But it has a sliding rear seat...!
Posted on 11/03/2006 8:57:07 AM PST by tang0r
Not surprisingly, their cheap, crappy vehicles have failed to sell. Now they find themselves facing massive financial losses, a blood-thirsty union, and a prolix lineup of nearly all worthless vehicles.
The solution? Scrap every single worthless vehicle and vehicle line, and produce quality vehicles only. In other words, they should stop making Scion/Neon/Corolla-equivalents and start making 335i/GS430/G35-equivalents.
GM has tried new marketing schemes and sales pitches, but they are slowly realizing that no business scheme can make people want to buy their crappy cars. Even though Michael Moore will be devastated, the smartest move for the General is to start fulfilling "An American Revolution" in Mexico and to discontinue the ineffective models and brands from the company completely. The solution that General Motors is desperately seeking is the very thing that made them successful in the first place: manufacture the highest quality autos on the market, period.
(Excerpt) Read more at prometheusinstitute.net ...
Even better, start building those sweet looking concept cars!
Hire Japanese execs to run them.
Get rid of the DexCool system.
GM has improved some in the past few years, but if you want a good GM vehicle it can't be a cheaper one. You can buy 4 cylinder Nissan Sentra and it will last forever, but cheap 4 cylinder GM vehicles are among the worst. However, some of GMs higher end motors are pretty good, especially the LS2 V8 used in the Corvette, and some of those Northstar motors are pretty good too. Now I hope this guy isn't reccommending GM discontinue the Corvette; that'd be the dumbest thing they could possibly do.
close unproductive lines/plants; fire union workers; start making retro cars: 58 Chevy is a fine start, and make fewer cars.
This article is bullcrap. The GTO the only Pontiac worth saving? How about the solstice? And the Skye is a damn cool looking roadster. Both those cars look better than the Miata and the rx-7 that they compete against.
Scrap every single worthless vehicle and vehicle line, and produce quality vehicles only. In other words, they should stop making Scion/Neon/Corolla-equivalents and start making 335i/GS430/G35-equivalents.
Sorry, as Ford's long sales of the Taurus shows you can sell a lot of boring family sedans. Sure you want some sporty cars in your lineup, but all those Civics/Accords/Corollas/Camries on the road show that most people just want a car which gets you from one point to another reliably and somewhat comfortably. I don't need a 300 HP engine and a spoiler to do that. What I don't want is a car that goes into the shop for anything other than fluid changes.
GM, Ford and Chrysler are going to have to work for years to build cars that don't have problems and even more years to build up a reputation that in eight or ten years the cars will still work well.
But it has a sliding rear seat...!
OK, here's one: Let's build cars here like they do in Europe. We could have GM build cars more like Opal and Saab. Oh wait...
I know, we can GM import cars from Holden in Australia, and rename it. It could be badged as a Pontiac or something. Oh wait...
I know, let's partner with a successful Japanese company and build a joint assembly factory so we can figure out how they do it. We could call it the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. or NUMMI for short. Oh wait...
Alright, how about we just buy a Japanese manufacturer outright. I hear Izusu is available. Oh wait...
The problem with GM isn't that they build crappy cars. It's that they fail to capitalize on their worldwide knowledge base when building their North American cars. But that is slowly changing.
GM is doomed.
look at Japanese crossover SUVs
how many people ---> really <-- want
a SUV with a truck frame?
"Now I hope this guy isn't reccommending GM discontinue the Corvette; that'd be the dumbest thing they could possibly do."
To be honest, I couldn't tell what the hell the guy was talking about. It appears to me he knows little about cars or those who drive them.
Interesting article. Note they mention the Eldorado with air ride and auto headlight dimmer. My dad had one of those dimmers in our car and drove with one hand on the wheel and the other on the little dimmer adjusting knob--never could get the thing to work. The air ride; well...
"how many people ---> really <-- want
a SUV with a truck frame?"
People who don't live in cities?
Well, I do. LOL.
When they stopped making SUVs with truck frames I started buying trucks instead!
An SUV with a car frame is nothing more than an overpriced station wagon and/or an undersized minivan. However, this might be a very profitable line of vehicles for most manufacturers because people are willing to overpay for these things.
Um, no. DexCool is a pretty good system - *IF* your manufacturer doesn't use the cheapest gasketry.
American "green" coolant contains silicates to chew up your water pump seals, and phosphates to screw up anything made of aluminum. Known problem - part of how Toyota achieved superiority in this country was by using their "Red" silicate and phosphate free coolant as first fill. Toyota water pumps lasted indefinitely in an era when having to change your water pump by 50 or 100K was par for the course of owning a domestic.
I guess I’m a car snob too. A lot of what he says makes sense. But, what do I know all my cars are “Jap” cars.
How to save GM:
They don't make enough on their cars to pay their expenses. The obvious solution: lower expenses. Close down every single plant in Michigan and move them to right-to-work states. Their expenses drop, profits (remember, profits = earnings - expenses) go up, more profits mean better research and better cars.... etc.
If they continue to appease the unions, they'll die.
Everyone who bought an Explorer or Jeep Cherokee (*still* the most popular SUV in history, *still* millions of the things running around)?
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