It’s honestly not that I want to see GM fail. And its not that I dont see the importance to our economy having them here. It’s the fact that they lack the quality in their cars… the fact they seem to be a step or 2 behind the rest of the competition in looks and quality. (yes the looks are definitely becoming better) The fact that the material used in these cars are cheap and feel, look cheap. The worst part, the cost of the cars. Why is it that I can buy imports for about the same price I can buy a domestic. I thought domestic meant no imported price which meant the price of the car would be cheaper. When I see something like a Chevy Impala and a current Mazda 6, the mazda to me appeals 20x more. Now I know that may just be me, but the same can be said with other manufactures as well.
Yes I understand most auto makers are making cars in the states now… Doesn’t it require most parts to be imported for production though? If the same is said about “american” cars, why aren’t we producing all the parts for the “american” cars then.
Meh. I think those defending GM’s bailout have a lack of understanding of the other side of the coin just the same. I have a big objection to GM defaulting, screwing long term share holders only to issue new shares WHILE taking bailout funds. I have a big objection to GM investing in plants in Australia etc… while taking US donations or “loans” if you prefer.
And you’re still missing the bigger picture and the butterfly effect of it failing.
Let’s just assume we let it fail… We loose 12% of the capacity to supply the world with cars, we loose approx 1-2% of the US GDP, roughly 1/2 million people out of work (200k GM and another 300k of their suppliers); China looses roughly 14% of their capacity, Africa, Korea, Europe, etc all loose about the same. $135+ billion USD per year in revenue in just GM sales gone (not counting the lost revenue to the 1000s of worldwide suppliers).
I don’t think that would have ANY effect on the worlds economy, I mean look how stable everyone’s finances are doing. Removing 1/4 trillion (GM Revenue + best guesstimate for suppliers revenue) in $ transfer in the worlds economy, 1/2 million jobs lost, etc. Shouldn’t have any effect, I mean they make “crap” cars so fuck-them, right?
Who’s going to pay the welfare/unemployment/medicare for those 200k GM workers plus the other 300k+ supplier workers? What’s going to offset their spending $$ on TVs, phone, cable, car repairs, taxes, housing, etc on the economy? (Remember, our who way of life revolves around the cycle of $$ through the system) Fuck them and let them fend for themselves?
This goes a lot deeper than a simple they make “crappy” cars so let them fail. This company is and has become one of the “too-big-to-fail” companies, plain and simple. The effects of it’s failure on the US economy and world economy would be catastrophic; very similar to the whole financial product industry, which should scare people a fuck-ton more and have a lot more people upset than the few (in relative terms) billion the GM deal cost to stabilize and restructure.
Back on topic though… with the GM recalls, this is the new CEO not taking the crap from the “this is how we always did it” old management team. This is her digging the cancer out of a company and trying to rebuild it and make it something better. She’s not afraid to fire people, including management (see the 15 white collar engineers/managers who were fired over the other ignition issues). This string of recalls is her not taking ANY chances; it’s shifted the point where the risk vs $$ to fix equilibrium point is. She knows she has a reputation issue now with the company, and is doing everything she can to address not only the reputation but the “old” management that’s still in place. I give her a lot of credit.
Also, for those bashing the GM products… I’ve had plenty, and never had any major issues with any of them; driven plenty of the 80s/90s models well over the 200-300k mark and they were still going strong when I sold them (or went to the scrap yard due to an accident).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/30/us-autos-gm-treasury-idUSBREA3T0MR20140430 Not sure how accurate the numbers are, don’t really care TBH. They were handed $50B or what not…they could easily have piped that into their financial statements, making it look like their golden goose was once again laying eggs. Financial statements get so cooked they make Walter White jealous. LOL
I like it, well not in practice but it’s just the American way of life. Cronyism at it’s pinnacle.
They invested there at a time they shouldn’t have, it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. If they were on their own 2 feet and opted to bail on American production, that’d be a totally different story IMO.
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Speaking for myself only…I’m not bashing GM products, I’m simply against their accounting/business practices. Either way their legacy costs are going to suffocate them again in the near future I suspect, along with most others with defined benefit plans. I’ve positioned myself to benefit from inflation so in a way I don’t worry about the cronyism & bailouts. Moral objection will not get in the way of me securing my quality of life.
Apple is a strong company that abuses the shit out of tax safe havens. I think most strong US companies maintain (if not strengthen) their choke-hold using this type of tactic. I think I may have a clue or 2 about the real world, plus my basement isn’t livable space yet. Ireland is to close a tax loophole used by Apple - BBC News
Because there aren’t other and better options. I’m not brand loyal and I’ve opened it up to all manufacturers, import and domestic, for my last 3 vehicle purchases and I’ve always gone back to GM. In Feb I cross-shopped Infiniti, BMW, and MB and came away with a Cadillac. You are extending your view of econo shitboxes to cars in general. Not to mention, for everyone that’s loyal because of their dad’s C3 corvette, there’s another one who bases their entire rep of the company off of a 1991 grand am or cavalier or something and still trashes them for it.
Oh I completely agree, their legacy dealings are coming back to bite them in the ass, HARD. Gotta give the new CEO some credit though, she’s trying to saving a lead zeppelin from crashing/burning again; and might just have some effect.
The thing with their accounting/business practices is that what they did is typical of MOST large companies, people just don’t realize it, and most companies don’t get caught with their pants around their ankles like GM did.
I still feel they only need two makes and not the amount they have. They should focus on less to make a better product. How about just make what would be the buicks, an option of a Chevy… all upgraded stuff. If you want more luxury, go with Cadillac after that. Kind of like if you buy a Nissan base model to the best package of the same car… then going to InfinitI if you want more.
Nissan has 3 vehicle product lines: Nissan, Datsun, and Infinity
VW has 12
Toyota has 2 primary
GM has 10
Ford has 2
The reason for the different product lines all has to do with marketing and target audience. Chevrolet = blue collar vehicle, Buick = old fuck, Caddi = white collar, etc. Same thing VW does with theirs, VW = hippie pot head, Audi = white collar. Marketing 101!
Edit: I understand the idea, just when you are producing shit… do something to focus on less. Again, the quality seems to be behind when it comes to other manufactures.
This thread is really turning into beating a dead horse
@Joe, idk why you think that all economy cars have to be shitboxes lol. Oh wait, you’ve probably never driven anything but GM, so that’s what your shitty opinion is based on. Got it.
either way, I’m never putting someone I care about into a GM product. They covered this problem up forever, who knows what else they will in do the future. I’ll just stick to what I know (and love. And is assembled in America, and shipped to 50 diffrent countries, AND produces more here than it imports! Now that’s progress. And jobs, lots of them. http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA0R07620140128?irpc=932 )
Until the union is out of the picture… we will continue to have issues with american made vehicles. Not pointing this towards everyone but we have a lot of lazy people working at these plants or people that just lack the car required while working at these places. When you look at some of these companies in japan, it’s as if the Cars they make are gods and they take pride into everything they produce. