This Bad Old Habit Could Wreck GM
&Nbsp; ) for only the second time since the 1990s. But payback time for the General came in April: A whopping 49% increase in car and crossover sales of its cars helped push GM to an overall 27% increase in sales versus year-ago numbers, enough to drop the Blue Oval (up a solid 16%) back down into second place for the month.Meanwhile, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, earthquake-ravaged Toyota ( ) managed a subdued 5.7% increase.
Clearly, the General led the pack in impressive style this month. But the real story isn't GM's strong sales numbers. It's how the company got them.
Is GM back to buying sales?
GM's gaudy April sales results come with an eyebrow-raising asterisk: GM's incentives spending once again led the pack, and not by a small margin . Edmunds estimated GM's April incentives spending at $3,016 per vehicle, down a bit from previous levels but well ahead of Ford, Toyota, and ... well, everybody else, even longtime big-spender Chrysler (now in a distant second place at $2,455).
Nearly all of the automakers have reduced incentives spending in recent months, most much more than GM, for a simple reason: For once, supply doesn't greatly exceed demand. Producing extra vehicles and foisting them on dealers in order to pad total production numbers is an old, old Detroit trick, one that led to ruinous structural problems. With supply constantly exceeding demand, the Detroit automakers had to rely on incentives -- those "cash back" and "zero percent financing" offers -- to move cars. That killed margins, which meant the automakers had to reduce their per-car costs, which in turn meant cheap-feeling interiors and peeling paint, and that meant new customers for Toyota and Honda.
That's far from the whole story of Detroit's decline, but it's an important part of it. Anyone who has talked with or listened to Ford CEO Alan Mulally knows that one of his regular refrains is his insistence on "matching production to demand." By regularly adjusting production volumes to keep inventories on the low side, Ford (and most other automakers) can get a higher price per car.
Edmunds estimates that Ford's per-vehicle incentives spending was down by 25% from year-ago levels in April, and Ford CFO Lewis Booth repeatedly emphasized the importance of "higher net pricing" when Ford reported its blowout first-quarter earnings. Yes, the biggest part of Ford's success is due to its fresh-across-the-board product line, but managing the production-versus-incentives game well has been a significant factor -- just as it has been for Toyota and Honda over the years.
Old Corvette Parts - News
One of our engineers spent most of his day on two outside interests: Starting his own company, and sourcing parts to restore an old Corvette. Other engineers got tired of carrying his weight and with a little help from an HR staffer who should have
On the day of the interview, Leslie stuffed the best of her compositions into a folder and set off in her ancient Corvette. She staked out a spot near the radio station and waited. An hour later, the doors swung open on a couple of stick figures in
If I had a decent, sporty sedan, (but not an extreme example such as a Corvette), the road was dry, and it wasn't night time, I don't think 100 to 110 mph on some of those 2+ mile straight-a-ways is unreasonable given today's cars, when I'm the only
that the seats in the Corvette -- a sore point, literally, for current Vette owners -- would be upgraded for 2012), and its most recent models are top-notch, but key parts of its lineup are still a step behind Ford and the best Japanese offerings.
It's possible to build one of these postwar Chevy trucks pretty much from scratch using modern reproduction parts, so we may see even more of them in the years ahead. Of course, replacement parts also exist to resurrect an old, worn truck to
Corvette Gas Door Emblem for 1984-1990 C4
Nothing looks worse on a new paint job then old, worn-out or faded Corvette emblems. But what happens when new emblems aren’t available? Back in the “good ole days” guys would paint their original emblems Chevrolet red, white and black… but in the mid 70’s the emblems changed and painting them was no longer an option, nor was it desired. After all, no real car guy wants to sit down with a finger nail brush to paint an emblem.
Thankfully new reproductions are available and one of the more recent GM licensed emblems to become available from Zip Corvette is the 1984-1990 C4 Corvette Gas/Fuel Door Emblem . Installation of the emblem is simple, it just attaches to the fuel door lid with self-adhesive tape and speed nuts on the bottom.
Old Corvette Parts - Bookshelf
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