GM recalls another 3.4 million cars for ignition problem

WASHINGTON — General Motors on Monday recalled 3.4 million cars in North America to fix an ignition problem that could cause the car to lose power that is linked to injuries.

The bulk of the 2000 to 2014 model-year cars — 3.2 million — are in the United States, the largest US automaker said.

GM said that the ignition switch may move out of the “run” position if the key is carrying extra weight and is jarred, such as when the car hits a pothole or crosses railroad tracks.

Switching out of the “run” position affects power steering and power braking and could cause air bags not to deploy in a crash.

GM said it knows of eight crashes and six injuries related to this recall.

The company said the recall stems from its review of safety issues following its recall in February of 2.6 million Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars for ignition switch problems.

The cars covered in the newest recall are Buick Lacrosses, Chevrolet Impalas, Cadillac Devilles, Cadillac DTS, Buick Lucernes, Buick Regals, and Chevy Monte Carlos.

GM said addressing the problem would involve replacing existing ignition keys with new ones designed differently, or retooling existing keys.

“Until the rework or replacement is completed, owners of the recalled cars are urged to remove additional weight from their key chains and drive with only the ignition key,” GM said.

GM announced five other recalls for a total of 165,770 vehicles for a variety of problems, including with automatic transmissions and power steering.

The company said it knew of no crashes or injuries related to four of the conditions, but injury data was unclear for a problem that could cause the rollover sensor to unintentionally deploy the roof rail air bags, which happened on 15 occasions.

GM said it would take a charge of about $700 million for recall repairs in the second quarter, including the $400 million provision it previously announced. That brings to $2.0 billion the amount set aside for recall costs in the first half of the year.

GM has now recalled some 20 million vehicles this year in the US and foreign countries for safety problems.

The automaker is under congressional and, reportedly, Justice Department investigation over why it failed to act on the Cobalt ignition switch problem until this February despite knowing about it for more than 11 years.

That problem has been tied to dozens of accidents and at least 13 deaths, according to GM. Outside analysts have said the death toll could be much higher.

The company is facing multiple lawsuits for that problem, which analysts say could ultimately cost the company billions of dollars in damages.

GE chief executive Marry Barra will return to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for another congressional grilling before the oversight panel of the House of Representatives about the Cobalt recall scandal.

source: interaksyon.com

GM’s new chief seeks global share gain

DETROIT — The new chief of General Motors vowed to keep a steady hand on the wheel Thursday as she seeks to expand global market share and complete a major turnaround at the US automaker’s troubled European unit.

“To me, what’s important is we’re focused on the product,” Mary Barra, who took over as chief executive officer last week, told reporters at GM headquarters in Detroit.

Barra said she did not expect to make major changes in the strategies she inherited from outgoing chief Dan Akerson, who successfully steered GM back into profitability and independence after a government-backed bankruptcy.

“There is a strategy and the word (from me) is accelerate,” she said in her first lengthy discussion with journalists since becoming the first woman to head a major automaker.

“Don’t expect any right or left turns.”

GM plans to maintain robust investment in the development of new vehicles and continue its disciplined approach to pricing and incentives even as the rapid growth in US sales is expected to plateau.

“We’re in it for the long term,” said Barra who started her career with GM more than 30 years ago and worked her way up through the ranks after receiving a degree in electrical engineering from the old General Motors Institute in Flint.

“We have to maintain the fortress balance sheet. This is a cyclical business. We want to make sure we have the financial performance that allows us to reinvest in the business.”

GM, which for 77 years was the world’s largest automaker in terms of sales before being overtaken by Japanese rival Toyota in 2008, was once again relegated to second place Thursday when Toyota announced record 2013 sales of 9.98 million vehicles.

GM sold 9.71 million cars last year, while Germany’s Volkswagen logged annual sales of 9.5 million.

While she didn’t indicate any strong desire to regain the crown, Barra said she was “looking for modest share growth” both in the United States and globally.

“We have a strategy. I think there is a lot of opportunity,” around the world, she said.

