Archive for December 4th, 2008

UAW says Detroit won’t have to pay for non-working workers … that’s big of them.

December 4, 2008

Excerpted from WSJ, “UAW Gives Concessions to Big Three” Dec. 4, 2008

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The United Auto Workers union Wednesday offered two major concessions to the Big Three auto makers

Two weeks after insisting his union had already done enough to help the car makers, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the union would allow the companies to delay billions of dollars in payments into funds that will cover health-care costs for retired workers. The union also will suspend a “jobs bank” program under which workers continue to collect most of their wages after they are laid off.

Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122832097499675993.html?mod=testMod

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Ken’s Take: Earlier this week, we noted: “under the UAW “job bank” program, over 12,000 laid-off workers get nearly full-pay to play cards or do crossword puzzles in a congregating hall.  That program costs the Detroit 3 over $1.5 billion annually — about over $600 per car sold.

The Detroit 3’s  total labor cost disadvantage (vs. ‘transplant’ carmakers in the South) is more than $1,500 per car.  UGH !”

Coincidence, or is the UAW monitoring The Homa Files?

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Ken’s Take #2: Next step, the 12,000 laid off workers who won’t be getting paid any more will stop making their mortgage payments and the 57% of Americans who pay income taxes will end up buying  their houses for them.  The vicious cycle never ends, does it ?

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Detroit's fuzzy strategy reflected in its brands …

December 4, 2008

Excerpted from AdAge, “If GM Has a Brand, It’s General Misery” by Al Ries, December 02, 2008

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Of the 100 most valuable brands in the world, according to Interbrand, 52 are owned by U.S. companies. And how many of the 52 are U.S. automobile brands? Just one: Ford. None of GM’s eight automobile brands made the list…however, 10 automobile brands from outside the U.S…

Part of the fundamental nature of Detroit’s Japanese competition is its ability to build brands. Toyota stands for reliability, Scion for youth, Prius for hybrid, Lexus for luxury.

But what does Saturn stand for? Or Chevrolet? Or Pontiac? Or Buick? Or Cadillac?…

The conventional wisdom is that General Motors has too many (eight).

Over the years, Gillette, has marketed seven different brands…Gillette has an astounding 71% of the world’s wet-shaving market, in part due to its multiple brands.

The difference between Gillette and GM is that each of the seven Gillette brands stands for something specific and each of the eight GM brands does not… 

To build a brand, you generally need to “contract” the brand.  Instead,  GM has introduced expensive Saturns and cheap Cadillacs.

GM’s brands themselves are practically worthless.. 

Edit by SAC

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To make matters worse GM’s plan to Congress slash its marketing spending by $600 million by 2012.  The bright side of this significant reduction in advertising and promotions is that GM will focus its efforts on Chevy, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC, which according to its restructuring plan, account for 83% of its business.  While the tighter budget may prompt focused efforts it does not guarantee improved branding.  GM will need both to compete.

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Full Article:
http://adage.com/columns/article?article_id=132938

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