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Union auto workers voted, by a large majority, to authorize strikes while the United Auto Workers (UAW) union negotiates contracts with General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Fiat Chrysler. UAW members voted about 96 percent to allow union workers to strike while UAW leaders negotiate contracts with GM, Ford, and Chrysler — a vote that merely authorizes strikes and does not indicate that strikes will be held. UAW President Gary Jones said in a statement:

As their company was swirling around the financial drain in the early 2000s, General Motors executives came up with an idea to counter its gas-guzzling image and point the way to transportation of the future: an electric car with a gas-engine backup that could travel anywhere. […] … On Tuesday, the last (Chevrolet) Volt was built with little ceremony at a Detroit factory that’s now slated to close. Sales averaged less than 20,000 per year, not enough to sustain the costly undertaking. The Volt wasn’t the first electric car, but it was the first to conquer anxiety over range at...

General Motors Co on Monday pulled the plug on the Chevrolet Volt hybrid and the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant that builds it, both examples of a costly gamble that is not paying off. GM’s widely touted factory of the future, forced on a town desperate for jobs and hailed decades later by former resident Barack Obama, is set to wind down over the next few years, leaving beleaguered Hamtramck wondering what happened. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said at a news conference Monday that he told GM chief executive Mary Barra Monday that “we moved thousands of people out of that neighborhood...

The Detroit-based company's proposal, modeled after a California program the Trump administration is seeking to undermine, would mandate that manufacturers garner an escalating percentage of total vehicle sales from automobiles powered by electricity or hydrogen fuel cells.

FRANKFURT - European car bosses are beginning to address the realities of mass vehicle electrification, and its consequences for jobs and profit, their minds focused by government pledges to outlaw the combustion engine. As the latest such announcement on Monday by China added momentum to a push for zero-emissions motoring, Daimler, Volkswagen and PSA Group gave details about their electric programs that could give policymakers some pause. Planned electric Mercedes models will initially be just half as profitable as conventional alternatives, Daimler warned - forcing the group to find savings by outsourcing more component manufacturing, which may in turn threaten...

General Motors Co. says it plans to launch 10 electric and gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles in China by 2020 amid government pressure on the industry to promote alternatives to gasoline. The president of GM’s China unit, Matt Tsien, said Friday during the Shanghai auto show that the company will start production of a pure-electric model in China within two years. …

This news broke overnight and it undoubtedly comes as a shock to anyone who hasn’t been paying to socialism in general and the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in particular. The government of Venezuela came in and seized control of the General Motors plant in the city of Valencia, taking over the property, assets and accounts. The automotive giant responded by saying that they were immediately halting operations. (CNN) General Motors says it will immediately halt operations in Venezuela after its plant in the country was unexpectedly seized by authorities.GM (GM) described the takeover as an “illegal judicial...

For the first time in the era of the modern automobile, the most valuable U.S. car maker is not based in Detroit. Silicon Valley's Tesla (TSLA, +3.26%) overtook General Motors (GM, +0.77%) on Monday to become the U.S. car maker with the largest market capitalization as the century-old automobile industry increases its reliance on software and cutting-edge energy technology. That milestone is likely to be on the minds of Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk and GM Chief Executive Mary Barra as they and other CEOs visit the White House on Tuesday to discuss tax reform and infrastructure with President Donald...

In February 2012, then-President Barack Obama promised he’d buy a Chevrolet Volt in five years when he’s out of office and that time is now. Inquiries to Obama’s representatives so far have gone unanswered whether arrangements to acquire the now-second generation extended-range EV are being made. And, the statement he made to 1,600 United Auto Workers in Detroit seemed sincere enough. “Five years from now when I’m not president anymore, I’ll buy one and drive it myself,” said Obama after saying the secret service allowed him to sit in it, but not take it anywhere for obvious reasons. “Yes, that’s...