Barra expects GM to continue its expansion in China where the company and its partners are second behind Volkswagen.

“Clearly we have great opportunities in China,” she said.

Europe — where GM has lost money for 16 consecutive years and expects to post another loss when it reports 2013 results next month — remains a trouble spot.

But Barra expressed confidence in the automaker’s restructuring plan, which aims for profitability by mid-decade, and said she doesn’t have any kind of hard and fast deadline for the turnaround to be complete.

“Europe is an important market,” Barra said. “I’m a glass half-full kind of person. I think Europe is very great opportunity for GM.”

While it’s “important to operate profitably everywhere we operate,” Barra noted that the automaker’s transformation in Europe — and particularly at its subsidiary Opel — is nonetheless impressive.

“We’re no longer talking about the viability of Opel,” said Barra, who has served on Opel’s board for the past couple years.

“Instead the focus is on showing of Opel products and rebuilding the image of the Opel brand,” she said. “We’re going to do everything we can to strengthen the Opel brand.”

source: interaksyon.com

GM wins awards, Ford turns heads at Detroit auto show

DETROIT — General Motors’ Chevrolet unit swept car and truck of the year honors but Ford’s use of aluminum in its F150 sparked new debate on the first day of the Detroit auto show Monday.

The show also saw the debut appearance of Mary Barra as GM’s new chief executive — the first woman ever to lead a major auto maker; Fiat-Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne pledging to oversee the union of the two for at least the next three years; and Ford chief executive Alan Mulally still in his job, after finally scotching talk he was headed to Microsoft.

Automakers, after a hugely successful 2013, forecast more growth and unveiled powerful new trucks, sexy sports cars and luxury models.

General Motors logged an early win after its Chevrolet brand swept the car and truck of the year awards with the Corvette Stingray sports car and the Chevy Silverado pickup truck.

“Chevrolet is in the midst of the most aggressive product transformation in the brand’s more than 100-year history,” Chevy chief Alan Batey said, hailing its wins.

Eyes were on Ford, however, as it gambled with a major change for the best-selling F150 pickup, replacing steel body panels with aluminum to drastically lower body weight and boost fuel economy.

The move, which helped Ford slash the truck’s weight by up to 700 pounds (317 kilos) is seen as a big risk, because truck buyers tend to focus on sturdiness and power.

Toyota, meanwhile, revved up its design credentials with a provocative new concept for a sports car, with a race car pit crew opening a shiny red box to reveal the FT-1 sports concept — Future Toyota 1.

Chrysler unveiled its hotly-anticipated revamp of the 200 sedan, which aims to bring a new level of luxury and styling to its midsized offering with a low entry price of $21,700.

“We designed a car to take on every other vehicle in its class, feature by feature and prove that a quality sedan doesn’t have to cross an ocean to be worthy of an American driveway,” Chrysler brand chief Al Gardner told reporters.

Mercedes got a jump on its competitors by hiring Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child to serenade its sleek and luxurious new C-Class sedan, an upgrade from the entry-level position it has held for several years.

Now that role has been taken by the CLA, and the C-Class has been decked out with features from higher-end Mercedes.

Also enjoying the move down from senior models is the diminutive Honda Fit. Honda has reshaped the front, enlarged the inside with generous leg space for a subcompact, boosted horsepower to 130 and worked to smooth the ride, adding a right-side Lane Watch, Bluetooth, rearview cameras, and upgraded smart phone connectivity.

Corvette also generated excitement with its new racing versions of the Corvette Stingray, the street-legal Z06 and the track-ready CR.7.

Kia and Toyota brought in concept pocket-rockets, BMW served up a hat-trick of new models — the 2 series, and an M3 and M4 — and Chrysler revamped its 200 series sedan, hoping some European styling thanks to its new Italian owners will boost its market presence.

Barra, who officially takes the reins of GM on Thursday, will make her presence known at the launch of a new GMC pickup — a statement that she, too, is one of the car guys.

She signaled that the accountants will not be allowed to dominate business plans.

