Why GM Failed In India
CNBC:
Over the last 20 years, the
Indian automotive market has grown from
about 500,000 new passenger cars,
hatchbacks, sedans and utilities to
about 3.5
million in 2018.
The market has an expected compound annual
growth rate of about 5 to
6 percent over the next 10 years.
But, some automakers have struggled
to make it work.
Among them is General
Motors, the largest U.S.
car company. GM stopped selling cars in
India in 2017 after years of
declining market share.
It's a striking move for GM, which
in recent years has also closed
shop in other regions around the
world, as leadership focuses on
maximizing profits and making investments
in new technologies such as
electric power trains
and mobility services.
With a population of more than
1 billion people, India is becoming
one of the world's
largest automotive markets.
The country is poised to surpass
Japan as the world's third biggest
new car market in 2021.
So while there is ample
opportunity for automakers, the Indian
landscape has been particularly difficult
to navigate, especially for
American firms. GM watched its share
of the Indian market erode
steadily over several years, bottoming out
at about one percent in
2016 just before the
automaker pulled out.
So if the Indian market is
growing, why did GM struggle, especially
when GM has been
so successful in China?
To be fair, quite a few automakers
tend to have difficulty in the
Indian market. First of all, India
is a massive country with a
diverse population of roughly 1.3
billion people.
India, I think, we are
definitely a complex market.
The income levels
are quite heterogeneous.
We are divided, actually into
urban India and rural India.
The consumer requirements are actually
different even the needs are
different in both these markets.
There are a few criteria a
mass market automaker ought to meet.
They are fuel efficiency, resale
value, proximity of service stations
and the affordability of parts
and low servicing costs.
I think first thing is price.
We are a country with a
very low per capita income.
Indians are very price sensitive.
But price is not the only factor.
So now the customer also needs
some more value, for example, with
styling elements. And then, I think,
the consumer also wants a global
brand. They want a
brand which is aspirational.
The consumer wants an overall combination of
all P's, you know it may
be product, it may be
price, it may be positioning.
Which makes the things
quite complicated for OEMs.
These might seem pretty attainable,
but many automakers have
struggled to meet these
in the country.
There are a couple of companies who
have managed to crack that code
and there are several more with shares
of the market ranging in size
from small to smaller.
By far, the most successful automaker
in India is the Japanese firm
Suzuki, which alone owns
half the Indian market.
Suzuki has enjoyed something of
a first mover advantage.
It was the first major automaker to
enter India, and it did so
through a joint venture
with Indian manufacturer Maruti.
Suzuki also specializes in highly
fuel efficient vehicles, which are
extremely important in
the Indian market.
After Suzuki, Korean maker Hyundai is
the second largest with 16
percent of the Indian market.
After that, Indian, Japanese and Korean
makers such as Honda, Tata,
Kia and Mahindra all more or less
have equal degrees of market share.
Kia in particular, is a relatively
late coming brand that has been
able to succeed in India.
I think an excellent example is
Kia Motors which recently entered, it
was a new brand and
they gave a great proposition.
They were in an SUV segment and
I think suddenly right from the month
one, we saw a great success
for this OEM, in India.
Then the remaining 10 percent of the
market is made up of others such
as Ford, Renault, BMW and Nissan.
Early on, GM entered the India market
with its Opel brand, a mass
market brand GM had
owned in Europe.
While Opel cars tended to be
affordable, they failed to resonate with
Indian buyers.
I think later on they realized that's
not a brand which is really
going to work well in India because
that was not a value proposition
which they were offering
to their customers.
But then GM introduced its Chevrolet
brand to the country, which
brought it more success.
It was a great success.
They launched a few great
products like Chevrolet Cruze Chevrolet
Beat. They had that start which
they were really looking forward.
Despite these efforts, the automaker had
trouble taking share in the
Indian market. It was the first
automaker to introduce a diesel fuel
powered car of its size.
At the time, the Chevrolet beat
was the smallest diesel powered car
customers could buy in India.
It was a strong proposition and
benefited from a government subsidy
on diesel engines.
But in the end, the
diesel Beat had few takers.
The company may also have made a
misstep by trying to introduce a
low-cost vehicle GM manufactured with
its Chinese partner SAIC called
the Chevrolet Sail.
Their plan got derailed with the
introduction of Sail because I think
they underestimated the consumer aspiration
and then, I think, the
decline started. GM also fell victim
to a kind of self-reinforcing
cycle. One challenge it struggled with
was the lack of an adequate
dealer and servicing network.
More premium brands such as Mercedes
and BMW often attract customers
with the means to travel
further for service and sales.
But, mass market brands such as
GM's Chevrolet are targeting middle
class buyers who value convenience.
