1949 Cadillac Series 62 Full Custom on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Cadillac plans to keep its Manhattan ZIP code, shunning Detroit

Johan de Nysschen is credited for separating Cadillac from the GM nest in Detroit, but despite his ouster earlier this year, the luxury division says it will remain headquartered in New York City's tony SoHo district. "It's 100 percent that we're staying here, that was never a question," Cadillac spokesman Andrew Lipman told the Detroit Free Press. Cadillac in April announced that it was replacing de Nysschen, after four years running the flagship brand. The new brand boss, Steve Carlisle, previously was president and managing director of GM Canada. De Nysschen led a big push to separate the luxury brand from its parent company as a separate business unit, announcing the move to New York in 2014 as a way to gain more autonomy and better tap into the global luxury zeitgeist. The move was controversial at the time in some quarters, though Lipman told the Freep that GM brass made the decision to relocate Cadillac to the Big Apple months before de Nysschen arrived at the company. Cadillac now occupies the 15th and 16th floors of a high-rise building on Hudson Street in SoHo, where it has between 140 and 150 employees. It also operates a ground-floor retail space called the Cadillac House where it displays cars, operates a coffee shop and stages events, including with fashion designers. Its vehicles are still designed and engineered back in the Detroit area, however. "The amount of time people spend at Cadillac House has been increasing, and it's become a destination," Lipman said. Cadillac used this year's New York Auto Show to reveal its new 2019 XT4 compact crossover, its second offering in the all-important luxury crossover segment after the XT5. It goes on sale this fall. Related Video: Image Credit: Cadillac Marketing/Advertising Cadillac GM Crossover Luxury cadillac xt4

GM laying off more than 4,000 workers Monday morning

According to reports from Automotive News, The Detroit News, and CNN, General Motors plans to begin laying off more than 4,000 salaried workers starting Monday morning. In a statement to AN, a spokesperson for the automaker said, "We are not confirming timing. Our employees are our priority. We will communicate with them first." We've been expecting layoffs at General Motors since November, 2018. At the time, the Detroit-based automaker announced it would seek to shed 8,100 salaried employees, shut down five assembly plants in North America, and kill off several slow-selling models. One month earlier, GM offered buyout packages to 18,000 workers and said it would seek to cut its global workforce by 25 percent. A spokesperson said at the time the moves were "proactive steps to get ahead of the curve by accelerating our efforts to address overall business performance." The cost-cutting moves are expected to save GM up to $2.5 billion in 2019 and as much as $6 billion by 2020. David Kudla, CEO and chief investment strategist of Mainstay Capital Management, referred to the impending culling as "Black Monday" and told The Detroit News that the layoffs would begin around 7:30 a.m. and continue in waves throughout the coming days and weeks. GM plans to deliver on its fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 earnings report on Wednesday. President Donald Trump plans to deliver the annual State of the Union address a day earlier on Tuesday. We expect to hear plenty more from both sides over the next several days.

GM earnings rise 1% as buyers pay more for popular pickups

DETROIT — General Motors said Thursday that higher prices for popular pickup trucks and SUVs helped overcome slowing global sales and profit rose by 1% in the second quarter. The Detroit automaker said it made $2.42 billion, or $1.66 per share, from April through June. Adjusting for restructuring costs, GM made $1.64 per share, blowing by analyst estimates of $1.44. Quarterly revenue fell 2% to $36.06 billion, but still beat estimates. Analysts polled by FactSet expected $35.97 billion. Global sales fell 6% to 1.94 million vehicles led by declines in North America and Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The company says sales in China were weak, and it expects that to continue through the year. In the United States, customers paid an average of $41,461 for a GM vehicle during the quarter, an increase of 2.2%, as buyers went for loaded-out pickups and SUVs, according to the Edmunds.com auto pricing site. The U.S. is GM's most profitable market. Chief Financial Officer Dhivya Suryadevara said she expects the strong pricing to continue, especially as GM rolls out a diesel pickup and new heavy-duty trucks in the second half of the year. "We think the fundamentals do remain strong, especially in the truck market," she said, adding that strength in the overall economy and aging trucks now on the road should help keep the trend going. Light trucks accounted for 83.1% of GM's sales in the quarter, and pickup truck sales rose 8.5% as GM transitioned to new models of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, according to Edmunds, which provides content to The Associated Press. As usual, GM made most of its money in North America, reporting $3 billion in pretax earnings. International operations including China broke even, while the company spent $300 million on its GM Cruise automated vehicle unit. Its financial arm made $500 million in pretax income. Suryadevara said GM saw $700 million in savings during the quarter from restructuring actions announced late last year that included cutting about 8,000 white-collar workers through layoffs, buyouts and early retirements. The company also announced plans to close five North American factories, shedding another 6,000 jobs. About 3,000 factory workers in the U.S. whose jobs were eliminated at four plants will be placed at other factories, but they could have to relocate. GM expects the restructuring to generate $2 billion to $2.5 billion in annual cost savings by the end of this year.