There have been ten new publications added to the Forum. The first article can be found in UAW national, regional and local specific topics portion and comes from the Factory Rat website. It reports that J.D. Norman appealed to members of UAW local 23 on Tuesday to allow a vote on a proposed contract that would keep the GM Indy stamping plant open. The appeal, issued in an advertisement in Tuesday’s Indianapolis Star, signals that Norman is not giving up on efforts to acquire the plant, despite the local’s refusal to bring the contract to a vote.

One new post has been placed in the Delphi, Visteon and American Axle section. The article is a release from the Associated Press telling that a Delaware bankruptcy judge has told auto parts supplier Visteon Corp. that it must restore health and life insurance benefits for thousands of retirees. This is great news for retirees and just goes to show that there is always hope in the face of adversity.

Six new posts have been added under the GM, Ford and Chrysler tab. The first article comes from the Detroit News reporting that Chrysler Group LLC has started posting photos of its 2011 Dodge Durango that is due out later this year. The second article, also from the Detroit News, states that Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. bucked an industry wide decline in consumer satisfaction, and the automakers’ Lincoln-Mercury and Buick brands were tops with buyers. The third article comes from the Detroit News Washington Bureau. It tells that General Motors Co. said on Tuesday that it is recalling 243,000 crossover vehicles over concerns their second-row safety belts could be defective. The fourth article comes from a Free Press Business Writer. It reports that when the Chevy Volt starts to drive into garages later this year, the chargers that will keep the vehicle’s current flowing will not come from a company in the electronics industry. Instead, Southfield-based automotive seat maker Lear will be the primary supplier of the Volt’s chargers and other key parts on what is expected to be a ground breaking vehicle. The fifth article, also from the DNWB, tells that the South Korean ambassador to the United States will meet with top executives at Ford and Chrysler on Wednesday during a day-long visit to Detroit to discuss a contentious free trade agreement. Last month, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the government is pushing for changes to make it easier for U.S. automakers to compete in Korea, which has been called the most closed markets in the world for imports. This is a no-brainer; if Korea doesn’t want us in there, we don’t want them in here. The sixth article states that Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Toledo on Monday to visit the Chrysler Group LLC’s Toledo Supplier Park to talk about the economy.

One new post has been entered into the Open Discussion section of the Forum and comes from the New York Times. The article tells that as automotive earth saviors go, electric cars and hybrids are widely presumed to be the chosen ones. But as carmakers and consumers seek real, affordable gains in miles-per-gallon, it will be the 4-cylinder combustion engine that will take them there, far more than electrics or hybrids, which are years away from selling in numbers that would rein in the nation’s appetite for oil.

One new post has been placed in the Opinion category and comes from the Detroit News. It reports that in hurrying to project leadership stability in General Motors ahead of an initial public offering filing, the automaker risks more turmoil among the insiders who will have seen four CEOs in less than two years. Come Sept. 1^st, Ed “old coot” Whitacre will be out and Daniel “melon head” Akerson will be in. I have always said that old coot Ed had something up his sleeve and in a lot of his decisions during his tenure as CEO of GM have proven that to be true. He got a lot of his old cronies, from the telecommunication sector, positions in GM, said he would never take the CEO job on a full-time basis, and did, and so many more decisions that benefited him, just to name a few. Remember the passing out of stock to top executives, when there are really none yet? For the old coot to bail just before an IPO filing and let melon head take over means that Ed knows something that is yet to be seen.