Dealerships in India often sell a
single brand so GM's low sales
volumes meant a single dealer might sell
only a handful of cars in a
month and risk taking losses on
the costs of running the business.
In the end, such low market share
made it difficult for GM to justify
maintaining a presence
in the country.
The automaker officially stopped selling
cars in India on December
31, 2017.
GM told CNBC it explored many
options for its India business, but
ultimately withdrew after it
determined the increased investment
originally planned for the country would
not deliver the returns of
other global opportunities.
It continues to operate services
for existing Chevrolet customers in
the country. In September, the
automaker entered a long-term
partnership with Tata Consultancy Services,
which will do engineering
design for GM vehicles meant
for markets around the world.
The move out of India was part
of a larger pullback GM has been
making around the world as
it restructures its business.
We're seeing other automakers follow
suit as they're pruning.
They're pruning the dead branches and
focusing on where they can be
strong. For GM, this is a huge shift
because GM of old used to be all
things to everyone everywhere.
And, it has now decided that
is not the proper strategy.
The automaker told CNBC if it doesn't
see a clear path to leadership
and long term sustained profits in
a particular market, it will look
at opportunities to focus its resources
on areas that will lead to
the greatest results. It added that this
is the same approach it has
taken elsewhere.
The automaker also sold its
European operations to French carmaker
PSA in 2017.
At the time it pulled out of India
GM had two factories there, one in
the Gujarati city of Halol
and another in Talegaon.
The Halol plant was acquired by
MG Motor, the once famed British
brand now owned by Chinese
automaker SAIC Motor Corporation.
GM has a joint venture with
SAIC to produce cars in China.
Reports surfaced in November 2019 that
SAIC is also in talks to
acquire GM's Talegaon plant, along
with fellow Chinese automaker
Great Wall. GM told CNBC it
is exploring strategic options for the
plant. The move out of India was
a retreat for GM and for American
auto industry. Ford is starting
to do the same.
It's trimming some
of its offerings.
Global economy and global auto
market is slowing some.
Certainly true here in the
US, it's true in China.
There's just not enough money to
go around to every single market,
too every single vehicle line.
Look at Daimler and BMW,
they've announced major employee cuts.
But in some ways it might
have been a shrewd move.
The other thing that is happening
in the market that has never
happened before is we are on the
verge of massive disruption of the
industry. You know, we're going to
have a future of electric
vehicles, autonomous vehicles and new
ways to acquire personal
transportation and now
mobility service.
There's all kinds of things.
Nobody knows when that's going to happen
or how it's going to happen,
but it's requiring a
lot of investment.
Companies like GM just can't keep putting
a ton of money into the
future as well as a ton
of money in today's stuff.
While analysts do expect the
Indian automotive market to continue
growing in the foreseeable future, it
did hit a slump in 2019.
Maruti Suzuki sales were growing
until February 2019, but have
slipped every month, year
over year, until October.
Suzuki said in November that the slowing
Indian market was one of the
factors behind the company's falling overall
sales and net income in
its second fiscal quarter.
So I think right now the
market is going through turmoil.
Our economy is struggling and if
we only talk about the automotive
market we are talking about a decline
of minus 14 percent in 2019
calendar year light vehicles.
So obviously this year is the
kind of degrowth happening, which has
not happened in last
two decades, in India.
2020, we are just talking about a
kind of a flat growth but then
going forward, in 2021, '22, '23,
the assumption that our economy
should be back, you know, the
GDP growth rate will start growing
above seven percent. Indian
automotive analysts note the country's
auto industry has to contend
with the relatively recent rise of
mobility services such as ride
hailing. The potential of these
competing technologies is still
unknown, but could affect how
interested in car ownership Indians
remain in the future.
In the end, GM did make some of
the right choices when trying to go
into India. GM was right in
terms of localizing their products
typically for the Indian market, making
it, in line with the taxation
because they were able to save tax.
But, at the end of their day, were
really not able to match with what
the competitors were offering.
If the Indian economy picks back up,
GM may find itself trying to
profitably re-enter the country.
GM's rival Ford, which has been in
India since 1995, said in October
2019 it will create a new
joint venture with Indian manufacturer
Mahindra, which Ford said will help
it develop new products faster
and drive profitable growth.
Why General Motors Left Europe
CNBC:
In 2017, General Motors,
the largest U.S.
automaker with brands known around the
world made perhaps one of
its boldest moves in its history.
It sold its European Opel and
Vauxhall brands to the French
automaker PSA known for brands
such as Peugeot and Citroen.
It was the end of an era
for GM which had first ventured into
Europe nearly 90 years before.
