Working Mother Magazine Recognizes GM as Best for Hourly Workers 2013

May 9, 2013

Work life and family life can often be stressful by themselves. When putting the two together, working mothers may face the challenge of balance. General Motors understands this difficulty and has worked to create policies and programs for promoting women and a dynamic work life culture. Working Mother Magazine has recognized this dedication and recently named GM one of the dozen “Best Companies for Hourly Workers” for 2013.

As a company, General Motors goes the extra mile to make sure employees can exceed at their jobs without disrupting their family lives. From benefits to job-skills training, GM does not fall short in supporting hourly employees. “General Motors sets a standard of excellence for having not only work life programs and policies that supports this distinction, but for having a company culture that enables it to flourish,” said Ken Barrett, Chief Diversity Officer for General Motors.

Sponsored by Working Mother Magazine, General Motors was honored at The National Forum Supporting Hourly Workers in Maclean, VA. GM executives as well as hourly plant workers from Baltimore, Bowling Green and Spring Hill attended the ceremony and hosted media. Media had the opportunity to participate in a Twitter chat with Diana Tremblay, Vice President of GM North America Manufacturing and the chat turned out to be a great success. #GMWorkingMom was trending and reached over 1.1 million people while generating more than 6.5 million impressions.

GM Hourly employees at “The National Forum Supporting Hourly Workers” sponsored by Working Mother Magazine

Recognition as one of the best companies for hourly workers really sets GM apart from other corporations and proves that the company is dedicated to its employees. Be sure to check out the 2013 Working Mother “Best Companies for Hourly Workers” 2013 Executive Summary here.

GM Facebook Page Fan of the Week: 2010 2SS Camaro

May 3, 2013

This week, the General Motors Facebook Fan of the week was Nathalie Roy Gaston Pelletier and his 2010 2SS Camaro!

“We were trying to find a 69 Camaro and never had any luck finding one. One day, we passed by a Chevrolet dealer in Gatineau, Quebec and saw this amazing Camaro in the lot and we fell in love with it right away. When we purchased the car we only made minor adjustments – the car had a red stripe on the hood and we had the color changed to orange stripes. We also painted the wheels (white outside and orange inside).

Since we have had this car we have met many other Camaro enthusiasts and made some wonderful friends. Everytime we take our camaro out on town we get many compliments on how beautiful it is.”

Would you like to be featured as the GM Facebook Fan Photo of the Week? Head over to the GM Facebook page and share your photo with us!

Cadillac CUE, Making the Most of Industry-Leading Technology

May 1, 2013

There are many vehicle infotainment systems on the market today but Cadillac is setting a luxurious standard with its industry-leading technology. The Cadillac User Experience (CUE) debuted last year in the XTS and ATS luxury sedans and SRX luxury crossover.

Unlike other in-vehicle user systems, CUE is designed to reduce complexity and be unique to each driver, from the “simple user” to the fully connected “super user”. For example, most of today’s luxury cars have around 20 buttons controlling the radio and entertainment functions. CUE reduces that to just four buttons.

You’ll immediately feel comfortable with CUE’s design because its home page resembles your smart phone or tablet screen and functions like them with the familiar click-and-drag functions. Along with its clean, uncluttered design, CUE provides Natural Voice Recognition and responsive touch-screen technology. Similar to many smart phones and tablets, CUE is mostly computer-driven so drivers can update their system to get the latest offerings no matter how old their Cadillac is.

CUE’s app-like approach to accessing a vehicle’s traditional features allow for settings to be tailored to specific tastes, also known as “favorites”. Users can save their favorite locations, phone numbers, or customize and save radio tone settings for a personalized music listening experience. CUE interaction designer Cody Hansen discovered this technology comes in handy when you have a sleeping child in the vehicle.

“I’ve used this feature to create a “baby mode”,” Hansen said. “I set the fade all the way to the front and turned down the bass so it won’t wake my daughter when she’s napping. When she wakes up and wants to hear music, I just tap my “regular” favorite and all my settings go back to normal.”

Another benefit, there’s no hassle when it comes to the navigation system. With CUE, users can manually or verbally input the entire destination address on one screen, which saves time and keeps drivers focused on the road. In some cases, the driver can input the partial address and CUE will help fill in the rest. Engineers even addressed security concerns in the development process.

“With ‘Valet Mode’, users can enter a four-digit pin and lock access to the center stack, steering wheel controls, and the storage cubby behind the center stack,” said Hansen.

CUE is elegantly displayed on an 8-inch LCD touch screen, seamlessly integrated into the top of the central instrument panel. A motorized capacitive faceplate is below, concealing a 1.8L storage area.

General Motors Shanghai Auto Show Roundup – Mary Barra

April 29, 2013

Last year, China’s vehicle market, the world’s largest, reached a record 19.4 million units. Analysts expect China sales to grow another 7-8 percent in 2013, and to continue growing strongly for many years to come.

At GM, we and our joint-venture partners are capitalizing on this growth by introducing 60 new models or major upgrades in China between 2011 and 2015, including 17 this year alone.

