Jil McIntosh

Reviews: Saturn Aura Hybrid and Hyundai Santa Fe

I have two reviews in today's Toronto Star. You can find the Saturn Aura Hybrid review here, while the Hyundai Santa Fe is over here.

R.I.P., Oshawa Truck Plant

Well, it's official: GM plans to close its truck plant in Oshawa, Ontario in 2009. Funny that that news apparently wasn't passed along when the company negotiated a new contract with the union a couple of weeks ago.

Even more troubling is a blurb in the Toronto Star newspaper today: 2005: Ontario invests $235 million with GM's Beacon project, $60 million of which goes to universities for R&D and the balance to GM for its Oshawa operation. The agreement includes minimum job levels at the truck plant.

I think it's time that Ontario had a second look at that particular piece of funding, methinks.

GM: Time for "strategic initiatives"

In the news today: GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner used the stockholders' meeting to outline the plans in store for GM. It looks like gas prices have finally gotten through.

There's going to be more emphasis on smaller vehicles, an all-new Aveo, a new global compact Chevrolet, and funding to get the Volt on the road.

There will also be plant closures, including one at the truck plant here in Oshawa, Ontario, where I live, which should go over really well. I've never figured out why the plants that win the most awards for quality always seem to be the first to close.

And there's going to be a "strategic review" of the Hummer brand. Gee, ya think? The only surprise is that it took them this long.

Today's translation: GM Corporate-Speak

In the news: some 19,000 GM hourly workers in the U.S. have accepted the company's attrition program, and they'll be out the door and home by July 1 at the latest.

First crack at their jobs will go to current employees "whenever possible", according to a release from GM. But if new workers have to be brought in, they'll come in at entry-level wages and benefits.

According to GM North America president Troy Clarke, "This attrition program gives us an opportunity to restructure our U.S. workforce through the entry-level wage and benefit structure for new hourly employees."

Translation: We're going to save a bundle by getting the old guy out of the slot, and putting in a new guy at a lower wage.

Now yes, I do understand that the domestic auto companies are still bloated from a quarter-century ago, and that trimming down doesn't happen without some tough decisions.

But before you jump on the bandwagon and say "about time", keep a few things in mind, including the fact that good-paying jobs generate higher taxes and more disposable income than low-paying jobs. Those taxes help pay for your social programs, your schools, your neighborhood, your police and fire protection, your parks and your libraries. Do you want your neighborhood funded by an autoworker making $25+ an hour, or by someone whose job description includes "Do you want fries with that?"

Henry Ford, back when he was still turning out the Model T, raised the salaries of most of his workers to $5.00 a day, which was twice the going rate. His theory was that a decently-paid worker could afford to buy the product he built, thereby increasing demand for the product and turning it into a cycle. How many minimum-wage workers do you know who are buying new cars?

And don't kid yourself; if the auto plants could get workers to screw together the vehicles for a buck an hour, I doubt the price would go down. Profits would go up and the shareholders would be happy, but don't think Flint would be fired back up to make $2,500 Tata cars. One of Chevrolet's best-selling models is made in Korea, but its price doesn't seem to reflect the wages those workers make over there.

Now, don't get me wrong -- the automakers need to do something to stay afloat in these troubled times, and they're probably doing the best they can.

Just don't make the mistake of thinking that what's good for General Motors is necessarily good for America.

A discussion with GM's Larry Burns

On Canadian Driver today, I have an interview with Larry Burns, vice-president of research and development at General Motors. A fascinating man, and with quite a bit to say on the future of transportation, including the work his company is doing in that direction.

While the issue of oil dependency and future technologies comes with as many opinions as there are molecules in hydrogen, he presented a number of issues I hadn't considered before. I don't know if I came away sold on all of them, but I'll say this -- I'm putting a lot more thought into the total effect that any form of transportation will have, even when it's one that I think is a solid one. I'm still a fan of diesels, for example, but Larry gave me a lot to think about when he told me that they may not be the way to go. There are a lot of people who'll tell you that "this" is the answer. I'm more interested in those who say this might be it.

The story's available here.

Chrysler's leaving California

Chrysler has announced that it's closing its Pacifica Advance Product Design Center in Carlsbad, California and will consolidate the Advance Design function at its headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Now, news from the automakers is usually made available to journalists on media-specific Web sites during business hours, with lots of quotes that we can use to beef up the story, and photos if they're available. This little tidbit came as a very low-key email, and with the same terse message posted not on Chrysler's media Web site, but on a blog that it reserves as a chattier version for the press. No quotes, no photos, not even an attribution -- just "by Editor". And it arrived late on a Friday night.

Methinks they don't want us to say too much about it.

The email said that the function will be consolidated with Michigan, but the last paragraph reads, These changes set the stage for Chrysler's future global growth efforts, which also include our intent to establish global expertise in design, engineering and sourcing through centers of excellence. These actions will help the Company meet its long-term globlization goals.

Translation: we're going to find a place that'll make the cars for cheap.

It's not new, of course. GM's been doing it for a long time -- you want to get a deer in the headlights look, go up to half the people driving Chevrolet Aveos (bonus points if they've got a "Buy Domestic" license plate frame) and ask them if they know their cars are built in Korea. Rather tellingly, GM built three new subcompact concepts and had the public vote on which one it should build. One was designed in the U.S. The winner, announced at last year's Los Angeles Auto Show, was designed in India. Hmmm. I wonder where the actual car will be built, and if that has any bearing on how that particular design was chosen.

Y'know, in the grand scheme of things, I do have a bit of a handle on how corporations work. Even if I don't like it, I understand why companies move production offshore, whether it's cars or clothes or call centres.

I just wish everyone would be honest, instead of coating it all in bafflegab. Come clean with us: it costs too much money to design a car in California, so we're closing that office and we'll be contracting the work overseas. Will the public like it? Of course not. But I think John Q. Public would have more respect for a company that tells him up front what it's doing, instead of sneaking out the back door in the middle of the night.

Happy Birthday, GM

On September 16, 1908, William Crapo Durant filed incorporation papers that formed a new company he called General Motors.

He was already involved with Buick, and he'd agreed to license their production to the McLaughlin Motor Car Company in Oshawa, Ontario. Its founder, Sam McLaughlin, sold his company completely to GM in 1918 (it became GM of Canada) but stayed on as president and as a board member of the U.S. company. He also built a little place in Oshawa that he called Parkwood.

The 55-room mansion is now a public museum and national historical site, and if you spend any time watching movies, you've probably seen it; it's been the backdrop for such films as X-Men, Hollywoodland, Chicago and Billy Madison.

In honor of GM's 100th anniversary, it'll be holding a number of events throughout the year. The one I'm most looking forward to is the McLaughlin Buick Club's Homecoming on August 4, when it's expected that 200 vintage vehicles will drive up Oshawa's main street and into the grounds.

All the info on Parkwood can be found here.