Chevrolet: 1954 Chevy 210 2dr Sedan Hotrod Custom Bel Air/150/210 350 W/ Blower on 2040-cars

Auto blog

GM pickup truck plant in Flint to add 1,000 assembly workers

FLINT, Mich. — General Motors said Tuesday it will add 1,000 workers to build new heavy-duty pickup trucks at its plant in Flint, Michigan, and will give priority to GM workers who were laid off elsewhere. The announcement comes the day after GM said it was starting to hand pink slips to about 4,000 salaried workers in the latest round of a restructuring announced in late November that will ultimately shrink its white-collar workforce in North America by 15 percent out of 54,000. GM has come under fire from U.S. President Donald Trump and Midwestern lawmakers for its plans to stop production at five North American factories and cut up to 15,000 jobs in all. The automaker has said it is trying to find new jobs for 1,500 U.S. hourly workers at the affected plants. Flint's truck plant could be a haven for many of these employees. Sales of heavy-duty pickups in the United States have grown to more than 600,000 vehicles a year, up more than 20 percent since 2013, according to industry data. Prices for luxury models can easily top $70,000. GM on Tuesday will celebrate the launch of a new generation of heavy-duty GMC and Chevrolet pickups at the assembly plant in Flint, Michigan, that is now building all such trucks for the company. Elsewhere in the company on Monday, two people briefed on the cuts in the white-collar salaried workforce said GM is cutting hundreds of jobs at its information technology centers in Texas, Georgia, Arizona and Michigan and more than 1,000 jobs at its Warren, Michigan Tech Center. GM is filing new required mass layoff notices with state agencies and disclosed the cuts to lawmakers. The largest U.S. automaker announced in November it would cut a total of about 15,000 jobs and end production at five North American plants. The cuts include eliminating about 8,000 salaried workers, or about 15 percent. GM cut about 1,500 contract workers in December and said 2,300 salaried workers accepted buyouts, officials said. "These actions are necessary to secure the future of the company, including preserving thousands of jobs in the U.S. and globally. We are taking action now while the overall economy and job market are strong, increasing the ability of impacted employees to continue to advance in their careers, should they choose to do so," GM spokesman Pat Morrissey said, adding the bulk of the cuts should be completed in the next two weeks. Morrissey said GM would provide salaried workers with severance packages and job placement services.

Use this PowerPoint when convincing your spouse to let you buy a Corvette

When you are not the one in charge of the purse strings, creativity is a must when trying to get the string-holder to bankroll that next shiny object you just can't live without.
When I was a kid, I decided that life wasn't worth living if it weren't in pursuit of owning a GMC Typhoon. My 12-year-old self crafted a fiscal strategy that, when combined with my offer of a 49-percent share of ownership in the car in return for my parents' contribution of 80-percent of the purchase price, would see me behind the wheel of a Typhoon by the time I hit college. They walked away from the negotiating table and, the economic climate of the 8th grade being what it was at the time, another partner wasn't found before the Typhoon was discontinued.
Roy El-Rayes, however, has succeeded where 12-year-old me failed, and he did it by using the sort of professionalism that only a PowerPoint presentation can provide, along with some humor and bold-faced flattery.

Chevy admits there's confusion over Bolt and Volt names

Offering the possibility of 200 miles of driving range and the potential for a price of about $30,000, the Chevrolet Bolt is an incredibly enticing vehicle, and it has an opportunity to be a big player in the EV world. However, the hatchback has been plagued by one problem since the moment it debuted – the name. Bolt sounds very similar to Volt, Chevy's extended-range plug-in, and they can be easy to confuse in a conversation. That's not the best quality to have when trying to get a new vehicle's name out there among customers, and General Motors North America president Alan Batey told the Detroit Free Press that the company is aware of the problem. While the EV is definitely going into production, the model might be wearing a different moniker when it hits showrooms. "We're still in the decision phase. It could go either way," Batey said to the Free Press. He indicated the automaker still has about a year before a final decision is necessary. The Bolt will be built at GM's Orion Assembly plant in Michigan and will likely go on sale around 2017. That will put the Chevy on the market at roughly the same time as the 200-mile Tesla Model 3. Batey didn't seem too concerned, though. "Unlike Tesla, we can spread the cost over a whole lineup," he said to the Free Press. The future doesn't look quite so bright for the Spark EV, though. Batey suggested that it might not last once the longer-range Bolt fills that niche in the lineup. Related Video: