GM closing Ontario, Detroit, and Ohio factories
#662
Some of the largest auto dealers in the country are in NoVA....not just with GM, but with a number of makes as well. An enormous number of new vehicles are sold in this area (probably second only to Los Angeles/SoCal), because of the affluence of this area, low unemployment, recession-resistant economy because of the government and its contractors, and high-paying jobs. So they often get priority from the manufacturers. In fact, when my 2018 Lacrosse was built, it was a "priority" vehicle...one of the first 2018s delivered.
#665
What do you mean by equal treatment? I am sure there examples of larger companies getting the incentives. It is good for any city to attract good paying jobs. As opposed to having a job leave your city or even worse leave the country.
#666
Not sure if it has been posted but GM has announced that the Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac CT6 full-size sedans will instead be built through January 2020, keeping the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant open for an extra seven months.
Also re incentives, when Nissan selected Smyrna, TN in 1980, and GM selected Spring Hill, TN in 1985 for Saturn, the state incentive, which was essentially negotiated after the companies had tied up the land, consisted of building infrastructure around the sites as well as to the nearest interstate. Some money was also given for "training" and some local property tax abatement. A big un-publicized draw for them was the labor market and they knew that many suppliers would be able to locate nearby at much lower labor costs, resulting in lower mfg costs. Nissan is still non-union. With the Spring Hill plant being the newest plant, it is in the process of spending $300 million to build the new Cadillac SUV as well as $22 million so GM can build engines there. I read where GM has spent $2 billion at Spring Hill since 2010.
However, when Volkswagen came to Chattanooga, and Nissan moved their North America headquarters to Franklin, TN, there were substantial incentives offered. Re Volkswagen, it did not hurt that so many component suppliers were also in the area.
Also re incentives, when Nissan selected Smyrna, TN in 1980, and GM selected Spring Hill, TN in 1985 for Saturn, the state incentive, which was essentially negotiated after the companies had tied up the land, consisted of building infrastructure around the sites as well as to the nearest interstate. Some money was also given for "training" and some local property tax abatement. A big un-publicized draw for them was the labor market and they knew that many suppliers would be able to locate nearby at much lower labor costs, resulting in lower mfg costs. Nissan is still non-union. With the Spring Hill plant being the newest plant, it is in the process of spending $300 million to build the new Cadillac SUV as well as $22 million so GM can build engines there. I read where GM has spent $2 billion at Spring Hill since 2010.
However, when Volkswagen came to Chattanooga, and Nissan moved their North America headquarters to Franklin, TN, there were substantial incentives offered. Re Volkswagen, it did not hurt that so many component suppliers were also in the area.
#667
Also re incentives, when Nissan selected Smyrna, TN in 1980, and GM selected Spring Hill, TN in 1985 for Saturn, the state incentive, which was essentially negotiated after the companies had tied up the land, consisted of building infrastructure around the sites as well as to the nearest interstate. Some money was also given for "training" and some local property tax abatement. A big un-publicized draw for them was the labor market and they knew that many suppliers would be able to locate nearby at much lower labor costs, resulting in lower mfg costs. Nissan is still non-union. With the Spring Hill plant being the newest plant, it is in the process of spending $300 million to build the new Cadillac SUV as well as $22 million so GM can build engines there. I read where GM has spent $2 billion at Spring Hill since 2010.
However, when Volkswagen came to Chattanooga, and Nissan moved their North America headquarters to Franklin, TN, there were substantial incentives offered. Re Volkswagen, it did not hurt that so many component suppliers were also in the area.
However, when Volkswagen came to Chattanooga, and Nissan moved their North America headquarters to Franklin, TN, there were substantial incentives offered. Re Volkswagen, it did not hurt that so many component suppliers were also in the area.
#668
Unfortunately for Big Auto in America, they've made a name off the back of this country. When you tarnish that image, well, do it at your own peril.
#669
GM's image, for a time, after the buyout/bankrupcy 10 years ago, was actually pretty good.....much better than it had been before, especially back in the dark old days of the 1980s and 90s, when the company was still building junk. Mary Barra, and, to an extent, her predecessor Dan Akerson, had helped steer the company back from what Roger Smith and Bob Stempel had done to it...it was now enjoying a better reputation each year. That all stopped late last year, however, when she blew it by essentially dumping the American-sedan market and concentrating everything on SUVs and electric vehicles. That got her, her company (and Ford, to a lesser extent) into trouble, not only with the UAW and UNIFOR, but with that chunk of the public who is not truck/SUV-crazed, two national governments/legislatures whose countries would be affected by multiple plant-closings, and, of course, President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau. She was doing quite well as a CEO for a number of years, but that's now history.
Last edited by mmarshall; 02-25-19 at 04:25 PM.
#670
With Nissan, it was not necessarily a matter of incentives from the State of Tennessee. Nissan, just like Toyota, got out of California simply for one reason....not because Tennessee (or Texas, as in the case of Toyota) bribed them, but because California was killing them with taxes, high costs, and over-burdening regulations.
#673
#675
How is GM forced into bankruptcy, other than by their own mismanagement, they went into bankruptcy and got bailed out, unlike some other American car cos. AIG's bailout was so egregious that the US Congress attempted to tax their bonuses at 90%, but it never happened.
Either way, those assembly line workers don't design the cars and measure the metrics of cost cutting vs value added quality control. The UAW/Unifor can be blamed for being shortsighted because they overvalue their members' skills. They don't have the monopoly in Detroit they once had.
But the other side of that equation is this: a corporation says it's too big to fail and it wants to save jobs. It makes promises, and ten years later it says the workers jobs it saved and their pensions it agreed to in legal/binding contractual agreements are a drag on profitability. So should people trust the word of these companies when they rely on people's short memories of past behavior?
GM. The company made money but Wall Street says; not enough, you gotta do better. Whose fault is this? The workers? Middle management? Or the CEOs and their executive types who listen to Wall Street and the activist investors who form the billionaire class?
The next step here is going to be that Mexican workers are underperforming and now you have to outsource even more. Get that Bangledeshi child laborer to build your GM product for pennies on the dollar. Wall Street will be happy. GM workers will watch from the sidelines, execs will get their golden parachutes. The beat goes on.
Last edited by MattyG; 02-25-19 at 06:19 PM.