It also marked the end of nearly
two decades of losses for the
brands under GM's stewardship.
GM executives said the deal
would unload a difficult and
struggling business and allow the company
to focus on its more
profitable North American market and free
up cash to make needed
investments in new technologies such
as electric cars and
autonomous driving.
But the move came with risks.
The European new car market is about
as large as that of the
United States and leaving it would
not only hit GM's volume but
also increase its exposure to the
ups and downs of the U.S.
auto market.
The sale of the unit
also racked up huge costs.
GM took a $3.9 billion
loss in 2017 owing
mostly to the $6.2
billion in costs it had to
shell out for the sale.
So why did GM leave?
Did the automaker simply
screw up or fail?
Was it wise to get out of Europe?
And what does it mean for GM's
future and the future of the auto
industry?
The decision actually says a lot about
how difficult it is to be a
global automaker today and the
sometimes subtle ways markets
around the world increasingly favor
local players who can tailor
their products to
specific markets.
In the end GM may have failed
in Europe in part because it just
isn't European.
The numbers show General Motors was
having a rough time on the
continent in the nine years or
so before the divestiture of GM's
European business.
It bled money at the EBIT line
every single year for a total of
about $14 billion in
losses on $208.4
billion dollars in sales it's nine
year weighted loss of 6.9
percent.
EBIT stands for earnings before interest
and taxation and is the
metric GM uses to report
the money its international business
divisions make.
Its worst year during that time
was during the financial crisis in
2009.
Where GM incurred a 15
percent loss of $3.6
billion dollars.
The best year in that period was
2016 where it still had a 1.4
percent loss totaling
about $257 million.
Now that sounds like an improvement
and in absolute terms it was.
But consider that over the same
nine year period GM turned a
profit in North America of
$28 billion on $823.7
point billion in sales.
That's a nine year
weighted gain of 3.4
percent an automaker generally tries to
target an 8 percent EBIT
for any given region and for
the world as a whole.
GM's rival, Ford for example has an
8 percent EBIT target for its
European business.
The automobiles never really
sold well with consumers.
And one of the reasons they
weren't able to achieve profitability
is because what they did sell
were primarily passenger cars and
not the higher margin trucks and SUVs
that they saw a lot of in
the U.S..
So that's that's a
big part of it.
There's also a lot of headwinds that
they faced on the cost side
of the equation with with the
cost of labor, unions, and
also more stringent regulation
particularly from an emissions
standpoint.
So a lot of those reasons are
why they had such mixed results and
from a market share perspective when
they pulled out they were
they only had about 6
to 7 percent market share.
So it wasn't really a
dominant market for them.
And GM was losing ground
during that time to competitors.
Consider that the automaker
had a 9.3
percent share of the European car
market in 2008 but that fell
below 7 percent in 2014 and stayed
there for two years and then
fell again to around
6 percent in 2016.
Meanwhile European competitors seem
to be faring better.
And once GM sold off its
European business its earnings shot up.
The automaker earned a
global EBIT of 9.9
percent in 2017 and 8.4
percent in 2018.
But why was GM struggling in Europe
when it does so well in the
United States and is
even leading U.S.
automakers in China a market that is
by no means easy to do
business in.
One reason is that
Europe is pretty unique.
To be fair to GM it is not
the only automaker that has had trouble
there.
American cars have never been an
easy sell in the European market.
Ford for example has dialed back
its presence in the region.
Gm is not alone
in their struggles.
You see Ford pulling out of
Europe and American cars just never
have really sold very well there.
That market is really dominated
by the big three German
manufacturers and others.
But it's also a
fairly fragmented market.
So they just really were never
able to compete and consumers just
didn't really like their cars.
There were larger economic and political
factors such as the great
recession and tightening emissions
regulations that made it
tougher for companies to
do business there.
Another factor is the
distinctiveness of European tastes.
At the time GM CEO Mary Barra
said 80 percent of the vehicles in
the Opel portfolio didn't share
parts or platforms with those
sold in any of
GM's other markets.
When we look at the portfolio
going forward from a vehicle
perspective or a portfolio perspective
only 20 percent of the
portfolio overlapped with the rest
of the General Motors
portfolio.
So we think the real opportunity
for PSA is to leverage that
Europe specific scale.
That put the company
in a tough position.
Major automakers generally want to
build flexible platforms and
parts that can be used in
a variety of models in different
markets.
This helps them keep costs low
and achieve those highly desired
economies of scale.
There are forces however that make
it difficult to share parts and
platforms.
Automobiles tend to be highly regulated
products and many of the
markets where they are sold
and the regulations can vary
sometimes widely from
region to region.
One example of this is
fuel economy and emissions regulations.
