Word: nissan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...pension burden. Having shed so many workers in previous rounds of cost cutting, GM finds itself in a demographic choke hold--paying for the pensions and health care of 400,000 retirees (plus benefits for their dependents)--with a shrinking company. GM's strongest rivals, such as Toyota and Nissan, haven't gone through decades of downsizing and don't bear that lopsided burden. At GM, each U.S. worker's production has to support 2.5 retirees, adding an average of $2,200 in legacy costs to the price of a vehicle, a steep disadvantage vs. foreign manufacturers. And the fewer...
...spike in gas prices could put him on the edge as he braces for union negotiations that may determine whether GM survives intact. If there's any solace for Wagoner, it's that he isn't the only car guy in the hot seat. Even Carlos Ghosn, chief of Nissan, the automotive turnaround story of the decade, is experiencing a sales slump, and the company has announced plans to move its North American headquarters from Los Angeles to Franklin, Tenn., to save a few bucks. The bright side for nearby Saturn workers who may soon...
...overseas firms seem to thrive, building profitable cars with U.S. workers, while Detroit languishes? For example, in the first quarter of 2005, Nissan made $1,603 on every vehicle sold in North America, while GM lost $2,311, according to Harbour Consulting. For starters, the transplants, generally with reputations for higher quality than American brands, don't offer the deep discounts that U.S. makers employ. And foreign manufacturers don't carry the legacy costs that drag U.S. companies down. Workers at foreign companies' nonunion shops make roughly the same in wages and benefits as unionized employees in Detroit. But Asian...
...feature is a broad hood and front end that slope gracefully down. The rear is compact, musclebound and squat, accentuated by sculpted fairings behind the seats. The overall profile conveys a neat blend of attitude: a little daring, just shy of being menacing. It doesn't drip machismo like Nissan's 350Z or feature the delicate bone structure of a Mazda Miata. With a starting price around $20,000 the Solstice is the cheapest roadster on the market (a hair under the new Mazda MX-5). GM plans to produce just 16,000 to 18,000 units...
...Mitsubishi's new pocket rocket, the 263-h.p. Eclipse GT, jump-start sales at Japan's most troubled automaker? The car hit dealerships this summer, lofted by strong reviews, and it leads a blitz of all-new models coming over the next two years. Unlike the profit machines Honda, Nissan and Toyota, Mitsubishi has been in automaker hell. The firm's corporate parent lost $4.4 billion in the past fiscal year, battered by a lingering scandal over vehicle defects, and U.S. sales plummeted one-third this year amid questions about whether Mitsubishi would vacate North America. That seems less likely...