GM said that the shift lever and transmission gear’s position may not match up, causing the vehicle to be put into the wrong gear, even though it says it’s the right gear.

Affected vehicles are all 2009 model year Buick Enclave; Chevrolet Cobalt, HHR, Malibu and Traverse; Pontiac G5 and G6; Saturn Aura and Outlook and GMC Acadia.

Only 75,000 of the potentially malfunctioning vehicles have been delivered to customers and the rest are on dealers lots. No injuries have been reported in connection with the recall.

Terms of GM’s $13.4-billion federal loan require the automaker to push the union to accept half the money owed to the fund in company stock instead of cash. The automaker must also restructure its debt with bondholders.

The labor concessions were needed by GM in order to keep US Treasury Loans.

GM has been to the public trough multiple times recently, and expects to go back again soon. They say they need an additional $2 billion by month’s end to avoid bankruptcy.

The labor union said they’ll announce details of the new accord at a press conference scheduled for Noon Eastern Standard Time in Toronto.

The CAW represents approximately 10,000 workers who will vote on the agreement Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

As part of the new deal, the CAW vowed to help GM cut costs that it needs to as part of an arrangement with the government.

GM stock is currently selling for $1.45 a share on concerns that the company won’t be able to continue as a “going concern.” The company has already received billions of dollars in government funds and is currently seeking more.

GM has announced a decline in sales, cuts to production, and massive layoffs as part of a restructuring they’re attempting to “stay alive.”

“The corporation’s recurring losses from operations, stockholders’ deficit, and inability to generate sufficient cash flow to meet its obligations and sustain its operations raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern,” auditors for Deloitte & Touche wrote in the annual report.

General Motors has already received cash from the US government and have currently petitioned for $13 billion more dollars. But without a rebound in demand for new cars and without the improved health of the auto loan industry, it looks unlikely that they can be restored to profitability.

Right now more questions than answers exist concerning GM’s future.

Wagoner spoke with USA Today. Despite his embattled status as CEO of GM during the worst time in their 200 year history, he expects an imminent improvement.

Wagoner looks at the sunny side of things

“We just need to get the storm over, and we’re about ready to go,” he said.

One of the biggest problems facing General Motors in the past few years is car buyers aren’t interested in buying a car from a failing manufacturer. After all, what good is a warranty if the company isn’t around to honor it? Add in the fact that many consumers are having a tougher time getting credit than at any point in the past, and you can understand a bit why the company has had such poor sales.

With share prices at $2.74 a share, there are plenty of people who doubt GM’s eventual success. Even Wagoner admits it’s tough being him these days.

He described a recent run in with a customer at the Detroit airport.

“Normally, when people chase me around and say, ‘Are you Rick Wagoner?’ I say, ‘No,’ and run the other way,” Wagoner said. “But I had to stick around and get my baggage.”

Luckily for him, the lady confronting him was a happy customer who recently bought a GMAC Arcadia SUV and really loved it.

“It was terrific,” Wagoner says. “Having been through what we’ve been through in the last year, I think I’d like to be here when things get turned around.”

In order to continue on the sunny side of the street, GM will need to see more credit flowing through the system and they’ll have to shake the image that they’re literally knocking on death’s door. If customers believe the company will be around, and they’re building good cars, they stand a chance.

GM’s vehicle sales in China rose 6.1% to 1,094,561 units, a record, but growth declined from 19% in 2007 and 32% in 2006 because of a weakening local auto industry and GM’s aging models, analysts said. The company sold 1,031,974 units in China in 2007, the most of any auto maker in the country.

The company is counting on the introduction of new models in 2009 to help reduce the bleeding. The company plans on introducing four of five new products in 2009.

Of course the Chinese economy is also slowing down enormously, right along with the rest of the industrialized world, so times might be tougher this year than last.

Sales dropped 48 percent from a year earlier at Chrysler, 41 percent at GM and 33 percent at Ford Motor Co., based on the average estimates of six analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Toyota Motor Corp. may report a 40 percent slide and Honda Motor Co. may say its total was down 36 percent, Brian Johnson, a Barclays Capital analyst in New York, said in a Dec. 31 note to investors.