Both the U.S.
and Europe have them.
But they tend to differ and
producing cars to meet each
regulatory regime costs
more money.
It requires that the company engineer
and test every vehicle to
fit every set of rules.
But many industry observers say GM
made a number of missteps over
the years that contributed to
the brand's struggles in Europe.
Opel and Vauxhall are often thought
of as sensible cars but they
do not have the glamorous
reputations of more premium brands.
GM typically sold Opels and Vauxhalls
in high volumes usually to
keep costs low.
But simple supply and demand shows this
has a way of driving down
prices.
And while GM produced a lot of cars
it was hard for it to make
money on the cars it made.
It also introduced its Chevrolet brand
into Europe which had the
effect of undermining sales
of Opel and Vauxhall.
Both brands already had
difficulty distinguishing themselves in
Europe's competitive landscape and
selling highly similar
Chevrolets right next to
them further confused buyers.
Furthermore the company didn't
have the right products.
Opels portfolio was heavily
weighted toward traditional passenger
cars such as
subcompact and sedans.
And the brand missed the boom
in crossover and small SUV sales.
At the end of the day Europe is
a large market but it is a mature
one and does not offer the
opportunities for growth companies can
find in China and other emerging
markets or even the kinds of
opportunity in the U.S..
A lot of it is really reflection
of the economic growth in Europe
relative to China.
You have one of the fastest growing
countries in the world and the
U.S. which is growing stronger a
lot stronger than Europe now.
You know if you look at European
GDP over the last several years
just has really lagged the
North American market in Asia.
China is now the world's largest
car market with 28 million new
vehicles sold in 2018.
That number is likely to continue
to rise as the auto market
continues to grow.
In North America particularly the
United States, is becoming an
ever more profitable market as
consumers turn toward higher
priced crossovers, SUVs,
and pickup trucks.
So GM cut the cord in Europe and
said it would use the money to
focus more on its strong business
selling trucks in North America
while sinking piles of cash
into its investments in electric
vehicles and self-driving cars.
Those aren't cheap aspirations and it may
be a long time before GM
or anyone else makes
money off them.
Meanwhile GM's North American sales
have grown pretty consistently
from 56 billion dollars in 2009
to 113 billion dollars in 2018
according to FactSet.
Meanwhile it was able to sell the
business to Peugeot and a large
automaker that has been successful
focusing on Europe but who
also has plans to
return to the U.S..
They've been very open over the
last few months about their
interest in specifically
Fiat Chrysler.
Which I think they view as a
opportunity to gain a foothold in the
North American market and obviously
you know that company has
said some very well-received brands with
Jeep and a lot of the
new products that
they're introducing.
In a comment to
CNBC, General Motors
said:
Peugeot surprised the industry by saying
it had restored the Opel
and Vauxhall brands to profitability in
part by cutting costs and
introducing new more
profitable models.
General Motors Automotive Service Educational Program (GM ASEP) | Fox Valley Technical College
Fox Valley Technical College:
- It's amazing the ability
you have to go to school
and learn a trade
and then take that to the real world,
cause you're working half
the semester in a shop is unbelievable.
- GM ASEP is a partnership between
automotive colleges
throughout the country,
like Fox Valley Technical
College and General Motors.
It stands for General Motors Automotive
Service Educational Program.
We work with dealers in ACDelco.
We have their students come here
and we train them on the latest
and greatest technology for
approximately nine weeks
and we instruct them on
different areas of the vehicle.
And then they go out
and they work in an internship
and get paid for the next nine weeks.
While they're out in
that internship they work
alongside a mentor,
so they get to apply what
we've taught them here
at Fox Valley Technical
College to what they're doing
out in industry.
It is a great way to get started
and it helps the student
be able to also have
some income while they're going to school.
- When I was fresh out
of high school I hadn't
had a place to work
and I had an incredible
passion for automotives
and I walked in the door
and just handed out a resume,
unknowing if they were hiring or not.
The service manager at that time
immediately latched on
and said if I could get
into the ASEP program
that he would put me in, in a spot
and give me a mentor
and run with me.
So I was very fortunate to have that.
- The GM ASEP program is an
excellent opportunity for
anyone that's looking at going
into the automotive field.
It gives you the chance to
actually work in the environment
where you will be working
when finished from school.
- The class schedule
works very well for me.
It's nice to still be
able to go to work before
and sometimes after class.
As well as not having class
on Fridays or Saturdays,
so I can still get hours there.
It's very connected with the dealership.
I can use what I learn
in school and apply it
right away in the dealership
and also that I'm guaranteed
a job once I'm done.
I've been with the
dealership for a few years
but now I know for sure that
once I graduate the program
I'm gonna be with that
dealership for a while.
