain. Barely get out of high school now? You have done a case study on auto workers?
You sir are an asshole and I can confidently tell you to FUCK OFF. Time to go back to school asshole, are you sad because your schooling couldn’t teach you how to make a decent living.
I may be crazy, but I’m pretty certain that any auto worker would have a very difficult time pulling apart a supreme court case and its legal arguments, analyse its significance on society at the time, and apply it as a matter of common law to other cases that have come after it. A law student can do it blindfolded after having downed 6 beers inside of 20 minutes, if they went to a decent law school.
I’m also pretty sure that an auto worker will have a very hard time ripping someone’s chest open and removing their appendix and sew them back up and the person would walk away. A medical student can probably do it blindfolded, from a computer 2000 miles away from the patient. Which is to say it’s easy, because it’s not. I can’t do it, that’s why I’m going to go to law school.
Schooling (including college) gives you higher critical thinking and analytical skills, which are critical skills to have and are in high demand in this increasingly service-based economy.
THAT’s what HRking means by “higher skills.”