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General Motors

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General Motors Corporation, also known as GM or GMC, is the world's largest car manufacturer. Founded in 1908, in Flint, Michigan, GM employs approximately 284,000 people around the world. With global headquarters at the Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, USA, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries. The European headquarters is based in Zurich, Switzerland. In 2005, 9.17 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Daewoo, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. Chevrolet outsold its oldest domestic rival Ford Motor Co. in 2005 for the first time in over 3 decades, closing an over 700,000 unit sales gap. GM operates a finance company, GMAC Financial Services, which offers automotive, residential and commercial financing and insurance. GM's OnStar subsidiary is a vehicle safety, security and information service provider.

GM is the majority shareholder in GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co. of South Korea and has product collaborations with Suzuki Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor Corporation and Isuzu Motors Ltd. of Japan. GM also has advanced technology collaborations with Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan, DaimlerChrysler AG and BMW AG of Germany and vehicle manufacturing ventures with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation of China, AutoVAZ and Avtotor of Russia and Renault of France.

GM Parts and accessories are sold under the GM, GM Performance Parts, GM Goodwrench and ACDelco brands through GM Service and Parts Operations, which supplies GM dealerships and distributors worldwide. GM engines and transmissions are marketed through GM Powertrain. GM's largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany. GM leads all other automakers in Strategic Vision's Total Quality Index (TQI).<ref> Strategic Vision (2006). Total Quality Index MSN Autos</ref>

Contents

Recent history

After GM's massive lay-offs hit Flint, Michigan, a strike began at the General Motors parts factory in Flint on June 5, 1998, which quickly spread to five other assembly plants and lasted seven weeks. Because of the significant role GM plays in the United States, the strikes and temporary idling of many plants noticeably showed in national economic observations.

In the late 1990s, GM had regained market share; its stock had soared to over $80 a share by 2000. However, in 2001, the stock market drop following the September 11, 2001 attacks, combined with historic pension underfunding, caused a severe pension and benefit fund crisis at GM and many other American companies and the value of their pension funds plummeted. A weak U.S. dollar and private health care (as opposed to nationalized health care in other countries) costs also put GM at a disadvantage to its Japanese, Korean, and European counterparts. In successive moves, GM responded to the crisis by fully funding its pension fund; however, its Other Post Employment Benefits Fund (OPEB) became a serious issue resulting in downgrades to its bond rating in 2005. The company expressed its disagreement with these bond rating downgrades. In 2006, GM responded by offering buyouts to hourly workers to reduce future liability; over 35,000 workers responded to the offer, well exceeding the company's goal. GM has gained higher rates of return on its benefit funds as a part of the solution. Stock value has begun to rebound - as of October 30, 2006 GM's market capitalization was about $19.19 billion. GM stock began the year 2006 at $19 a share, near its lowest level since 1982, as many on Wall Street figured the ailing automaker was bound for bankruptcy court. But GM is still afloat. The company's stock in the Dow Jones industrial average has posted the biggest percentage gain in 2006.<ref>2006 takes a soft bounce By Tom Petruno, The Baltimore Sun, Tuesday, December 26, 2006</ref>

Since 2000, GM has remained the world's largest auto maker, ranked according to sales.

Renault-Nissan proposal

On June 30, 2006, Kirk Kerkorian, whose Tracinda Corporation was the third-largest shareholder of General Motors, proposed a failed deal for an alliance between GM and Renault & Nissan. Tracinda has since sold off its interest in General Motors.

Recent news media have uncovered a proposed plan in which GM would purchase most, if not all of the Chrysler Group from DaimlerChrysler. Various plans have been proposed, including a large cash payment or a stock trade between GM and DCX.

Environment and alternative vehicles

General Motors has long worked on alternative-technology vehicles, and has recently led the industry with clean burning Flex Fuel vehicles that can run on either E-85 (ethanol) or gasoline. The company was the first to use turbochargers and was an early proponent of V6 engines in the 1960s, but quickly lost interest as the muscle car race took hold. They demonstrated [1] gas turbine vehicles powered by kerosene, an area of interest throughout the industry in the late 1950s, but despite extensive thermal recycling (developed by Chrysler) the fuel consumption was too high and starting torque too low for everyday use. They were also an early licensee of Wankel engine technology, even developing the Chevrolet Monza around the powerplant, but abandoned the alternative engine configuration in view of the 1973 oil crisis. In the 1970s and 1980s, GM pushed the benefits of diesel engines and cylinder deactivation technologies with disastrous results due to poor durability in the Oldsmobile diesels and drivability issues in the Cadillac 4-6-8 variable cylinder engines. In 1987 GM, in conjunction with Aerovironment built the Sunraycer which won the inaugural World Solar Challenge and was a showcase of advanced technology. Much of the technology from Sunraycer found its way into the Impact prototype electric vehicle (also built by Aerovironment and was the predecessor to the EV1.