“At today’s GM, our products are the result of putting the customer at the center of everything we do. That has fostered a bold new culture at our company, a culture that promotes innovation and encourages risk taking,” she said.

Executive leadership issues were also settled at Fiat, two weeks after the company bought the remaining 41.5 percent of Chrysler it didn’t own after long, tough negotiations.

Chairman John Elkann said CEO Sergio Marchionne will remain until at least 2017.

With the completion of the takeover of Chrysler — now the main money-maker for the Italian group — Marchionne said the Fiat board would soon meet on strategy for integrating the two, including mulling moving the headquarters to Detroit and listing its shares on a major stock market.

“We’re the seventh carmaker in the world and we aspire to be one of the so-called big guys,” Marchionne said.

At Ford, Mulally and executive chairman Bill Ford Jr both made clear that Mulally’s much-speculated departure was no longer an issue.

“Alan has obviously done a great job, and I’m thrilled that he’s here,” Ford said.

source: interaksyon.com

The car is the next major tech platform — GM

BOSTON — The car is the next great proving ground for communications technology, General Motors Co Chief Executive Dan Akerson said late this week.

The automobile will become a major platform for tech “and one with far better battery life than an iPhone,” he said in prepared remarks to the Chief Executives’ Club of Boston.

Developing better in-car technology is critical for automakers like GM to attract younger, tech-savvy buyers. If they can pull it off, the companies will generate new sources of revenue and boost profit margins. One approach may be for GM to sell advertising within the car itself, Akerson said last month.

In mid-2014, the No. 1 U.S. automaker, teaming up with AT&T Inc, will start selling vehicles embedded with 4G LTE mobile broadband, a wireless connection that allows for faster flow of data that GM says would allow passengers in the backseat to watch streaming video.

Akerson, a former top executive with telecommunications companies MCI, Nextel and XO Communications, said automakers have no choice as the average U.S. consumer is spending more than 2-1/2 hours a day on their smartphones and tablets. That tops the 16 hours each week spent in cars as drivers or passengers.

“Marry the two and you have a megatrend that we intend to harness for competitive advantage,” he said.

Akerson cited a J.D. Power study that found more than two-thirds of new car buyers own a smartphone, and for 80 percent of them connectivity strongly influences which car they buy.

Moreover, it’s not just American consumers who want that, he said, citing similar studies in China, the world’s largest auto market.

He said drivers want hands-free calling, navigation and automatic crash warning, in that order. He called those “the bread and butter” of the company’s in-vehicle OnStar service that connects drivers to live operators for directions or emergency help. OnStar has more than 6 million subscribers.

As for why consumers with smartphones would want such services, Akerson said GM’s features will be integrated to prevent distracted driving.

However, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety released a report on Wednesday saying that hands-free technology in cars actually increases driver distraction. AAA urged the auto industry to consider disabling certain functions of voice-to-text technologies, such as using social media or interacting with email, so they are inoperable while the vehicle is in motion.

Citi analyst Itay Michaeli has estimated that OnStar generates about $1.5 billion in annual revenue for GM and the unit is worth between $5 billion and $7 billion as a whole.

Akerson said installing 3G Wi-Fi in vehicles only scratches the surface of what’s possible.

“Imagine that your vehicle can predict that it needs a new battery and then automatically schedules a visit to your dealer before it dies on the (Massachusetts) Pike in rush hour,” he said.

“How cool would it be to have your car automatically call Dunkin’ Donuts when you’re a mile away, so your coffee and cruller are ready and paid for when you pull up?” Akerson added.

Some services will need far more bandwidth and much higher download speeds, which 4G LTE will allow, he said. “We’re going to turn millions of our cars and trucks into nodes on the Internet through the industry’s largest global deployment of 4G LTE.”

The tech features will just be the beginning as GM needs to entice thousands of code writers to come up with apps for its cars, he said. That approach made Apple and Android dominant in their field, and Akerson said he hopes a GM App Shop someday will be just as popular.

source: interaksyon.com