Interestingly, GM will do better out of the grip of American Unions:

Buffalo News, GM breaks ground for car plant in Russia ; Plant will produce Chevrolet Captiva SUVs

GM breaks ground on plant in St. Petersburg, RussiaST. PETERSBURG, Russia - General Motors Corp., the world's biggest automaker, broke ground on its first fully owned plant in Russia on Tuesday, accelerating the rush by foreign automakers to take advantage of the fast-growing, oil-rich country's burgeoning car market.

Rick Wagoner, GM's chairman and chief executive officer, and St. Petersburg Gov. Valentina Matviyenko stuck spades through a hole in the floor of a blue-and-white tent and shoveled dirt at the site of the new plant in a sandy field in Shushary, on the southern outskirts of St. Petersburg.

"While St. Petersburg is sometimes called the Venice of the North, I think the governor and I agree it may soon be called the Detroit of the North," Wagoner said.

Hopefully not like Detroit at all.

GM Inside News Forum, Opel, Suzuki to develop small car

TOKYO, June 13 (Reuters) - Japanese compact car maker Suzuki Motor Corp and General Motors Corp's Opel division are working together to develop another small car but have not yet decided where to build it, GM said on Tuesday.

The partners collaborated on a city car sold since 2000 as both the Opel Agila and the Suzuki Wagon R+, which are built in Europe at a GM plant in Poland and Suzuki's factory in Hungary.

"We are working on a next generation of that vehicle but we haven't decided yet with Suzuki what will be the home plant for that," a GM Europe spokesman said.

"Whether we do it all in one plant, whether we share it is up in the air."

Obviously it can never be built where there is Union labor.

Related:

The 12.5 million facts union leaders do not want you to know

Here is an unpublished post of mine from Jan 26:

Staff leave a General Motors plant in Oshawa,
Canada, after hearing of the job cuts
Photo Credit: The Age

New York Times, G.M. Reports Big Losses as Its Woes Grow

The General Motors Corporation said this morning that losses in its North American automotive business topped $5 billion last year as sales of sport utility vehicles continued to fall and advertising and health expenses rose.

Let’s look at this last line, "as sales of sport utility vehicles continued to fall and advertising and health expenses rose.” The story leaves out the cause of all of this: Sales are down because they cannot price their vehicles against Japanese competitors whose labor and supplier costs are much lower. GM is stuck with Union labor and suppliers who use Union labor.

You may say, "Hey Bernie, how are they supposed to compete against foreign manufacturers whose government probably subsidizes them?” Well here’s a news flash for you: GM’s toughest competition these days is not from Japan, but from Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina and the other states where foreign-owned auto companies have established production facilities.

And why are they tough competition? Because most foreign-owned auto plants in the United States are non-unionized. NON-UNIONIZED. Say that three times trippingly on the tongue.

Advertising expenses are high because GM’s higher prices require more "Selling Pressure”. Japanese cars sell by word of mouth because they give more value for the buck. They give more value because they're not saddled with legacy health-care, wages and no-work employees.

Health-care costs alone impose an average cost of $1,500 per GM vehicle. Unlike most U.S. private-sector workers, GM’s unionized workers do not pay deductibles on their health coverage. According to the Union contract in force until 2007, GM’s hourly workers pay a measly 7 % of their total health-care costs while the average U.S. salaried worker pays 30%.

UAW members are guaranteed a traditional "30 years and out" provision, meaning that many retirees begin drawing full pensions in their early Fifties, burdening GM and FORD with unrivaled legacy costs.

"But didn’t high gas prices greatly reduce big car sales?” you ask. Hardly. Makers of alternate fuel vehicles cannot manufacture enough to significantly affect the market yet. Eventually higher gas prices will kill GM altogether if it can’t start making fuel efficient vehicles. But for now the only problem is UNIONS, UNIONS, and UNIONS.

Nature has a way of taking care of parasitic organisms that completely consume their hosts. They die. So let's let the Unions die. The best thing for America is for GM and Ford to close up altogether. Yes, certainly, close up shop. Disband both companies. Am I worried about America "losing its manufacturing base"? Not at all. We manufacture more cars now than 20 years ago thanks to foreigners opening up non-union shops here in this country.

And without GM and Ford funding the UAW it can also die. You may ask what about all those poor auto workers who milked the American public these past 30 years? I say Screw ‘em. They got it coming. They’ve been making 70% more than other factory workers all this time. Now it’s payback. They've choked the life out of our biggest industries.

The only way America can survive as an industrial power is to clean out all of our industries that have a Union in them and start fresh.

Notes

(1):

Chicago Tribune, 16 Jun 2006, GM, Delphi buyout offer draws 33,500 so far

The United Auto Workers union said on Thursday that 25,000 General Motors Corp. and 8,500 Delphi Corp workers have accepted buyout offers.

"I think it's going pretty well," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said at a press conference. "I think it's a little better than initially expected."

Gettelfinger, reelected to a second four-year term this week, said resolving the Delphi issue is "critical to our union. We want to anything in our power to get this matter resolved."