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GM plans to restart production in Mexico on May 20

MEXICO CITY — General Motors is tentatively planning to restart operations at its auto assembly plant in the Mexican city of Silao on May 20, according to a message to workers seen by Reuters on Sunday, as the car industry prepares to exit the coronavirus lockdown. Separately, the president of GM's Mexican unit advised suppliers to prepare to resume operations. “We are now beginning a new phase given the Mexican governmentÂ’s official announcement earlier this week to consider the transportation manufacturing industry as essential for the countryÂ’s economy,” Francisco Garza, president ofGeneral Motors de Mexico, wrote in an email to suppliers dated on Friday that was viewed by Reuters. The reopening of the plant  in Silao would be a positive signal for the auto sector in North America, whose supply lines are highly interconnected between the United States, Mexico and Canada. The plant in the central state of Guanajuato has been idled for weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak. Workers had previously been told to plan to return to their jobs on May 18. A GM spokeswoman said the company could not confirm when it would restart operations at any of its facilities in Mexico because it is awaiting more guidance from the government. The message to the plant's workers came after the government on Friday clarified when the industry could begin easing restrictions imposed because of the health emergency. On Wednesday, the government said automakers could start going back into production from May 18. It then withdrew that advice and suggested the new start date would be June 1. Finally it indicated the sector, which forms the backbone of Mexican manufacturing, could begin operating as soon as next week if companies had the required safety measures in place. U.S. officials and its auto industry have pressed Mexico's government to get its factories open again because American operations depend heavily on parts from south of the border. However, some politicians are wary of opening too fast. Mexico registered its first case of coronavirus weeks after the United States and Canada and the toll of daily infections and deaths in the country reached new peaks over the past few days. The Silao production facility, which makes highly profitable pickup trucks for GM, is one of the biggest automotive plants in Guanajuato, a major Mexican carmaking state. Related Video:

GM executive chief EV engineer says reducing cost of plug-in vehicles is 'huge priority'

As we know, another major automaker investing heavily in electrified vehicles is General Motors, and it's doing things much differently than rivals BMW, Ford or Nissan. The Chevrolet Volt extended-range EV is a modest seller at its $35,000 sticker price but a huge hit with owners. The Chevy Spark BEV, still in limited availability, puts smiley faces on its owners and drivers. The just-introduced Cadillac ELR, a sharp-looking, fun-driving $76,000 luxocoupe take on the Volt's EREV mechanicals, has admittedly low sales expectations. With this interesting trio in showrooms and much more in the works, the third vehicle electrification leader I collared for an interview at Detroit's North American International Auto Show (see #1 and #2) was Pam Fletcher, GM's executive chief engineer, Electrified Vehicles. ABG: Why do your EREVs need four-cylinder power to extend their range when BMW's i3 makes do with an optional 650 cc two-banger? "We designed [the Volt and the ELR] to go anywhere, any time" - Pam Fletcher PF: I get that question all the time: why not something smaller? You don't really need that much. You use the electric to its ability, then you just need to limp. But we designed those cars to go anywhere, any time, and we don't want their performance to be compromised. If you're driving through the mountains, we don't want you to be crawling up grades, or to be limited on any terrain. So it's optimized to be able to travel literally the biggest grades and mountain roads around the globe at posted speeds. Because what if you can't? Another good reason: when the engine is on, you have to run it wide open throttle, max speed, most of the time. And while we can do a lot with acoustics, and the ELR has active noise cancelation, a small-displacement, low cylinder-count engine at high speed, high load all the time isn't something you want to live with. That's how we came up with the balance we did among the key factors of performance, NVH [noise, vibration and harshness] and range. ABG: Where you go from here? Is the range-extender engine due for an update? PF: We know and love the current Volt, and there is still a lot of acclaim about it, so we think it's a good recipe. But we are heavily in the midst of engineering the next-generation car, which I think everyone will love and be excited about.

GM Canada recalls 159,240 GMC and Chevy trucks for faulty defroster circuit

General Motors is recalling more than 159,000 2014-2019 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks in Canada due to a potential fire risk. GM says the rear defroster circuit could overheat on trucks optioned with the power-sliding rear window. Thus far, there is no word on the recall's relation to U.S. vehicles. The recall, found by Automotive News, was posted to Transport Canada on June 28, 2019 with manufacturer recall No. N192220470. Included in the 159,240 vehicles are the 2014-2018 Silverado 1500, the 2015-2019 Silverado HD, the 2014-2018 Silverado LD, the 2014-2018 Sierra 1500, the 2015-2019 Sierra HD, and the 2014-2018 Sierra LD. The notice says the rear defroster circuit, specifically on trucks with the power-sliding rear window, could overheat. Because of its placement, this excess heat could cause melting, smoking, or possibly fire, in the worst case scenario. As of now, there is no official word when GM will initiate the recall and there is no official fix detailed just yet. GM suggests that owners, who will be notified by mail if their vehicles are affected, take their trucks to a dealer to remove the rear window defroster fuse as a stop-gap.  Automotive News contacted GM to find out if the problem is also found in trucks sold in the United States, but no definitive statement was made, as the investigation is reportedly ongoing. We will update this space if American vehicles are found to be included in the problem.