Our GM May Be Gearing For Total Failure

I did especially like the “Too big to fail” crap last year that said we “have to bail GM out cause it means the difference of thousands of American jobs”, followed by the “restructuring” that announces that 16 factories employing over 6,000 Americans are going to be permanently shut down, not even considering the tens of thousands of lost jobs at dealerships that have already been forced to close.

What we’re left with is that GM will be employing only about 36,000 Americans by the end of this year, while at their peak decades ago they were employing well over a million Americans.

The rationale of course is that once GM is back up and on their feet, they’ll start hiring again, but I for one think that any new jobs they create will be in China or Mexico, where most of the stuff they’ve outsourced already wound up.

American taxpayers have forked over billions of dollars when over 90% of GM’s jobs are in foreign countries.

[...] Is GM gearing up for total failure? [...]

GM is clearly being run by idiots. GMC and Saturn are unnecessary, as is Buick really.
Why are they in such a big mess? Because they arent making good cars. You can throw as many stats at me as you like but until they sort themselves out the Imports will easily out-sell them both in America and abroad.
They need to make more Euro-friendly cars as well, I think they focused on American a little too much and ignored other world markets. Which is where the likes of Toyota got it right, I would like to see a major market where they arent near the top of the sales charts.
GM need the Cruze to sell like crazy worldwide, and I think they have the right idea in having the same car selling worldwide rather than a different model in every continent.
But only time will tell…

Ron –

Source material attribution?

The Solstice Coupe will be a collector’s car and every one of those 1100 should sell at or above MSRP. I’m in the midst of test driving one right now and it’s generating a substantial amount of excitement out on the street. It’s a striking design. The factory that builds the Solstice/Sky was scheduled to shut down this month… for good.

The Wagon version of the CTS will be interesting to watch. This looks to be an good alternative to the SUV for folks that just need a little extra room for the dogs. It’s a niche product, but hey who knows if it might take off? The CTS is one of the best cars built in America.

I’m not crazy about the GMC Terrain’s design, but I’m not the target demographic. Lots of folks love that GMC look.

When you put down the potential for four-cylinder engines, you turn your back on the future. I’ve driven many four-bangers that pin you back in the seat *and* deliver good gas mileage.

Drive on!
Dan

Why would anyone purchase a car from a company run by a stupid Gangster? For all practical purposes our President took over GM and everything he wants to do is illegal & impossible. Why didn’t they learn from the first Chrysler bailout? Because they are fools and they think we are all fools too! I will never buy another GM or Chrysler auto again, for doing so will just show that I approve of this madness. The results of our Hollywood/Media run Country are just beginning to show and will get worse very fast now. I hope all who voted this mess into Office feel the Pain too.

My little Chevy Metro from 2000 is my little workhorse. It is still running strong and gets me to an from work.

In my honest opinion, GM should have focused on a single brand, Chevy.

Let Cadillac, Buick and GMC fade into history as failed ventures.

There are enough Chevy models of cars and trucks to keep the company alive and profitable for years.

I don’t care what GM builds-I’m not going there.

“GM is clearly being run by idiots.” Exactly, the White House. The only cars I have ever purchased were GM’s (2 Camaros, 1 Astro, 1 Venture, 1 Uplander). Guess what. Never again! My money should not have been used to bail out the UAW.

I think the 3 of the same model model is insane! They did right by getting rid of the Pontiac moinker (as much as I was a fan) but why keep GMC and the others? Why not rebrand the entire company? I know that idea has been kicked around for a while now and it would allow them to easily remove brands like Pontiac, GMC and buick that just regurgitate the same cars in different trim. I have another idea… how about a car comes the way it comes… fully loaded for a set price. That would make me happy. Get rid of the laundry list of available options. I imagine it complicates production drastically and would actually increase the cost of the vehicles.

GM hasn’t built a decent car since 1978. That was the year I bought a “Bandit” edition Trans Am, loaded with every conceivable factory option – for $9000.00. They obviously had to make a profit on that sale, so the prices they’re attempting to charge nowadays, fueled by overwhelming greed, are nothing more than legalized sodomy. I’ve been a Nissan man ever since (14 Z-cars). Let Gm rot on the rubbish heap, along with Ford and Chrysler.

mpgomatic – sources are listed at the bottom of the article.

I own a four banger in my Nissan Rogue and it is quick and does push you back in the seat. My Rogue weighs 3500 lbs. with a 2.5L engine and the Terrain is 3800 lbs with a 2.4L engine.

Stick 5 passengers in that Terrain, try to go up California St., in San Francisco and you will end up in the bay. LOL

Chris, you’re right on point. Simple, effective, stylish vehicles are what GM needs to get back: not producing something that will only sell a projected 8000 units. The problem was in the 70s and earlier, a car like that would be a rare find, and treasured for many years. Nobody is going to treasure a cadillac station wagon, it doesn’t have the special factor that the old cars did.

