- Now next I have something which is,
I don't know I have mixed feelings about this.
GM, General Motors here in the U.S.
they are killing off the Volt which is
the plug in hybrid electric vehicle.
The P.H.E.V. as you will see it called,
which I believe gets maybe 20-30,
maybe a little more than that miles
purely on the battery then it switches over to gas.
They are also killing the Cruz
which is a small sedan and the Impala.
So they are just getting rid of these.
Now we have already seen Ford to this,
Ford recently cut I think almost all of their sedans
with the exception of maybe the mustang
and are just focusing on trucks and suvs
as well as they are planning on coming out
with some electric vehicles is
what they have been talking about.
So we will see kind of how that goes.
Now this was a part of a 15% layoff that GM did.
So, I believe that's close to
15,000 people or over 14,000 people.
Now this is despite them doing relatively well
and beating last quarters Wall Street expectation.
So interesting, now they are saying that they
expect car sales to slump in 2019
and we have been hearing this a lot
until you look at Telsa sales and you see
them skyrocketing, so you know you have that.
Now it's also a part of the GM strategy to
prioritize investment into self driving cars
and EV's which means they are cutting the plug
in hybrid electric vehicle the Volt but keeping
the Chevy Bolt which is the fully electric one
that does go 248 miles I think on a charge
and costs right around $35,000 depending
on your options and those kind of things.
So that's actually a really legit car,
electric car that's out there.
I know it hasn't really sold that much
the styling isn't for everyone but
I reviewed it and I mean it seemed great to me.
It wasn't a Tesla by any stretch of the means
but it was a great option, it was like if you were
looking at another car and that one it definitely works.
So as a part of this they are going
to be closing five plants,
five facilities as a part of what
they are calling the restructuring.
Now Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio publicly blasted GM
for it's plan to close down the Lordstown Ohio plant.
Of course the President of the United States
tweeted as he does often saying that he is very disappointed
in GM and their CEO Mary Barra for closing these plants,
you know lots of rhetoric going on.
Then he goes on to talk about we are now looking
at cutting all GM subsidies, which include electric cars
which by the way they get a lot of other
subsidies as well in case you guys didn't know that
in terms of tax breaks and things like that.
And so this was interesting but it also
kind of opens a door and this is where I think it becomes,
is interesting for Tesla because
they could buy one of these facilities.
I mean imagine what kind of Cinderella story that would be.
This is what happened with the Nummi plant
which is previously what the current plant
in Freemont California was called
which was I believe a joint venture between Toyota and GM
and during the great recession that
we had in 2008-2009 is when
they had the opportunity to buy it for literally dirt cheap.
I believe prior to that Tesla was looking at a factory
in Texas so this five plants, I believe four plants
and one other facility are closing
but a huge amount of them are going to be available here
so if I were Tesla I would be seriously looking at this
as an opportunity, because this could make a huge difference
in their profitability as well as the
acceleration of some of their vehicles.
(jokingly coughs) *ahem* roadster
and so I am curious to see what happens,
I am curious if you guys or anyone you know is affected
by this please leave a comment, hit me up on Twitter.
I would love to hear that story because it is sad,
I mean losing jobs here because of strategic moves
by a big company is one of the plagues of corporate America
and the society and the system of commerce
we have built in the United States.
It even goes back to Reagan laying off the
FAA flight instructors or air traffic controllers
so its one of those things where it sucks
but hopefully some of this can be rebounded
and pivoted into newer technologies that are helping
us move towards a more sustainable way of living
that's kind of my thoughts on it
leave me a comment let me know
what you guys think down below