GM cutbacks
Member
Joined: 04-17-2008
Posts: 49
From: CO
Yeah, could you please remove the very misleading title you have up? The HHR is not being cancelled. Read autoblog's post on this at www.autoblog.com-they list the cars that are coming/going.
New people coming to this site, maybe wanting an HHR, are going to read that and forget the car.
New people coming to this site, maybe wanting an HHR, are going to read that and forget the car.
Member
Joined: 06-15-2006
Posts: 77
From: Nashville, TN
Could GM's other problem be simply that they have so many brands under one roof? Chevy, GMC, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, Hummer, SAAB. Most Japanese automakers have two, a standard line and a luxury line (ie Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus). Seems to make more fiscal sense, IMHO.
Banned
Joined: 10-24-2006
Posts: 1,761
From: The Show-Me State
Could GM's other problem be simply that they have so many brands under one roof? Chevy, GMC, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, Hummer, SAAB. Most Japanese automakers have two, a standard line and a luxury line (ie Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus). Seems to make more fiscal sense, IMHO.
The Japanese automakers actually do have more than two brands, they only MARKET two of them in the US. GM and Ford do the same thing overseas as well. GM's problem is that they diluted the US brand distinctiveness too much over the last 30 years and that's what killed Oldsmobile.
Hummer is probably going to go away and Saab will either be spun off or sold as well. I can forsee Saturn and Pontiac merging operations in the future, but Buick, GMC, and Cadillac will remain.
Senior Member
Joined: 03-28-2008
Posts: 1,115
From: Oshawa
It's true GM must make their decisions on cutbacks, but if history sees it... Mr Wagner also watched his previous employer go down the tubes. He sat on his egotistic butt and did nothing until it was too late. Exactly what he has previously done for GM. Zippo!! If he had listened to some of the economic advisors that could see what the developments were in store for the future, he wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. GM actually paid shareholders a dividend a few years ago when there were losses to the company. How can anyone defend themselves when management makes these kind of decisions.
GM does need to get turned around and fast. But, if corporate execs keep thinking this way(Dividend Greed!, more companies are going to follow a downward trend. It's not all the lack of consumer, it's also the amount execs think they can take for justifying their worth. Do they really need to make as much as they think? It is difficult making companies profitable, but the needs for the execs has gotten way out of hand. Their salaries are way out of line and are sucking companies dry.They all hang with each other and will always justify that they are only getting paid by what is the norm in their world...not ours!! As for the unions, they are also getting stupidly(?) out of line. If a Rep. gets voted out, they always find a new title for the outed rep. somewhere to protect him from going back to the line. Why is it that these union reps that lost need special accommodation. You lose, yourrrrrrrrrr...OUT! Get back to the line, obviously he/she wasn't doing the job properly.
GM does need to get turned around and fast. But, if corporate execs keep thinking this way(Dividend Greed!, more companies are going to follow a downward trend. It's not all the lack of consumer, it's also the amount execs think they can take for justifying their worth. Do they really need to make as much as they think? It is difficult making companies profitable, but the needs for the execs has gotten way out of hand. Their salaries are way out of line and are sucking companies dry.They all hang with each other and will always justify that they are only getting paid by what is the norm in their world...not ours!! As for the unions, they are also getting stupidly(?) out of line. If a Rep. gets voted out, they always find a new title for the outed rep. somewhere to protect him from going back to the line. Why is it that these union reps that lost need special accommodation. You lose, yourrrrrrrrrr...OUT! Get back to the line, obviously he/she wasn't doing the job properly.
New Member
Joined: 05-21-2008
Posts: 4
From: Westchester, CA
Do you remember the full sized Impala from the 1990's. Came in a wagon body and SS versions. Do you know about the C.A.F.E. regulations. The "big three" all found a huge loop-hole in the CAFE that allowed trucks, the as yet to be popularized "SUV" and the currently trendy "mini-Van", to not be counted in the fleet mileage average. Nevermind Clinton let this continue while at the helm.
The Impala was quite a profitable line. The plant in Texas was also profitable and made a great family of cars. GM saw that the loop-hole would not be closed and they could continue to make big gas pigs, not to mention slap together some "new" SUV's that were based on old truck platforms that had not evolved much from the last gas crisis in the 70's.
So GM killed the Impala line at the plant and coverted it to a bigger gravy maker - trucks. Average profit on those reskinned old pigs was about $4000. per.
If GM, and the other two, would have tried to meet the CAFE laws, as they signed up to do, rather than trying to find and exploit its intent with the loop-hole, we'd have been saving fuel for over 15 years by now.
The Impala was quite a profitable line. The plant in Texas was also profitable and made a great family of cars. GM saw that the loop-hole would not be closed and they could continue to make big gas pigs, not to mention slap together some "new" SUV's that were based on old truck platforms that had not evolved much from the last gas crisis in the 70's.
So GM killed the Impala line at the plant and coverted it to a bigger gravy maker - trucks. Average profit on those reskinned old pigs was about $4000. per.
If GM, and the other two, would have tried to meet the CAFE laws, as they signed up to do, rather than trying to find and exploit its intent with the loop-hole, we'd have been saving fuel for over 15 years by now.
Banned
Joined: 10-24-2006
Posts: 1,761
From: The Show-Me State
It's true GM must make their decisions on cutbacks, but if history sees it... Mr Wagner also watched his previous employer go down the tubes. He sat on his egotistic butt and did nothing until it was too late. Exactly what he has previously done for GM. Zippo!! If he had listened to some of the economic advisors that could see what the developments were in store for the future, he wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. GM actually paid shareholders a dividend a few years ago when there were losses to the company. How can anyone defend themselves when management makes these kind of decisions.
GM does need to get turned around and fast. But, if corporate execs keep thinking this way(Dividend Greed!, more companies are going to follow a downward trend. It's not all the lack of consumer, it's also the amount execs think they can take for justifying their worth. Do they really need to make as much as they think? It is difficult making companies profitable, but the needs for the execs has gotten way out of hand. Their salaries are way out of line and are sucking companies dry.They all hang with each other and will always justify that they are only getting paid by what is the norm in their world...not ours!! As for the unions, they are also getting stupidly(?) out of line. If a Rep. gets voted out, they always find a new title for the outed rep. somewhere to protect him from going back to the line. Why is it that these union reps that lost need special accommodation. You lose, yourrrrrrrrrr...OUT! Get back to the line, obviously he/she wasn't doing the job properly.
GM does need to get turned around and fast. But, if corporate execs keep thinking this way(Dividend Greed!, more companies are going to follow a downward trend. It's not all the lack of consumer, it's also the amount execs think they can take for justifying their worth. Do they really need to make as much as they think? It is difficult making companies profitable, but the needs for the execs has gotten way out of hand. Their salaries are way out of line and are sucking companies dry.They all hang with each other and will always justify that they are only getting paid by what is the norm in their world...not ours!! As for the unions, they are also getting stupidly(?) out of line. If a Rep. gets voted out, they always find a new title for the outed rep. somewhere to protect him from going back to the line. Why is it that these union reps that lost need special accommodation. You lose, yourrrrrrrrrr...OUT! Get back to the line, obviously he/she wasn't doing the job properly.
Can you?