At the 2013 Shanghai Auto Show, which runs through the end of April, we’re showcasing our strong product pipeline by displaying a record 53 production and concept vehicles under six brands: Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, Opel, Baojun and Jiefang. Products range from small cars to luxury passenger vehicles to light-duty trucks.

One of the products on display is the new Buick Riviera concept vehicle, which is making its global debut at the Shanghai show. Designed jointly by GM’s Shanghai GM and Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) joint ventures, the Riviera concept offers a preview of Buick’s future design trends and a range of advanced technologies, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicle propulsion.

Among the vehicles making their debut for sale in China are the Chevrolet Cruze hatchback and Cadillac Escalade ESV.

The Chevrolet Cruze hatchback complements the Cruze sedan, which is one of the most popular Chevrolet models we offer in China. The hatchback is a great example of how we’re using our assets as a global company to serve customers in multiple markets.

The Cadillac Escalade ESV is one of 10 Cadillac models on display in Shanghai. Also on display are the new locally produced XTS featuring the revolutionary Cadillac User Experience, as well as the refreshed SRX luxury SUV, which is Cadillac’s best-selling model in China. Our plans are to bring Cadillac’s entire global portfolio to China, adding one locally produced model per year through 2016.

We’re also showcasing three new Opel models that are coming to China this year: the Zafira Tourer, Astra GTC and the newly launched Insignia Sports Tourer, which will go on sale nationwide early next month. Opel is also displaying its most popular model in the China market, the Antara SUV.

Opel Antara

From the Baojun passenger car brand, we’re showcasing the new 2013 Baojun 630, featuring dynamic design, a spacious interior and great performance, as well as the Lechi, a high-performance mini-car that joined the brand’s lineup in 2012.

Baojun 630

Finally, the Jiefang brand is displaying two new additions to its growing light-duty truck family: the new Jiefang S230 and Jiefang F330. Both models go on sale in China later this year.

Going forward, we are focusing on two of the fastest-growing mainstream segments in China, luxury vehicles and SUVs. GM currently offers five SUVs in China: the Buick Encore and Enclave, Cadillac SRX and Escalade, and Chevrolet Captiva. We plan to introduce another nine new or refreshed SUVs in China within the next five years.

GM has been the sales leader among global automakers in China for the past eight consecutive years. Coincidentally, we sold our millionth vehicle in China during the Shanghai Show. Last year, we reached the one-million milestone on May 7. This year, we hit it two weeks earlier and the fastest in our history.

GM and its joint-venture partners have enjoyed remarkable success in China in recent years. At Auto Shanghai 2013, we’ve made it clear that we intend to continue our journey and remain a leader in China for years to come.

Mary Barra was named Senior Vice President, Global Product Development effective February 1, 2011, responsible for the design, engineering, program management and quality for General Motors’ vehicles around the world. She is a member of the Executive Operations Committee and serves on the Adam Opel AG Supervisory Board.

Chevrolet Cruze Diesel: Why Diesel? Why Now? – Cristi Landy

April 26, 2013

Here at Chevrolet, we are always looking for new ways to meet our customers’ needs. This spring, Chevrolet is introducing our Chevy Cruze with a 2.0L turbo diesel engine—offering a domestic diesel option in the non-luxury car segment as well as viable solution to the need for increased MPG without sacrificing performance. In addition, the engine on the Cruze diesel is one of the cleanest turbo engines General Motors has ever produced.

We’ve seen that diesels are still a niche market for cars, but there is a lot of growth currently happening here in the U.S., and many customers are extremely enthusiastic about diesel. Specifically, we chose to offer the Cruze in North America because we have already seen success with a similar vehicle in Europe. Here in the US, diesel passenger car buyers are limited- we hope to bring new people into the brand by offering a refined and well contented option.

Customers will also be able to tell the difference in performance when they get behind the wheel—it definitely has a different character than the traditional gas engine. The diesel has more torque and better acceleration while maintaining a smooth and quiet ride at highway speeds. People who love a powerful engine will definitely like driving the Cruze diesel—it really is a great reliable and durable technology and quite frankly, is fun to drive.

What’s great about the diesel is that it offers great highway fuel economy, power and torque. So it’s a fantastic option for those who want hybrid-like fuel economy and range without sacrificing performance.

The Cruze Diesel will eventually be available nationwide, but we will start by selling it in 13 key markets where diesel vehicles have already had high sales. We’re happy to offer the Cruze diesel and know we have an enthusiastic group of customers eager to drive one.

We are certainly excited about the entry of the Cruze and think it is going to continue to bring in new customers to the brand. With more than half of all diesel purchases occurring in the passenger car segment, diesel is becoming more popular. We are pleased to be the first domestic passenger car diesel available in the US – and eager to become a leader in the segment.

Cristi Landy is the product marketing director for Chevrolet small cars, which currently include the Volt, Cruze, Sonic and Spark. Landy joined General Motors in 1989 as a product engineer for Saturn. Throughout her career, she has held a variety of positions in engineering, marketing and program management.