General Motors

[HGM]

Yep, pretty sad.....

 

[ByronBob]

GM is going to get leaner and survive. How it all shakes out is the question. But what were seeing now will be one of those life altering things to tell our kids when we get older.

 

[jmc]

There's plenty of blame on both sides.

Rick Wagoner, head honcho, just made sure that his golden parachute will survive any bankruptcy proceedings, even though one reason to seek bankruptcy is to weasel out of your pension commitments. So those commitments are just the ones to everyone else.

On the other side, NPR interviewed 2 workers at Delphi about the early retirement buyout. One of the guys hadn't heard about the $35,000 one time payment and was hoping for $60,000/yr for 8 years. When the interviewer told him it was only going to be $35K, he said "NO WAY!". I thought to myself that his entitlement attitude may cause him to drowned in the gravy train.

Even General Motors isn't a bottomless pit of money.

 

[JoeR]

Poor planning and greed. Too many American companies only have a 3 year plan. If a new design or product can generate a profit in 3 years they don't do it. The Japanese have 5 and 10 year plans, and their CEO's don't make 100 times more than their employees.

 

[Alan L.]

The imports are killing GM on reliability and resale values. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a GM car on the basis of reliability, but why buy a Malibu when you know an Accord will sell for alot more after you use it 3 or 5 years. Most of it is perception, and GM has not figured out how to correct this disparity.

GM will be around for a while anyway, the least little ripple in the economy would be devastating.

 

[osprey]

The health care industry is having an effect on the benfits being paid as well ,IE:higher insurance premiums.

Did anyone read Pat Buchanans article on NAFTA last week ? I thought it was a very good article. The Fruits of NAFTA

 

[MotorSeven]

Osprey,

Alot of good opinions & answers on the tech side. My thoughts are purely personel. I have always been a GM fan(i'm in the upper 40's). My observations of GM's decline started in the 80's. The big 3 were all turning out ho-hum vehs. When Ford and Chrysler began to change the look and styling and tech end of their stuff, it seemed to me that GM stayed in the same darn rut that they are still in today. Good lord, they just built a PT Cuiser copy....what, only 10 or so years AFTER the original PT /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif !Now there is a regular brainstorm of a marketing coup(somewhere deep inside the GM design plant, two dork marketing designers gave theselves a high 5 /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif) ! This is just one of the disapointing examples of their lackluster styling. The "retro style move" has been going strong for many years, and yet GM has yet to give us poor slobbering muscle car fans one tiny morsel. Heck, i just thought for sure they would appeal to the family guy with a retro '55 chev 4dr, or a 40's Buick to counter the Chrysler 300......nope. How about a Camaro? and yes i have seen the '07 pic's and it looks nothing like a '60's Camaro(just an opinion). For me, GM just squandered a golden opportunity in the retro market, and continues to do so /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif.
It was almost like the GM designers quit and went to work for the other "2". I still like their trucks, but i can honestly say, nothing in the way of a GM car has peaked my interest in a very long time. And then we come to the price end where every time i shopped(trucks) it was GM-most, Ford-Middle, and Dodge-lowest. I have owned all 3, and i just don't see a 5K difference between the GM & Dodge. In the last few years the prices may have come closed together.
I wonder if we (the GM fans) could hire the same fellow that slapped Mr. Chryler into the 22'nd century to get a good running start and................. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

ok....no more whinning /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif!

RD

 

[Kub0ta]

Instead of coming out with a hybrid, GM is building more and more cars that get lower and lower gas mileage. Id watch out for Ford too, seems as if they are in trouble aswell.

 

[JJT]

Anyone read the article in News Week or Business Week last month that basically said Toyota will be the next GM? GM's health and pension liabilities amount to ~$2000/vehicle, Toyota's liability is ~$200. At one time GM made some nice vehicles, today they don't make a one that I would buy.

Went car shopping with a friend this week, she just had to have a Buick Lucerne, she only buys American and that's the way it's been for 30+ years. The test drive was ok, the price was right. Just by chance she took a Honda Accord for a ride, need I say more? The Buick is still sittng on the lot... The Honda was made here in the US. Insurance is cheaper, depreciation is much lower, it's better equiped, has more horsepower and it cost less. The only people buying GM cars today are folks that have not looked elsewhere.

 

[froggy]

Thanks for the link. It is an excellent column.