When will GM 'Get It'?

CMY · Nov 18, 2005

Interesting article:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/17/news/fortune500/gm_woes/index.htm?cnn=yes

I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel... UAW looks like the problem here.

The biggest victory for GM in recent months was reaching an agreement with the UAW to cut $1 billion a year from the $5.6 billion it now spends on health care costs for union members, retirees and their families. The news was enough to give GM shares a lift, even as it was reporting a much bigger-than-expected third-quarter loss.
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writerguy · Sep 7, 2017

Mr Payne said:

First of all, if anyone has read *any* real piece of writing from a high level exec that wasn't simply a PR blurb
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Actually i have met most of the top bannannas in the bunch (except Waggoner) and interviewed Cowger and Lutz many times as well as many other mid and upper level guys at GM. They have been turning a speeding supertanker through some pretty rocky water. one of the main problems they have had is that the place is SO big, most people don't realize how many people get a paycheque from the General and its subsidiaries.
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DMC · Nov 18, 2005

Bullfighter said:

GM needs the automotive equivalent of the iPod, and you don't get that by recombining parts. There was a review of the HHR today in the New York Times, and predictably this new product was damned by faint praise -- a "PT Cruiser competitor 6 years late" with a lacklustre 4-banger, Cobalt underpinnings, and plain jane wheels and interior. This is the sequel to the "slow-selling SSR" pickup-hotrod truck, and this is going sit alongside the Corvette (!!!) in Chevy showrooms.
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Predictably, the NY times skewered the GM product. If it were that bad, why have all the other reviews been positive? Why do they have to increase production to meet demand?

http://www.freep.com/money/autonews...0e_20050930.htm

GM likely to increase output of retro HHR

September 30, 2005

BY MICHAEL ELLIS
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Despite being derided by critics as the "me-too PT Cruiser," the Chevrolet HHR has enjoyed surprising success, General Motors Corp. Vice Chairman Bob Lutz said Thursday. GM likely will have to increase production of the retro-looking vehicle even after nearly doubling volume already, he said.

CHEVY HHR
Manufacturer's suggested retail price: $16,990 for the four-door LT model.

EPA mileage ratings: 23 m.p.g. city/30 m.p.g. highway for automatic.

The competition: Chrysler PT Cruiser, Ford Focus wagon, Pontiac Vibe GT, Toyota Matrix XRS

Styling inspired by: 1949 Chevy Suburban and Chevy SSR convertible pickup.

Same family as: Chevy Cobalt and Saturn Ion.

Where it's built: Ramos Arizpe, Mexico.

Selling points: Low price, good fuel economy, cool styling, useful interior features.

Trendy feature: Input jack for auxiliary (iPod/MP3) players.

Source: General Motors Corp. Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan contributed to this report.

"HHR is even exceeding my expectations, and my expectations were very high," Lutz told reporters following a media event at GM's Milford proving grounds.

The HHR, whose bulging fenders and large grille evoke images of the 1949 Chevrolet Suburban, has had strong sales success in California, a market dominated by Asian automakers.

U.S. sales of the HHR hit 5,760 in September, only its second month in the market, despite being in short supply.

GM has increased its production goal for the built-in-Mexico wagon to 120,000 a year, and more might be needed, Lutz said. "We'll probably have to go up from there," he said.

Late last year, Lutz had projected annual sales of the HHR in the range of 80,000 to 100,000. GM later scaled back that estimate to 60,000 to 80,000 a year, but since arriving on the market, the HHR has sold better than executives had expected -- just as the Chrysler Group's PT Cruiser did.

GM is quick to point out that the HHR, which gets 23 miles per gallon city/30 m.p.g. highway in EPA fuel economy tests, is bigger than the PT Cruiser but uses less gas. The PT Cruiser GT gets 19 m.p.g. city/25 m.p.g. highway.

The initial success of the HHR must be especially gratifying to Lutz.

After many automotive analysts criticized the HHR as arriving too late to market and looking too much like the PT Cruiser, he angrily told reporters at the Los Angeles auto show in January that the HHR will be "sensationally successful."
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GM's coming out with some good products lately, their quality numbers are up, and they're starting to get some good reviews. We'll see if they can overcome their perception problem before it's too late.

