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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.

Buick begins offering 24-hour test drives

Even as the year's sales charts show a decline, Buick says its brand image is improving. To bolster that soft metric while it works on overhauling its lineup - consumers are clamoring for more crossovers - the brand will begin offering overnight test drives as of July 23. Buick trialled the program in Phoenix and got a good response, so it rolls out as an ad-supported nationwide campaign called "24 Hours of Happiness" as of July 22. The push is on probation for three months while Buick evaluates it, but they expect it to continue beyond 90 days. Cars will be sourced from the loaner fleets that dealers offer customers whose cars are in for service, so only dealers with such fleets will be able to participate. General Motors did the same thing in 2003 and 2004, at the time saying it led to more than 500,000 "extended" test drives and close to 190,000 sales. That program had a cash component, in that buyers were offered $250 if they chose a non-GM vehicle after their test drive. 24 Hours of Happiness won't come with any inducements; Buick is taking the long view, positioning this as support for the brand instead of as bait for immediate returns. The Phoenix dealer who ran the program first said that it got fewer bites than he expected, but that customers who took a car home "were far more likely to buy the vehicle." Cue the Regal GS hooning in three, two... Related Video:

Buick teases 'groovy' EV concept to debut this summer

Buick has been taking its slow, deliberate steps toward joining the General Motors EV club in the U.S. There was the Electra concept shown at Auto Shanghai way back in 2020. There was the mystery Buick fastback concept that showed up in GM's promotional vid for the Ultifi software platform in October 2021. Then GM applied to reserve the Electra name in Canada in December, and last month applied to reserve the Velite name in the U.S. Now Buick drops this, a tease for an electric vehicle that will debut this summer. The surprise came in the midst of call-and-response tweets between GM and its brands, the mothership asking, "Hey @Cadillac @GMC @Chevrolet @Buick @GMFleet @BrightDrop — your new boss needs a new ride. Which one of you has the best vehicle to serve my EV-il needs?" The Tri-Shield brand responded with this image and the caption, "WeÂ’re fans of all @GM EVs, but this summer we will show you our dreams of a groovy electric future. ? WeÂ’re sure a mastermind who makes his own quasi-futuristic clothes will be impressed." WeÂ’re fans of all @GM EVs, but this summer we will show you our dreams of a groovy electric future. ? WeÂ’re sure a mastermind who makes his own quasi-futuristic clothes will be impressed. ? https://t.co/7r3Czy8CXV pic.twitter.com/e1XzwFEVsJ — Buick (@Buick) February 13, 2022 The "mastermind"-slash-seamstress reference is looking at GM's villainous Super Bowl ad featuring Dr. Evil, his closest councilors, his son and Baby Me (R.I.P. Verne Troyer). GM's got 30 EVs on the way by 2025 for global markets, and it has begun to fill in the blanks in the U.S. for all its brands but Buick. Based on the automaker's 2019 Sustainability Report, we're expecting a Buick crossover and an SUV by 2025. If the tweeted image is of a people-hauler, it's the swoopiest crossover we've laid eyes on in some time. The rune-like DRL topped by brightwork and chiseled clear panels sits at the corner of a hood that looks like it could have been borrowed from a C7 Corvette. Frankly, this reminds us more of the Buick-branded fastback sedan in the Ultifi video than anything else we've seen. And we have no problem with any of this. As for the Velite trademark application, that could be Buick transplanting a little bit more of its Chinese operations to the U.S. Buick sells a Velite 7 electric crossover, Velite 6 EV and PHEV crossovers, and a Velite 5 PHEV sedan in China.