Autoblog

Click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Ford Fiesta

Not wanting to take second place to anyone, especially Toyota, Ford is vowing that its new line of Euro small cars, including the new Fiesta and next-gen Focus, will launch in the U.S. with the best quality in the industry. That's the official word from Bennie Fowler, Ford's VP of Global Quality. To accomplish this goal for the 2010 model year, Ford will send a handful of UAW workers to Wayne State University where they will become certified "Six Sigma Black Belts" (a.k.a. quality experts with the coolest certification ever) and take their learned expertise back to the assembly plants. The industry average right now is about 1,300 problems per 1,000 vehicles. Ford is promising that its new line of small cars from Europe will have just 800 things gone wrong per 1,000 vehicles. It is a target that bests their Japanese rival, but it still leaves us wondering why they wouldn't just aim for zero problems?

[Source: The Detroit News]

Porsche wants to purchase Volkswagen, this much we know. But before that happens, the huge labor union at VW needs to agree on terms with Porsche management. This, as you may imagine, is proving a bit more difficult than Porsche had hoped, prompting the automaker's senior labor leader Uwe Hueck to lash out at the heads at VW. Not surprisingly, his initial attack received a response from Bernd Osterloh, the head of VW's labor union. It seems that some major sticking points exist that the organized Volkswagen employees are not too keen on, causing them to believe that they would be relegated to second-class status. Whether or not these negotiations will keep Porsche from purchasing a controlling stake in Volkswagen seems up in the air at the moment, though we wouldn't be surprised if some sort of deal were made sooner rather than later.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]

In a deal designed to assuage the tensions between General Motors and the Canadian Auto Workers union, GM's new car plant in Oshawa, Ontario will gain two additional models to build. The old truck plant in the same city, though, will still close sometime in 2009. Until then, the truck plant will continue to assemble hybrid versions of GM's full-size pickup trucks. The new Oshawa plant will begin building GM's long-anticipated Camaro revival and will also get some Chevrolet Impala production and an unnamed Buick model at some point in the future.

In addition to the extra work at the brand new Oshawa plant, displaced workers with at least 26 years of GM employment will get a percentage of their yearly salary, even after the plant has closed, until they have reached the necessary 30-year mark for retirement. Other qualifying ex-employees will get buyout packages of some sort. Thanks for the tip, Ryan!

[Source: CBC News]

Buzz Hargrove, president of the Canadian Auto Workers, Canada's largest in the private sector, will step down earlier than anticipated. Hargrove wasn't expected to retire until he reached the CAW's mandatory age of 65 next year. It's tough to resist the allure of cuddling with Yorkies, Bingo every Monday night, and shuffleboard to fill in those long, wistful hours recalling the glory days of torquing valve covers in Windsor, so Hargrove has accelerated his departure to mid-September. No replacement candidate has been named yet, though an endorsee will be announced later today. Come this fall, keep an eye out on the golf courses of Florida for a relaxed looking guy drinking a Molson, eh?

[Source: Automotive News – Sub Req, Photo: media.canada.com]

Our first thought was "Boy, retirement plans sure ain't what they used to be." Reality, of course, is more banal, it's just UAW Local 651 going all nostalgic while demolition of the Flint East plant continues. The plant's last occupant was Delphi, but the plant has a history nearly as long as the automotive industry itself. With that much provenance, Local 651 is most likely right in assuming that some former workers might want to have a brick from the plant to put on their mantle. Michiganders looking for a memento will need to sign up on next Tuesday so the union can get a bead on how many people are interested. We'd like to sign up for the return of industry and good blue collar jobs, nevermind the old bricks.

[Source: Detroit Free Press, Photo: Getty/Jim Pugliano]

More than one-fourth of GM's 74,000 hourly employees are going to grab the loot and skedaddle. Earlier this year, UAW President Ron Gettlefinger estimated that 15,000 would put their hands out, but another couple thousand decided to hop on the General's money train. The workers are expected to finish their employment by July 1. GM's most recent deal with the UAW means it can replace those folks with lower wage workers and save itself a bundle on payroll. And that will make the job of saving itself that much easier.

[Source: Automotive News, sub req'd]

The top is a tough place to be. Just ask Toyota, which is now facing charges of worker right abuses, including the use of sweat shops and human trafficking. As we've reported before, Japan even has a word for being overworked to death: karoshi. Toyota plants are not immune to this stress-related disease, as workers at its plants have indeed suffered death due to working too hard. These facts have caught the attention of The National Labor Committee, which has an entire report worked up that alleges Toyota over-works and under-pays its Japanese employees and has ties to various unsavory Dictators. It's also been well established that Toyota does not want its American workforce unionized.

The report is being directly targeted at Prius-driving celebrities who see Toyota as the shining green beacon in a world of pollution-spewing car companies. Whether or not this report has all its facts straight, if famous Toyota supporters in Hollywood react to these allegations, Toyota could indeed have a public relations disaster on its hands.

[Source: The National Labor Committee via World Car Fans]

The strike last week by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) against Performance Transportation Services (PTS) was the straw that broke the camel's back. The second largest car hauler in the United States was unable to survive the wage-related dispute, especially after filing for bankruptcy protection in 2006 and 2007. On Friday, PTS announced that it's stopping all operations and going out of business.

The effect on the industry overall will be minor. Automakers began rescheduled their deliveries last week when the strike was announced. As domestic vehicle production has slowed, excess transport capacity has been able to take up the slack and no major interruptions have been seen. It seems the striking workers have also been accommodated as the Teamsters are reporting that the "vast majority" of their 1,250 drivers have found work at other unionized locations. Still, any organized union thinking of striking in this economic climate should consider the possibility that such a move may result in pink slips for everyone.

[Source: Automotive News, subs. req'd]

The Canadian Auto Workers union and General Motors have been less than friendly with one another since the automaker announced it would be closing its Oshawa Truck plant, and the union promises to "fight on" despite ending a 13-day protest/blockade that prevented some 900 GM employees from going to work at the company's Canadian headquarters. It took a court injunction to end the blockade, but union representatives say they are planning their next move to stop GM from closing Oshawa Truck, which employs around 2,600 workers. But with truck sales tanking on account of high gas prices and less new home construction in the U.S., it seems unlikely the General will change its mind to scuttle the plant. There is talk of converting it to produce passenger cars in the near future, but even if the decision were made to do so today, the plant would still be closed for one to two years before it reopened. For now, however, GM's white collar workers in Canada can get back to work without enduring the rank and file gauntlet.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd, Photo by Simon Hayter/Getty]

Despite rising tensions (and a lawsuit) between General Motors and the Canadian Auto Workers union, the automaker may be interested in adding a new car line at its soon-to-closed truck plant in Oshawa, Ontario. Though that plant was originally scheduled to stay open a few more years, slumping sales of full-size trucks built there have forced GM to announce its early closure along with three other pickup and SUV plants. Since that announcement, union workers have barricaded GM Canada's headquarters for the last eight days in protest, which we'd imagine might make it difficult for GM management to negotiate with union officials... but what do we know?

According to The Detroit News, however, GM has been talking with Ontario's Economic Development and Trade Minister, Sandra Pupatello, who says that the government is very interested in securing the new vehicle line as quickly as possible. Even if a decision is made in short order, it is likely the plant's 2,600 workers would be out of work for up to two years after the closes and before its ready again with new tooling for a passenger car line.

[Source: The Detroit News]