SOTU December 18, 2013

December 18, 2013 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• Reminder: UAW Legal Services will end Dec. 31 so this is your last opportunity to avail yourself of their assistance free of charge. Services include creating wills and trusts or executors of estates. There are 3 area offices: Lake St. Louis (636-561-2057); St. Ann (314-291-6868); Sunset Hills (800-582-6494). You can also go online for more information at www.uawlsp.com.
• From the Community Services Commiteee: A big thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s Adopt A Child program. This is arguably the biggest event we have during the year. A total of 152 needy children were “adopted” this year. Working in concert with local United Way personnel, all gifts were delivered by last Friday. From adopting children to buying baked goods or raffle tickets, virtually the entire plant was involved in making this a great success. A conservative estimate of the dollar amount of support for this program is $20,000! So feel good about what you’ve done to brighten Christmas for those less fortunate than us. Thanks again!
• This Friday, Dec. 20 is a VR blackout day and a holiday pay qualifying day.

• Yahoo recently identified the top 15 new vehicles to watch for next year. Number 5 on the list is our Chevrolet Colorado. Here’s what they had to say: “The combination of a stagnant midsize segment and the fact that many truck buyers want to buy domestic leaves Chevy in a position to strike while the iron is hot with its all-new Colorado. This truck's good looks, three powertrain options (including a turbodiesel for 2016) and three body configurations won't hurt, either. If there was ever a sure thing in truck sales, this appears to be it.”
• From Reuters: A top UAW official said the union wants to eliminate the two-tier wage system that pays new automotive workers at a lower rate than veterans. Norwood Jewell, nominated to serve as one of three vice presidents when the union meets next June to ratify its new leaders, said on Monday that the UAW wants to dump the two-tier scale that pays entry-level hires at slightly more than half the rate of veteran workers. "The international executive board hates two-tiers," he told reporters at a General Motors Co plant in Flint, Mich. Jewell is currently director of the region that includes the GM plant. "We didn't do two tiers because it's a wonderful thing," he added, saying they were a "financial unfortunate" caused by the weak industry in 2007. "We hate them. We intend to eliminate them over time." About 16 percent of GM's 51,500 hourly U.S. employees are second-tier workers, while 19 percent of Ford's 46,500 hourly workers are paid at that level. About a quarter of Chrysler's 32,000 hourly workers are entry-level. Jewell also said any move to raise union dues would be decided by the membership at the convention next June.
• From Automotive News: Chevrolet's redesigned Colorado debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show amid plenty of anticipation -- and no small amount of skepticism. Hasn't the market already returned its verdict on small pickups? There's a reason, the pundits say, that sales have withered to one-quarter of their peak more than a decade ago: Buyers can get what they need from full-sized trucks. But General Motors believes it was automakers, not customers, who turned their backs on the segment by letting small trucks languish over the past decade. In a rare divergence in truck strategy among Detroit 3 rivals, GM is betting that it can revive the segment -- and take on the market-leading Toyota Tacoma -- with its 2015 mid-sized Colorado. The GMC Canyon is expected to debut at the Detroit auto show in January. "This is a white space for us," GM North America President Mark Reuss said. "There's some risk. But I love it because there's some risk. I think there's some great reward here."
Here are three ingredients that would help make that risk pay off:
1. Sporty sheet metal - Reaction at the show suggests Chevy has checked this box with the sort of stylish, rugged-looking pickup that has been missing from the market for years. By the time the Detroit 3 phased out small pickups, the Ford Ranger, Dodge Dakota, Colorado and Canyon had grown stale from years of underinvestment. The Tacoma is long in the tooth, too.
2. Pricing daylight - Price overlap with full-sized trucks is the reason cited most often for the demise of the small-pickup segment. Industry analysts and dealers say Chevy needs a consistent price gap, of at least $5,000 on a trim-level to trim-level basis, between the Colorado and full-sized pickups.
3. 30 mpg - Small pickups never have offered great fuel savings relative to big trucks. Even the Tacoma's estimated highway fuel economy rating on its base 2.7-liter four-cylinder model is only 25 mpg. A highway fuel economy rating of 30 mpg would be a marketable number that puts some meaningful distance between the Colorado and full-sized pickups.
• The all-new, high-tech Small Block 6.2L V8 powering the 2014 Corvette Stingray and the 2.0L turbo diesel for the 2014 Chevrolet Cruze are among Ward’s 10 Best Engines. WardsAuto reviewed 44 engines from 16 automakers in this year’s competition, which looked at power, fuel efficiency, new technology, refinement and compared it with data for similar engines. The all-new LT1 Small Block technologies contribute to making the new Corvette the quickest, most powerful and most fuel-efficient standard Corvette ever.
The engine delivers an SAE-certified 460 horsepower helping propel the car to a 0-60 time in 3.8 seconds while offering 29 EPA estimated mpg highway. The 2.0L turbo-diesel delivers an SAE-certified 151 horsepower and 264 lb-ft of torque. Notable is the engine’s high torque level of 250 lb-ft from 1750 - 3000 rpm. The rich torque provides for a sustained feeling of power on demand at almost all speeds – particularly when passing or entering a freeway onramp. The 2014 Cruze Turbo Diesel engine delivers a segment leading EPA-estimated 46 MPG on the highway and range of 717 highway miles on one tank of fuel, based on fuel tank capacity and EPA estimates. That is better than any non-hybrid passenger car in America.