General Motors managment flaws. (for those who love cars)

oldszone ^ | unknown | Speech of Jerry Flint

[HamiltonJay]

GM is arguably the worst run corporation in the world. They only manage to survive because of sheer size, nothing else. There is a manager in GM, won't name names, who has been accused of sexual harrassment no less than 4 times, every time management just reassigns him. There is no accountability and absolutely no direction. It is committee leadership run amok.

It is disheartening really, the have so much available to them and do nothing with it. Produce poorly built vehicles, launch what had to be the ugliest vehicle ever "aztek", have no quality control and don't seem to even realize how bad they are... its sad really.

[Slyfox]

I read that a significant percentage of GM sales have the discount applied to them. It was another auto industry guru talking about the woes of GM.

They consider the discount a problem for them, eh? Well, it does get people to buy a Chevy when they ordinarily wouldn't buy one. The discount is around $1,000. Are they bitching and moaning about maybe the only incentive for the vast majority of their sales? What a bunch of idiots. They deserve what they get then.

[Crusader21stCentury]

You're right, I own a '96 Impala SS best car ever. If they still made it, I'd buy another today.

[Slyfox]

who wants a Lumina, new Monte Carlo or Impala

Those are the kind of cars they have at the rental places. And I ABSOLUTELY HATE DRIVING THEM.
Last time I had to get a rent car, I got a Toyota and was really impressed with it. I like to sit up in my seat like I do when I drive my van. And those stupid Chevy's are just awful. I almost feel like I am driving from the back seat, even with my seat straight up.

[longtermmemmory]

Just to add fuel to the design fire: Who actually likes the melted marshmello look of th lincoln towncar?

The big problem for the loss of "viril" design is the feminizing of the car buyer. Some idiot said women have the final say and so everything was redesigned for women. Some points good but it has gone too far. (like the infimous pink woman's car with the parasol holder) Look at the car commercials. Men are insulted, women are brilliant consumers. Car commercials that are directed to men are simplistic grunts. (b/w, no details) Truck commercials are a different animal. They are all grunt. (the hummer commercial tells women its a new way to intimidate men. (girly men))

GM needs to remember. Power sells. SUV is percieved power so it sells. The Minivan became an icon for weakness, so sales dropped. (There was a commercial of men in a gym and the man with the brown minivan with the lights on was embarrased and did not want to admit to owning the minivan)

[VOA]

bump

[kellynla]

I saw somewhere where some fiberglass mfg has taken the 53 Corvette body style and dropped the front and rear facia on the the chassis of a new Corvette. Looks great and obviously runs great.

[kellynla]

Point of trivia. Since you are a Falcon fan. Did you know that the Falcon was the chassis for the Mustang. They just dropped a new body style on the Falcon and called it Mustang and the rest is history.

[longtermmemmory]

hmmm perhaps it is time GM figure out how to have the consumer mix and match desired features on demand (passenger compartments, body styles, color) We have the technology, we can make it better, faster, stronger.....

[Constitution Day]

Interesting. Bookmarked for later.

[jimt]

Definitely not for someone needing any sort of utility, of course, but I think it looks pretty damn good.

I agree. My complaint is simple. Instead of a wimpy 3.XL V8, it ought to have the 380 HP 5.7L SVT Lightning engine. THAT would be a car to drool over!

[LeftIsSinister]

I've always liked Chevrolets and I'm not even old enough to remember the "good" ones. :) I've had a few F-bodies. When I wanted a pickup, the S-10 was a clear winner (at the time...). When my wife wanted an SUV, we scraped up the extra for a new Trailblazer. I'm even restoring/modernizing a Monza for crying out loud!

But the comments about the small cars are spot on. I wanted to like the Cavalier. They *finally* produced a Cavalier Z24 with four doors--for one stinking year. After test driving one (after finally finding one), I couldn't stand the clutch pedal placement or shifter. Then they drop it and move on to the new Ecotec (maybe an OK engine) and the terrible 2003 styling "upgrade."

I also considered the Prism, but it cost MORE than the Toyota Corolla (same basic car), which has higher resale just because of its name. Plus, since they are being discontinued, they were also hard to find.

I finally got a Neon. Four doors, 150hp, stick, sunroof, ABS, traction control--everything on my shopping list except a hatchback (couldn't convince myself to buy the Elantra GT) for less than a similar Cavalier (which doesn't have a sunroof or trac control on the manual 4-door models anyway).

I hope there is another big RWD V8 Chevrolet by the time I need to replace the Neon. Given my finances, GM has PLENTY of time in that case! :)

[38special]

..."A thirty year legacy dies at the feet of SUV's..."

Not exactly, it died at the feet of the Ford Mustang. It was outselling the Camaro/Firebird 3 to 1. :--)

[gcruse]

When was it, back in the seventies?  Was that when GM
stood the union down, the lobbied Congress to place import
restrictions on Japan because it was killing the American
car business?  Well, they got their restriction.  The GM brass
then immediately paid themselvie multimillion dollar bonuses
and jacked up the price of their cars.

The day I read that, I said I will never buy another GM
product as long as I live.  And I have not.

[Springman]

Bump for later.

[WellsFargo94]

We have three Toyota's a 1981 Landcruiser, a 1991 Landcruiser and a 2000 Tacoma pickup, the 81 has 230k on it the 91 has 140k on it. Yup the LC's are made in Japan the Tacoma is made in the United States. The global economy has truly blurred the lines of a company. The fit on the 91 is still tight and the only maintinace has been regualar oil changes an alternator and a starter. My family was a GM family for years, that ended with the introduction of the first Camry. GM is slowly killing it self, and can no longer compete in the clobal environment.

[DeFault User]

Even Ross Perot tried to tell them much of this. They bought him out and kicked him off the Board to shut him up.

[longtermmemmory]

too bad they can't have a harley davidson type of reneisance...

[Chemnitz]

Delorean wrote "On a Clear Day." He warned them that a certain ventilation system would never work. They adopted it anyway and it leaked. That told me years ago that GM was completely bogged down in its corporate culture.

[timydnuc]

When I was a kid and had just gotten my license me and my Dad bought my first car, a 1929 Ford Model A 2 door Sedan. As we restored it my loving Mother gave the use of her car, to drive to school. It was a 1950 Nash Metropolitian, God I loved that car!