Nummi

It was only one of the 3,000 or so parts that go into a new Chevrolet Camaro or Pontiac Firebird. But for Larry Barker, a welder at the General Motors assembly plant in Van Nuys, one part summed up all that is wrong with the way GM builds cars. One night last fall Barker, along with the rest of the second shift, was sent home early after GM ran out of a reinforcement panel that is welded next to the wheel wells near the motor compartment of the Camaros and Firebirds.

National labor union officials, community leaders and politicians stepped up their efforts to pressure embattled Toyota Motor Corp. to reverse its decision to stop making cars in Northern California. Seeking to piggyback on bad publicity generated by Toyota's massive safety recalls, the United Auto Workers union held a rally Friday outside the quarter-century-old New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. factory in Fremont, 40 miles southeast of San Francisco. The rally protested the planned March 31 closure of the plant, which would put 4,700 union members out of work.

State legislators are scrambling to save the last remaining car plant in California. The Bay Area factory, which makes Toyota Corollas, Toyota Tundras and Pontiac Vibes, would receive sales tax benefits potentially worth millions of dollars under legislation introduced in the Assembly on Wednesday. Another, more sweeping, bill, which would grant a host of tax and other incentives, is expected to be introduced in the state Senate today.

Union officials announced Sunday that a tentative labor agreement had been reached with New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. The previous contract expired at 2 a.m. Saturday. Members of United Auto Workers Local 2244 are set to vote on the proposed contract on Tuesday. Details of the proposed agreement have not been released pending final approval. Fremont-based NUMMI is a joint venture of General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp. and employs about 5,500 people. NUMMI has manufactured 5.

New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. on Friday announced its third cutback in six months of Chevrolet Nova production. NUMMI, the sole producer of the Nova, will reduce production from 550 of the cars per day to 450 a day effective Nov. 30, reducing its overall passenger car production to 650 daily. The cutback is in anticipation of reduced 1988 model sales.

General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Co. said Monday they are asking the federal government to set aside an order that would disband their joint car-making venture in the Bay Area in 1996. The move to keep New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. alive indefinitely came as a surprise to some analysts, who had expected Toyota to buy out its struggling partner as the Japanese auto maker sought to expand production in the United States.

Toyota Motor Co. could assume control of the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont, Calif., when its joint venture with General Motors Corp. expires in 1996, it was reported today. Gary L. Convis, vice president for engineering and manufacturing at NUMMI, said during the University of Michigan's annual automotive seminar in Traverse City that Toyota is interested in the plant, partly because of its good work force and high quality.