GM and Toyota to end NUMMI joint venture in California

General Motors, which is expecting to complete its bankruptcy trip by August, has said that its 50 percent stake in New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI) with Toyota Motor Corp. will be left behind with other bad assets on their way to liquidations.

GM and Toyota jointly produced the Toyota Corolla and the Pontiac Vibe at NUMMI. The Pontiac Vibe will end production in August.

GM’s Statement Regarding GM’s Ownership Stake in NUMMI:

“As part of its long-term viability plan, General Motors has decided that its ownership stake in the New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (NUMMI) joint venture with Toyota will not be a part of the ‘New GM’. After extensive analysis, GM and Toyota could not reach an agreement on a future product plan that made sense for all parties. Accordingly, NUMMI will end production of vehicles for GM in August, and there are no future GM vehicles planned for the joint venture at this time. Given that, GM believes it is in the best interest of the ‘New GM’ and its stakeholders that we place our ownership interest in NUMMI in ‘Old GM’. We have enjoyed a very positive and beneficial partnership with Toyota for the past 25 years, and we remain open tofuture opportunities of mutual interest.”

Your chance to be among the first to test drive a new Mahindra pickup

Are you holding out for a Mahindra trucks and wondering how they stack up against more established brands? Then you need to head on over to Mahindra's Web site and sign up for some seat time.
Mahindra importer Global Vehicles is all set for a fourth-quarter 2009 launch of their first offerings from India and is taking names for early test drives. From what we can gather from the company's U.S. Web site, they'll be parading around the country soon, giving interested pickup shoppers a spin around the block in its two- or four-door diesel-powered pickup trucks. On the site, there's a lot of bragging about the two-door's seven-foot bed (Toyota's Tacoma has a six-footer), four-year, 60k-mile warranty, six-speed automatic trans, and clean-burning, four-cylinder diesel engine.
No word yet on, well, a lot of things. Like what cities this national tour will be trucking through or even when it will begin. More importantly, the company has said it has 325 dealers lined up, but still hasn't brought up pricing, EPA fuel economy numbers, crash test ratings or an exact date that sales will begin. For now we'll have to make do with the vague "fourth quarter of 2009" and the promise of an early test drive.
[Source: All Cars All the Time]