- The warrants for GM stock that the UAW VEBA fund has decided to sell will be priced at $3.85 and will net $171 million for the fund if all 45.4 million are sold. These warrants are completely separate from the 140.2 million shares of GM common stock that the VEBA holds (current value of $5.05 billion).
- From Wards Auto: The United Auto Workers has set up an organizing committee at the TeslaMotors plant in Fremont, CA, but says it is meeting with resistance from management despite CEO Elon Musk’s pledge to let the workers decide whether they want union representation. UAW President Bob King tells WardsAutohis group is actively looking to recruit workers at the Teslafactory, which is building 400 battery-electric vehicles each week. The plant employs about 2,000 people, but not all are production workers the union is targeting, he says. "It's growing fast," King says of the support for the committee. Establishing a pro-union committee is only the first step in any UAW organizing drive. The UAW has met with Musk, and King says the Tesla founder was “very open and said he would respect what the workers wanted. But his operating management has done the opposite. The operating management has taken a very anti-union stance. “We're trying to go back to Elon and say, ‛You have credibility with us. You're doing a great job from many different perspectives. We need you to really intervene so workers have the right to exercise their right to join a union,’” King says at UAW headquarters in Detroit. Tesla spokeswoman Shanna Hendricks declines to comment on the UAW activity in an email to WardsAuto.
- Chrysler's Ram truck division has officially begun production of its all-new ProMastervan at the automaker's production facility in Coahuilla, Mexico (better known as the Saltillo plant). To refresh your memory, the van comes in three different wheelbases(118”, 136”, 159”) and two roof heights (65.4” & 85.5”). It is front wheel drive and the base engine for all models is a V6 and the smallest version starts at $29,625. The largest version has 530 cubic feet of cargo space (ours tops out at 314) and starts at $36,150. The only other engine offered is an inline 4-cylinder turbo diesel with 174 hp and 295 lb.ft. of torque (our diesel offers 260 hp and 525 lb.ft. of torque). Maximum gvwr for the cargo van is 9350 lbs vs. 9900 for ours. The Ram can tow up to 5100 lbs. while ours can pull 10,000 lbs. So we have 2 very different takes on a full-size van chasing the same customers.
- From Bloomberg: Ken Lewenza is stepping down as president of the Canadian Auto Workers as the union prepares to join with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada to form a group representing more than 300,000 workers. Lewenza, who has headed the CAW since 2008, and Dave Coles, his CEP counterpart, said at a press conference today in Toronto that they are "passing the torch." The CAW and the CEP will hold a founding convention in Toronto on Aug. 30 to elect a leadership team for the combined Unifor union. Lewenza said he has no plans to run for head of the new union.
- Toyota has announced it will conduct a voluntary safety recall involving approximately 342,000 Toyota Tacoma Access Cab vehicles produced from 2004 to 2011. In the affected pickup trucks, screws that attach the seatbelt pre-tensioner to the seatbelt retractor inside the assembly (for both driver and passenger) can work itself loose over time due to repeated, hard door slams (which apparently is necessary to get the door to close). If the screws loosen completely, the seatbelt pre-tensioner and the retractor spring cover could detach, which can affect retractor and pre-tensioner performance. This could cause harm to the driver or passenger during an accident.
- Here are some more comments regarding yesterday’s Colorado/Canyon teaser shot and comments from GM CFO Dan Ammann:
- Tom Libby, an analyst for the North American market with Polk, said the midsize truck segment has continued to decline since GM made its decision to build the new trucks. He said GM may take some share from Toyota in the segment, but he doesn’t think GM’s two new midsize trucks will be able to overtake the Tacoma. “I don’t see them redefining the segment,” Libby told reporters. “I see them being very competitive. Ford will be watching. If the Colorado and Canyon do well without hurting sales of the Silverado and Sierra, Ford will have to reassess,” Libby said.
- In the Wall Street Journal: The Colorado and Canyon will share some components with others trucks the auto maker sells in Brazil and Thailand. However, they won't be on the same underpinnings which appears to run counterintuitive to GM's aim to control costs by building more vehicles on fewer global platforms. "The art of this is how do you have maximum commonality, whether it's a truck or anything else while at the same time delivering the requirements that different customers have in different markets," Mr. Ammann said. "Having the same car everywhere in the world is not the right answer. Being able to deliver on the requirements that satisfy the customer in each marketplace using as many common components, common architecture and common modules as possible is the optimization between giving the customers what they want and maximizing the scale leverage we have around the world." He added that the auto maker has been successful on using global platforms on more of its cars rather than pickup trucks. "Our goal is to meet the needs of the customers here in North America and we think they are different than the customers in places like Thailand," Mr. Ammann said.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
No comments:
Post a Comment