how to save GM

[publicenemy137]

stop building pieces of unreliable crap, and build quality cars but sell them for a lil more money. Give American cars a sense of quality, use nice interior materials, solid engine design, and reliability that rivals japanese automakers. They need to shift from being cheap cars compared to other cars in its class, to being a quality car, even if it'll cost a lil more. there, that's all they need to do

[ec437]

Originally Posted by BleedDodge

I don't think GM will die. They might be poorly run, and mismanaged, but they're still selling the cars.

I know that around here, for every Dodge truck on the road you see about 3 or 4 GMC/Chevy trucks. GM has more vans and suv's to choose from than Dodge or Ford, and you see more of them anyway. Ford doesn't even make minivans anymore as the Freestar was cancelled.

GM will be around for awhile. I just can't see them going away.

If things continue as they have, GM will be bankrupt possibly within the decade.

[ec437]

Originally Posted by Rally Sport 92

You know, since most of you guys know how to run a billion dollar business im still surprised that you're here in AF instead of getting a loan and start making some money for yourself.

I'll do that when I'm out of college.

Also, GM is more like a 60 billion dollar business.

[clawhammer]

I think Saturn needs to stay, because their owners are relatively happy with them. Happier than all other brands.

Saab needs to be redesigned to actually compete with other sport sedans. They need to drop the FWD.

Hummer, just kill those damn things that waste gas and kill innocent people. Yeah, I bet they're selling really well, with gas over $3/gallon

Buick. I actually agree with Josh, that this needs to stay. The elderly population is getting bigger and bigger, and they need cars. Buick has already established a customer base with the elderly.

[MonsterBengt]

Let Saab make their own RWD sedan/stations, not based on an other GM model. That'll make the nordic market go rocket high. And they need a 2door Coupé/Conv.

[ec437]

Originally Posted by MonsterBengt

Let Saab make their own RWD sedan/stations, not based on an other GM model. That'll make the nordic market go rocket high. And they need a 2door Coupé/Conv.

GM doesn't want to do that because they need to keep their struggling factories near capacity. They can't close any factories because if they do they will still have to pay the workers for something like 10 years anyways. Which is why they need to cut their losses and sub out the factories at just below cost to be competitive with IHM costs of other companies.

[BleedDodge]

I was just looking at a brand new '06 Chevy, it was 47 thousand dollars. Just a normal 4x4 half ton, 4 door with a V8. These trucks are everywhere. I somehow don't think GM is in any sort of trouble. People are paying crazy money for these things...

[ec437]

Originally Posted by BleedDodge

I was just looking at a brand new '06 Chevy, it was 47 thousand dollars. Just a normal 4x4 half ton, 4 door with a V8. These trucks are everywhere. I somehow don't think GM is in any sort of trouble. People are paying crazy money for these things...

According to their income statement, last quarter GM recorded a $6,663,000,000 (yes, six BILLION dollars) loss. Yes, they lost 6.6 billion dollars in a 3 month period. In 2005 they lost a little over 10 billion dollars total, and at the end of 2005 GM was only worth 10 billion. Also, the reason Buick, Saturn and Pontiac need to be axed is not necesarrily because they don't have buyers, but because GM doesn't have the R&D budget to have good cars for all of its brands. As of now they can only have mediocre cars at best. If they axe 3 names, (which would probably cost them about 4 billion dollars to do so but its worth it in the long run) they will be able to support the development of quality cars for the brands that are still left.


No, they're not in any trouble at all....


See for yourself: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=GM

[79Bandit]

Gm how could you do this to me.......i trusted you....

[79Bandit]

waittt... was jus thinking i bet if gm went out of business my car value would sky rocket doooo itt!!! muhahahaha

[DinanM3_S2]

Saturn needs to stay, but it needs to continue to become an American version of Opel/Vauxhall. The Sky and more importantly, the upcoming Aura look to be pretty good cars. Through Opel/Vauxhall, Saturn could help save GM.

I honestly don't understand the point of Buick. Does anyone actually buy the LaCrosse over the Camry or Accord? The Lucerne looks like it could have the potential to compete with the likes of the Toyota Avalon and Nissan Maxima, I havn't been in one yet, but if its like the LaCrosse it is destined for rental car fleets. When surfing the Buick website I thought it was a joke that the headline for the Lucerne was "Luxury Performance Handling Sedan." I'm not sure if its funnier that they claim that it is luxurious or that it can handle. 4-speed automatics on all of their models? Come on, the 6-speed automatic has become pretty standard and Lexus is about to release an 8-speed.

As Acura has shown, FWD can work for luxury cars (at least below $40,000). Saab needs to learn everything they can from the TSX and the TL and put that into their cars.

Cadillac has done great work with their exterior styling, now they need to figure out interiors. It seems that when you tell GM to make a luxury car, they just take a regular car and make it bigger. More space is good, but the quality of the leathers isn't up to par and the plastics are very low grade. It can't be that hard to make an interior that feels as good as Lexus or BMW. The STS is selling half as well as the Infiniti M35/M45, Lexus GS, and Benz E-Class, and about 1/4 as well as the BMW 5-series.

Other then just car quality, GM needs to fix its various business practices that are forcing it to hemorrage money. They are still the best selling company in the world, they just don't know how to manage their income.

[-Josh-]

Originally Posted by DinanM3_S2

I honestly don't understand the point of Buick. Does anyone actually buy the LaCrosse over the Camry or Accord? The Lucerne looks like it could have the potential to compete with the likes of the Toyota Avalon and Nissan Maxima, I havn't been in one yet, but if its like the LaCrosse it is destined for rental car fleets. When surfing the Buick website I thought it was a joke that the headline for the Lucerne was "Luxury Performance Handling Sedan." I'm not sure if its funnier that they claim that it is luxurious or that it can handle. 4-speed automatics on all of their models? Come on, the 6-speed automatic has become pretty standard and Lexus is about to release an 8-speed.

Around here the LaCrosse and the Lucerne are selling very well, we can barely keep any on our lots, especially Lucerne's we usually have those sold right off the transport. People need to give these two cars a chance, i would definately own one. I want either a White Lacrosse with the 17" chrome wheels, or a black Lucerne CXS...mmmm


Right now GM is going through a rebuilding period, much like a pro team when their players get old or a college team when their players graduate, they're gonna take a few hits, maybe a few bad seasons, but they're on their way back up it's just gonna take a while.

[ec437]

Originally Posted by -Josh-

Right now GM is going through a rebuilding period, much like a pro team when their players get old or a college team when their players graduate, they're gonna take a few hits, maybe a few bad seasons, but they're on their way back up it's just gonna take a while.

They've been consistently losing market share since 1969 (20+ points of it) and as of last may they were down to 25.6%. A 37 year rebuilding period?

[TexasF355F1]

You can't drop Saturn. It's one of the companies top selling marques. That would be a dumb move. Buick is a waste of space. Even gramps aren't buying them anymore.

The biggest thing is the whole employee pentions and health benefit packages they get. Some of these people do nothing but stand around and stamp iron all day and get $100k/year. That's bullshit.

[1986Z28]

yeah dodge needs to stop with the hemi, probaly going to put them in skittles soon too