And next year, GM will introduce its next-generation Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.
Instead of duplicating engineering work from one country to the next, GM's worldwide units now share basic components and work together to design vehicles that with a few tweaks can be sold anywhere in the world.
Next week, GM is expected to have a recommendation ready on which bid to accept.
Next week, GM will be halting production of the Volt for the second time this year at its Detroit-Hamtramck, Mich.
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So next month, GM will shut down for a week the factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where the sports car is made.
Are fans of Dinosaur Feathers the next generation of GM die-hards?
Next-generation GM crops could boost food grown, cut pesticide use, make crops more resistant to droughts like the one that crushed the US corn crop last year, even create crops that fertilize themselves from the air.
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Nor is GM "next in line": It announced on Sept. 4 that it is no longer pursuing Daewoo.
Fiat also has an option to sell the remaining 80% of Fiat Auto to GM from next year.
The next great hope for GM is a portfolio of redesigned large SUVs such as the Chevy Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade, due to go on sale early next year.
Toyota, which is scheduled to release first-quarter numbers next week, dethroned GM to retake the top spot in 2012, a year in which VW posted record sales and came within 190, 000 vehicles of beating GM.
Due diligence for Genii and agreements with GM over intellectual property rights (since Saab has new models coming out over the next few years that depend on GM's technology) will take time to overcome, but time seems to be "something GM does not want to take, " said Fletcher.
But GM says the next-generation technology could power rear-wheel-drive cars as well, such as the Cadillac XTS concept car, which was on display at the recent Detroit auto show.
One example is a breakthrough agreement between the UAW and GM that will allow GM to build the next-generation Chevrolet Aveo compact profitably in the United States.
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My assumptions are auto sales next year run around 13 million units and that GM holds market share.
General Motors ' (nyse: GM - news - people ) next Chevy Cavalier may be renamed Cobalt, according to Automotive News.
But if Wagoner is right, and consumers are still foaming at the mouth for new SUVs, next year and 2007 could bring a dramatic turnaround to GM and save Wagoner's career.
Or perhaps GM expects to return cap in hand some time next year, but is reluctant to admit it.
Mr. WEBSTER: It's hard to see if the economy doesn't turn around next year how they will be able to - Ford, GM or Chrysler - be able to not lay off more workers.
On Monday, GM announced it would cut 21, 000 jobs by next year and eliminate its Pontiac line.
The Volt goes on sale before the end of the year, and GM expects to sell 40, 000 per year starting next year.
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Simply put, GM is poised to make a lot of money over the next decade.
GM's new big sport utilities are just arriving, and next fall there will be new pickups.
Volkswagen followed the next year with its joint venture in Shanghai, and General Motors established Shanghai GM in 1997.
Make no mistake, Bluhm said: GM remains committed to building a Cruze diesel in Lordstown beginning sometime next year.
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"We took a player we coveted quite a bit, " Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland said of the player he hopes could be the next Jason Taylor.
It seems more likely that GM expects to be coming back, cap in hand, some time next year, but is reluctant to admit it.
Speedier development is important because most of GM's engines and transmissions will have to be new within the next few years due to stricter government carbon dioxide pollution and fuel economy regulations, Winegarden said.
October sales are said to be very weak for GM and for the industry, and forecasters say this weakness could continue into next year.
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