Malcho emphasized all trucks are still being built, something GM has repeatedly stressed it would try to protect as pickups are among GM’s most profitable models. She declined to say the volume of vehicles affected.
“By taking this measure, we are better able to meet the strong customer and dealer demand for our full-size trucks as the industry continues to rebound and strengthen,” Malcho wrote in an email.
The change runs through the 2021 model year, which typically ends in late summer or early fall, she said.
Malcho said it would not have a major impact on the Detroit automaker’s U.S. corporate average fuel economy numbers.
“We routinely monitor our fleet for compliance in the U.S. and Canada, and we balance our portfolio in a way that enables us to manage unforeseeable circumstances like this without compromising our overall (greenhouse gas) and fuel economy compliance,” she said.
GM’s fleetwide fuel economy in the 2018 model year was 22.5 miles per gallon and was projected to rise to 22.8 mpg for 2019, according to a report by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Texas moves to cut disputed power fees
Texas senators on Monday approved a bill to cut about $5.1 billion in disputed electricity and services fees levied on power marketers during a winter freeze that sent the state’s power market into financial crisis.
The cold snap last month spurred a power crisis that pushed up electricity costs by nearly 10 times the usual, to about $47 billion. Those costs led three companies to seek bankruptcy and sparked a battle between lawmakers and the state’s power regulator over the handling of the crisis.
The state’s Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure directing the Public Utility Commission chairman and state grid operator Electric Reliability Commission of Texas (ERCOT) to correct 32 hours of emergency prices and rollback service fees. If approved by the state’s House of Representatives, it would go to the governor’s desk for his review.
A PUC spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for comment. PUC Chairman Arthur D’Andrea rejected prior Senate requests, saying he did not have the authority to act.
ERCOT improperly held charges at $9,000 per megawatt hour, about 400 times the usual rate, and its rules allow for pricing errors to be corrected within 55 days, the state’s market adviser last week testified.
On Monday, power marketer Griddy Energy became the third Texas power provider to seek protection from creditors from the storm. It owes creditors $10 million to $50 million and has assets of less than $10 million, according to a filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston.
Gilead Sciences and rival Merck said on Monday they will test a combination of their experimental HIV drugs to develop a long-acting treatment for the infection that affects millions worldwide. As part of the nonexclusive agreement, the companies hope to develop a therapy that allows for less frequent dosing, compared with the current once-daily treatments available to HIV patients.
Blackstone Group and Starwood Capital Group on Monday agreed to buy hotel operator Extended Stay America for $6 billion, the companies said. As bookings plunged across the U.S. hotel industry over the last year because of the pandemic, Extended Stay, which specializes in economy temporary housing for health-care professionals, proved stronger than its peers.
8:30 a.m.: Commerce Department releases retail sales data for February.
