Word: gm
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Bright Talents. Proponents of the Pepper bill argue that its impact on younger workers will be modest, partly because generous pension plans, early retirement programs and other inducements have been drawing people out of the work force at ever earlier ages. For instance, at GM, where an assembly-line worker can retire after 30 years' service, irrespective of age, only 2% of the company's 748,000 employees actually stay on the payroll until...
...good many of the new names due to appear in showrooms will be carried by subcompacts being introduced to do battle with the smaller, zippier imports, such as the Honda Civic and Volkswagen Rabbit, whose sales are booming. GM's current entry in this field, the trim little Chevette (base price: $3,225, v. $3,499 for a Rabbit), was introduced in 1975, but Chrysler now plans to follow with the country's first front-wheel-drive subcompacts, the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon. Ford, too, will offer a front-wheel-drive subcompact, the Fiesta, though...
Buying Trends. There are signs that motorists are not overjoyed with this solution. GM officials conclude that when the company trimmed down its bigger cars this year, many buyers deserted to Ford and Chrysler. Now, with the whole industry downsizing, big-car addicts will find fewer alternatives...
Motorists will also discover that smaller does not mean cheaper. Although price tags have risen an average 40% over the past five years, manufacturers maintain that their costs have been going up even faster. At GM, which is the industry's price leader, the average base price of a car rose about $270 this year to $5,400, meaning more than $6,000 with air conditioning, a radio and some other options. GM is expected to raise its sticker prices for the 1978s by perhaps as much...
...manufacturers have begun to warn of massive layoffs and plant closures later this summer. "Bureaucratic brinksmanship," grouses GM Chairman Thomas Murphy. With 1977 auto sales booming and prospects good for a year-end total at or near the alltime industry record of 11.4 million in 1973, a regulatory shadow over the 1978 models could give a boost to that group of automakers who have argued all along that bigger is not necessarily better-the foreign-car manufacturers...