- The best part at GM ASEP
I would say would be the
nine weeks on nine weeks off portion.
I mean you're not stuck in
class for a whole two years.
So it's kind of nice to
have a break in between.
- I chose to mentor and
ASEP student because I felt
that Fox Valley did a tremendous job
providing me with an education
and I wanted to do my best
to pass on my knowledge
to the technicians of tomorrow.
- My mentor Nick, saw the
work ethic, the ambition
and the drive
and he thought it'd be a wonderful
opportunity for me to own my own shop.
And coming in to this
industry at the age of 16
before I started school when
I was still in high school,
I knew I wanted to do this.
And it's hard to believe
that by age 22 I did
have my own shop
and was able to fulfill
one of my life dreams.
- I think the GM ASEP program
through Fox Valley Tech
has been one of the best
options available for students
wanting to move into
the automotive industry
and for companies trying
to hire new technicians.
- With the technical colleges
you can get a hands-on
training with amazing professors,
have a job
and be close to home in that network.
It's, it's quite a combination.
We simply can't find enough technicians.
This is an outstanding career
and the knowledge that you learn today
isn't knowledge that gets filed away
and you move on to the next thing.
It's knowledge that'll
move forward with you
and knowledge you can
continue to look back
and actually have this worth
where you can fix that car
and nobody else might be able to.
- You couldn't have
placed your trust in any
better automotive technical facility than
Fox Valley Tech given the
quality of the instructors
and the facility
and the equipment you
have available to you.
I couldn't think of honestly
a better place to go.
(rock music)
How to Fix an Overheating Car Engine for $5
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines, today we're gonna
try to figure out why this Nissan is
overheating and like any car you got to
start somewhere
there's a dozen different reasons the
car can overheat, you got a pin pointed
and the first thing is the most logical,
you pressure test the system and I got
this new toy I can't wait to try it out,
now to pressure test the system you take
the radiator cap off, but unfortunately
there are a bunch of different sized
radiator caps on cars nowadays, and
rather than buy every single adapter and
there are dozens of them, this Pittsburgh
kit that I just got is cool, cuz it's got
a main adapter and then different sized
plungers that go in to seal the radiator
so when you pump it up you see if
there's a leak in the system, in this
case it's a small one that fits in, so we
put that inside here, it just spins in
then the whole assembly goes over the
top and a little notches hold the side here
and then you just spin the top here
until it gets tight, then you get the
pump and attach it here and we pumped it
up to about 15 pounds we'll let it sit
and see if it loses pressure, patience is
indeed a virtue you wait five ten
minutes see what happens to the pressure,
and in this case it really hasn't lost
any pressure so we know the system is
not leaking that it's intact, and just in
case those are really small like we'll
look under see if it's dripping anywhere
from all that pressure, but now it's not
dripping anywhere so it's not leaking
remember always start with the most
obvious things the pressure testers
indispensable for finding overheating
problems start simple, so we'll put the
cap back on and do another test, we'll
start up the car
and let it warm up a little, well Check the
gauge and when it
starts to get warm it should build some
pressure up, we'll wait a few minutes
until the gauge gets closer to the
middle, and while we're waiting you will
turn on the AC to see if the cooling fan
works, turn on the fan and put the AC on
now you can hear the cooling fans are blowing
like mad so they're working, so now that
the temperature gauge is in the middle
that it's warmed up, this should release
some pressure when we release it, as you
can see it hasn't released any pressure
which means that the radiator cap is bad
it's not sealing it, so we're sticking on
the new radiator cap and taking it for a
ride, because nothing beats road testing in
a car when it's overheating you have to,
do a highway drive and city driving
do all the different parameters to see
if it's gonna overheat again or whether
it's fixed, and well after half an hour
of driving no more overeating, so now
it's fixed well how does that work, your
radiator system is a pressurized system
most of them are about 15 psi now, when I
was a young mechanic it was a lot less
because the radiators were bigger, but
guess what
bigger radiators cost more money to
build, so for ages they've made smaller
radiators and they upped the pressure, so
if you have more pressure in a smaller
radiator, it can do the same cooling as a
bigger radiator that has less pressure in
it, but of course with modern cars if you
do lose pressure on the radiator cap and
it's not holding the correct pressure,
the car will overheat faster because it
won't have enough pressure to keep the
temperature from getting too high and
then steam will start escaping from
where it's not holding pressure, and it
will lose coolant through steam and
eventually it'll just bubble all the
coolant out when it starts to boil, so
you want to make sure your radiator
system is holding pressure, the pressure
tester that shows that the system itself
on the vehicle is holding pressure, and
the cap itself that's the ultimate
sealer on top of it, if it's bad you lose
pressure and it will overheat, so nowadays
it's probably not a bad idea every three
or four years just put another radiator
cap and stick it on your radiator when
the engine is cold, so you can prevent
from happening, because they are
spring-loaded the springs wear out, the
rubber gets corroded, they do eventually
wear out and they don't cost that much money
and you might also want to take my
advice, this is an aftermarket cap that
was on this old Nissan, I put a factory
cap on, the factory ones are generally
much better made, sometimes the
aftermarket ones, hey I've had them not
work right out of a box, so now you know
how to diagnose and repair your car when
it starts to overheat, so if you never
want to miss another one of my new car
repair videos, remember to ring that Bell!
