State of the Union June 1, 2011

June 1, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com

Applications are now being accepted for the 2011 Black Lake Summer Scholarship Session. The dates for these family sessions are July 10-15, July 17-22 and July 24-29. They begin on Sunday evening and conclude on Friday morning. Participants will fly into Detroit on the day before, stay at a hotel and take a chartered bus to Black Lake the next morning. All travel expenses will be paid but there will be no lost time. Applications are available at the Union Hall and the deadline is Friday, June 10.

Reminder: The Blessing of the Bikes is today 15 minutes after the longest first shift line time and will be held at the arch in the front of the plant. You don’t need your bike to attend.

From BusinessFleet: General Motors gathered its fleet friends and family together in Palm Springs this week to show off its product and give a glimpse into the future. As you might expect at a fleet preview, GM reiterated that "fleet business is good business." But the numbers back up the talk: GM's sales to commercial fleets are up 8 percent year over year, while fleet sales represent 25 percent of total U.S. sales. GM pointed out that sales to small businesses were up 30 percent in the first quarter. GM expects overall fleet sales for the industry to remain steady at 2.5 million vehicles for each of the remaining three quarters of 2011. GM is jumping into factory-direct liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, or propane autogas) offerings on the 2012 Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana cutaway 3500 and 4500 vans. The vans will be produced at GM's Wentzville, Mo., plant. GM will be taking orders for the fourth quarter of this year. (The new LPG offering complements GM's versions of its compressed natural gas vans on the market now.)
•    From the Wall Street Journal: Japan's auto sales slumped 38% from a year earlier in May, hammered by a shortage of parts as a result of the March 11 earthquake. But the sales drop was less than the record plunge in the previous month (down 51%), as car makers were able to operate domestic plants for the whole month for the first time since the disaster. Sales of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles plummeted 57% to 48,733 in May, with those of the luxury Lexus brand down 5.3% at 1,789. The weak numbers came out the same day Toyota announced a global recall of about 140,000 vehicles, including 106,000 first-generation Prius hybrids, in the U.S., Japan, the U.K., Germany and elsewhere. Nissan Motor Co.'s sales dropped 16% to 28,037, and Honda Motor Co.'s sales tumbled 35% to 21,294.
•    From Mlive: General Motors says it will invest $88 million in a Cadillac factory in Lansing, Michigan. The company says the investment won't create any new jobs but will equip the plant to make a new model. The factory now has 971 workers and makes the Cadillac CTS sports sedan. GM wouldn't identify the new model, but the CTS is due to be revamped soon. Previously GM announced in October that it will spend $190 million to build a new small Cadillac at the Lansing Grand River plant, adding 600 jobs and a second shift.
•    From Bloomberg: Ford's assembly plants in Avon Lake, Ohio, and Flat Rock, Mich., are likely targets (for closure) because of weak sales of vehicles made there, said Sean McAlinden of the Center for Automotive Research and Robert W. Clark, who negotiated national bargaining agreements for the automaker for more than 30 years before retiring in 2002. Mazda Motor Corp. said in February it may pull out of the Flat Rock plant, where it has been a partner with Ford since the 1980s. The factory, which opened in 1987, makes the Ford Mustang sports car and Mazda 6 sedan, both of which have been losing market share. GM's Chevrolet Camaro snapped the Mustang's 24-year run as the top-selling sports car in 2010. Ford's Avon Lake plant makes the Econoline van, which may lose sales to the Transit Connect electric delivery van the automaker plans to build in the U.S. Ford said in January it would invest $400 million in its Claycomo, Mo., plant, which may build the Transit, consultant Michael Robinet of IHS Automotive said at the time. Ford has no announcements planned on the Avon Lake plant, and "it would be far too premature to comment on future product plans" there, Marcey Evans, a Ford spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. She declined to comment on Flat Rock.
•    From the Detroit Free Press: Ford has increased prices on its 2011 models by an average of $124, or 0.4%, the third price increase since January as the automaker tries to offset rising prices for steel, plastic and other materials. The increase was communicated to dealers last week, according to Ford spokesman Todd Nissen. It comes after a similar increase in April, which also averaged 0.4%, or $117 per vehicle, and another one in January. “This brings our average price increases this year to 1.3%, or $375 on average,” Nissen said, adding that the average price increase for all automakers in the U.S. is about 1%. General Motors last month raised prices by an average of 0.4%, or $123 for the average 2011 model. Steel and aluminum prices remain at or near three-year highs. An average carcontains about 325 pounds of aluminum, and because aluminum refining requires so much electricity, the cost of coal also has an impact on the cost of aluminum.
•    May sales numbers are starting to come out. General Motors reported 221,192 total sales in May, including a 9 percent increase in retail sales compared to May 2010. Total sales declined 1 percent on lower fleet volume. During the month, total sales of GM passenger cars increased 13 percent. Total crossover sales declined 1 percent, while retail sales were up 17 percent compared to last year’s May. Total combined sales of Chevrolet Silverado and Avalanche, and GMC Sierra decreased 14 percent; with retail sales down 17 percent versus a year ago. Van sales came in at 8954, a 15.7% increase over last year and the highest monthly total this year. More to come tomorrow.