IS GM'S current troubles actually...

[wannafbody]

a blessing in disguise? Is it a wake up call for GM to get their act together and produce vehicles and styles that the public wants instead of what the bean counters want us to have?

[ULTIMTEORANGESS]

no its not good at all.



so far theres no sign of things getting better anytime soon either.

[Firehawk]

Maybe if GM looses it's world's largest automaker status people will finally give them a break.

Also, GM can concentrate on building cars instead of keeping up with volume to maintain their status.

[Sax1031]

a blessing in disquise. :lol: Sorry man I just got a kick out of it.

It gives them a chance to do what they should have been doing all along.

Dancing on the line of bankruptcy is never good.

[mrgto]

In fact it is....they are going to cut out the cancer in 2007 and they will actually be able to divert those resources to R&D and they will be able to bring better and more interesting products to market. It won't happen overnight but it will happen a few years down the road.

[ULTIMTEORANGESS]

that cancer would be a shitty BOD. ;)

[MACGI 98 Z28]

For GM, the "wakeup call" phone has been ringing for about the past 15 years. Trouble is that nobody picked up until about three years ago...maybe too late. The quality and styling they are producing on their new launches of 2006 models is something that should have been there three or four years ago.

They should have been working a long-term plan to reduce the expectations of the UAW years ago to match the changing competitive world. As it is now, they will be asking for massive concessions in 07 and will possibly invite a company-wide strike. I don't know all the factors involved, but this may have been unavoidable...However, I doubt that is the case and I suspect a lot of buck-passing or rubber-stamping of UAW contracts by the previous CEOs when they were selling tons of trucks. They needed to negotiate more aggressively on the last rounds of contracts with the UAW. In order to control costs, they hitting the salaried workers hard, already by reducing 401k matching to 0% and making them pay ever-more for health care with no raises in sight. In addition, they are offering buyouts to older white collar engineers etc. They are running the risk of burning out their engineering talent and driving some of it to Japanese or German competitors or out of the auto industry alltogether. They can't continue to ask one side of the fence to give until it hurts and not ask the UAW to make some very substantial concessions.

[Schnell]

I don't know... their 06 lineup is definately nothing to rant and rave about.

With cars like the Malibu, Impala (big Malibu), Monte Carlo, Avalanche, Azzteck, SSR, all of Buick, etc.... their lineup is damn embarassing. It's not the people on the assembly line that should be loosing there jobs... it should be the execs and design engineers.

With the amount of 1st year problems GM usually has, coming to market with so many new vehicles could easily be another lasting blow.

[ULTIMTEORANGESS]

Originally posted by Schnell
I don't know... their 06 lineup is definately nothing to rant and rave about.

With cars like the Malibu, Impala (big Malibu), Monte Carlo, Avalanche, Azzteck, SSR, all of Buick, etc.... their lineup is damn embarassing. It's not the people on the assembly line that should be loosing there jobs... it should be the execs and design engineers.

With the amount of 1st year problems GM usually has, coming to market with so many new vehicles could easily be another lasting blow.

though i dont think their cars are horrible i agree they do fail to compete in some areas.



theyre major problem still is alot of GMs brands just arent winning people over and thats killing them not labor costs like alot of people insist.


they can cut all they want it wont save them until they prove they can make cars just as good as its foreign competitiors.

[steve442]

By Bob Lutz
GM Vice Chairman

To say that 2005 has been a wild ride at GM is quite possibly the understatement of this young millennium. We're certainly facing our challenges but I'm confident that the plan is in place to right the ship. Key to this success is an ongoing commitment to building world-class products in nearly every automotive segment. And, it’s my contention that we have made solid progress in 2005. Just look at (or better yet, drive) the lineup to discover this for yourself.

I can’t help but notice the perceptions and generalities I keep hearing about our cars and trucks, from pundits and public alike — even here on the blog. You often hear our products collectively criticized but individually praised, and it’s discouraging. You’ll hear an “expert” or “industry observer” throw out a blanket observation like “GM just doesn’t have any vehicles that people want.” Then you’ll just as often hear someone praising the Chevy HHR, or read a positive review of the Impala, or the Solstice, or any of our other recent launch products.

The truth is, many of our new cars and trucks are doing exceptionally well, and have met with acclaim. My recent post about HHR is but one example. But it goes beyond HHR and Solstice. The Buick Lucerne is off to a good start, generating buzz on network television and earning “Best New Car” in the $30,000 to $45,000 category from Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.

The Chevy Impala continues to be a strong performer — our top-selling car for 2005 so far. Especially encouraging is the strong demand for Impala SS, with its 303-hp small-block V8, Displacement-on-Demand and 28 miles per highway gallon. The Cadillac DTS was the best-selling vehicle in the prestige luxury segment in October, outpacing the second-place BMW 5-Series by 17 percent. How many of you knew that?

The list goes on… Hummer H3 selling like crazy, and bringing new customers to the GM family… Pontiac Torrent increasing sales each month since its August launch and drawing non-GM products as trade-ins 40 percent of the time … G6 coupe and sedan both selling well in advance of the hard-top convertible debut next year… the new Saturn Vue sales up 18 percent in November… the Buick LaCrosse outselling combined Century/Regal models year-on-year for 11 out of the last 12 months. And so on and so forth.

These are the things I think about when I hear we don’t make any cars and trucks people want. Yes, we need to make more of them. No question about it. But the truth is, we do have products that people want, that people like and that people are buying. We still have a ways to go, obviously, to change perceptions. But, based on the cars and trucks we have now and the ones yet to come, I think we’re doing what we need to do to achieve that. And at the risk of sounding like a broken record… I can’t recommend a test-drive strongly enough!

[MAXPAYNE]

GM is being currently run for cash flow just to stay afloat. They're like a huge ship riding low in the water heading into the perfect storm.

[MAXPAYNE]

Originally posted by ULTIMTEORANGESS




theyre major problem still is alot of GMs brands just arent winning people over and thats killing them not labor costs like alot of people insist.


.

I know GM cannot control the dealerships, but think some of this is due in part to the ass raping customers new and repeat alike are getting at the dealerships,and this would include shitty service depts.