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8 GM Makes: 1 Or 2 Too Numerous?

Lots of folks are speculating about GM’s future. In case you take all of the press reports at heart, you would imagine that General Motors is on existence support. Very frankly, the opposite is accurate particularly once you seem with the global picture. In 2005, “the General” sold more than 9 million vehicles worldwide, the [...]

BMW Says No WayTo The Electric Mini

BMW HAS DECIDED not to proceed with plans for the electric version of their Mini. Despite a clamour by car manufacturers to produce electric cars – Nissan will launch its first electric car in Ireland later this year and companies such as Mitsubishi and General Motors are well advanced with launch plans on the European [...]

Commentary: Obama Declaring ‘Mission Accomplished’ in Detroit?

By Bill Visnic
President Obama didn't come to Detroit last week to drive a 2011 Chevrolet Volt off the assembly line at General Motors Co.'s Hamtramck plant; he came to tacitly declare a success of the federal bailouts of GM and Chrysl…

GM plans ‘green’ air-conditioning refrigerant for selected 2013 models

General Motors Co. plans a new greenhouse gas-friendly air-conditioning refrigerant for 2013 Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac models.

GM’s Hybrid Secrets Stolen, Pitched for Sale to Chinese Competitor

By Michelle Krebs

This story has all the makings of a Robert Ludlum spy novel.

On Thursday, the U.S. government arrested a Troy, Mich., couple on charges of conspiring to steal General Motors' hybrid technology secrets and attempting to sell them to Chinese automaker Chery, a GM competitor in China.

GM’s Management of AmeriCredit Offers Chance to Show a “New GM”

By Doron Levin

If the new General Motors truly is a different company, it can ratify that claim by shrewdly managing AmeriCredit, a Texas-based subprime lender it's buying for $3.5 billion. More broadly, GM has to learn once again how to profit from automotive finance while remembering that its main business is car-making.

The old GM's management of its GMAC lending subsidiary was dreadful. In the bad old days, GMAC financing became the tail that wagged the dog, providing incentivized leases, cash rebates and 0 percent financing as catnip to shoppers unimpressed with GM's vehicles. Old GM morphed into an automaker that sold deals, not cars.

OnStar Gets Smart (Phone)

General Motors is bringing OnStar to smartphones with apps that will let drivers do things like lock their doors, turn on their A/C or even start their cars from miles away.
And why would you want to do that?
Well, imagine you’re about to catch a flight and can’t remember whether you locked the door of your [...]

GM Gambit on Below-Prime Lending is Low-Risk

By Bill Visnic

General Motors Co.'s plan to purchase Fort Worth, TX-based auto-financing company AmeriCredit Corp. is firing speculation about GM's judgment in purchasing a finance operation that focuses on lending to those with less-than-perfect credit, but the numbers show GM's decision to hold little actual risk.

Although AmeriCredit's focus is on financing auto buyers with below-prime credit, financing buyers in that segment – and those with even lower credit scores – does not necessarily bring outsized risk. According to data from credit-information company Experian Automotive, the industry repossession rate was well less than 1 percent in the first quarter this year. And in the month of April, just 1.9 percent of all auto loans were in default.