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Cadillac CT6 production ceases January 2020 as part of D-Ham layoffs

General Motors filed paperwork under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act with Michigan's Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity this week, detailing events to come at the automaker's Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant. Starting February 28, 814 salaried and hourly workers at D-Ham, as its called, will be laid off. The 753 workers represented by the UAW will begin receiving offers in January to relocate to facilities in Michigan and Ohio, or buyout offers. As the 4-million-square-foot plant winds down through April 3 to a skeleton crew, the Cadillac CT6 ceases production in January 2020, and the last Chevrolet Impala comes off the line on February 28. The loss of the CT6 represents the end of Cadillac's latest brief, and highly regarded, adventure into flagship sedans. It might also mean the end of the 4.2-liter Blackwing twin-turbo V8 engine, at least for the moment. Both casualties are calamities. The death of the Impala closes the door on a nameplate in production for 52 years since 1957, having started off as a top-tier trim for the 1958 Bel Air known as the Bel Air Impala, once advertised with the line, "Lets you know you're the boss." As part of the new four-year labor agreement with the UAW, GM is keeping D-Ham open to build a new line of battery-electric vehicles, ultimately investing $3 billion and tripling employment to 2,225 workers when fully operational. The agreement described the coming EV as a "van" that would commence production in late 2021, but various reports say what's actually coming is a range of premium EVs in pickup and SUV bodystyles under the program codename BT1. The easy predictions put an electric GMC Sierra and Cadillac Escalade among the EV fold, but not until 2023, according to auto industry forecaster LMC Automotive. Before that, LMC claims an electric van will debut in late 2021, along with a battery-powered rebirth of the Hummer brand in pickup and SUV forms, also in late 2021. 

GM opens official investigation into C8 Corvette transmission leaks

In March 2020, a month after Chevrolet began customer deliveries of the 2020 C8 Corvette, a GM dealer technician created a Reddit thread about a leaking gearbox in a Corvette with 32 miles. That car hadn't even been sold yet. Since then, as a search of "C8 Corvette transmission leak" shows, it's been tales of woe for some owners. Something in the Tremec TR-9080 transaxle in the back of the mid-engined Corvette doesn't work as it should, the fault able to cause codes that the transmission needs service, or that the driver needs to shift to park. In some cases, the battery would die because of follow-on issues after the initial transmission code, that code preventing the car from powering down. As Autoevolution reports, GM filed paperwork with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in August to look into what's going on. Between forum threads and GM's investigation document, there are several issues mentioned. The most common appears to be the dual-clutch transmission leaking fluid due to gasket failures like the one suffered by one owner at 858 miles, and another for an owner currently enduring a second leaking transmission. The Midengined Corvette Forum reported that Chevy engineers redesigned the TR-9080 pan, fitting Corvettes with the new unit at some point in the 2021 model year. The original pan was stamped steel unit affixed to the engine with two studs and 13 bolts, plus "reinforcement plates." The updated pan is said to be a cast aluminum unit affixed with two studs and 17 bolts, omits the reinforcement plates, and gets a new machined new groove around its edge to seat the gasket seal. The GM paperwork now at the NHTSA mentions a P1789 code, and says one reason for it could be "debris on the park position sensor magnet causing an incorrect position reading to the TCM." This might be caused by another issue mentioned in forums, which is clogged transmission filters. GM gives instructions for returning transmission filters to the company, and a poster on one forum said the Corvette tech at the dealer where he bought his Corvette told him the automaker "requires every used transmission filter to be returned to GM."  Whatever's going on, the problems haven't stopped, and they go beyond the P1789 code. Over the weekend, a 2022 Corvette owner posted on Corvette Forums that he got a check engine light on his car after just 850 miles.

GM plans to sell the Chevy Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade in China

General Motors Co plans to sell full-size sport-utility vehicle (SUV) models in China for the first time, and will import a range of models to beef up its product lineup into the world's biggest car market, its China chief told Reuters. The plan would mark a change of tack for GM, which currently produces all of the vehicles it sells in China within the country, which is set to be the only major economy to grow this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. GM, China's second-biggest foreign automaker, is aiming to offer four models as it looks to improve its brand image and support a sales recovery: Chevrolet's Tahoe and Suburban, Cadillac's Escalade and the GMC Yukon Denali. The Detroit-based company is showcasing those models at the China International Import Expo, or CIIE, an annual import show in Shanghai which started on Wednesday and runs into next week. "Our intention is to get customer reaction and find a way to sell these cars in China," said GM's China chief Julian Blissett. The automaker sees opportunities for such vehicles, partly because Chinese families are expanding, he added. "We are looking into a variety of market sales plans for these vehicles, including online sales, leasing and others," he said, declining to give a detailed timeframe for the plan. GM's Buick and Cadillac mid-size SUVs helped the group's Chinese sales grow 12% in the third quarter this year, the first quarterly growth in the past two years. But it does not have full-size SUV models, which usually have a third row of seats and has room for six or seven people. BATTLEGROUND China, where over 25 million vehicles were sold last year, is a crucial battleground for global automakers including Volkswagen AG, the biggest foreign player by sales volumes, GM and Toyota, as well as local leaders Geely and Great Wall. The country has seen auto sales pick up in recent months following a COVID-19-induced slump, and authorities say they have largely brought the epidemic under control following its emergence in the central city of Wuhan at the end of last year. The expansion plan would also mark GM's first official sales in China of GMC vehicles, a premium brand in the group. Previously GMC vehicles were only sold in the country via unofficial grey importers. The imports will, however, not change GM's basic production strategy in China. It will still mostly sell vehicles made in China - for now, at least. "Depending on however we go we might make other decisions," Blissett said.