Renault Triber Indonesia First Impression Review by AutonetMagz
AutonetMagz:
Your habits are always late, other peoples come earlier, let's just make a car video
- Alright, inside the building, right?
Yes there is an interesting car
- C'mon
wait a minute .... you don't want to drink coffee first?
- I've been there before, the coffee is empty
So sad
Are you sleepy?
- Yes, i am sleepy
You don't get coffee?
- Yes right
Luckily I carry it, I always bring a coffee
- Yeah ... here it is recipe for not to be sleepy
- Let's drink it
If you are sleepy and get wrong, it will be a hassle
Yeah it fresh right?
- Ok now i'm ready
Let's make a car
- Ups..making a video
Yes making a car video
Go to AutonetMagz.com for daily automotive news
So the interesting car is behind this curtain
let's see
yeah ....
This is it, Renault Triber
and this is not only a new car, but one of the most interesting new car that you can see at GIIAS 2019 later
why it so interesting?
First, look at the key
tadaa ...
so this is similar to Renault Koleos key fob, the shaped like a card
and at the behind has 4 button
Unlock, lock, light and for baggage
But compared to Koleos, because this is cheaper ...
this key fob is so light
But even it's light and the impression is rather cheap
just keep it in the pocket, because this is a smart key
just like this ...
The Real Reason They Stopped Making Inline 6 Cylinder Engines
Scotty Kilmer:
rev up your engines, J man says will Ford
ever bring the 300 6 cylinder engine back
best engine Ford ever made, well I kind
of doubt that they will, because they've
gotten away from straight six-cylinder
engines, they don't have the torque and
horsepower that a v6 has, Ford is really going
for v6, a lot of their big trucks now
they're throwing v6 with GDI gasoline
and twin turbos on them to get
horsepower, so I doubt if they'll bring
back the straight six and yeah they were
very dependable engines, they didn't have
the horsepower but they could run a
really really really long time, if you
really think about it most companies
don't want to make things that last a
really really long time cuz they want to
sell you a new one every four or five
years you know, that's our society people
want to make money, Jacob says Scotty
what is the best hatchback made in the
last ten years, yeah I got one sitting in
a driveway you can't beat it, it's a Toyota
Matrix 2007 it was made in Cambridge
Ontario and the funny thing is, they
stopped making them a few years ago but now
I
notice now they're selling Toyota
Corolla hatchbacks, well it's the matrix
it's the same car you can see by looking
at it, they just I didn't want to call it
matrix on it's own so now they're calling
it
Toyota Corolla hatchback because the matrix
was
all based on the Corolla everything
anyway, same engine, same brakes, same
transmission and you can't beat them
they were the best ones that were made
and there's no arguing that,
GDL 30 says hey Scotty should I use a
thicker oils as my car increases in
mileage thank you, okay it used to be true
for all cars, when I was a kid as cars
got old, burnt a little oil, we put a little
heavier oil, but those were all pushrod
cast-iron engines, now with variable
valve timing and some engines that use a
0w ten oil, you never want to put a
heavier weight oil in them, because they
were designed for the lighter weight oil
and some of them do burn a little oil as
they age but you basically live with it,
you don't want to put a heavier weight
oil in it,
because they were designed for that and
they may not run right and it can even
wear them out faster, so with most modern
cars you don't want to mess with the
viscosity, you want to stick with what
you've been using all those years, what the
manual says, Alex says
Scotty I have the opportunity to buy
really cheap v6 front wheel drive 87
Oldsmobile 98 Regency, love the interior
but don't know about the transmission
and motor, how difficult is it to rebuild
a front-wheel drive transmission, okay
that's an 87, that's one of the worst
automatic transmissions GM ever made
when they started making those
front-wheel drive ones, they had no idea
what they were doing, but if you can get
the car cheap enough, you can get a
factory rebuilt transmission for those
things they weren't as complex as the
new ones they only had a few gears,
they're not like the new ones that are
eight, nine, ten speeds, they're a lot
simpler and a really good transmission
guy would have no problems rebuilding
that one, because it's simpler, if it needs
rebuilding doesn't work right, if you get
the car cheap enough why not have some
fun, but don't pay much for it you know
the value of that car is virtually
nothing, maybe five hundred dollars or
something so don't pay much for it, x man
says Scotty I got a 97 GMC Yukon and
every once in a while I hear a grinding
