GM Plans to Eliminate Saab, Saturn, Hummer

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/090218-GM-Plans-to-Eliminate-Saab-Saturn-Hummer-and-Shrink-Pontiac/

GM Plans to Eliminate Saab, Saturn, Hummer and Shrink Pontiac
Feb. 18, 2009

Faced with an urgent need to restructure in order to survive, America's largest automaker plans to eliminate three of its brands quickly and shrink a fourth to become a niche brand that will make only a handful of low-volume models.

In a restructuring plan submitted to the federal government yesterday, the automaker announced that it "has committed to focus its resources primarily on its core brands: Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC. Of the remaining brands, Pontiac -- which is part of the Buick-Pontiac-GMC retail channel -- will be a highly focused niche brand."

Hummer and Saab, both of which are typically sold through stand-alone dealerships, "are subject to ‘strategic reviews', including their potential sale."

The company plans to make a final decision on whether to sell or eliminate Hummer by the end of March. The Financial Times notes, "GM said that it was still talking to some potential buyers but that, if these negotiations come to naught, the brand will be phased out. Hummer's US sales have plummeted in recent years, but GM has found sizeable markets abroad, including in the Middle East and Russia."

GM is reportedly in negotiations with the Swedish government about the future of Saab. CNN Money reports that GM "said Tuesday its Saab subsidiary could be forced to file for reorganization as early as this month if the U.S. auto maker and the Swedish government can't come to terms on financial support for the unit. GM, as part of a revamped restructuring plan presented to the federal government to qualify for billions of dollars in government aid, said that it has proposed to effectively cap its financial support for Saab, with the Swedish brand becoming an independent entity by the start of 2010."

In both cases, GM hopes to find a buyer for the brands or spin them off into separate companies because closing the brands outright could be much more expensive. Franchise agreements would require GM to buy out Saab and Hummer dealers individually would could cost the company billions. The New York Times notes, "G.M. found out last decade just how expensive it could be to unwind a brand. It spent more than $1 billion to buy out dealers at Oldsmobile, which built its last cars in 2004."

The Saturn brand, meanwhile, will be gradually phased out of existence because that brand's dealerships "have different, easier to cut franchise agreements than other GM brands," according to Motor Trend. GM plans to continue selling the models currently on Saturn dealership lots, but will build no new Saturn models. =

The restructuring plan says that Saturn "will remain in operation through the end of the planned lifecycle for all Saturn products (2010-2011). In the interim, should Saturn retailers as a group or other investors present a plan that would allow a spin off or sale" of the brand, "GM would be open to any such possibility. If a spin off or sale does not occur, it is GM‘s intention to phase out the Saturn brand at the end of the current product lifecycle."

"Dealers will stay open through 2011, but product development overall will cease," according to Kicking Tires. That means 2010 and 2011 Saturn models will just be newly minted versions of what's already available, and they may or may not receive minor updates, like added safety features."

Pontiac, meanwhile, will be reduced to a small brand selling a handful of models though combined Buick/GMC/Pontiac dealerships. The plan does not address which specific Pontiac vehicles will survive, but industry analysts expect to see the brand become a source of performance-oriented cars like the rear-wheel-drive G8 sedan, which cost GM little to develop because they are based on GM models sold in other markets.

The impact of GM's plan on consumers is an evolving story. In the short term, if you're in the market for a new car and interested in something from one of the doomed brands, you should be aware that prices for the vehicles may crash now that their execution is inevitable.

Is the Hybrid Escalade an Oxymoron?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clint-wilder/is-the-hybrid-escalade-an_b_86111.html

Clint Wilder
Is the Hybrid Escalade an Oxymoron?
Posted February 11, 2008

Read More: Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Volt, Clean Tech Revolution, Clean-Tech Investor Summit, Hybrid Escalade, Jeff Sterba, PNM Resources, Sports Utility Vehicles, Sustainability, Suvs, Tesla Roadster, Toyota Prius, Breaking Business News

Some years ago, I'm not sure when, the prize vehicles awarded to heroes of major sports events made the unfortunate transition from snazzy convertible sports cars to the biggest, hulkiest, meanest SOBs - I mean SUVs - on the block. So it was no surprise when New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, after engineering one of the greatest upset wins in Super Bowl history 10 days ago (with a tremendous assist from his team's defense, I must add), was handed the MVP trophy and the keys to a brand-new black 2009 Cadillac Escalade.

But this is 2008, and there's a twist. It's a hybrid Escalade. And that's now officially a trend. The Super Bowl telecast also included an ad for the new GMC Yukon hybrid, and at Major League Baseball's All-Star Game last summer, I was there in person at San Francisco's AT&T Park to see game MVP Ichiro Suzuki receive a hybrid Chevy Tahoe SUV. (Full disclosure: in addition to clean energy and sustainability, I'm also passionate about sports in general and baseball in particular).

At that time, my book The Clean Tech Revolution (co-authored with Ron Pernick) had just been published, and at a bookstore appearance the next day I was happy to extol Ichiro's MVP award as a great example of clean tech having moved firmly into the consumer and cultural mainstream. I also noted that Fox Sports used biodiesel to power its satellite trucks and broadcast equipment at the game, and the related All-Star Fanfest displayed the Chevy Volt, General Motors' concept car that can be configured as an all-electric, plug-in hybrid, hydrogen fuel cell, or flex-fuel vehicle.

