Several dozen angry United Auto Workers union members marched with pickets outside the Detroit auto show on Sunday, protesting the givebacks the Bush administration is trying to squeeze from them in return for bailout funds needed by General Motors and Chrysler.

The $17.4 billion federal bailout of GM and Chrysler announced in December includes concessions aimed at the UAW, including lowering union wages and benefits to the same level as foreign carmakers’ U.S. plants by December 2009, and eliminating the jobs bank, in which idled workers receive pay and benefits. 

The group of some 50 or more workers marched up and down outside the conference center in chilly but sunny weather, chanting such slogans as “Bush says cut back, we say fight back” and holding signs including “No millionaire left behind” and “Out of a job yet? Keep buying foreign.”

The UAW, which made landmark givebacks on wages and health benefits in its 2007 negotiations with the companies, has called the conditions attached to the loans unfair and promised to work with the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama to have them removed from the loan agreements. GM officials said talks with the UAW about further concessions has begun.

“The concessions that Bush wants us to make are just a slap in our faces,” said Tammy Jones, a furnace worker at Chrysler’s Hamtramck axle plant in Detroit.

(Photo/Reuters)

Reuters sat down with David Champion, senior director for automotive testing at Consumer Reports magazine, at the Detroit auto show. Some highlights:

Q: What is your opinion about the U.S. automakers and where they stand on vehicle quality?

– GM

“They’ve done extremely well in designing and building really interesting products that really test well and really hit the market where the customers are buying. They have the product. Unfortunately, they don’t have the reliability. In today’s day and age, you really need everything to succeed.” 

– Ford

“Ford has done really well in terms of building reliable vehicles. It’s not a flash in the pan. It’s a sustained improvement. You get to today … a Ford Fusion is more reliable than a Toyota Camry, yet the Camry you think is the poster child for reliability.”

“The problem with Ford is that their interiors, their exterior styling is not really exciting the public to get them to go into the showroom, to go and buy one. They’ve really missed the boat in many ways. They really need to get more excitement in their product.”

 

– Chrysler

“Unfortunately, their current model mix is recently redesigned and it’s all poor in terms of our testing. Their interiors are appalling. Probably their best vehicle currently is the 300, which is probably the longest in the tooth of any of their products.”

 

Q: What role does public perception play in the problems of the U.S. automakers?

“You reap what you sow. If you were at GM, Ford and Chrysler in the ’80s and early ’90s, their vehicles were appalling in terms of product quality. Somebody that goes out and has bought one of those vehicles — bought it, had horrendous problems with it, sold it — they’re not going to buy anything from that manufacturer again. One model can kill a manufacturer in many ways.”

“You’ve got to build your brand from the bottom up. You can’t start it with Cadillac and hope that it comes down because you’re never going to get anyone to the Cadillac in the first place. You’ve got to build your Aveos, Cobalts (well).”

 

Q: What do younger buyers want from automakers?    

“The old thought that young kids are going to want performance and sports cars and things like that I think has gone. They want green technology. They want funky and roomy.”

(Photo/Consumer Reports)

South Korea’s Hyundai is counting on Genasis to be the start of something new. The Genasis, described by Edmunds.com as a “game changer,” won the North American car of the year award at the Detroit auto show, edging the Ford Flex 189 votes to 180. 

Hyundai is counting on the Genasis as a “halo” car to lure more affluent buyers. Hyundai’s victory was the first in the award’s 16-year history for a Korean automaker.

One judge, Matt DeLorenzo of Road & Track magazine, said:

“Hyundai Genesis shows that Korean automakers have come of age. Great fit and finish, high quality interior and smooth plush ride gives the Genasis the look and feel of a much more expensive automobile. “

Ford’s F-150 pickup (left) won truck of the year, easily beating Chrysler’s Dodge Ram pickup.

Automakers typically use the awards to market their vehicles, although General Motors’ recent success has not helped the U.S. automaker avoid the pain that declining demand in America has inflicted on the sector. GM won car of the year for its Chevy Malibu last year and took both awards at the 2007 show.

The U.S. auto industry experienced its worst sales in 16 years last year with demand off 18 percent to just over 13 million vehicles.  Hyundai and Ford sales were off 14 percent and 20.1 percent, respectively.

(Photo/Reuters)

Whither Kid Rock? Where have you gone, Chef Bobby Flay?

With automakers struggling with the worst U.S. sales in 16 years, production cuts are also extreme for what used to be the industry’s biggest coming out party for the U.S. market — the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. What was once THE U.S. show to unveil the latest flashy cars is now a place where industry officials speculate who will survive and what cuts will be next. It’s all happening during the media preview days Sunday through Wednesday.

General Motors and Chrysler, recent recipients of billions of dollars in bailout funds from U.S. lawmakers, cannot justify spending tends of thousands of dollars on flashy dinners and skits, or stars like Kid Rock (above, from last year) and Eva Longoria, who were guests of the respective U.S. companies in the past.

GM in years past also held a “GM Style” event at which top athletes, actors and musicians like Kid Rock and Jennifer Hudson appeared to help show off the automaker’s cars and trucks. Chrysler earned a reputation for flashiness over the years with the use of suck gimmicks as the herd of cattle at last year’s Dodge Ram pickup truck introduction. The automaker, whose future survival is now regularly questioned, also has used such stars as Flay and Longoria.

Among the automakers that will not even have booths at the media preview days at this year’s show are Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, Land Rover, Porsche, Ferrari and Mitsubishi. Japan’s Honda is in Detroit, but is not holding any press conferences.

One positive with all the new elbow room is automakers consigned in the past to the smaller, lower floor at the convention center in Detroit now get to move up and see what all the fuss was about. Hello China’s Brilliance Auto!

When asked about the Detroit show’s future, independent auto consultant Erich Merkle said:

“Auto shows are like pizza to me. I’ve never had a bad one. I’ve had some that are not as good, but I’ve never had a bad pizza and I’ve never had a bad auto show.”

(Photo/Reuters)