In 1996, GM introduced the EV1, the first modern mass-produced electric car, which was available by lease only (see below: Controversy over EV1). Despite the positive publicity generated by this vehicle and a long waiting list for the cars, the company cancelled the program after only a tiny production run, reportedly due to a "lack of consumer interest". GM forced the return of EV1 vehicles even though some owners wanted to keep them. The story of GM's non-support for its own product is portrayed in the 2006 documentary, Who killed the electric car?. The EV1 lived on in the powertrain of the S10 factory built electric vehicle assembled in Shreveport, Louisiana by General Motors. The electric motor had slightly decreased horsepower from the EV1 it was borrowed from because it was not as aerodynamic as the EV1 and so traded horsepower for range. See here for more information.

Hybrid initiative

In May 2004, GM delivered the world's first full sized hybrid pickups, and introduced a hybrid passenger car. In 2005, the Opel Astra diesel Hybrid concept vehicle was introduced. The 2006 Saturn VUE Green Line was the first hybrid passenger vehicle from GM and is also a mild design. GM has hinted at new hybrid technologies to be employed that will be optimized for higher speeds in freeway driving. Future hybrid vehicles should include the 2007 GMC Yukon, the Saturn Aura and an updated Saturn VUE based an Opel design like the Saturn Aura. GM has recently introduced the concept Chevrolet Volt which is a plug-in hybrid.

GM’s current hybrid models:

There is a GM hybrid powered bus: GM Magic Bus<ref>http://www.gm.com/company/gmability/adv_tech/300_hybrids/index_bus.html </ref>

Hydrogen initiative

GM has prided its research and prototype development of hydrogen powered vehicles, to be produced in early 2010, using a support infrastructure still in a prototype state. The economic feasibility of the technically challenging hydrogen car, and the low-cost production of hydrogen to fuel it, has also been discussed by other automobile manufacturers such as Ford and Chrysler.


Controversy over electric vehicles

EV1s crushed by General Motors
EV1s crushed by General Motors

On June 30, 2006 a documentary about the demise of the EV1 and other electric vehicles entitled "Who Killed the Electric Car?" debuted in theatres across America, sparking criticism of the motivation behind the cancellation of their electric car program.

Consumer advocates, activists, commentators, journalists, and documentary makers claim GM had deliberately sabotaged their company's zero emission electric vehicle efforts through several methods: failing to market, failing to produce appropriate vehicles, failing to satisfy demand, and using lease-only programs with prohibitions against end of lease purchase.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

The process of obtaining GM's first electric vehicle the EV1 was difficult. The vehicle could not be purchased outright. Instead, General Motors offered a closed-end lease for three years, with no renewal or residual purchase options. The EV1 was only available from specialist Saturn dealerships, and only in California and Arizona.[7] Before reviewing leasing options, a potential lessee would be taken through a 'pre-qualification' process in order to learn how the EV1 was different from other vehicles. Next came a waiting list with no scheduled delivery date.[8]

Several weeks before the debut of the movie, the Smithsonian Institution announced that its EV1 display was being permanently removed and the EV1 car put into storage. GM is a major financial contributor to the museum, and both parties denied that this fact contributed to the removal of the display.[9]

From General Motors

General Motors has responded to complaints about the scrapping of the EV1 program and they dispute the existence of any conspiracy surrounding its demise. An entry was posted on the GM FastLane Blog in 2006 in which GM defended its decision by saying that it was unable to guarantee the vehicles could continue to be maintained in a safe operating state. [10]

GM allege that during the four years available to the public, only 800 EV1's were released. Over $1 billion was spent on the EV1 program, with a great portion used for consumer incentives and marketing. With a waiting list of 5,000 applicants, only 50 individuals actually were willing to accept a lease on the EV1. Suppliers ceased production of replacement parts due to the low demand for the EV1. This made repairs and continued safety of the vehicles difficult. Template:Fact

General Motors (GM) has responded to allegations made in the film through a blog post entitled Who Ignored the Facts About the Electric Car? by Dave Barthmuss of their communications department. He does not address the movie directly, since he claims he has not seen it, but tells GM's side of the story

Sadly, despite the substantial investment of money and the enthusiastic fervor of a relatively small number of EV1 drivers — including the filmmaker — the EV1 proved far from a viable commercial success.

Barthmuss notes investments in electric vehicle technology since the EV1: Two-Mode Hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell vehicle programs. The filmmakers suggested that GM did not immediately channel its technological progress with the EV1 into these projects, and instead let the technology languish while focusing on more immediately profitable enterprises such as SUVs.

Unlike the movie, GM is bullish on hydrogen, according to Barthmuss:

Although hydrogen fuel cell technology was cast as a pie-in-the-sky technology by the moviemakers, GM is making great progress in fuel cell research and development and is on track to achieving its goal to validate and design a fuel cell propulsion system by 2010 that is competitive with current combustion systems on durability and performance, and that ultimately can be built at scale, affordably.

According to GM, not all of the EV1's were destroyed. Many were donated to research institutions and facilities, along with museums. Some are still owned by General Motors themselves, and are kept at their Technical Design center in Warren, Michigan, and can occasionally be seen on the road within a close area of the tech center. [11]

There is no other major automaker on the road offering a fully electric vehicle designed for everyday use on public transportation routes, [12] however Think_Nordic, at one time under the ownership of Ford, have produced a range of electric vehicles in limited numbers.

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