trfindley

Ed Cole was the Chief Engineer for Chevrolet in charge of designing the small-block V8 and the 1955-57 cars. He was the GM president from 1967-74.

If he could be resurrected from the 1977 plane crash and go to the corporate headquarters to replace Rick Wagoner, what would he do about the current situation?

solman98

At this point in time, not much. It will take time for things to start heading in the right direction. Can't erase years of bad decision making with a seat change.

orbitalrage

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WARNING: I am no expert in the auto industry. I am only applying common sense to what I hear/read about what is going on.
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I agree that a seat change will not fix everything but it is the people in those seats that have helped get the car companies in the situations that they are in currently.

I understand that this is affecting all car companies but the US ones seem to be hit harder then others. Why?

Here is my insight on the subject. I am not asking anyone to agree with me. I am just sharing.

I have a LOT of family on both my side and wife's side that work for both Chrysler and GM. I hear a factory workers point of view and what they hear from the union meetings.

First, in the U.S., at least 2 years ago Toyota had something around 30 retirees in the U.S. compared to Chrysler that had 3 for every one person working in the factory. Think that affects operating costs? I do.

Second, and this will probably get a LOT of flaming from others (I mean no offense to anyone), the UAW is putting undue financial stress on U.S. auto makers. I know that they were needed when factories were taking advantage of workers. But do we think that would happen today? I work without a union. I have worked with a union in the past when I worked at UPS. It was nothing but a hassle and they had to fight to get people's jobs back when they got fired for VERY valid reasons. The UAW might be different, I do not have enough experience, but I do know that Honda, Nissan, and Toyota do not have to deal with the UAW and their employees seem fairly happy (from what I hear).

To continue with the union, my father can take a voluntary temporary layoff and get paid 90% of his pay while collecting unemployment from the government. Does that make sense? The UAW states that the Auto Makers pay that. Why not cut it to 50% and utilize unemployment benefits for the remainder? Then the savings can go into the quality of the vehicles.

See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEPJFWWprMo

Why not do what GM is trying to do and unload extraneous makes (Hummer, Saab, Pontiac, Saturn) and increase the quality of the remaining vehicles they are making.

You know what else is wrong, IMHO, creating a plug in vehicle and then selling it for $40,000. I want one but not for $40,000. I would not be able to get a return on my investment (at least with gas at $2 a gallon, although, I know it will go up).
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/27/w...st-chevy-dea/3

Sorry, I have seen a lot of family affected by the auto industry so it hits a little close to home.

It will take time to correct the auto industry, but not to just sit and do what they are currently doing. changes will have to come and be implemented in order for anything to get better down the road (pun intended ).

My apologies on the rant...
Consider my deposited

Snoopy

IMO.....

The last 2 posts make a lot of sense and written with a good amount of intelligence.


BUT.....

I can't' vision how a CEO and President of a company, who has repeated through the last 15 years stated they will bring the company BACK to profitibility/viability, have a forward vision of producing that result NOW. MAYBE with the federal governments monitoring, it's possible (tongue in cheek).

But, Ed Cole was a leader at a time when situations were much, much different (very, very little foreign competition, for example). So as others have/will say....probably not much.

Goose

Let me just sure I am reading this correctly.......if he is laid off he will collect 90% of his pay in unemployment......not he will collect 90% of his pay AND collect unemployment

And even so....90%?????????





Goose

hhrcrafty

It could also be argued that Ed Cole was the beginning of the end. With the Corvair publicity fiasco and the design and introduction of the Vega on his watch, I don't think GM would want him back.

John Z. DeLorean should have been the president and CEO of GM, not Ed Cole.

orbitalrage

He could collect both (getting over 100% of his normal pay) with the government knowning of this situation!

Snoopy

Interesting comments.....and the more I think about it, the more I believe you're correct (Delorean had an AWFUL big ego though).

Hmmmm....thinking about it even more. DeLorean and cars coming from Mexico.....I bet John D would jump on that.....with the extra little business he was trying to start.

hhrcrafty

Aw, Snoop...tsk, tsk, tsk, Mr. DeLorean was merely set up. He wouldn't have had to resort to importing blow if he had BILLIONS of dollars from GM's coffers at the time. Besides, the government set him up anyway.