But now, I'm not so sure that biggest-of-the-fleet SUV hybrids are such a good thing. Yes, it's good to see the mainstreaming of hybrid technology, but are hybrid Escalades, Tahoes, and Yukons really just the "lipstick on a pig" philosophy at work - dressing up a bad thing to look a little better, ecologically speaking? GM calls it (I'm not making this up) "intelligent indulgence." GM promises that the hybrid version will improve the Escalade's city gas mileage by up to 50 percent - from its current 12 mpg all the way to 18. Yippee.

The hybrid Escalade reminds me of the 15,000 square foot McMansion with solar panels, or the coal-fired power plant with incrementally reduced CO2 emissions. Sure, it's better than its more harmful, greenhouse gas-producing predecessor, but it also carries the implication that incremental improvements in the way we've always done things - or at least the way we've done things since the 1980s when SUVs and McMansions proliferated - will get us where we need to be on carbon reduction. They won't.

Want to hazard a guess as to the average increase in American home size since the early 1980s? It's 30 percent in square footage, and a whopping 50 percent in cubic footage - the actual amount of space that needs to be heated or cooled (can you say Atrium Living Room?). I learned that useful factoid not from a granola-crunching non-profit but from Jeff Sterba, CEO of PNM Resources, the largest utility in New Mexico, who spoke at last week's Clean-Tech Investor Summit conference in Palm Springs, California (I'll be blogging about the conference next week).

I'm not suggesting that we all need to ride bicycles and live in tiny hovels with uncomfortable temperatures. I do live in the modern world, and like to think of myself as a realist. Large families need roomy vehicles, yes. But they don't have to be the largest non-commercial vehicles on the road, plugging along at 12 miles to the gallon in city driving, if that. (And what percentage of all Cadillac Escalade driving is spent carting big families around? Very little, I'd guess).

I really do believe that technology, with adequate levels of investment and policy support, is the best hope to solve the global climate and resource crisis -- not expecting millions of people to undergo a radical lifestyle change. But I'd prefer to see technology deliver true innovation and game-changing results, like the Toyota Prius or the all-electric Tesla Roadster or possibly (to be fair to GM) the Chevy Volt - not just a 6-mpg improvement for Eli Manning's trophy car. We can do a lot better than that - and pretty soon, we're going to need to.

White Hot

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/412/white-hot;_ylc=X3oDMTE2MDVocjJhBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawNob3QtY29sb3Jz

White Hot
Silver loses its long-held top spot as the most popular car color.
by Althea Chang

After seven years wearing the color crown, silver has been dethroned.

For the first time this century, more white cars were manufactured in 2007 than those in any other color, according to DuPont’s most recent color study.

In North America, 19 percent of vehicles manufactured in 2007 were either white or "pearl white," which is white with an iridescent or metallic sheen. Eighteen percent of 2007 vehicles were silver, and 16 percent were black, including black with metallic effects.

White has also taken a decisive lead in other countries, including Japan and Mexico. In Europe, however, black was far and away the top color.

White had an even stronger showing among luxury cars, where it made up 22 percent of vehicles manufactured in 2007 (5 percent of those were pearl white) and tied with the color black. Silver was the next most common color for luxury cars in 2007, at 20 percent. "Our report is based on quantities of paint sold to OEMs [original equipment manufacturers], production data they share with us, and other sources,” says DuPont spokesperson Rick Straitman.

The color white is increasingly dominant, not just in the auto industry, but in home furnishings, fashion, consumer products, and industrial design, says Leatrice Eiseman, director of the Pantone Color Institute.

White was the most popular color among Chevrolet and Ford buyers, according to J.D. Power and Associates' Power Information Network, which tracks consumers’ buying habits. Dodge buyers preferred red, while BMW, Cadillac, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz buyers gravitated toward black.

White is also a popular color for so-called fleet vehicles, which are cars and trucks used commercially, such as by power companies and rental agencies, says Global Insight analyst John Wolkonowicz.

Despite white's victory in 2007, silver will still likely be the dominant color on the roads for some time. "Given silver's popularity over the past seven years and the fact that it is still a popular color choice, you should expect to see a high number of silver vehicles on the road for the coming years," says Karen Surcina, color marketing and technology manager at DuPont.

Considering that the average vehicle is on the road for 13 years, according to U.S. Department of Transportation estimates, it could take a decade or more for silver cars to start thinning out, and that’s only if the color decreases in popularity. "When silver first came on the scene [in the mid to late 1990s], it was a high-tech color that corresponded with people's interest in technology and the future," Surcina says. Then the tech bubble burst and the economy started to suffer. As time went on, silver became a “safe” color that consumers could opt for and not worry about it standing out too much, or turning off potential buyers when it came time to resell their vehicles.

Even if white continues to swell in popularity and sparkling particles give the color new life, the trends may not be seen on highways and in driveways for some time. "While palate-cleansing white is expected to usher in a new era in car colors and iridescent paints, and sparkling mica particles and unusual effects are gaining popularity among more adventurous types, most car buyers are still sticking with safe colors like silver and black,” says Christopher Li, industry analyst at the Power Information Network.