Oracle of Delphi

Don't you need brakes and wheels for you olive carts?

Stephen Downer Automotive News September 14, 2007 - 3:01 pm EST MEXICO CITY — It may take until Tuesday, Sept. 18, for six auto assembly plants in Mexico to resume production. The plants suspended operations as a result of bomb attacks Monday, Sept. 10, on energy pipelines in southern Mexico. Natural gas supplies should resume gradually between Sunday night, Sept. 16, and early Monday. Martha Avelar, a spokeswoman for Mexican energy monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, told Automotive News today. Normal supplies probably will be restored by midday or late afternoon Tuesday, she added. If service is restored Monday, it would likely take until Tuesday’s first shift for automakers to resume production. “The matter of the explosions of Pemex (pipelines) has really kept us all busy and worried,” Cesar Flores, president of the Mexican Automotive Industry Association, told Automotive News today in an e-mail. Plants with suspended operations are: * Volkswagen’s Puebla plant, which makes Jettas, New Beetles and Jetta/Bora/Golf variant cars. * Chrysler’s Toluca plant, which makes PT Cruiser cars. * General Motors’ Toluca plant, which makes Chevrolet C-series and Silverado and GMC Sierra heavy-duty trucks. * GM’s Silao plant, which makes Chevrolet Suburban and Avalanche SUVs, Silverado pickups, GMC Sierra pickups and Yukon SUVs and Cadillac Escalade EXT SUVs. * Ford Motor Co.’s Cuautitlan plant, which makes F-series trucks and Fiesta Ikon sedans. * Honda Motor Co.’s El Salto Jalisco plant, which is converting production from Accord sedans to CR-V crossovers. It also is a major exporter of bumpers for Honda vehicles made in the United States and Canada. About 200 suppliers in Mexico, including Delphi Corp. and Visteon Corp., also have shut down because of the lack of natural gas or because customers told them to stop delivering parts. Angel Antonio Sanchez, public relations manager for GM in Mexico, said this week that GM had inventories to satisfy demand. But if the natural gas service is not restored by Wednesday, Sept. 19, “the situation could become serious,” he added. A leftist rebel group, the People’s Revolutionary Army, said it set the explosives to try to force the federal government to release two of its members, allegedly detained by government agents. The government denied all knowledge of the two men.

Donna Harris Automotive News September 10, 2007 - 12:01 am EST General Motors says it is tossing the results of some recent customer satisfaction surveys because dealers tampered with the responses. That decision could cost offending dealerships big factory bonuses. GM surveys customers who buy new vehicles or submit factory warranty claims about their satisfaction with the dealership's performance. Dealerships that get high scores on those surveys and meet sales targets are eligible for quarterly cash incentives that can reach six figures. The satisfaction surveys are sent to customers' homes to discourage dealer influence. Customers respond by mail or online. But an unsigned bulletin that GM sent dealers Aug. 14 says "certain online responses are being received from some dealerships." GM says it is making "appropriate adjustments" to third-quarter survey scores "to reflect interference." GM spokeswoman Susan Garontakos told Automotive News the interference "was not widespread." She would not say how many dealerships or surveys are involved. Some GM dealers say survey tampering occurs because of the high stakes. Under GM's Standards for Excellence program, they note, a dealership can lose its entire quarterly bonus if it falls a fraction of a percentage point below its prescribed score. Bonus round GM dealerships that meet factory targets for sales and customer satisfaction qualify for quarterly bonuses. Here are potential bonuses for several sizes of Chevrolet dealerships. Annual new-vehicle retail sales Maximum bonus 5,200 or more - $420,000 2,900-3,299 - $231,000 1,200-1,399 - $100,500 700-799 - $60,000 1-99 - $13,000 Source: 2007 GM Standards for Excellence National Automobile Dealers Association Chairman Dale Willey says he agrees that "it's best to let customers respond on their own" to satisfaction surveys. "But we all know what can happen when monetary incentives are involved," says Willey, who owns a Buick-Pontiac-GMC-Cadillac dealership in Lawrence, Kan. Standards for Excellence dealership bonuses range from $13,000 to $420,000 every three months, according to GM's program manual for Chevrolet dealers. If a dealer remodels his or her store this year to meet GM's "facility image" standards, GM doubles the bonus. If the dealer builds a store, the bonus can triple. A large-volume Chevrolet dealer who asked not to be named says he earns $201,000 each quarter in bonuses. "If the dealer down the street doesn't make the targets, I have a $700-a-car advantage over him," the dealer says. "You think that's not important? It's all or nothing." A Florida GM dealer who asked not to be named complains that a large competitor is making six-figure quarterly bonuses he can't achieve because of his lower sales volume. The dealer says he recently hired several of the competitor's employees, who told him the rival bribed customers to boost satisfaction survey scores. "They told customers, 'If you bring in the survey, we will fill it in, and we will give you a free tank of gas,'" the dealer says. "Customers go for it." Some dealers concede they have refused to sell vehicles to customers they thought might give the dealership a poor score and jeopardize their bonuses. Hands off GM's bulletin warns dealers against trying to influence satisfaction survey responses by helping customers fill out the survey, discouraging responses, sending surveys from the dealership or bribing customers. GM's Garontakos says that in "isolated cases" of survey tampering, GM immediately "takes action and goes to the dealership." That action could include a dealership audit, she says. Garontakos would not say how many dealerships GM has audited, or whether the automaker took back any quarterly bonuses. Some dealers say GM does not do enough to prevent tampering. One dealer says GM trainers advise dealership employees to tell customers their performance is judged by survey scores. Dealers also complain that the factory surveys are too long and confusing. The Chevrolet sales survey asks customers to rate dealerships in 27 areas. Responses range from "completely satisfied" to "not at all satisfied." Few customers are ever fully satisfied, dealers say, making it tough to achieve a "top-box" score. Some dealers predict tampering will continue as long as GM ties cash rewards to high survey scores. But NADA's Willey says customer satisfaction is not only a matter of earning a factory bonus. "If I can't satisfy customers, I can't stay in business," he says. "GM doesn't have to incentivize me to do that."

