plus 4, WSJ: GM offering deep discounts on Saturn, Pontiac - YAHOO!

WSJ: GM offering deep discounts on Saturn, Pontiac - YAHOO!
NEW YORK - Asbury Park Press
General Motors looks to sell remaining Saturn, Pontiac vehicles with ... - Chicago Tribune
Former employee: Seagate took Convolve technology - Miami Herald
Indian Super-Compact Car Sales Pass Japan - Denver Channel

WSJ: GM offering deep discounts on Saturn, Pontiac - YAHOO!

Posted: 29 Dec 2009 08:00 AM PST

NEW YORK – General Motors Co. is offering deep discounts on its remaining Saturn and Pontiac vehicles as it looks to move the leftover inventory of the soon-to-be-dead brands, according to a published report.

The automaker will pay dealers $7,000 for every new Saturn or Pontiac left on their lot if the vehicle is moved to dealer-operated rental or service fleets, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited a letter mailed to dealers. This allows the dealers to sell the cars and trucks to consumers at a discount, although the vehicles would be labeled as used because the dealer would technically be the first owner.

The offer expires Jan. 4, according to the newspaper. GM spokesman Tom Henderson confirmed the details of the incentive plan Tuesday.

"That was the purpose of the programs — to help dealers reduce those inventories," he said.

The decision to discount Saturns and Pontiacs comes as GM closes down both brands under the Detroit automaker's restructuring plan. The shutdown of Pontiac was announced earlier in the year. GM announced this fall it would discontinue Saturn after a deal collapsed to sell the brand to Penske Automotive Group Inc.

Besides Pontiac and Saturn, GM is selling Hummer to a Chinese heavy equipment maker and is likely shuttering Swedish brand Saab. That will leave the automaker with four core brands: Buick, Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac.

Sales of Saturn and Pontiac have declined sharply this year. Saturn sales have plunged 61.5 percent through November, according to Autodata Corp. Pontiac sales have slid 32.3 percent. GM's companywide decline is 31.8 percent.

With a $7,000 discount, the manufacturer's suggested price of Pontiac's cheapest vehicle, the G3 hatchback, falls to $7,335. The incentive brings Saturn's cheapest vehicle, the Astra compact car, to $9,495. Henderson, however, cautioned that the final price of the vehicles might be different.

GM's typical offers discounts that are much smaller. According to the auto research Web site Edmunds.com, GM's incentive spending in November totaled $4,270 per vehicle, on average.

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NEW YORK - Asbury Park Press

Posted: 29 Dec 2009 08:07 AM PST

General Motors Co. is offering deep discounts on its remaining Saturn and Pontiac vehicles as it looks to move the leftover inventory of the soon-to-be-dead brands, according to a published report.

The automaker will pay dealers $7,000 for every new Saturn or Pontiac left on their
lot if the vehicle is moved to dealer-operated rental or service fleets, according to
The Wall Street Journal, which cited a letter mailed to dealers. This allows the dealers to sell the cars and trucks to consumers at a discount, although the vehicles would be labeled as used because the dealer would technically be the first owner.

The offer expires Jan. 4, according to the newspaper. GM spokesman Tom Henderson confirmed the details of the incentive plan Tuesday.

"That was the purpose of the programs — to help dealers reduce those inventories," he said.

Sales of Saturn and Pontiac have declined sharply this year. Saturn sales have
plunged 61.5 percent through November, according to Autodata Corp. Pontiac sales have slid 32.3 percent. GM's companywide decline is 31.8 percent.

With a $7,000 discount, the manufacturer's suggested price of Pontiac's cheapest
vehicle, the G3 hatchback, falls to $7,335. The incentive brings Saturn's cheapest
vehicle, the Astra compact car, to $9,495. Henderson, however, cautioned that the final price of the vehicles might be different.

GM's typical offers discounts that are much smaller. According to the auto research
Web site Edmunds.com, GM's incentive spending in November totaled $4,270 per vehicle, on average.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

General Motors looks to sell remaining Saturn, Pontiac vehicles with ... - Chicago Tribune

Posted: 29 Dec 2009 08:00 AM PST

FILE - In this Feb. 19, 2009 file photo, 2009 Saturn automobiles sit at a lot in San Antonio. General Motors Co. is offering deep discounts on its remaining Saturn and Pontiac vehicles as it looks to move the leftover inventory of the soon-to-be-dead brands, according to a published report. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, file) (Eric Gay, AP / February 19, 2009)

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Former employee: Seagate took Convolve technology - Miami Herald

Posted: 29 Dec 2009 08:07 AM PST

NEW YORK -- A former Seagate Technology employee says the company improperly used technology gleaned from Convolve Inc. and tried to cover up evidence of it after Convolve sued, according to a filing made in the case.

The two companies have sparred in court for nearly a decade over allegations that Seagate and Compaq Computer stole Convolve technology that improves the performance and cuts the noise level of hard drives.

In a court filing dated Nov. 30 and reported Tuesday by The New York Times, Convolve asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to include a sworn affidavit from Paul Galloway, a former Seagate engineer.

The filing says Galloway provided eyewitness evidence that Seagate, the world's largest hard drive maker, spread information about Convolve technology among its engineers in violation of a nondisclosure agreement between the companies. According to court filings, the companies had met in 1998 to discuss technology developed by Convolve and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under an agreement that Seagate would not use what it learned in its own products.

According to the filing, Galloway claims Seagate's management never told him about the agreement, and that technologies Seagate claims to have developed on its own were "influenced by Convolve's technology."

The filing says Galloway also provides evidence that Seagate destroyed computer code for a disk drive it had to produce as evidence in the case, failed to hold on to Galloway's personal computer with files related to his work and either withheld or destroyed records of meetings between engineers working on the technology.

The filing says Galloway worked at Seagate until July 2009 and contacted Convolve's lawyers after his employment there ended.

Seagate, based in Scotts Valley, Calif., did not immediately return calls requesting comment on the filing Tuesday.

The company's shares slipped 7 cents to $17.90 in premarket trading.

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Indian Super-Compact Car Sales Pass Japan - Denver Channel

Posted: 29 Dec 2009 07:24 AM PST

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