Auto sales tumbled more than 25 percent each month since September as the credit crunch reduced access to loans and consumer confidence fell amid a weakening economy. With demand for large pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles damped earlier this year by record fuel prices, analysts expect an annual total of slightly more than 13 million autos, the fewest in 16 years.

Analysts are content in blaming consumers for the decline. Consumers are facing a double whammy: they’re facing high unemployment and limited credit. Now that GM and its’ financing arm GMAC have both received massive cash infusions in the last few days, that could change.

Expect huge incentives to get customers to buy

One way to encourage credit worth buyers into purchasing cars will be the use of incentives. There’s already some signs that this approach helped increase sales in the last few days of December.

0% financing for up to 60 months

0% APR for 60 months on the 2008 Chevy TrailBlazer, GMC Envoy, and the entire Saab lineup has already been announced. If that seems like it’s because those are all models that aren’t moving otherwise, you’re right. But right now, no models have been moving.

GM was down 41% in sales in December 2008.

The car is a crossover-SUV, a class of automobiles that hasn’t had the sales traction expected when they were initially released. GM is hoping that people who are more interested in fuel efficiency will be interested in these models because they’re big cars, but not as bad at guzzling gas as prior models.

The 2010 Equinox offers direct-injection engines. GM said the 2.4-liter, four-cylinder model is expected to get 30 miles per gallon on the highway and 21 mpg in the city — a 25% improvement over the previous model. A 3.0-liter, six-cylinder engine increases horsepower from 182 to 255 and gets an estimated 25 mpg on the highway and 18 mpg in the city.

The current version of the Equinox, with its 3.4-liter six-cylinder engine, gets 24 mpg on the highway and up to 17 in the city, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates.

GM says the vehicle offers a number of new innovations that improve overall fuel efficiency, including an improved electronic power steering system. The car also features a direct injection engine, which the company plans on offering in 38 models by 2010. That contrasts to the mere 18 models using direct-injection engines in 2008.

The Chevrolet Cruze will be going on sale in Paris in Spring of 2009 and the car is an attempt by General Motors to launch a car line with global appeal.

On sale here next spring, the Cruze is the first of Chevrolet’s new wave of truly global products. Its four-door coupe-like profile raises the bar in terms of styling in the value compact car segment, while Chevrolet’s distinctive double-decker grille and concave shoulder line further illustrate the focus on styling.

Inside, Cruze features a driver-friendly twin-cockpit interior layout, with high quality materials and smart blue-backlit dials giving it an upmarket feel that buyers wouldn’t necessarily expect from a value brand.

The Irish specification could feature a range of 1.6 or 1.8-litre petrol engines, or a common-rail 2.0-litre diesel.

Chevrolet’s first entry into the European seven-seat compact MPV market, the Orlando promises rugged styling, dynamic ride and handling, a high quality interior and a practical seven-seat ‘theatre-style’ seating layout that offers fantastic levels of practicality.

The Chevrolet Cruze will be a legitimate attempt by GM to capture more of the European market. Europeans, much like people all over the world, are currently in the market for stylish but fuel efficient cars.

The plant in Flint is scheduled to open in two years.

The Cruze, about the size of a Ford Focus, will have one of the smallest engines on the market. But Stephens said the 1.4-liter turbo will deliver the performance of a larger engine. Honeywell Transportation Systems will supply the turbochargers.
The two Flint engines are part of a family of small four-cylinders GM has built around the world in varying sizes since 1997. The smallest is 1.0 liter. GM has no plans to launch that engine in a North American product. The 1.4-liter Flint engines are a new size that, so far, will be unique to North America.
By 2011, Stephens predicted, one-third of GM’s North American engines will have four cylinders.

GM is using a fuel efficient manufacturing strategy as the central point of their attempted rebound. High tech 1.4 liter engines seem to be at the heart of the matter.