American Axle strike threatens Chevrolet Malibu production
If you've been thinking about buying a Chevrolet Malibu, you might want to head on down to the dealer sooner rather than later. According to an article in Automotive News (signup/subscription required), a strike at American Axle, one of General Motors' suppliers, means that the Orion plant is running out of a part they need to build the Malibu (as well as the Pontiac G6).
Now, ordinarily, I wouldn't consider this blog-worthy -- strikes happen all the time. But it just so happens that the Malibu is selling like hotcakes. (See, I told you it was good!) If American Axle doesn't settle its strike soon, Malibu production could halt in mid-April -- and somehow I don't think Chevy dealers will be able to steer would-be Malibu customers into a Cobalt or an Impala. Sometimes it seems like GM just can't catch a break. -- Aaron Gold
Photo © Aaron Gold
Does the Saturn Aura use a different axle supplier?
Good question. I’ll see if I can get an answer from the folks at Saturn.
malibu’s are built in fairfax, ks and overflow builds are at orion, mi. lordstown, oh builds the cobalt/g5.
GM can’t catch a break? Don’t make me laugh. They are in a sad situation of their own making. The fact that the employees at their stooge spinoff are standing up for themselves is a good sign. GM has had puh-lenty of time to figure out how to make a good car. Don’t blame the AA workers for the fact that GM is late to the party.
We need to ask ourselves a question. Why have all the US car manufacturers lost so much market share to the Japanese and Korean owned car companies? Lack of innovation? Perhaps. Lack of foresight? Probably a contributor. But the major force that has driven the loss of market share for the big three are the labor contracts that have put them at so much of a disadvantage. The big 3 have their hands tied in a way that the non-union automakers do not. The union infected companies are not able to be nimble and make the quick necessary moves needed to help them remain competitive.
I don’t have any love for the track the big 3 have taken in the past, but the unions have made the playing field uneven.
This article pretty much sums it up.
I could go on and on about unions but I must stop here and get back to my job.
Mark, I don’t recall Aaron blaming auto workers for GM’s former inability to build competitive cars. His point was that GM just builds a good car and a supplier has labor trouble. Tough luck. I believe his point was confined to that. Also…since when is a strike a good sign of anything? Workers should stand up for their rights in every appropriate way but a strike is a sign of a breakdown in negotiations that costs everyone involved a great deal of money. To treat a strike at a company (assuming this is a subsidiary of GM) that is already having trouble competing in the world marketplace as “a good sign” is just tired old populism at its worst. I’m hoping GM does well for a number of reasons. 1) For their 10’s of thousands of workers 2) For the sake of the US economy 3) for the sake of consumers. YES GM has been its own worst enemy. NO I don’t want that fact to hurt a company trying to improve its performance for the resons mentioned above.
When the Big Three had monstrous market share, greed begat greed. Massive corporate profits created super sweet union contracts. Times have changed. Attitudes must change or there shall be no GM or no UAW. Forget what was, accept what is. It’s all about survival. It’s time to work as a team rather than adversaries.