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It has been two years since General Motors admitted that there was little demand for the Chevy Volt (as reported here)due to there being "no plug-in market." Their answer was to "create market" to drive sales for the politically popular but economically-nonviable Volt. GM manipulated sales for the Volt through the use of subsidized leases at a time when President Obama's favorite, green wonder-car was being criticized for low sales as it failed to live up to the early hype. GM was able to use taxpayer money in the form of electric vehicle tax credits to help drive down...

An explosion at a factory in China has killed at least 65 people, according to Chinese state media. Another 150 people were injured in the blast on Saturday morning in Kunshan, a city in the eastern province of Jiangsu near Shanghai. Workers in the factory were producing parts for cars for US companies including General Motors, state media said. "We heard the explosion and we were all shocked," a security guard from a nearby factory told Agence France-Presse. He said the blast happened as workers were changing shifts, resulting in higher casualties. Forty people died at the scene, and more...

General Motors said Thursday that its second-quarter earnings fell 85 percent, as recall costs chopped $1.5 billion from the bottom line.

General Motors reported earnings today for the 2nd quarter of 2014. The early prognosis is not good with share price falling after the report. While it is difficult for the Mom and Pop investor to sort through GM's myriad of one-time charges, special items and various smoke and mirrors, there are some key take-aways that give a glimpse of GM's financial health. Primarily, debt continues to grow at the company, now exceeding $40 billion while earnings are propped up by special items. Analyzing the levels of cash compared to debt at GM is probably the easiest way to get to...

General Motors Co (GM.N) on Wednesday announced six recalls covering 717,950 vehicles in the United States for varying reasons. None of the recalls were related to the ignition switch issues that have caused nearly 15 million recalls of GM vehicles worldwide this year. The new set of recalls brings GM's recalls worldwide this year to nearly 30 million. The largest recall is for a potentially loose bolt in power adjustable front seats for several cars from model years 2010 and 2012.

The Chevrolet Volt isn't changing much for the 2015 model year. According to specifications uncovered by Inside EVs, though, the new Volt's battery does have a slightly larger capacity. According to the spec sheet, this doesn't translate to increased range. Real world driving, though, might tell a different story. The 2015 Volt's battery storage is slightly higher than the outgoing model's, up from 16.5 kilowatt-hours to 17.1 kWh. According to GM's manager of electrification technology communications, Kevin Kelly, speaking to Green Car Reports, the increased capacity is "a late change done in the cell... just another continuous improvement to surprise...

Sales of the Chevy Volt in the US have been fairly stable for the last few months (between a low of 1,478 and a high of 1,777 since March), but in Europe, the Opel Ampera (sister-vehicle of the Volt) has been trending downwards. The sales decline is prompting discussion that the vehicle will be killed off in Europe, according to Automotive News Europe. The car was a relative hit back in 2012, when it was named the European Car Of The Year and sales topped 5,200 units. Compared to 2012 numbers, which were good, Ampera sales dropped 40 percent to...

The pensions of retired salaried workers at Delphi have been in limbo since they were assumed by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation. This week, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and three more Democratic lawmakers from Ohio sent a letter to Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, urging him to intervene on behalf of Delphi retirees. “The 20,000 members of the salaried plan have been waiting for almost five years for a final benefit determination from the PBGC. Recent comments from the PBGC have suggested that the agency has yet to take basic initial steps towards making such a determination,” wrote the Ohio...

WASHINGTON — Only three months ago, Mary T. Barra arrived for the first time on Capitol Hill to apologize — publicly, profusely and personally — for General Motors’ long failure to recall millions of small cars. On Thursday, Ms. Barra returned to Washington again, and this time, she drew the line. As senator after senator offered more bruising criticism of G.M., Ms. Barra, G.M.'s chief, signaled that there were limits to what the automaker would do. G.M., she said, will not expand its compensation program for victims. The company will not waive its protection from lawsuits gained in bankruptcy reorganization....

