Yay! But they will not go out of business yet. There is still a few more years untill their "welfare state" catches up with them.
Seriously though, it will suck if they go under, then we'll have the only American cars left, since Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep is really German now...
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I Hate GM, deal with it.
One shot, One Kill! Don't waste ammo, it's pricey!
2005 GT Screaming Yellow: SLP Loudmouths
Ibanez guitars, S&W revolvers, Glock Semi's
Republican write in Presidential Candidate 2012
that just sucks.....all those people man. too many people buying foreign cars i guess. survival of the fittest.
No, the Unions are directly to blame, and the "welfare" packages that they push. The pensions, health care, and absurd vacation policies are killing them. Ford is almost in the same boat, thanks again to the unions. The foreign companies don't have to deal with the unions as much, so they are at an advantage.
__________________
I Hate GM, deal with it.
One shot, One Kill! Don't waste ammo, it's pricey!
2005 GT Screaming Yellow: SLP Loudmouths
Ibanez guitars, S&W revolvers, Glock Semi's
Republican write in Presidential Candidate 2012
that just sucks.....all those people man. too many people buying foreign cars i guess. survival of the fittest.
What's foreign anymore? I would guess that Toyotas have more domestic content than GMs. All those factory closings going to be in Canada and Mexico? Or are just the U.S. plants getting closed Mr. GM CEO? To hell with GM is what I say, their products are over priced trash anymore, and I must not be alone in my thinking or else they wouldn't be on the ropes.
Look at the GM offerings of the past decade or so. This management team was handed the keys to the city, and all they knew how to do with the gift was make one bonehead move after another.
The whole market goes nuts for high performance (at all levels - look at what Nissan has done by building a performance advantage into EVERY model, style and price point), and GM responds by dumping 2/3 of its performance lines (assuming retaining the Corvette and putting V-8's into front wheel drivers constituted the remaining 1/3). The market starts to swing back to classy cars with fresh styling, and GM comes out with more weak, ricer-ized models that are the very definition of "generic".
I recently rented several GM products (Impala and Pontiac 6) and they were tinny, poorly designed, and blatantly inferior cars. Not having driven the new offerings from GM, I found their lack of quality shocking and depressing. Adding a nice V8 to one of these things is tantamount to putting a 2-stroke motor in a Cobra. You end up with half a solution, and new problems to boot (none of these cars, GTO included, was originally designed to accomodate these motors).
With Chrysler (and yes, the Mercedes folks definitely understand big V8's and power) putting hemi's in everything; Mazda going road racing with their entire lineup; Nissan cranking big power out of every motor it makes; and Lexus/Toyota holding a death grip on the #1 ranking in overall quality, GM and (to a slightly lesser extent) Ford face a nasty situation. They can no longer count on ever-increasing sales of full-size pickup and SUV's to counter the fact that they can't make a decent car anymore - hell, even Honda is joining the act with their own big pickup truck.
I suspect GM will survive - but at a great cost. The 25000 employees (and I don't believe anyone knows where the bulk of the layoffs will occur, but one suspects it won't be in those factories where local politics (Europe and Canada) frown upon layoffs, nor in areas where the labor costs are cheap (Mexico).
25000 may be the end of it, but I doubt that. Look for plant closings and consolidations. Look for a sell-off of dead inventory. Look for low prices - oh, that's right, we all get GM Employee discounts now!
tripleblack, I agree. But, Daimler-Crysler 's hemi doesn't impress me anymore than GM's lineup. I would like to see Ford up the power in the F150 like I know they can, to shut the Hemi-sheep up.
Quality, well I guess that's personal preference. I HATE how Japanese cars "feel" when you're in them. I mean ALL of them. Lexus, Infinity, Acura, whatever included. I don't care the the price for a Lexus is $40,000, it still "feels" like a cheesy, cheap car to me.
Just my opinion, which only controls MY wallet, which makes me keep buying Fords.:thumbsup
__________________
I Hate GM, deal with it.
One shot, One Kill! Don't waste ammo, it's pricey!
2005 GT Screaming Yellow: SLP Loudmouths
Ibanez guitars, S&W revolvers, Glock Semi's
Republican write in Presidential Candidate 2012
No, the Unions are directly to blame, and the "welfare" packages that they push. The pensions, health care, and absurd vacation policies are killing them. Ford is almost in the same boat, thanks again to the unions. The foreign companies don't have to deal with the unions as much, so they are at an advantage.
But the Golden Parachutes for executives are ok? 30,000,000 for bad decisions and running the business into the ground?!
I should be so lucky.
GM chose to invest in trucks and SUVs when EVERY indicator said it was an unwise decision. Gas prices were going up, and those vehicles are unsustainable.
If GM took the money they had invested in hydrogen, and put that money into hybrids, they'd have better product. The workers didn't make that decision.
