General Motors

General Motors Corporation {{nyse|GM}}, also known as GM, is a United States-based automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Daewoo, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, and Vauxhall.

Financial woes

In April 2005, General Motors posted a US$1.1-billion loss, for the first quarter of that year. Its debt was downgraded to junk bond status. It announced plans to cut 25,000 jobs in the United States. It did not announce any job cuts in Canada:

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For the first time ever in 2004, the total number of cars produced by all makers in Ontario exceeded those produced in Michigan. GM officials cited profitability of their Oshawa, Ontario plant in refusing to distribute the job losses.

Related Topics:
Ontario - Michigan - Oshawa, Ontario

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The anger was obvious at the shareholder meeting. Explanations were not long in coming. While the company pleaded its high health care costs, amounting to US$1500 per vehicle on average (a veiled excuse to move jobs to Canada where health insurance is public), others blamed the product line.

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Green Party of Canada leader Jim Harris was quoted in an article in the Montreal Gazette in claimed that "high oil prices have led consumers to demand more fuel-efficient cars, which also claimed that "Ford and General Motors's core profitability comes from gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks," and that accordingly their problems could be blamed on a failure to build hybrid vehicles.

Related Topics:
Green Party of Canada - Jim Harris - Montreal Gazette - Hybrid vehicle

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General Motors competes with foreign automobile companies such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan, all of which have non-union automobile production plants in the United States. These companies have a significantly lower compensation cost per employee at their U.S. plants than General Motors does at its U.S. plants. Toyota and Honda have also introduced gasoline/electric or diesel/electric hybrid vehicles into their product mix whereas, as of July of 2005, General Motors has not. Starting with the 2007 model year Chevrolet Tahoe GM will introduce a two-mode Hybrid system. The two-mode system offers better fuel economy and towing ability than the one-mode system found in Toyota, Ford and Honda vehicles. GM and DaimlerChrysler Joined Forces to Develop the two mode Full Hybrid Propulsion System.

Related Topics:
Toyota - Honda - Nissan

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The Hydrogen Solution

General Motors has recently recovered from their losses suffered from their proposed battery technology and has invested over US$1.1 billion dollars into developing and researching hydrogen fuel cells. They plan to slowly convert the infrastructure from an oil based one to a oil-hydrogen based to a purely hydrogen based. Their first hydrogen vehicles are slated to be released by 2010. Hydrogen can be obtained by splitting water molecules and it produces no harmfull emissions, merely water vapour. However hydrogen is not a source of energy, but a storage and transmission medium. The energy to split hydrogen from water must come from some other source: oil, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, etc. See hydrogen economy. The first hydrogen pumps are being tested out at various Royal Dutch/Shell stations across Northern California

Related Topics:
Hydrogen - Fuel cells - Water vapour - Hydrogen economy - Royal Dutch/Shell - California

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