All Entries in the "Auto News" Category

The UAW Will Forever Handicap Ford, GM, and Chrysler

Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) are not an homogeneous group. Most are conscientious, hard-working, and fine examples of everything that’s right with American manufacturing. This post will discuss unreasonable wage demands and video of UAW members drinking and smoking marijuana during their lunch hour, but it is in no way meant to slander the UAW’s hard-working majority. The issue isn’t the average autoworker – it’s the system that the UAW has created.

Jeep Is Building A Pickup – Probable Specs

PickupTrucks.com, FourWheeler.com, and Automotive News (sub.) are all reporting that Jeep is going to begin selling a pickup-truck version of the Jeep Wrangler in the next two years.

This truck may be loosely based on the 2005 Jeep Gladiator concept shown below.

Jeep's 2005 Gladiator concept vehicle may be the blueprint for Jeep's new pickup

Based on a conversation with a Jeep dealer who attended Tuesday’s unveiling, here’s what we’re predicting the new Jeep’s specs will be:

Mahindra Pik Up Still “In The Mail”

People always seem to believe the old “it’s in the mail” excuse, or at least give someone the benefit of the doubt. Since October 2008, Mahindra has been promising that their long-awaited baby diesel pickup is “in the mail,” but here we are in September 2010 and we’re no closer to a Mahindra now than we were then.

Since 2008, Mahindra has been promising the U.S.A. a "Pik Up" powered by a small diesel. Image copyright Viva Chile.

Of course, we’re willing to give Mahindra a break on this delay because:

• U.S. environmental and safety regulations can be challenging, especially for a first-time US auto importer
• The economy and consumer demand for pickups ground to a halt for most of the last 2 years, which made launching a new product a little challenging
• Mahindra told us these delays were needed to improve quality
• Deep down, we’re all a little excited about a small diesel truck with a 2500 lbs payload rating that gets 30 mpg highway

If Mahindra’s truck can be successful, other automakers might just re-visit their plans for diesel half-ton, raising the chance that we might see a diesel Tundra someday. However, before anyone gets all warm and fuzzy about the prospect of a cool little Mahindra pickup, they should read this story about Mahindra dismissing their existing U.S. business partner. Here’s the short version, plus some other important facts:

UAW Recruits Toyota’s Georgetown Workers In Odd Ways

Earlier this week, a Toyota factory worker from Kentucky contacted us to share a link to NoUAW.com. According to this website’s about page it was created by some current employees at Toyota’s plant in Georgetown, Kentucky (known as TMMK in Toyota circles) who aren’t too happy with UAW efforts to unionize their plant.

TMMK currently builds the Camry, Avalon, and Venza

Operating since 1986, TMMK is one of Toyota’s oldest US facilities, as well as Toyota’s largest plant outside Japan. TMMK employs about 6,500 workers and builds 500,000 vehicles each year. Mostly, these vehicles are Camrys, but TMMK also builds the Avalon and the Venza. Arguably, TMMK is Toyota’s most important plant in the United States…which is one of the reasons the UAW has tried to take over the plant for the last 20+ years.

Why Do Mid-Term Elections Impact GM’s IPO?

There are a lot of strong opinions about the auto industry bailout, pro and con. Like a lot of complicated issues, arguments from both sides have merit. However, it’s not as if the decision to bailout GM and Chrysler is recent. We all know it happened, we all have our opinions, and that ought to be the end of it.

But it’s not.

GM, it seems, is delaying their IPO until after the Nov. 2nd mid-term elections. What in the world do elections have to do with GM’s IPO?