noise when I break my headlights lower
at the same time, do I have to replace
my wheel bearing, well the headlights
shouldn't have anything to do with that
the grinding could definitely be the
wheel bearing, check you know pull the wheels
off make sure you're not low on brake pads
or brake shoes anywhere, could easily be a
wheel bearing check that out, when you
jack it up and spin the wheels you hear
any kind of rattling or have any or a
little play on it, but making your
headlights lower at the same time that's
more often either your alternator is
getting weak or you got a ground wire
problem, GHs are known for having ground
wire problems and often ground wire
problem the headlights will get dim but
just go to a place like autozone, they'll
check your battery and alternator free
and a lot of times that's your alternator
just starting to wear out, Vinny Adam
says my family cx-7 has a blown head
gasket I'm wondering if it's worth
fixing, those Mazdas they have a lot of
problems, if it's high mileage and it's
old, I'd just get rid of it, you think it
has a blown head gasket it could be a
lot worse, and my experience with those
CX-7 is, they got that variable valve
timing with the chain on it, that system
often breaks down, they use a motorcraft
on them, Mazda and ford have of some kind
of relationship
going on and
they had a lot of problems with those in
them too, you never really know if the
only thing you have is a blown head
gasket when you got a problem with the
engine, and you only find out when you
tear the engine apart and start looking
at stuff, if it's high mileage, I wouldn't
even fix, I'd just junk the car and
get rid of it, because once you take that
engine apart if it's high mileage it's
probably gonna need a full rebuild with
Pistons, bearings, and it's just not worth
it on those things, in that case if you
could find a used engine in a junkyard
that had low mileage on it go ahead a
lot of guys do that, but when it comes to
actually fixing those complicated
engines, hardly anybody does that anymore,
so if you never want to miss another one
of my new car repair videos, remember to
ring that Bell!
GM's decision to close plant in S. Korea causes chain reaction
ARIRANG NEWS:
General Motors has decided to shut down an
assembly plant in South Korea.
Part of their global restructuring program.
The decision caused a massive chain reaction
that could potentially affect thousands of
people.
Lee Jeong-yeon has the details.
Last Tuesday, GM Korea announced that it would
close down its assembly plant in Gunsan, Jeollabuk-do
Province, one of its four assembly plants
in the country,... before the end of May.
The move is causing a massive knock-on effect
on local firms as car manufacture involves
a large chain of suppliers.
Around 2-thousand are at the risk of losing
their jobs at the plant,... but subcontractors
are also on the brink of bankruptcy,... with
their operations falling by 20 percent last
year.
Around 17-thousand employees at 136 of GM
Korea's first and second-tier subcontractors
could be affected.
One subcontractor said 8 out of 11 workers
at the firm had already quit, as continued
losses over GM's virtually non-existent production
at Gunsan in the past year,... meant the subcontractor
was unable to pay its employees.
The motor company cited poor performance as
the reason for the shutdown,... blaming a
fall in demand for its vehicles as well as
high labor costs.
GM Korea saw around 2 trillion won, or 1-point-8
billion US dollars in net losses for the three
years up to the end of 2016, and last year
the estimated net loss was around 600 billion
won.
Including family members of the laborers at
GM, around 50-thousand people are impacted
by this shutdown, that's about one sixth of
the total Gunsan population.
The ruling Democratic Party responded to GM
Korea's decision by saying it cannot accept
the decision, as General Motors has "social
duties to fulfill as a global corporation."
Why Ford And Other American Cars Don’t Sell In Japan
CNBC:
When it comes to cars, Americans
seem to love the Japanese.
But the Japanese don't seem
to love Americans back.
Japanese brands sell remarkably well
in the United States.
Several of the best-selling automakers in
America are from Japan, and
their products seem to dominate entire
segments in sales and critical
acclaim. Japanese automakers sell so
many cars in the U.S.
that they actually employ vast numbers
of American workers in factories
around the country.
Japanese automakers actually build a third of
all the vehicles made in the
U.S. But the Japanese don't seem
to be interested in America's SUVs,
pickup trucks, muscle cars or just
about any vehicle made by Detroit.
Ford left Japan entirely in 2017.
General Motors keeps a presence there, but
it is tiny — the largest U.S.
automaker sold only 700 cars
in Japan in 2018.
