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GM to cut production at 5 plants in North America, kill several models

DETROIT/WASHINGTON — General Motors Co said on Monday it will cut production of slow-selling models and slash its North American workforce in the face of a stagnant market for traditional gas-powered sedans, shifting more investment to electric and autonomous vehicles. The announcement is the biggest restructuring in North America for the U.S. No. 1 carmaker since its bankruptcy a decade ago. GM said it will take pre-tax charges of $3 billion to $3.8 billion to pay for the cutbacks, but expects the actions to improve annual free cash flow by $6 billion by the end of 2020. GM plans to halt production next year at three assembly plants: Lordstown, Ohio, Hamtramck, Michigan, and Oshawa, Ontario. The company also plans to stop building several models now assembled at those plants, including the Chevrolet Cruze, the Cadillac CT6 and the Buick LaCrosse, the sources said. Sources said the Chevrolet Volt, Impala and Cadillac XTS would also be discontinued. Signs of the demise of six passenger-car models have been swirling since July. Plants in Baltimore, Maryland, and Warren, Michigan, that assemble powertrain components have no products assigned to them after 2019 and thus are at risk of closure, the company said. It will also close two factories outside North America, but did not identify those plants. The AP reported that 14,700 jobs would be affected. Some 8,100 of those would be white-collar jobs reduced through buyouts or layoffs. The No. 1 U.S. automaker signaled the latest belt-tightening in late October when it offered buyouts to 50,000 salaried employees in North America. The company also said it will cut executive ranks by 25 per cent to "streamline decision making." Some 6,000 factory workers could lose their jobs or be transferred to other plants. Its shares were last up 6.2 percent at $38.16. Tariff 'headwinds' and cost-cutting GM Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra told reporters on Monday the company can reduce annual capital spending by $1.5 billion and increase investment in electric and autonomous vehicles and connected vehicle technology because it has largely completed investing in new generations of trucks and sport utility vehicles. Some 75 percent of its global sales will come from just five vehicle architectures by early in the 2020s. It plans to reduce annual capital spending to $7 billion by 2020 from an average of $8.5 billion a year during the 2017-2019 period.

Timely hole-in-one wins high schooler a Cadillac or $50,000

If it happens at all, many golfers knock in hole-in-ones in the quiet of a mediocre local course while three friends sit in their carts drinking Coors Lights. After dreaming of the moment for years, lucky golfers barely have time to process the tremendous achievement before it's followed up with a double bogey on the next hole. That wasn't the case for high schooler Jack Kyger, who drilled an ace during a golf outing, and in turn, won a Cadillac or $50,000. Kyger, a junior at Harper Creek High School in Battle Creek, Mich., says he wasn't even considering a hole-in-one when he stepped up to the tee on the fourth hole at the Battle Creek Country Club. A secondary prize, a TV, would be awarded to the golfer who came closest to the pin, so Kyger was simply trying to get it close to the cup. In front of his dad and Harper Creek Superintendent Rob Ridgeway, he stuck the shot just past the hole, and with some backspin, it rolled into the pin. It's the first time somebody has hit the bullseye at the Gene Lewis Hughes, Sr. Memorial Golf Outing, which has raised more than $150,000 for the Bronson Battle Creek Cancer Care Center throughout the years. By hitting a hole-in-one, Kyger won a $50,000 decision: take home a Cadillac or a big bag of $50,000 in cash. As a student preparing to go to college, it's not an easy choice. "I haven't made up my mind," Kyger said in a USA Today article. "But the way I think about it, no 17-year-old needs a brand new Cadillac to drive around in. I have a truck that gets me places. So, if I take the cash, I would probably put most of it away for college, but keep a little back to have a bit of fun, you know." Smart kid. We did notice a peculiarity about the prize. In the attached photo, the Cadillac at the event appears to be a Cadillac ATS-V. Those familiar with Cadillac's performance vehicles know that an ATS-V starts at significantly more than $50,000 - $68,790 to be exact. So we're not sure why they're calling it a $50,000 Cadillac, unless it's a lightly used vehicle or the Cadillac in question is in fact a different car entirely. No matter the price, it sounds like Kyger is going to take the cash. If he sticks to practicing his golf game, maybe he can earn some more money for college, too. News Source: USA Today Auto News Cadillac Performance

Ford C-Max spot aimed squarely at Cadillac ELR 'Poolside' hubris [UPDATE]

If we had tried to predict the first video response to the controversial Poolside video for the Cadillac ELR, we would not have thought it would center on compost. But, hey, it's always nice to be reminded that the real world is sometimes better than fiction. Instead of the chic swagger of 'Poolside,' 'Anything Is Possible' is all about getting dirty. The new short in question is called Upside: Anything Is Possible and it promotes two things: Detroit Dirt and the Ford C-Max Energi. As in the ELR ad, Ford's plug-in C-Max only makes an appearance at the tail end of the spot, but instead of the chic swagger of Poolside, Anything Is Possible is all about getting dirty. The ad stars Pashon Murray, co-founder of Detroit Dirt, which takes natural waste from around Detroit, composts it into soil and then spreads that around "forgotten parcels" of Detroit to create urban farms. Detroit Dirt gets its bio-waste from a lot of sources, including the Detroit Zoological Society (all that herbivore manure has to go somewhere), Ford and General Motors, but this particular ad was the idea of Ford's PR agency, Team Detroit. It was a frenetic shoot, filmed with an LA-based director right after a big winter storm blew through Detroit, and Murray couldn't be happier with the result. "This was Ford Motor Company pushing my story, letting me tell the story that I believe in," Murray tells AutoblogGreen. "I get to help push this car and I get to tell my story." She says that the Team Detroit and Ford had to agree on the message, "from my understanding, [YouTube] is where they wanted to start, not where they wanted to finish." The ad is already getting a positive response on Twitter, so we won't be surprised if it shows up in more places soon. "It's not saying Ford is better than GM. It's telling the story of a black woman who's working hard in Detroit." As Detroit Dirt has off-screen support from both GM and Ford, it's unsurprising to hear Murray say that the video "is not a rivalry thing." She notes that the ad agency Team Detroit came to her and offered to tell the Detroit Dirt story using the framework of the GM ad. "It's a parody on this commercial, but it's not saying Ford is better than GM," she said. "It's telling the story of a black woman who's working hard in Detroit." What is that story? It's about urban farming, recovery and recycling. Murray tells us that for the last seven or eight years, she's been dedicated to sustainability.