The pensions were in their contract, and GM raided the pensions to pay for their overpaid execs.
The workers didn't have anything to do with that either. The pensions were part of their salary, and GM should have invested those pensions in Bonds. It wasn't the workers decision to make unwise investments. It was GMs execs, and they STILL have their jobs.
Get real!
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Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,his upper rooms by injustice,making his countrymen work for nothing...Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?Did not your father have food and drink?He did what was right and just,so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy,and so all went well...But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain,on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion. Jer 22:13, 15-17
Who the heck invests in a fuel that's not even available?!
__________________
Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,his upper rooms by injustice,making his countrymen work for nothing...Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?Did not your father have food and drink?He did what was right and just,so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy,and so all went well...But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain,on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion. Jer 22:13, 15-17
Exec salaries are a part, that also affected the airlines. BUT, I still maintain that it's the UNIONS killing them, and many other American companies.
They would be much better of (all companies) if they were paying Joe that only screws in the front right headlight who makes $30-$40 an hour, a realistic wage that is more representative of his actual skill level. Hell, they could buy robots, but the Unions would not like that...
The ENTIRE fully paid healthcare situation was started by GM. It was an incentive to get better workers when they were not able to pay more in wages due to union limits. Not that I don't believe in healthcare, but fully paid? That is EXACTLY what is killing them, and Ford to boot.
Yes, they did make bad business choices, with hydrogen. But GM is also working on hybrids. They have a hybrid full size truck, and will have several of their SUV's soon. But, I believe that the bottom will drop out on hybrids soon anyway, they are not getting the mileages that are claimed by the manufacturers. Also, the operation/maintenance cost does not offset the increase in price. You'd have to do alot of driving with the elec motor only to make up the offset.
You can do a little reading on this, I don't have any links to post for you unfortunatly. I've seen info on this on the Drudge report a while back. You may be able to search there.
__________________
I Hate GM, deal with it.
One shot, One Kill! Don't waste ammo, it's pricey!
2005 GT Screaming Yellow: SLP Loudmouths
Ibanez guitars, S&W revolvers, Glock Semi's
Republican write in Presidential Candidate 2012
Exec salaries are a part, that also affected the airlines. BUT, I still maintain that it's the UNIONS killing them, and many other American companies.
They would be much better of (all companies) if they were paying Joe that only screws in the front right headlight who makes $30-$40 an hour, a realistic wage that is more representative of his actual skill level. Hell, they could buy robots, but the Unions would not like that...
The ENTIRE fully paid healthcare situation was started by GM. It was an incentive to get better workers when they were not able to pay more in wages due to union limits. Not that I don't believe in healthcare, but fully paid? That is EXACTLY what is killing them, and Ford to boot.
Yes, they did make bad business choices, with hydrogen. But GM is also working on hybrids. They have a hybrid full size truck, and will have several of their SUV's soon. But, I believe that the bottom will drop out on hybrids soon anyway, they are not getting the mileages that are claimed by the manufacturers. Also, the operation/maintenance cost does not offset the increase in price. You'd have to do alot of driving with the elec motor only to make up the offset.
You can do a little reading on this, I don't have any links to post for you unfortunatly. I've seen info on this on the Drudge report a while back. You may be able to search there.
they hybrid full size truck is 5000 more than a regular truck with little gain in mileage. Another bad decision. The Escape hybrid is selling like crazy, as is the Prius, Accord, etc. There is a REAL gain in mileage and similar, if not BETTER performance with these cars.
You don't think the Japanese have better benefits than US workers? Or the Germans for that matter?! All of them have healthcarte, infact EVERY industrialized country besides the US has affordable healthcare for workers.
You're not doing your research man. Unions aren't killing American business, it's slave labor in communist China. American companies would rather charge American out their rears for healthcare (which is more expensive in this country while fewer people are covered, and seniors have to go to Canada to get the SAME drugs at a cheaper price), while having shorter life expectancy. This makes NO sense.
When American Workers have to compete with slave labor, there is no competition, and it seems, some in this country would prefer those who work for a living should work under the same conditions as slaves.
It used to be people were accountable for their actions. Now the people making the worst decisions keep their jobs, get bonuses, while everyone who plays by the rules gets the shaft. My father's generation had pensions, retirement, health care, vacations, and money to send me to college, even though he had an 8th grade education. My grandfather had the same benefits. That's gone now, in most cases, and people are either too busy to notice, or don't care.
If everyone feels this way, the American Way is dead.
__________________
Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness,his upper rooms by injustice,making his countrymen work for nothing...Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar?Did not your father have food and drink?He did what was right and just,so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy,and so all went well...But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain,on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion. Jer 22:13, 15-17
GM to cut 25,000 jobs by '08 
But they will not go out of business yet. There is still a few more years untill their "welfare state" catches up with them.
