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GM may kill 6 car models as it works with UAW to tackle sales slump

The president of the United Auto Workers union said on Thursday the union is talking with General Motors about the potential threat to plants and jobs from slumping U.S. car sales. GM's response will be more trucks and SUVs, and sources say at least six slow-selling car models may be killed off. "We are talking to (GM) right now about the products that they currently have" at underused car plants such as Hamtramck in Michigan and Lordstown in Ohio, and whether they might be replaced with newer, more popular vehicles such as crossovers, Dennis Williams told reporters. "We are tracking it (and) we are addressing it," Williams added. GM has cut shifts at several U.S. plants this year as inventories of unsold cars have ballooned. Industry analysts said more jobs could be at risk as the automaker wrestles with permanently shrinking production of small and midsized sedans. GM is reviewing whether to cancel at least six passenger cars in the U.S. market after 2020, including the Chevrolet Volt hybrid, which could be replaced in 2022 with a new gasoline-electric crossover model, Reuters has learned from people familiar with the plans. Other GM cars at risk include the Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CT6, Cadillac XTS, Chevrolet Impala and Chevrolet Sonic, sources said. Some analysts have singled out GM's Hamtramck plant in Detroit as one of the most vulnerable because of plummeting car sales. The plant, which opened in 1985, builds four slow-selling models: Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet Impala, Cadillac CT6 and Chevrolet Volt. In the first half, it built fewer than 35,000 cars, down 32 percent from the same period in 2016, according to suppliers familiar with GM's U.S. production schedule. The typical GM assembly plant builds 200,000-300,000 vehicles a year.COMING ATTRACTIONS: TRUCKS AND SUVS GM must "create some innovative new products" to replace slow-selling sedans "or start closing plants," said Sam Fiorani, vice president of AutoForecast Solutions. The auto maker already has begun to shift future production plans from cars to trucks, according to Morgan Stanley auto analyst John Murphy. He estimates that fewer than 10 percent of the new vehicle models that GM will introduce over the next four years will be passenger cars, with the rest divided among trucks, SUVs and crossovers. GM plans to add production of the new Cadillac XT4 crossover next year to its Malibu sedan plant in Fairfax, Kansas.

GM announces net 220 job increase as Trump visits Michigan

GM announced today that about 900 jobs would be added (or, importantly, retained) ahead of President Trump's arrival in Michigan, where he is expected to discuss his plan to roll back fuel economy standards. The timing of the announcement is almost certainly not coincidental, as appending it to a Trump visit gives it a higher profile and dovetails with the President's jobs agenda. It's less likely the decision itself was made for those reasons, but the free PR boost is a nice bonus. As for those 900 jobs themselves, they aren't all new jobs. The only net gain is approximately 220 jobs at the Romulus Powertrain Plant, which produces the 10-speed automatic transmission that's proliferating through the company's lineup. The 180 jobs at Flint Assembly and 500 jobs at Lansing Delta Township are retained jobs – that is to say, spots the company found for workers who would otherwise have been laid off. By the way, the Flint jobs will help with production of heavy-duty pickups, and the Lansing jobs are to produce the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave. Finding jobs for manufacturing workers in the auto sector, whether new or retained, is admirable. No matter how GM couches it, the company has created or retained a total of 7,000 jobs this year, and its total reinvestment in US production is around $1 billion. But these decisions are business ones, not political ones – timing the announcements to make them seem inspired by economic policy, or the political situation, is simply smart PR. Related Video: Image Credit: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images Celebrities Government/Legal Buick Cadillac Chevrolet GMC

2017 Cadillac CT6 Plug-in Hybrid is the most efficient and torquey CT6 of all

Cadillac is returning to the hybrid game after discontinuing the ill-fated ELR, this time with an existing car and a new drivetrain. The company has taken its CT6 flagship and given it a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder, a pair of motors, and a big battery pack. The result of this combination is a CT6 that manages a rating of 65 MPGe, can go 30 miles on a full electric charge or 400 miles combined with the engine. The powertrain produces 335 horsepower and 432 lb-ft of torque. That's the same amount of power as the 3.6-liter V6 CT6, and more torque than that engine or the twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6. Cadillac claims the CT6 plug-in is capable of hitting 60 miles per hour in 5.2 seconds and reaching a top speed of 150 mph. The green and grunty CT6 plug-in will be available this coming spring, and it will have a premium price of $76,090. Cadillac says that its equipment list is comparable to the CT6 Premium Luxury trim level, which starts at $64,590 with the 3.6-liter V6, and $68,590 with the twin-turbo V6. However, in addition to the hybrid powertrain, Cadillac throws in a number of features that are options on the conventional gasoline models. To get the hybrid's rear seat infotainment system and enhanced night vision, a buyer would have to add $5,800 in option packages. That still leaves the twin-turbo model $1,700 shy of the hybrid, but that's not a terrible trade for the option of fuel-free driving for at least some of the time. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Cadillac CT6 Plug-in Hybrid View 15 Photos Image Credit: Cadillac Green LA Auto Show Cadillac Hybrid Luxury Sedan cadillac ct6 2016 LA Auto Show