2007 Gmc Sierra 2500hd Classic Sle1 on 2040-cars

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The UAW's 'record contract' hinges on pensions, battery plants

DETROIT - After nearly four weeks of disruptive strikes and hard bargaining, the United Auto Workers and the Detroit Three automakers have edged closer to a deal that could offer record-setting wage gains for nearly 150,000 U.S. workers. General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis have all agreed to raise base wages by between 20% and 23% over a four-year deal, according to union and company statements. Ford and Stellantis have agreed to reinstate cost-of-living adjustments, or COLA. The companies have offered to boost pay for temporary workers and give them a faster path to full-time, full-wage status. All three have proposed slashing the time it takes a new hire to get to the top UAW pay rate. The progress in contract talks follows the first-ever simultaneous strike by the UAW against Detroit's Big Three automakers. The union began the strike on Sept. 15 in hopes of forcing a better deal from each major automaker. But coming close to a deal is not the same thing as reaching a deal. Big obstacles remain on at least two major UAW demands: restoring the retirement security provided by pre-2007 defined benefit pension plans, and covering present and future joint- venture electric vehicle battery plants under the union's master contracts with the automakers. On retirement, none of the automakers has agreed to restore pre-2007 defined-benefit pension plans for workers hired after 2007. Doing so could force the automakers to again burden their balance sheets with multibillion-dollar liabilities. GM and the former Chrysler unloaded most of those liabilities in their 2009 bankruptcies. The union and automakers have explored an approach to providing more income security by offering annuities as an investment option in their company-sponsored 401(k) savings plans, people familiar with the discussions said. Stellantis referred to an annuity option as part of a more generous 401(k) proposal on Sept. 22. Annuities or similar instruments could give UAW retirees assurance of fixed, predictable payouts less dependent on stock market ups and downs, experts said. Recent changes in federal law have removed obstacles to including annuities as a feature of corporate 401(k) plans, said Olivia Mitchell, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and an expert on pensions and retirement. "Retirees want a way to be assured they won't run out of money," Mitchell said.

2024 GMC Hummer EV pickup gets a price hike - with a catch

Watching auto industry MSRPs move around is like watching the Vegas big board for odds, the numbers almost always going against the folks laying down the money. In yet another sign of the times, a few trims of the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUT — that's the pickup — are seeing additional price increases. A little more than a year ago, GMC increased prices by $6,250 for the EV2, EV2X, and EV3X trims due to the rising costs of parts. Those joining the lengthy reservation list also found the automaker also increased the destination charge from $1,995 to $2,295. The 2024 Hummer EV configurator doesn't list the EV2 yet, so its $86,245 suggested sticker price may yet hold up. The MSRPs for the rest, and their changes from the most recent pricing, are: EV2X: $98,845 ($1,600) EV3X: $106,945 ($700) EV3X Omega Edition: $150,295 ($300)  Taking a longer view back to December 2021 reveals just how far the bar has moved. At that time, the EV2 was predicted to cost $79,995, the EV2X was going to go for $89,995, and the EV3X for $99,995. The 2024 Hummer EV3X now costs more than the 2022 Hummer EV Edition 1, which started at $112,595 after destination. The Edition 1 came with the 24-module extended-range Ultium battery pack that's now a $9,995 option on the EV3X; the price above is for a 20-module pack, one of the new features for 2024. The EV3X Omega Edition and its Neptune Blue paint not only blows everything else out of the water price-wise, its feature set could make even Edition 1 buyers blue with either sadness or envy.   The good news? GMC is offering discounts for early reservations. Per the GMC configurator, at the moment, buyers who reserve an EV2X will get an $8,150 instant discount, buyers wanting an EV3X will get a $6,250 discount. These effectively wipe out the new price rises and last year's price increases, taking the 2X down to $90,695 and the EV3X down to $100,695. The savings could be enticements to get people in the reservation line. With tens of thousands of reservations already in the books and threads on forums like Hummerchat wondering if anyone's seen the EV2X trim that was due earlier this year, it might be a while yet before an order turns into a Hummer EV.  Related Video This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Could the GMC Jimmy come back as a Wrangler fighter?

Every three or four years, two cars go into heavy media rotation in stories about supposed new competitors. The headlines go something like, "X automaker working on a vehicle to fight the iconic Y." The Y cars are the Porsche 911 and the Jeep Wrangler. For this story, the X automaker is GM. And since GM already has its 911-fighter poised for debut next month, we speak here of the Wrangler. Car and Driver writes that GMC might take another shot at a Jeep challenger, this time by rebirthing a body-on-frame Jimmy SUV. For any who don't know, GMC sold an S-15 Jimmy from 1982 to 2005, a twin of the Chevrolet S-10 Blazer. Those SUVs started their lives as the Chevrolet S-10 and GMC S-15/Sonoma pickups. The Blazer name has returned to the light, albeit without its old-school rugged manners. There's still an opening on the GMC side, though, so C/D says the idea would be to work that old magic on the GMC Canyon pickup. The report is more chaff than grist for the rumormill, with liberal application of phrases like "looking to come up with," "could be," "could take," and "could arrive." Having said that, a potential Jimmy model could come in a few years, could use the same six-cylinder gas and four-cylinder diesel engines as the Canyon, and could start around $30,000. The Jimmy could wear GMC's new mud-and-guts AT4 trim name, or become a mud-and-guts trim for the Canyon just as the ZR2 is for the Colorado. It's not an entirely crazy idea, however, when a body-on-frame Trailblazer SUV based on the Colorado sells in Latin America, Asia, and Australia and does pretty well in the mud and muck. GM's been on the edge of going to war with the Wrangler for at least 12 years, when a Hummer exec said the HX concept would debut at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show and go on sale in 2010 as the H4. In 2015, The Wall Street Journal said GM was canvassing GMC dealers about something to get in the ring with the Wrangler. And all that was before every other automaker had to watch Jeep open a money-counting operation to handle its Wrangler profits, and dealers started charging $20,000 markups on Gladiators. In May, spy shooters caught a sensor-laden Jeep running at GM's Milford Proving Grounds in Michigan. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported GM is considering a Hummer revival as an all-electric hardcore SUV. So we will not be surprised if GM rolls out a Wrangler fighter in the near-ish future. But we won't be surprised if GM doesn't, either.