Posted on 06/26/2008 5:55:45 AM PDT by jalisco555
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Why is General Motors still in the Dow?
GM (GM, Fortune 500) may still be the biggest of the Big Three. But it's getting more and more difficult to justify keeping GM in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, an exclusive list of what's supposed to be the 30 leaders in the U.S. markets and economy.
GM confirmed on Monday that it is looking into selling its Hummer brand of monstrously-sized vehicles. And in a major sign of desperation, it also announced that it would offer six-year, zero-percent loans for 2008 models until the end of June in an attempt to clear out inventory.
The stock traded close to a 33-year low on Monday, and the company now has a market value of about $7.5 billion, the lowest in the Dow. The next lowest is Alcoa...and it's still valued at $30.3 billion, more than four times as much.
Heck, even Ford has a bigger market value, at $11.9 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
“a paucity of attractive products”
Corvette, beautiful Malibu, Impala, CTS, Astro, Aura? What’s not to like? Pontiac G6 with folding metal top, 20 mpg mileager full-sized pickup trucks and Saturn Outlook? What are you saying “a paucity of attractive products”?
Funny how things have changed. I bought a Toyota Corolla in 1970 because it was the cheapest new car I could get. You would have thought from the looks I got on the road that I was driving a chariot from hell. Now your a genius if you drive one of those boring overpriced econoboxes.
Incompetent, entrenched management, market share in meltdown and much better run competitors
Add the burden of legacy UAW labor to the GM woes.
Bankruptcy would be a light at the end of the tunnel...helping to get the legacy burden off GM’s back.
Obviously beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But the market rules and Pontiac and Saturn are not faring well. I’m on record as liking the CTS and the Malibu, pending longer term reliability data. As for the ‘vette, well, it doesn’t work for me, but that’s just me.
btt
I consistantly get 32-35 mpg on the highway...
...with my VW GTI.
The cars that GM sells as Buicks in China are not the same vehicles that they sell as Buicks in America.
To see what GM thinks China wants, go to:
You’ll find that the Buicks sold in China are much, MUCH nicer than the typical cr@p that GM shovels out for domestic consumption.
The truth is it’s both incompetenence and unions. I think if it was just one or the other they might be able to ride this out but I have serious doubts with both.
Still very good. Many kia dealerships offer lifetime warranty on the powertrain.
survivorship-bias alert.
Chevrolet for family cars
Cadillac for luxury cars
GMC for pickup trucks
I wouldn't be surprised if this happens as early as 2012.
You are assuming GM makes it that long. If gas stays above 4+/gallon, I’m not sure it will—at least not in its current form.
I agree with you. And I don’t.
I just don’t buy their vehicles anymore.
And to be fair, Mercedes - which used to be my favorite vehicle - has gone down the crap tube also.
I almost can’t believe it but I’m flipping the coin right now between a new Miata and a Honda S2000.
If you are considering the S2000, at least test drive the rx8.
I have a rx8 and it is fun to drive.
I think GM will still be around, mostly because we will see a massive overhaul of the company within the next few years that will shed the company of its Buick, Pontiac and Saturn divisions in favor of Chevrolet, Cadillac and GMC divisions. Essentially, Chevrolet will become badge for almost the entire Opel line (which will be built in the USA to cut development costs), Cadillac will sell higher-end models and GMC will be the sole division selling light-duty trucks.
The problem is that state franchising laws make it almost impossible for GM to close divisions. Their legal obligations to their dealers make this prohibitively expensive. It cost billions to close down Olds and they don't have the money anymore. This will only happen if GM declares Chapter 11 which will void their dealer contracts.
I’m looking for a convertible this time around so the RX8 is off the list. But the current Miatas are built on a shortened version of the same frame so I could end up with an “RX8” anyway.
I’ve owned 5 GM cars, on all of which I put about 200,000 miles with very little problems. Even my 1975 Chevy Vega got over 200K miles before I had to send it to the graveyard.
GM has a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. Unlike Hyundai/Kia’s, it is transferrable.
I believe that we could see GM go into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to totally revamp its finances and re-emerge as a much more streamlined company selling vehicles that people really want.
If CNN would spend as much time talking nice about our economy as they do fawning over Hussein Obama, we wouldn’t be in near the financial trouble we are in.
...that and stop backing the Ecosocialists in their non-drilling euphoria.
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