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The US auto giant, General Motors Co., said Monday that it will spend more than US$21M up-grading its Flint Assembly plant to build the 2011 light-duty Chevrolet crew cab. It is the latest production increase and capital investment announced by GM since it emerged from bankruptcy July 10 with 50B US$s in federal aid. According to a Detroit News report, GM will spend money renovating the existing heavy-duty assembly process and installing new machinery, equipment and tooling. Construction is expected to start in the Q-4 Y 2009 production starting in July 2010. GM also is investing US$43M to build lithium-ion battery plant in a Brownstown Township industrial park near Detroit that will supply a key component of the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle

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Asian auto makers sharply lifted their USA market share last month due to a trend towards smaller vehicles under the cash-for-clunkers scheme and consumers’ continuing concern about the health of General Motors and Chrysler. Toyota reported a 6.4% sales increase from a year earlier, bringing it within 21,000 vehicles of GM, which has held the # 1 spot for decades. The cash-for-clunkers scheme pushed GM’s sales up by 30% from July, but they remained a 5th lower than August 2008. Among other Asian auto makers, Honda’s sales reached an August record, while Hyundai reported a 47% surge and Subaru posted its best month ever. Read more

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General Motors Corp has reached a preliminary agreement to sell its Saturn brand to Penske Automotive Group in a deal that could preserve more than 350 dealerships and 13,000 jobs, the companies said on Friday. The deal for Saturn, which the companies hope to complete in the third quarter, would be the second sale of a brand announced by GM since it filed for bankruptcy on Monday in an effort to drop unprofitable lines and leave court protection as a leaner company. Penske, the No. 2 US auto dealership group, would acquire rights to the Saturn brand and other assets, while bankrupt GM would continue production of the Saturn Aura, Vue and Outlook on a contract basis if the transaction were completed, GM and Penske said. Terms were not disclosed. “This is a day that we have all been hoping would come together, since probably the end of November when GM made its first viability plan,” said Todd Ingersoll, a Saturn dealer from Connecticut and a member of the Saturn dealer steering group. GM created Saturn in 1984 to compete with Japanese vehicles in terms of quality and service and initiated no-haggle flat-price sales for its models. The Saturn brand has languished for the last decade, and GM said in February that it would either be spun off or shut.

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General Motors’ famous brand Pontiac brand may be announced to be eliminated early next week, was reported last Friday by Automotive News, citing a source familiar with the company’s plans. However, GM indicated that the closure rumor is just media’s speculation. According to the report, this announcement about Pontiac’s destiny will be made as part of an updated viability plan to the US auto task force. In the restructuring plan submitted on Feb. 17, GM had planned to keep Pontiac along with mainstream brands Buick, GMC, Chevrolet and Cadillac while Saturn, Hummer and Saab are up for sale. The US Treasury Department granted US$2B last Friday to keep GM operating. GM has been staying alive with US$13.4B in loans granted last December by the Bush administration. GM defined the report of Pontiac’s potential closure as pure “media speculation”. In a statement released Last Friday, the carmaker giant said “contrary to media speculation, General Motors has not announced any changes to its long-term viability plan or to the future status of any of its brands.” Established in 1926 and as a division of GM, Pontiac manufactures vehicle types including the sports car, sedan, crossover and sports wagon.

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This is what happened last week…

Last Tuesday began what the world community views as a major event in US history, the inauguration of Barack H. Obama as its 44th President and its 1st Black American President.
Some of President Obama’s executive orders on his 1st day in office:

1. A freeze on salaries for White House staff earning $100,000 or more, about 100 people in all.

2. New Freedom of Information Act rules, making it harder to keep the workings of government secret.

3. Tighter ethics rules governing when administration officials can work on issues on which they previously lobbied governmental agencies, and banning them from lobbying the Obama administration after leaving government service.

The week in the markets, however, continued to be bathed in the glow of uncertainty within the financial sector and coupled with Qs about the timing of the economic recovery.
Couple that with headlines announcing that China’s Y 2008 Q 4 GDP contracted from 9% to 6.8%, the UK reporting a GDP decline of 1.5%, the largest since 1980, US housing starts fell to their lowest level on record, and initial jobless claims returned to Christmas levels, matching the 26 yr. high of 589,000 set in December 2008.
Though Microsoft disappointed, IBM and AAPL rang the bell with GOOG beating too, and coming in better than expected.
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The US Big 3 auto makers yesterday told Congress they would accept significant government controls over the US auto industry and its important restructuring decisions.

The move by Rick Wagoner (GM CEO), Alan Mulally (Ford CEO), and Bob Nardelli (Chrysler CEO) to accept broad oversight came in a hearing on Capitol Hill where members of Congress gave the auto makers a warmer welcome than they received previously.

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