I blogged on some similar things at the beginning of last month, it seems me and you have some very similar thoughts. My problem? I live in Detroit, work across the street from the GM tech center, and get to witness this ridiculous stupidity up close.

http://www.cruzweb.net/2009/06/03/what-we-can-learn-from-gms-and-chryslers-epic-fail/

Buffet,
I bought a bran new Chevy El Camino SS in 1978. The first weekend I had I went to put on the parking brake and the whole unit fell on the floor. The 350 CI had a warped manifold that needed to be replaced after 600 miles, new alternator at about 4,000 miles and a bunch of other minor crap that tied up the vehicle at the dealership. To bad there wasn’t a lemon law back than because this car would of qualified with flying colors!

My point. I don’t think 1978 was a stellar year either. LOL

GM last made decent cars in the 1970s. No, the POS Vega and Chevette weren’t decent.

GM’s downfall is that they can’t or don’t want to make quality, long lasting cars and trucks like Toyota and Nissan (and maybe Hyundai) can make. That wouldn’t be profitable after all.

Unfortunately, an experience with a crappy GM car will probably send the disgusted buyer to some other brand that GM doesn’t make.

Hopefully other US manufacturers still can redeem themselves by making vehicles that will last.

so they kept basically 4 lines that are the same?!?!? Buick and Cadillac kinda work cause Cadillac is a higher luxury while Buick is the mercury of GM. BUT GMC AND CHEVROLET are practically the same cars. I just dont understand how it helps them. Im sure people want a Chevy truck rather then a rebadged more expensive GMC truck. They should have kept the slower sale pontiac and revamped it. That way you have chevy as your basic, buick as your midway, cadillac as luxury, and pontiac as performance. Its called leveling. Having GMC doesnt work. Also there quality is lacking severly. Also most of there cars have the same theme, recently at least. They all are becoming a boxy, aerodynamic rough look. That will work for a while but soon people will get sick of it. Look at ford, there cars are aerodynamic but each model even if the same but branded different, all look at least a little different. EX: the ford edge is not close to the Lincoln MKZ. However, we can see the extreme similarities in the Chevy Traverse and the Buick Enclave. Whats the difference, some chrome??

Personally…think any bailout was worthless. The ones who caused all these problems were the only ones to have benefited from this economic mess.

Myself…I currently own a ‘94 Hyundai with 137K miles on it. Will keep driving it till the wheels fall off. Being that the US is becoming part of the 3rd World now…as well as a Fascist state…am building a motorized bicycle with a 50cc 4 stroke in-frame engine that is rated at 150 MPH. Less than $1000 for the bike/engine/retro parts and heavy duty parts for the weight of me/the bike/the engine. I have a new way to get around & hope the 3 big US car companies become a footnote in history. As soon as we quit rewarding failure…this may happen.

I do not understand how come GM (GMGMQ) stock is still trading. Does anyone know the skinny on this?

Thanks, Liu

Ron –

FWIW, the four banger in the 2009 Rogue produces 170 horsepower and 175 foot pounds of torque, while the 2010 Terrain’s direct injected four is rated at 182 horsepower and 174 foot pounds of torque.

Thanks Dan – I signed up for your newsletter. I am looking forward to hearing what you have to say.
Regards, Ron

Thanks for the sub, Ron. We’ve been publishing the newsletter every week or two. Last one went out on Thursday.

In the meantime, you might enjoy this short clip of what GM’s turbo 2.0L does under the hood of the Solstice GXP Coupe:

http://bit.ly/Solstice_GXP_0-60

It appears to be rather fuel efficient, as well …

from what I can see the only GM brand that seems to be doing well is Holden. The commodore is frequently in the top 10 selling cars in Australia, not to mention the Clubsport, Utes and Astra.

personally, I’m a Subaru man. I own a 1998 Impreza GX, and it hasn’t had a single problem since I’ve been driving it.

@Buffet:

$9,000 in 1978 = $26,511.07 in 2009

Source: data.bls.gov

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s not 1978.

We’ve got an unnecessary war in Iraq in place of an unnecessary war in Vietnam.

A well-meaning but unqualified Democrat president as a reaction to 8 years of criminal Republicans.

High unemployment due to jobs that are never coming back.

Lead paint in childrens toys instead of in the gasoline.

A Microsoft monopoly on computing instead of an AT&T one.

And no politicians in Washington that are interested in shutting down the Federal Reserve to stop currency devaluation so you can still buy a brand new car for $9,000.

Of course just because the price of everything tripled doesn’t mean the minimum wage has. The Democrats raised the minimum wage over Republican objections the last two times it went up, else it would still be $4.75 an hour.

I suppose you could really say I agree with the Democrats much more often than I do with Republicans.

The difference is that I’ve never met a Republican that didn’t swallow the entire party line, hook, line, and sinker. I think they know that 90% of the crap that Republicans believe is so indefensible that they get used to being ridiculed.

[...] GM’s decision to produce a number of niche models. When it came to the Solstice Coupe, Ron asked “Only building 1100? Why even bother building [...]

[...] GM’s decision to produce a number of niche models. When it came to the Solstice Coupe, Ron asked “Only building 1100? Why even bother building [...]

[...] GM’s decision to produce a number of niche models. When it came to the Solstice Coupe, Ron asked “Only building 1100? Why even bother building [...]

Too big to fail = too big to succeed.