Well at least the Hondas are trying to kill each other off!

So where are we with this? Depending when I get back to NA, I will have to come see it. But I insist on a private showing (just you me and my admin), after all I will be a higher ranking official by then, so sayth those that know. :AH-HA_wink:

Well it's good that I won't be in NA then. :AH-HA_wink: Der Börger does not fancy winter!

It also is almost 10 years old!

Quietly, and without fanfare, a trend started in the automotive industry – the elimination of spare tires. It is not a new trend – cars without standard spare tires have existed for some years now, but until now they were exotic sports cars, or high-end luxury cars. Unfortunately, that is about to change with this trend going mainstream. Up to this point the most extreme case of the lack-of-a-tire syndrome were the GM roadster twins – they did not even offer a spare as an option – the trunk on both cars is simply is not big enough. The GM twins, however just followed the trend in many luxury models that either came with run-flat tires or “tire inflation kit” (read: bottle of fix-a-flat). After all, will Mr. Millionaire in a Porsche and $5,000 suit get dirty and sweaty replacing a tire, or will he just call AAA and have the car towed to a shop where someone in overalls will do it for him? This fall, however, two new vehicles will bring this trend mainstream – a spare tire will be a $60 option on the 2008 Ford Focus, and a $250 option on the 2008 CTS. If these two models cannot make this trend truly mainstream, Saturn has its back – Saturn retailers were recently told that all 2008 and 2009 model years will gradually have their spares eliminated and replaced with inflation kits. I am perfectly positive that many other automakers will follow suit shortly. Why would they do this, you ask? Simple: the spare tire and jack are bulky, heavy and very rarely used these days. The space and weight savings can be put into good use towards better fuel economy, and bigger trunks. The rarity of someone actually using a spare tire makes elimination of this packaging nuisance that much easier. Moreover, getting back on the road with an inflation kit is significantly easier than changing your tire – you pull out the can, connect it to the valve and spray its contents inside the tire. The chemical in the can will seal the hole and inflate the tire putting you back on the road in no time. If we are to analyze the demise of the spare tire, we need to point out its true origin: the invention of the “temporary spare.” The ubiquitous doughnut single-handedly rendered the spare tire useless. With a full-size, full-use spare, a flat-tire was a minor annoyance: you pulled over, changed the tire and went on as if nothing happened regardless whether you have 2 miles left to your destination or 500. With a doughnut, you had to truly interrupt your trip, and slowly find the nearest tire shop to fix the “real tire.” All of sudden, simply calling AAA or the insurance company and having the car towed to the aforementioned tire shop became much more attractive – and spare tire truly became a last resort, emergency feature. The elimination of the doughnut is just a next logical step in this downward spiral. The only downside of this final step is the potential failure of the sealant – if the rupture is big enough or in the sidewall, your fix-a-flat is all but useless. This will not be an issue in most cases – towing will be the #1 option in vast majority of cases – however in the extreme cases of bad luck, remote location, lack of cell phone signal, or late hour, the elimination of the doughnut might leave some motorists stranded. I am not certain whether I would trust to own a car without a spare – doughnut or not; I just like having the last-resort option. I am thus also uncertain whether I can objectively evaluate the reasoning we are given by the automakers; it all sounds sensible, but it leaves me a little uneasy. Unless this trend stops, or my attitude changes, I might just be left with no option, but to buy a Volkswagen – one of the last automakers to still stubbornly offer full-size spare tires standard on all models. Link: http://www.autosavant.net/2007/09/spare-tire-is-history.html

That's good to know. I need to visit the Wentzville, MO assembly plant one day this week before I take off for Europe.

Oh my, we agree. That's nice! :AH-HA_wink:

Catholic grade school and high school, as far as universities you know that story!

Wow, the chickens are coming home to roost!

Friend

First signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s! :AH-HA_wink:

Dead

My wife says I write Catholic, whatever the hell that means?

Tall doesn't mean strong plowboy (<----Hmmmm, Oh the images of plowboy dancing through my head ), perhaps when you see my pipes, you will change ur mind! I look forward to our meeting some day. :AH-HA_wink:

I'm not afraid, I put the Man in Manly and the Fun in Funeral! Take that for what's it's worth!

Dover-Delaware

Hmmm, from reviewing your post, I bet you would like to rent my house while I'm gone. I'm only 15 minutes from Camino!

I'm with Camino on this.

Enemy? Me? As close as we are, we are almost neighbors! Remember no matter what I decide I work for the greater good!

On this we agree, see we have common ground to build off of!

Not whore, Post whore!

Oh Fu*k!