Guy's, Gm Is In Serious Trouble!

[Lexusfreak]

Just saw this 'Breaking News' on CNN this morning....I actually feel pretty bad for the General & their employee's. :cries: :(

http://money.cnn.com/2005/06/07/news/fortu...dex.htm?cnn=yes

[vcv10guy]

Ya I just read that article too. Those shareholders are sure unhappy about the company's direction. I feel sorry for those workers that are about to lose their jobs too. Well that's business for you.

[cruznroadking]

Also think of the trickle down effect. With the plants closing & less cars being built it will also effect the vendors that GM uses. If they built better cars rather than relying on trucks & large SUV's sales they'd be in better shape. I've owned GM vehicles for many years before switching to foreign cars. Look at the joint venture with Toyota at the NUMMI plant in Fremont CA. which is highly successful. You'd think someone at GM will get a clue.

[VBdenny]

GM pu themselves in this situation. Building gaint SUV's so suburban soccer mom can crusie their spolied kids around town is their problem. A few years ago when gas was 87 cents a gallon, who cared? GM thought giant vehicles were the ticket so they bought Hummer, the biggest gas hog made since the 1974 Dodge 4x4 Snow Fighter Pickups.

The small gas they make are junky, rental car looking things. The new Malibu is horrid! The Cobalt? looks like a cheap Cavilier to me. The only ball GM has in it's court is the Corvette, and how many of them do you think they sell? Next, cops and taxi drivers don't buy GM since they dumped the rear drive Caprice and Impala SS. Then again, they were in demand.

My 5 speed Corolla gets 41mpg highway, 32 city. It has a 12 gallon gas tank which will barely hold $20 worth.

Yeah, they ARE in trouble.

[SKperformance]

They always have been in trouble.

Just everyone else realises how stupid their engineering or lack of is.

If they focused on a good product that lasted more than a few years before rusting apart and dieing at the side of the road.

They make disposable cars now they have a disposable company.

[Lexusfreak]

They always have been in trouble.

Just everyone else realises how stupid their engineering or lack of is.

If they focused on a good product that lasted more than a few years before rusting apart and dieing at the side of the road.

They make disposable cars now they have a disposable company.

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Depending on the vehicle perhaps (say the Cavalier & Sunfire)......but I think that's a little harsh for the entire company & ALL of it's divisions. The General does make decent products, except not many care because of past bad experences. I personally would buy another GM product again (used mind you to take advantage of the serious depreciation). ;)

[SKperformance]

I am very jaded ,it is true.

I worked for a dealer in Toronto for a bit and it was amazing at the lack of thoguht that went into so many of the products with year after year coming out with no improvment to the basics of the parts to cause them to always break and be a money pit.

Put it this way i used to own a 91 grad prix in the 5 years i had it from new i replaced more parts than i have ever change on my lexus with double the milage. I had an extra alternator and starter on hand as i had to keep replacing the peice of crap.

Seized calipers every other year, rusted coolant pipes, broken dash,headgaskets you name it i probably changed.

[Lexusfreak]

I am very jaded ,it is true.

I worked for a dealer in Toronto for a bit and it was amazing at the lack of thoguht that went into so many of the products with year after year coming out with no improvment to the basics of the parts to cause them to always break and be a money pit.

Put it this way i used to own a 91 grad prix in the 5 years i had it from new i replaced more parts than i have ever change on my lexus with double the milage. I had an extra alternator and starter on hand as i had to keep replacing the peice of crap.

Seized calipers every other year, rusted coolant pipes, broken dash,headgaskets    you name it i probably changed.

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I owned a 91 Olds 88 & 91 Riviera.....88 for 5 years, Riv, for 4, other than regular maintenance & 120k kms later I was a very happy owner of each.

The Oshawa GM plants (#'s 1 & 2) have recently (again) been named the best assembly plants in North America for GM. I know that those plants will not be effected by the 25k + job cut's. They are practly the only plants that actually makes a profit for the General. ;) B)

[SW03ES]

GM doesn't make products of the same quality as foreign manufacturers its true but the main problem has to do with the mess they've gotten themselves into with all the pension benefits they have to pay etc.

[Lexusfreak]

GM doesn't make products of the same quality as foreign manufacturers its true but the main problem has to do with the mess they've gotten themselves into with all the pension benefits they have to pay etc.

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Exactly sw! B)

[cruznroadking]

I agree that part of the problem is the pension they are required to pay, however GM has beancounters who factor that into the cost of each car sold. My point is that they've lost touch with what the consumer wants. Almost 70% of their sales were large SUVs & trucks. With the increase in crude oil prices, less & less people are purchasing big trucks. Also Toyota, Nissan & even Honda has taken a huge piece of the market share away from both GM & Ford with better built trucks. They need to be more proactive than reactive. When you react you're already 2 steps behind. The reason why GM is closing plants is because their products aren't selling. Sales have been down year over year for the last five years. GM needs fresh new products that the consumer wants to buy in order for them to grow. GM is a multi-billion dollar company & far from going bankrupt. It's just sad to see this happen.

[SW03ES]

I think the issue is they dont have the ability to build what the consumer wants at a price they'll pay. With the overhead they've got anything similar to the content of a Japanese vehicle (that has a dramatically lower cost to build) would have to be significantly more expensive for GM to turn a profit. GM, as it is, is surely doomed.

[Lexusfreak]

Not to mention now that GM is offering it's products for 'Employee cost'! Even less profit now to move the vehicles on top of the 0% financing. :o It's a sad state GM is in bigtime! :(

[SW03ES]

Well thats just a marketing ploy.

[Lexusfreak]

Well thats just a marketing ploy.

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But a marketing ploy with huge discounts! lol But one will take a huge beating at trade in time no doubt. ;)

[SW03ES]

Naa, the discounts arent any bigger than they've ever been, I'd bet they're actually smaller.

[VBdenny]

I guess the General HAD to give an employee discount to everyone to sel alll the cars nobody is buying. The good news is if one of the 25,000 people laid off need a new car, they can now get it at their old employee price. Except of course that they don't get the paycheck to make the payment with.

Doesn't tempt me a bit. I probably wouldn't buy one anyway. I have owned several GM cars and everyone has had terrible brakes and electrical problems. My 1990 Caprice has had 4 radiators, 3 waterpumps, one engine (due to a headgasket failure), three air conditioning repairs, three horn repairs, two windows buttons, three sets of rotors, countless sets of pads, a vacuum actuator in the climate control, rear window defroster repair, a fuel pump, and several other little issues like radio, washer fluid pump, etc. My 1990 Lexus has had one caliper replaced, two sets of pads, and the strut bar replaced.

[idrewfelix]

American Cars are trash, I hate American cars

Im glad that GM is going to die

[SW03ES]

American Cars are trash, I hate American cars

Im glad that GM is going to die

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No offense but thats a pretty ignorant comment to make. Have you had first hand experience with ALL American cars?

As far as being glad GM is going to die, if you knew anything about our economy you wouldn't be...

[VBdenny]

I agree with SWO. I own 2 American cars and I am looking forward to smoking the tires on my borthers SS-396 in a few weeks. Syracuse Nations coming up you know. Give me a C6 or something with a hemi. BUT, when it comes to buying any new cars.... they better be made by made by Toyota.