State of the Union May 3 2012

May 3, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com

From the Veterans Committee: We will be having a shotgun meat shoot Saturday, June 2 at the Wentzville VFW 5327, 1414 Highway Z. Start time is 1 pm and there will be 14 rounds – 12 at $3, 1 at $4 and 1 at $6. Half are money rounds and half are meat rounds. Proceeds will go to the Veteran’s Memorial. For more information call 636-639-1648 or Steve Melson at 636-262-1234. Also, we are having a T-shirt design contest for this year’s SOS ride. The winner will get $100. The design must include all branches of the armed forces with no more than 6 colors used. All artwork must be original hand drawn work. The design is for the back only. Artwork may be dropped off at the Union Hall no later than 5 pm Monday, June 4.

Here are the April sales results for the van segment:

2012 2011 Change Share Ford Econoline 11,810 11,611 +1.7% 50.8% GM ,941 8,669 +3.1% 38.5% Mercedes Sprinter ,966 1,115 +98.4% 8.5% Nissan NV 514 260 +122% 2.2% Ford Transit connect 2,892 2,668 +8.4% ---

Field supplies as measured by days supply is down to 41 from 47 at the end of March, although overall supplies are up around 1800 units. Chevy passenger vans are down to a 9 day supply. Chevy cargo vans are at 41 days. Cutaway supplies are down slightly, with the Chevy at 60 days and the GMC at 37 days.

From Bloomberg: A proposed rule requiring automakers to double average fuel economy by 2025 to 54.5 mpg may reduce gasoline-tax collections for U.S. highway and transit systems by $57 billion over 11 years, the Congressional Budget Office said. That would reduce the amount of money available for the Highway Trust Fund by 13 percent from 2012 to 2022, the CBO said in a report released Wednesday. The CBO previously said the highway portion of the trust fund would run out of money during the fiscal year that starts in October. Lawmakers could deal with the shortfall by spending less on highways and mass transit, using more general fund money from the U.S. Treasury for surface transportation, or raising the U.S. gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, the report concluded. Complying with the rule, intended to reduce fuel use and vehicle emissions, would cost as much as $157 billion while saving consumers as much as $515 billion in fuel costs, the Environmental Protection Agency and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have said. General Motors Co today announced first quarter net income attributable to common stockholders of $1.0 billion, or $0.60 per fully diluted share. These results include a net loss from special items related to goodwill impairment that reduced net income by $0.6 billion, or $0.33 per fully diluted share.

In the first quarter of 2011, GM’s net income attributable to common stockholders was $3.2 billion, or $1.77 per fully diluted share, including a net gain from special items of $1.5 billion or $0.82 per share.

Net revenue in the first quarter of 2012 was $37.8 billion, an increase of $1.6 billion compared with the first quarter of 2011. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) adjusted was $2.2 billion, an increase of $0.2 billion compared with the first quarter of 2011.

"The U.S. economic recovery, record demand for GM vehicles in China and the global growth of the Chevrolet brand helped deliver solid earnings for General Motors,” said Dan Akerson, chairman and CEO. “New products are starting to make a difference in South America, but Europe remains a work in progress. We’ll continue to work on both revenue and cost opportunities until we have brought GM to competitive levels of profitability."

GM North America (GMNA) reported EBIT-adjusted of $1.7 billion, including restructuring costs of $0.1 billion, an improvement of $0.4 billion compared with the first quarter of 2011.

GM Europe (GME) reported an EBIT-adjusted loss of $0.3 billion compared with break-even results in the first quarter of 2011.

GM International Operations (GMIO) reported EBIT-adjusted of $0.5 billion compared with $0.6 billion in the first quarter of 2011.

GM South America’s (GMSA) EBIT-adjusted of $0.1 billion was flat compared with the first quarter of 2011.

GM Financial earnings before tax was $0.2 billion for the quarter, a $0.1 billion increase from the prior year.

Cash Flow and Liquidity

For the quarter, automotive cash flow from operating activities was $2.3 billion and automotive free cash flow was $0.3 billion. GM ended the quarter with very strong total automotive liquidity of $37.3 billion. Automotive cash and marketable securities was $31.5 billion compared with $31.6 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011.

2012 GMNA Outlook

With the strengthening U.S. economy helping release pent-up demand, GM now expects that full-year 2012 U.S. light vehicle sales will be in the 14.0 million – 14.5 million range. Previously, the company expected sales to fall between 13.5 million – 14.0 million units. Based on the company’s current outlook, GMNA’s results for the second and third quarters of 2012 are expected to be comparable to the first quarter of 2012 due to the scheduled downtime at factories that produce full-size trucks.

"We are aggressively eliminating complexity to reduce our costs, and at that same time, we are preparing for more than 20 major vehicle launches around the world in 2012 to drive revenue this year and farther into the future," said Dan Ammann, senior vice president and CFO.

Tom Brune UAW/GM Communications Coordinator Wentzville Assembly 636-327-2119