Local 2250
State of the Union
Jan. 10, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
Reminder: Sign-ups for the election committee election begin today at the Union Hall and run through Thursday, Jan. 13.
From Automotive News: The Chevrolet Volt sedan and Ford Explorer crossover were named 2011 car and truck of the year today by a panel of automotive journalists. The Volt, Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Sonata were finalists for 2011 North American Car of the Year, while the Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Dodge Durango were Truck of the Year finalists. The awards are judged by 49 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada -- representing magazines, newspapers, Web sites, television and radio. The criteria used to judge the winners include innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value for the dollar.
From the Detroit News: Sen. Bob Corker, who in late 2008 tried to broker a deal to rescue General Motors and Chrysler, returned to Detroit on Sunday to herald their turnaround and praise another automaker bringing work to his home state. "Detroit is doing very well," Corker said. "I really do think the automotive industry in our country is going to come back very strong." Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga, said he's rooting for Detroit. "At heart, I am a mayor and I know this city has had difficulties," he said. "I love urban revitalization. I want Detroit do well." In recent weeks, Corker bought two new vehicles: a Volkswagen Touareg (made in Germany) and a Ford Transit Connect van (made in Turkey) for his wife, an interior decorator. Corker said the debate over the auto industry bailout is over. "Once a decision is made in this world, you move on," he said. "I'm glad that in spite of feelings at the time, the companies are doing well, people are being employed and taxpayers are getting some money repaid." (Gee, Bob, we don’t know what we’d have done without you)
More Automotive News: Transplant carmakers that violate the UAW's election guidelines can expect blowback from consumers, UAW President Bob King said. With an organizing budget of $60 million, the UAW will respond "aggressively" to any transplant automaker that interferes with union organizing at their U.S. assembly and engine plants in the coming months, he said. King said the union will launch global demonstrations and publicity aimed at punishing offending carmakers, including convincing sympathizers in the civil rights, church and environmental communities to not buy vehicles.
Here’s the month and year end report from van Marketing Manager Andrew
Reyntjes:December was a strong month for us. We delivered 7,624 vans which was 118% of our total objective. Our volume over November grew by 33.5% and we gained 1.4 percentage points of share over November. On a CY basis we delivered 7,229 units more or + 10.9% from our volume in 2009. Unfortunately we lost 3 percentage points of segment share to Ford Econoline for the CY. Looking back over the year we exceeded our monthly sales objectives 8 out of 12 times endding up netting an additional 4357. We exceeded dealer Consensus every month last year, I do not believe that this has happened in years (if ever). In looking back at 2010 there were many events that helped us achieve these results:
•New photography assets for our brochures and catalogs that hadn't been updated in years
•A Vocational based Marketing Initiative that includes grass roots worksite events and community outreach programs
•The successful launch of the new 2010i MY Duramax Diesel that meets the new emission standards (Ford dropped out !!)
•Very positive steps forward in the integration of the Chevrolet division in terms of go-to-market incentive announcements and corporate displays and promotions
•A conquest of a significant number of Penske and Budget Truck Rental orders
•A significant number of re-conquests by our Fleet Account Executives when Ford could not deliver on promises
•The quick actions of the Engineering organization to re-establish the driver armrest (a major customer dissastisfier and example of cost-reduction gone mad). This quick action secured the Sears account.
•The introduction of OnStar as an available feature on our vans (finally)
•Partnerships with GM Communications and external suppliers such as Autonet, Adrian Steel, Leggit & Platt and many others
•An increased push and emphasis on the growing and profitable Mobility market
•A comprehensive team effort from Purchasing to Wentzville to the Fleet Sales organization to secure the Fedex account with the ability to provide orange safety belts
•Positive changes to the Business Choice and Business Central programs
•An increased Marketing Budget -although I'm never going to have enough !! :)
•An increased number of dedicated team members
•The Wentzville team playing gracious host to several high-profile customer visits
•Wentzville and Distribution departments helping to push the occasional high-profile VIP dealer or customer order through to secure goodwill and win more business
•The way that the entire team reacted to chase every sale with challenges of large orders effecting volume, production and timing of our orders.
•An excellent Product Preview for our major customers hosted in Detroit and the availability of key Engineering staff to participate and interact with the customers
•A win of a significant portion of the VPSI van pool account following a special invitation and relationship building event at the Van PET
•Increased Express Awareness with the Pink-Wings Breast Cancer team van that supported the 1st place Chicago team raising $68,000
•The positive momentum as the new GM emerged from bankruptcy
Unfortunately our competition is fierce. Ford continues to be aggressive on price and has an integrated portfolio of commercial vehicles from Transit Connect all the way to Medium Duty. Nissan launches their NV commercial van this year. A product investment and marketing launch into this business does not come cheap. We expect Nissan to do everything it can to make a splash, and take business to recoup their investment and grow share. As one of only 2 major players in the segment Nissan's share gains will come out of our market share. We have no new retail (small business related) content for 2012 and our design has remained the same in over a decade so we have to do our best to go to market with carryover content until 2013MY. Fortunately we have a lot of opportunity. We have a CNG offering with a warranty backed by GM that is just waiting on final Ship-to-commerce approval. This is perfect for a time of rising gasoline prices and environmental awareness. We already have 150 orders in the bank even though we have not yet been able to get demonstrator/Marketing vehicles out of Michigan. We will continue to put a lot of media attention on this vehicle.
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