Bullfighter · Nov 18, 2005

CMY said:

Interesting article:

http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/17/news/fortune500/gm_woes/index.htm?cnn=yes

I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel... UAW looks like the problem here.
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To be fair, GM's management doesn't have many options to solve the problems we've been discussing here. Waggoner inherited this ridiculous compensation/benefits structure, and the UAW is going to hang on until it and GM drown in debt. I don't really know what he could do, given all the contracts and union arrangements. A Delphi strike would be as bad as a strike within GM.

As a lifelong car enthusiast, I have a huge list of things GM is doing wrong and reasons why I think it is badly run. I don't hold out much chance that they can start producing BMW or Lexus-level cars, ever. Maybe bankruptcy would allow a new leader there to reinvent the company, from the car-design-by-committee team all the way down to the sleazy, depressing dealerships.

Hans Gruber · Nov 19, 2005

Bullfighter said:

As a lifelong car enthusiast, I have a huge list of things GM is doing wrong and reasons why I think it is badly run. I don't hold out much chance that they can start producing BMW or Lexus-level cars, ever.
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Have you driven a CTS-V for example?

mdoan300 · Nov 20, 2005

Hans Gruber said:

Have you driven a CTS-V for example?
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I drove my friend's. It is a nice attempt, but not quite BMW level. While the interior is teutonic and german-like, plastic mold lines were still visible on some pieces. The performance is nice, but it feels like a 3800lb car. It was a shocker, to say the least, that Cadillac lists the curb weight at 3500lbs.

///Michael.

Westworld · Nov 21, 2005

GM brough down the job ax today.

Auraraptor · Nov 21, 2005

Westworld said:

GM brough down the job ax today.
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Not really, just a plant closings. It still really is employing those workers...they are just sitting on their asses now.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10138507/

The United Auto Workers said workers will be protected by the union’s job security agreements, which ensure they get pay and benefits even while they’re laid off. The union also said GM’s actions will make contract negotiations in 2007 much more difficult

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10141678/

jimangle · Nov 21, 2005

GM will get it when the only vehicle they can sell is the Corvette. So I guess they'll get it next year.
A co-workers brother works for GM and apparently they come up with some really innovative designs but the board that selects the designs (from what I've been told are really out of their element) shoots all of innovative designs down, and sticks with the bland crap that GM puts out now.
Two co-workers bought 2002 Grand Prix two years ago. What a piece of shi t. On one the window came out of it's track, the transmission slips, and the door handle broke. The other, he blew a hole through the transmission attempting to pass someone, and then after he replaced the transmission, he through a rod.

ghost · Nov 21, 2005

Anyone playing the stock on this roller coaster ride? Bought some at $23.xx. Wanted to double down at $22.xx but was restricted. Grrrrr.

With $19 bn in cash (and a whole host of other factors), I'm taking a contrarian view that stock is undervalued due to bankruptcy fears.

Still think the cars they make are turd, but it's all about relative value here.

ghost · Nov 22, 2005

An article that summarizes my position well. Just build an attractive car dammit!

Getting 'intelligent' at GM
For all its grousing management at the car maker has to do one thing ... make better cars!
November 22, 2005: 8:35 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Intelligent design may be of questionable value for schools and universities but it is exactly what General Motors needs!

Cars that people want to buy more than any others, brands that sing with style and class, an unquantifiable cachet that makes certain models coveted by key demographic groups (the ones that buy cars frequently!) -- this is what GM needs to pull out of its slump and become a powerful moneymaker and world leader again.

Management can complain all it wants to about "overpaid" union workers who don't pay as much for their health care as all the rest of us. The union is taking steps to recognize the reality of the modern competitive world and adjust its pay and benefits scale.

But the biggest challenge is figuring out how to design cars that people want to buy. Hard to believe that the mighty GM (Research) still doesn't seem to have figured it out. One would have thought that the lessons of the 1970's and early 80's when the small, economical Japanese cars captured the American consumer's fancy as they looked at rising gas prices and looked for alternatives to big gas guzzlers. Imports got a toehold that turned into a beach head and now a big market share, so much so that it's hard to think of them as "foreign" cars now, isn't it?

But the big U.S. automakers still don't seem nimble enough to shift gears quickly and companies like GM can't sell enough cars to be profitable.

Intelligent design may be what GM's board needs to contemplate as it looks at GM management and wonders if it isn't time for some radical new models.
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When will GM 'Get It'?

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When will GM 'Get It'?

CMY F1 World Champ

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DMC Formula 3

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mdoan300 Karting

Westworld Three Time F1 World Champ Silver Subscribed

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