And people are divided as to why
and what, if anything, should be done
about it.
President Donald Trump has criticized the
imbalance, but so have U.S.
automotive trade associations, who
blame Japanese protectionism.
While there are no
Japanese tariffs on U.S.
imports, a number of critics say there
are all kinds of technical barriers
that make it harder for U.S.
companies to sell in Japan.
Here in the United States, when we
set regulations for fuel economy or
safety or communications standards or whatever,
all of the automakers that
sell and produce in the United
States are party to that conversation.
In Japan, it's a much more
closed process for regulatory compliance.
It's "these are the rules and
you will meet the rules."
Japanese producers have input into that
and suppliers, but it's pretty
closed to any external companies that
would be doing business there.
But some industry experts say
that really isn't the problem.
Instead, the reasons U.S.
cars are so rare in Japan, which
is the world's third-largest car market,
have more to do with Japanese
consumer tastes, the abiding if outdated
stereotypes the Japanese have about the
quality of American cars, and the
very different way customers shop
for vehicles in Japan.
It is first important to note
that Japanese brands all but completely
dominate local roads.
More than 95 percent of all cars
sold in the country are Japanese.
Imports make up the balance and
most of those are higher-end European
luxury vehicles and sports cars.
This is partly because the
Japanese have pretty specific needs.
For one thing, space
is incredibly tight.
Wildly popular in Japan are these
so-called Kei cars, which are tiny
vehicles preferred by drivers who have
to thread their way through narrow
streets and crowded cities.
Kei Cars alone make up
40 percent of the Japanese
market and U.S.
automakers don't make them.
Americans, on the other hand, tend
to excel in making big vehicles,
particularly pickup trucks and
large sport utilities.
In recent years, American automakers have
scaled back or even entirely
killed off their own lines of
compact vehicles, which are often still
bigger than their
Japanese counterparts.
In fact, many of the Japanese vehicles
sold in America — from sedans such
as the Toyota Camry all the way up
to the pickups — are not even
particularly popular in Japan.
All three Detroit automakers have less
than 1 percent market share.
One of the bestsellers, Jeep, sells about
10,000 vehicles in Japan a year.
The Japanese car buying experience would
also likely shock many Americans,
who often view a trip to the
dealership as one of life's necessary evils.
Much of Japanese business culture is
built around service and hospitality,
and auto dealerships
are no exception.
Japanese dealerships offer customers nearly
white glove service, and the
way buyers choose cars is entirely
different from the traditional buying
experience in the U.S.
Whereas American shoppers will often choose
a car from what is available
on a dealer lot, Japanese buyers can
often custom-build a car out of a
catalog and then have it made for
them in a matter of weeks.
A strong local supply chain and
local factories allow Japanese automakers
to do this.
Furthermore, quality of service
is often quite high.
Dealerships frequently have amenities such
as cafes and complimentary car
washes. They will also follow up
with customers sometimes even years after
a purchase.
Foreign automakers overall have had difficulty
adapting to this way of
selling. Moreover, the Japanese have
longstanding perceptions of American
cars as inefficient and unreliable.
This somewhat outdated view originates in
the decades from the 1960s
through the 1980s, when Japanese
brands were ascending and American
automakers were plagued with criticism and
scandal over vehicles such as
the Chevrolet Vega, the AMC Gremlin,
the Ford Pinto and the Chevrolet
Corvair.
And though American manufacturers have
made far more fuel-efficient engines
in recent years, the U.S.
has historically made some gas guzzlers
when compared with cars made
elsewhere.
Yeah, I think there is
a hangover for American vehicles.
You know, what does an American
car say about you in Japan.
That baggage is carried with that.
Meanwhile, the Japanese rose to power in
the auto industry in large part on
their reputation for building solid, efficient
cars that don't break down.
Of course, many observers note that American
autos have done a lot to
close the reliability gap over the years,
and cars overall are able to log
far more miles on the road than
they did even a decade ago.
And U.S.
automakers are adamant that they would be
better able to compete in Japan
if the country removes barriers
that make doing business difficult.
The trouble for Detroit is that Japan
is just one of the international
markets where U.S.
automakers have struggled.
All three Detroit automakers have had
challenges in South America and
Europe. While China which is the world's
largest car market could become a
tougher place to do business
with slowing economic growth, increased
competition, and trade disputes.
If something doesn't change, U.S.
automakers could become just that: American
companies that sell trucks and
SUVs to Americans.
Decoding and Understanding Vehicle Identification Numbers / VIN's
1A Auto Parts:
Dead Key Fob Chevrolet Cruze Trick
Feldman Chevrolet of Novi:
Located under parking brake handle
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