Time to manipulate the DJI by throwing out a loser & adding in a winner?
I remember when after September 11 all the auto makers cut their loan rates, etc to help boost the economy. How much of that led to their decline, I wonder?
Consider the source: Communist Negativity Network.
GM drove away a lot of people with decades of subpar automobiles. Many of those people went to the Japanese and are now quite happy. GM hasn’t yet matched the Japanese in most passenger car categories but they have improved. The problem is that most Japanese, and now Korean with the emergence of Hyundai, customers are satisfied. GM can’t just build an equal car to win them back, they must build a car that is clearly better and they’ve yet to show they can match things like the Accord.
They also screwed up by putting too many eggs in the SUV market. They let those profits keep them going. Once that bubble burst, as you knew it would, they ended up in trouble.
“Incompetent, entrenched management, market share in meltdown and much better run competitors are killing this once great company.”
Come on! This is FR, get with the program. GM has only one flaw, unions. If union members were summarily shot, there would be cheers here. A less drastic step, that would still be greeted with much glee is to keep the managment here and move all manufacturing offshore. That would get some freepers wetting their pants with delight.
And those same freepers wonder why a putz like Obama is getting traction.
I drove Chevrolets for decades, but recently switched to a Mazda. Given my long experience with GM vehicles and their typical problems, I would find it hard to go back.
an opinion in a "news" story? I'm shocked!
Time to manipulate the DJI by throwing out a loser & adding in a winner?
I need the reliability, longevity, maintainability, safety, utility, comfort and looks in a vehicle so I buy GM. I see so many little ugly riceburners broken down on the side of the Interstates as I travel, I don’t see the facination with those things.
"I have been in a long running debate with "Chris" who frequently comments on my blog. I have stated many times that GM should have dumped Ditech and GMAC. Chris disagrees. The argument from Chris is that GM needed GMAC to finance cars.
Sorry Chris, you lose. GM needed GMAC to finance cars in the same sense that addicts need the next fix. The "profits" that GMAC provided were an illusion, just as the negative amortization profits at Wachovia (WB) and Washington Mutual (WM) were an illusion.
GM is not really a manufacturer. GM is a subprime lender disguised as a manufacturer. And as long as the junkie could get its fix, the game could go on. GM could have and should have dumped its subprime lending scheme when it had the chance. It would have fetched top dollar.
GM did not need those businesses, there was plenty of financing available numerous other places. GM would have sold as many cars as it did, whether it had GMAC or not.
Ironically, the same holds true today. GMAC is bleeding badly and will have to tighten lending restrictions. Lending restrictions have tightened elsewhere. Now GMAC and Ditech are like lead weights on GM's neck. Things are so bad, GM might have to pay money to get rid of GMAC. That is exactly what GM should do. Instead, it continues to fund it."
i remember in the mid-1980’s discussing with friends, some of whom had worked for gm and quit, that
the management and unions at gm were screwed up.
they’ve had decades to get their act together.
I heard on the radio that GM has enough cash to last another six months. Too bad they and Ford couldn’t make a durable car to compete with the Japanese cars. For years I tried to be patriotic and buy American cars, but they were all poor quality. My Honda Civic has been the most reliable car I’ve ever had, now 12 years old.
“As General Motors goes, so goes the Nation”. True?
$179 billion sales should not be ignored.
GM’s market cap may be small but it is still a huge part of the economy. Here is the top 10 by revenue.
1 Wal-Mart Stores 378,799.00
2 Exxon Mobil 372,824.00
3 Chevron 210,783.00
4 General Motors 182,347.00
5 ConocoPhillips 178,558.00
6 General Electric 176,656.00
7 Ford Motor 172,468.00
8 Citigroup 159,229.00
9 Bank of America Corp. 119,190.00
10 AT&T 118,928.00
Whats the old joke...
GM is an HMO that makes cars on the side. Death by unionization.
Anti-Americanism is alive and well in the pages of financial journalism.
Maybe they’ll rebound, and those who are employing the “dogs of the Dow” strategy might actually make some money this time around.
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.
btt