GM Warns It Won't See New Year Without Aid

CBS/AP ^ | Dec. 3, 2008

[george76]

A top General Motors executive repeated claims Wednesday that the auto giant may not make it to New Year's Day if Congress doesn't approve a federal bailout for the beleaguered industry.

"We've seen … not only continued pressure in our business but the pace of deterioration has accelerated. October and November were just the worst levels we've seen post-World War II."

[netmilsmom]

I’m in Detroit and totally agree with you.

[quadrant]

Years ago, a secretary in my office - no more than 19 - bought a GM car she'd dreamed of owning since childhood. She had nothing but problems with the car, taking in back to the dealership so many times that she almost lost her job for absenteeism. Finally, she complained the the Regional Vice Poobah in Atlanta. He told her, “You don't expect them all to be right, do you?” Every time, I think about buying a car from the Big Three, esp GM, I remember the story.

[WOBBLY BOB]

...but we’re all still DOOMED without them!!!

[Ed Condon]

Ford Fusion is a Mazda 6, that is assembled in Mexico. A Fine American car, yep.

[NonValueAdded]

Has anyone discussed a takeover of some of the idled capacity by the Japanese mfgs? Demand is down but those numbers don’t yet take into account the 50% decrease in gasoline price. GM will leave a hole that good manufacturers can fill.

[MD_Willington_1976]

boo hoo...

[Moose4]

Damn right. If I could afford it, I’d buy a Greer-made Beemer in a heartbeat. I wonder if BMW ships any of those South-Carolina-made models back across the Atlantic to Europe? Wouldn’t it be a hoot for some Bush-hating Eurosnob to realize that his new BMW was made by “rednecks” in one of the reddest parts of one of the reddest states in America? And that it’s built BETTER than the ones BMW makes in Germany?

}:-)4

[tumblindice]

I had an `81. Bad steering sector—a `bear’ to turn the wheel when cold?

[wally_bert]

I am in Cola so the commute to the mines would be a killer.

[mewzilla]

I’ve got a question: What’s wrong with GM’s books? Whatever it is, the union and management are all in on it. The Feds ought to sic an army of forensic accountants on GM, heck on all of the Big 3, before the automakers get another dang dime.

[NVDave]

Thank you for making the $65,535.00 point here.

The second point that riffs off your point is “how many people who are worried about future unemployment, the economy, the declining value of their house, their mortgage, their retirement, their kids college expenses, etc - worry about buying a new car, regardless of the Chapter 11 status?”

Well, as we see from the car sales stats for November, not many. Even the Japanese automakers are seeing huge declines in sales from a year ago. It isn’t just a “GM” thing or a Big Three thing - it is a *consumer* thing. The consumer is tapped out, run dry, has nothing left to spend but pocket lint.

[NVDave]

Why would they want to take over the idled capacity?

Seriously, why would they? Much of it is in union states. Why buy a problem you don’t have now?

[gathersnomoss]

Hey GM, it’s global Stupid. We are in for a long ride, and it won’t be in a brand new GM vehicle. And why the hell should GM receive a dime? If Uncle Sugar wanted to help GM, he could give a $10,000 credit to all GM buyers. If Uncle Sugar “gives away” billions of dollars directly to the union...er uh GM, it will go directly into the toilet.

STOP NOW!!!

[WOBBLY BOB]

49 states get an "F" in college affordability in a new report today. Why not haul all the college admins, assistants to the assistant dean, deans,etc , in front of Congress. Then grill them on how they got there for good measure.

[NVDave]

There’s nothing really “wrong” with GM’s books. It is their business plan.

They knew they were bleeding cash since about 1999 to 2000. Starting in 2002, they starting buying down UAW contracts, etc. They’ve gotten a new pay scale for new employees, etc.

Still, they were losing money on most cars they shipped - but they would lose money more slowly than if they had the level of sales they’re seeing now. Much of their expense load is fixed, and they can’t shed it when they’re not selling cars. If they could sell enough cars, they could make the cash they have last much longer, but with auto sales plummeting as they have this year, the true scale and inflexibility of their expense load comes into view.

[gathersnomoss]

Hell, meet handbasket! It doesn’t matter now.

[wally_bert]

One of my uncle's Kaisers until a couple of years ago.

It was one of three he had. I sold two of them for him. One went to Canada and the other one is somewhere in NC up around Raleigh.

When I used some of my free Eartlink webspace to host the images for the auctions years ago, I got a warning from Earthlink saying that I had exceeded my bandwith by something like 10X. If I did it again, I was going to be turned off. I paid my bill every month. That was before I discovered Flickr and Smugmug.

I had more questions and compliments about those three old salvage cars than just about anything else I peddled on Ebay.

I also got a lot of nitpicks from supposed KF experts and some of them probably were too. I let the photos speak for themselves. Some people think they know every nut and bolt ever turned by Henry Kaiser.

[mewzilla]

There’s nothing really “wrong” with GM’s books. It is their business plan.

You bet their business model is screwed up. What's worse, they all know it. So why the HECK don't they declare Chapter 11 and reorganize? That is literally the only course of action that will save the companies. I can see the union not wanting it. But management?? They'd rather let Congress nationalize their companies?? The only reason I can see the union and the managements colluding against their companies' best interests is because they don't dare let anyone get a look at the books.

[Peter W. Kessler]

I still want an HHR Panel SS.

[erman]