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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

Cadillac imagines the future of luxury transportation with a drone and a pod

Besides more screens and electric cars, GM and Cadillac made sure to pay tribute to the other darlings of the tech industry: autonomous cars and drones. Both concepts take familiar ideas but add a touch of Cadillac flavor. And don't expect either of them to show up in reality anytime soon. The most fanciful of the two is the Cadillac VTOL concept, which stands for vertical takeoff and landing. It's a fully autonomous drone meant for shuttling people, likely wealthy executives, from rooftop to rooftop in busy cities. It's a single-occupant aircraft with a 90-kWh battery pack and is fully autonomous. It has four sets of two rotors that propel the drone to a top speed of 56 mph. The exterior is unique in having the front and rear sets of rotors at different heights, whereas most seem to have the cabin hanging from the rotors. You can spot some Cadillac cues in the beveled, angled edges. The other concept is the Personal Autonomous Vehicle or PAV. It's a fairly generic-looking autonomous pod with a pastiche of Cadillac design cues such as slim lights and angular trimmings. Cadillac says it's meant to be a social space, hence the wraparound bench seats in the cabin. Cadillac doesn't seem to have forgotten personal comfort, though, as you can spot a single-person recliner. Comfort is key, and Cadillac says the PAV would have biometric sensors to read the passengers and adjust the climate control, humidity, lighting and scents to make the the environment as pleasant as possible. Passengers will have control of vehicle functions via voice and gestures. At the end of theses vehicles' reveals, Cadillac teased more far-flung concepts coming soon. One of them will be a two-seat vehicle and mentioned that it would be for "you and someone very special" for more "intimate" trips. Related Video:

GM will recall more than 3.3 million vehicles in China for suspension defect

BEIJING (Reuters) - General Motors' joint venture in China, Shanghai GM, will recall more than 3.3 million Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac vehicles stating Oct. 20 because of a defect with the suspension system, China's market regulator said on Saturday. GM Shanghai said in a text message to Reuters that the suspension arm may be deformed under extreme operating conditions, but there are no known casualties related to the issue. The recall includes cars produced between 2013 and 2018, the State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement. GM will contact those affected and repair the vehicles free of charge, it said. (Reporting by Josephine Mason and Hallie Gu; additional reporting by Yilei Sun; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Michael Perry)Related Video: Image Credit: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Recalls Buick Cadillac Chevrolet Safety