General Motors Co last month recalled millions of vehicles with three different designs of ignition switches that could accidentally turn off the engine and disable air bags in a crash. But the automaker has concluded that more than 2 million other vehicles having exactly the same switches are safe. The vehicles which have not been recalled include fullsize crossovers such as the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse made from 2007 to the present, which share a switch with recalled late-model Chevrolet Camaros and Cadillac CTSs. Two other switch designs are in other sets of vehicles. GM spokesman Alan Adler said...

The times, they are a-changin’. Our friends at The People’s Cube show us just how much:

(Reuters) - Federal prosecutors are developing a criminal fraud case hinged on whether General Motors made misleading statements about a deadly ignition switch flaw, and are examining activity dating back a decade, before GM's 2009 bankruptcy, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. At the same time, at least a dozen states are investigating the automaker. Two state officials said that effort is likely to focus on whether GM broke consumer protection laws. Both federal and state investigations into the switch, which is linked to at least 13 deaths and 54 crashes, are at early stages, and it is...

What the hell is going on over at General Motors? First the manufacturer announced on February 7th that a defect relating to 619,122 cars was identified, but that figure hiked to 25.7 million vehicles to date. As if that wasn't enough of a handful, the carmaker gets utterly ridiculous because of 542 redesigned ignition switches recalled in view of a faulty tab. According to an official statement, those 542 badly designed replacement ignition switch kits will be brought back to the Delphi Automotive plant in Mexico, disposed of and replaced with better built ones. Furthermore, this botchy mess "convinced" Delphi...

Subaru last week announced a second recall for vehicles which are prone to brake line corrosion in "salt belt" states. This latest recall follows a 2013 recall for the same issue, which can cause brake failure from burst brake lines due to rust. As Subaru does the right thing by consumers and motorists regarding the safety concern, General Motors continues to claim that brake line rust is a normal maintenance issue and refuses to recall its vehicles with the same problem. The Subaru recall weakens GM's defense that rusting brake lines do not need to be addressed by manufacturers...

Manchester United, along with several English Premier League teams, unveiled its uniform for the 2014-15 season. It's your typical Man U look, with a Nike swoosh and crest on the front. There is something slightly different. Ah yes, a bit of white in the collar. That's it. Oh and a giant Chevrolet logo. That's also new.

General Motors continues to deny that there is a problem with rusting brake lines on its vehicles, as noted here yesterday. GM's new Vice President of Global Safety, Jeffrey Boyer, claims that brake line rust "is a maintenance issue that affects the entire automotive industry." However, a search of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) website shows that GM vehicles have about ten times the complaints for brake lines than Ford, Toyota and Honda combined! NHTSA has a tool to allow searches for complaints by keyword. While there is an ongoing NHTSA investigation on model year 1999 to 2003...

 *Actual Results May VaryEven as bumper sticker slogans go, it was a bit dubious from the start. Now it looks like it was actually the other way around.The claim seemed bogus from the moment the angry mob in Cairo chanted “Obama! Obama! There are still a billion Osamas!” right up through this month’s resurgence of al Qaeda in Iraq.And as far as GM goes, it appears that rumors of its survival may have been exaggerated as well. Despite life support efforts that included the removal of crushing debt from its books and infusions of billions in special future tax breaks,...

One could say things about what is now without doubt the biggest company joke in the history of the US - maybe global - automotive sector, putting even East Germany's infamous Trabant to shame. Things like following the just announced latest recall of another 7.6 million cars across models from 1997 to 2014, and another 800K+ cars thrown in just because, GM has recalled more cars in the first 6 months of 2014 than it has sold in all of 2011, 2012 and 2013. Which incidentally would be true as the chart below shows.

...The decision on how much to pay claimants is being made by compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg. GM says the faulty switches are responsible for at least 54 crashes and more than 13 deaths.....

Detroit: General Motors Co., which has recalled about 20 million cars and trucks in North America this year, added 428,111 more US vehicles to that tally, including its redesigned full-sized pickups and large sport-utility vehicles. GM said it needs to recalibrate software that controls the gears to fix the four-wheel drive on 392,459 pickups and SUVs, including the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups from 2014 and 2015 model years and the 2015 Chevy Tahoe and Suburban. The effected models can switch into neutral on their own, the automaker said on Friday in an e-mailed statement. If this occurs while...