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Worker at GM plant fired over Camaro photo leak

05/31/2008, 8:00 PM

By Nick Aziz

An electrician working at General Motors’ Oshawa Assembly Plant lost his job this past week after company officials linked him to the leak of several photos showing a prototype Camaro body shell. The photos found their way onto the internet May 22nd and were published by multiple major automotive websites, including Leftlane.

Details of the leak come via a source within the plant, who claims to have intimate knowledge of the controversy. According to our tipster, the employee — who has 28 years seniority — used a camera phone to take pictures of the body to show to his children at home.

Unfortunately for the unidentified employee, friends of his children got ahold of the photos and distributed them on the Web.

It’s not known exactly what the photos depict, but it appears GM might be starting to test the assembly process at the Oshawa, Ontario plant, where the Camaro (and other Zeta-platform variants) will be built.

Full assembly is still months away. GM is expected to do a pilot production run very late this year, in order to work out any last-minute kinks. As previously reported, Monday, February 16, 2009, is the day when mass production will kick off.

(The leaked photos can be seen below. For spy photos and full coverage of this new model, see our 2010 Chevrolet Camaro page.)

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05/31, 8:04 PM

posted by:

Kaizen

Unfortunately, that’s what you get.

05/31, 8:31 PM

posted by:

NoNameDenton1

Break the rules you get the boot, that is what happens

05/31, 8:47 PM

posted by:

Madcapp

If you’re not cheatin’ you’re not tryin’ !!!

05/31, 9:36 PM

posted by:

Syrax

Camaro leak? When, in 2001? Everyone knows that car already.

05/31, 9:40 PM

posted by:

howsmydriving

A lesser discipline would have been more important, especially given this employee’s seniority. As a company, GM sucks but we already knew that.

05/31, 9:41 PM

posted by:

howsmydriving

I meant to say a lesser discipline would have been more appropriate.

05/31, 10:16 PM

posted by:

Jordan

someone should fire bob lutz. he leaks official photos of the camaro in development constantly.

05/31, 10:37 PM

posted by:

NoNameDenton1

It is ok when an exec. “leaks” something, compared to a worker bee

05/31, 11:08 PM

posted by:

olds307

In Soviet Russia, GM plant leaks YOU!!

05/31, 11:31 PM

posted by:

Supermann1

Whats there to leak? This car’s had a gazillion pics out there since what 2003? There will be plenty of “leak” pictures to take later, when the owner takes the car home and it leaks oil all over the garage floor.

06/01, 12:09 AM

posted by:

elviososa

What’s the big deal…this early concept already gave away all the details.

06/01, 3:29 AM

posted by:

sharpie

He could have put GM’s intellectual property at risk. We might have seen the prototype, but none of us have seen the manufacturing process, which could give a company at edge in light of competition. Most mechanics can probably take a car apart and rebuild it, but how to do it on a mass scale with the lowest cost is intellectual property (trade secret) also. By the way, this is not exclusive to GM. You think Toyota or VW would allow something like this to happen at their plants? Substitute GM with your favorite car maker and the results remains the same, so don’t knock GM on this one.

06/01, 8:38 AM

posted by:

FlyingB

olds307–lol; nice.

What I’d like to know is the chain of events that got the photos from his phone into the hands of his kids’ friends. It’s one thing if his phone was stolen, but this is either carelessness, foolishness, or both.

06/01, 11:27 AM

posted by:

howsmydriving

It’s not intellectual property unless it’s copyrighted, trademarked or patented. If there’s a patent on the assembly line machines, that means it’s public knowledge, which wouldn’t justify firing the electrician.

GM makes some awful cars, and some truly great cars too, but they’ve never been a good corporate citizen. Even with Volt, they’re lobbying for some kind of tax incentive. Guess who pays for tax incentives? That’s right — the taxpayers. Do you want to subsidize the Volt?

06/01, 12:09 PM

posted by:

Need4SSpeed

well I guess that was an easy way to cut one more employee for GM…

06/01, 1:10 PM

posted by:

Supermann1

^lol

06/01, 1:36 PM

posted by:

SigmaHyperion

howsmydriving — News Flash: YOU SUBSIDIZE THE PURCHASE OF ALMOST EVERY HYBRID ON THE ROAD. All hybrids get a tax incentive (anywhere from $250 to $12,000 depending on the model) except for the Prius, which did but now has reached a production volume that makes it not eligible.

Bottom line is that these facilities all have strict policies on picture-taking. Whether or not we’ve already seen this vehicle or not makes no difference at all. The rules are the rules. They don’t exist for an employee to determine for themselves whether or not anyone else has already seen that or not.

06/01, 1:39 PM

posted by:

johnnycanuck

Sympathy: you’ll find it in the dictionary between sh*t and syphilis. What a dumbf*ck.

06/01, 1:44 PM

posted by:

bolex

/\ /\ /\ LOL..well, i guess ill just try to appreciate the hell out of these pics if someone lost a job. 28 yrs seniority?! what a dumbazz

06/01, 1:46 PM

posted by:

Scarface03

howsmydriving,
I wouldn’t go so far as to say the assembly work is public knowledge. I company can have trade secrets, proprietary information, and confidential informatioh without slapping a copyright on something.

But, I’m sure this GM employee violated his employment contract. People who are working on pre-released or new products probably routinely sign confidentiality agreements. Who knows, maybe every plant person does.

And, you have to fire the employee. It doesn’t matter if the leaked info contributed to the general knowledge or not, the car company needs to send the message that it won’t be tolerated. A minor transgression one time could be a seriously compromising disclosure the next.

06/01, 1:57 PM

posted by:

doghis

dude has a really weak cameraphone….
crap quality…

06/01, 2:33 PM

posted by:

doublearon21

sharpie, I’m sure all the other car companies are just dying to learn GM’s trade secrets on how they build such high quality cars. There pics of a bare, standard unibody chassis, nothing special. A little overkill on the punishment, especially considering he has 28 years with the company.

06/01, 4:34 PM

posted by:

DeansterTJ

That’s ridiculous. We’re bombarded by BILLIONS of Camaro pics to generate hype in the past 3 years and THIS grainy cellphone pic costs someone their job?! ****ing idiots. I feel sorry for the conveyor monkey.

06/01, 6:09 PM

posted by:

Jordan

sharpie –

doesn’t vw have a glass factory?

06/01, 6:12 PM

posted by:

Jordan

nevermind, i just checked and it’s a publicity stunt used only for final assembly.

06/02, 1:34 AM

posted by:

Jigs

Syrax, i Agree wait didnt we all this this car in Transformers? that GM “over hyped, giant robot, carcrash looking fights, special effects crap” poor guy he took a few empty shell pics whoopy do the car has been “out” since 2005 if i remeber right.

06/02, 2:51 AM

posted by:

peter g

Stupid worker got himself fires for taking pictures of yesterdays news

06/02, 8:48 AM

posted by:

HemiRoadRunner

I like all the people on here that act like they wouldn’t sneak out a few pictures of this car to show to their kids. He shouldn’t have left the pictures where they could be distrbuted though.

06/02, 3:52 PM

posted by:

t-ak-box

To fire an employee for taken a photo of a shell of a product that was leaked. A Product That GM has had leaked through dribs and drabs over several months would seem like bad PR, but GM is no stranger to Bad PR. This photo doesn’t show anything critical. I have to agree with some on here that this was just a way to trim the payroll for them.

06/03, 5:21 AM

posted by:

The Stig

His kids will be the star of “show and tell” at school.

 
 
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