France’s PSA Group, maker of Peugeot and Citroën cars, says it’s exploring a “potential acquisition” of Opel, the money-losing European business of General Motors Co. […] GM has endured years of losses at Opel, its main brand in Europe. It had hoped to reach break-even by now, but last year posted a loss of $257 million for the year. …

General Motors Canada is cutting 625 jobs at its assembly plant near London, Ontario, and moving those jobs to Mexico, where labor is cheaper, GM Canada’s union spokesman said Friday. Unifor Local 88 spokesman Mike Van Boekel said the layoffs will take effect in July at the CAMI Assembly plant in Ingersoll, which currently employs 2,800 Unifor workers. Unifor’s national president, Jerry Dias, said the decision “reeks of corporate greed” and is a clear sign that the North American Free Trade Agreement must be renegotiated. U.S. President Trump has told Mexico and Canada he wants to renegotiate NAFTA, or perhaps...

General Motors has no plans to change where it produces small cars because of criticism from President-elect Donald Trump, the company’s top executive said Sunday night. CEO Mary Barra said the auto business has long lead times for where it produces vehicles, with decisions are made two to four years ahead. Last week Trump threatened on Twitter to slap a border tax on GM for importing the compact Chevrolet Cruze to the U.S. from Mexico. …

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General Motors was under fire this weekend after a casting call for Cadillac sought members of the controversial alt-right movement. According to an image of the casting call posted by the news agency Reuters and many, many others, the notice said an agency filming the ad was looking for "any and all real alt-right thinkers/believers." "This is a beautifully artistic spot that is capturing all walks of life of America," the casting call says, adding that it would be filmed later this month. "Standing together as a union. This is not meant to be offensive in anyway. Just a representation...

Built in China, sold in the U.S.: It's a first for GM and any U.S. automaker. GM said it will sell the Chinese-built Buick Envision, a crossover SUV, in the U.S. market starting next year. The UAW attacked the plan, saying it was "a slap in the face." It said GM should reconsider its plans and instead build a version for the U.S. market at a U.S. plant. "The men and women of GM and the American taxpayers who invested so much in GM's future deserve better," said the union. GM agreed in its latest labor deal to invest $8.3...

The HVA takes a look at the story of the first Chevrolet Camaro built visiting with its stewards and marque historians. The first Camaro built is being recognized as No. 15 on the HVA National Historic Vehicle Register program in partnership with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) to be archived in Library of Congress.

When Donald Trump threatened to “break” the North American Free Trade Agreement, auto industry workers offered up some of the loudest cheers. Mr. Trump easily won the Republican primary in Michigan this month. The state, home base for the American auto industry, also delivered an upset victory to Bernie Sanders, the Democratic anti-NAFTA standard-bearer. But the autoworkers’ animosity is aiming at the wrong target. There are still more than 800,000 jobs in the American auto sector. And there is a good case to be made that without NAFTA, there might not be much left of Detroit at all. “Without the...

Chevy's 102 Volt sales may have led the Canadian plug-in electric vehicle market in February, and bring its national total to 5,611 units. Up slightly from January's 94 sales, this was also the plug-in hybrid Volt's best-ever February in Canada, easily surpassing the 38 sold a year ago. With the refreshed Volt and a deeper field of battery-electric vehicle competitors, there's a risk the company could face its first year-over-year sales decline this year - though with only two months gone, it may be far too early to predict doom and gloom for the world's most popular electric car.

Production of the 2017 Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid began earlier this year, and the first vehicles will be arriving at Chevy dealerships nationwide shortly, with as much as a $1,000 incentive to help juice sales, reports Cars Direct. Pricing for the 2017 Chevy Volt starts at $34,095, including destination, but does not account for the $7,500 federal tax rebate or any state or local incentives. The $1,000 incentive from GM is available to buyers in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The all-new 2016 Chevy Volt debuted last year with...

If you're an automaker, especially one from Detroit, conditions probably aren't going to be better for you to make a lot of cash. For General Motors, that's what happened last year as the company posted a record $9.7 billion net profit. [...] Yet even with the earnings, GM gets no respect from the stock market. Its shares were down 3.5 percent at midday Wednesday to $28.61. Investors haven't been kind to auto stocks for years. GM shares are down more than 15 percent in the past year, and are more than $4 below the company's initial public offering price of...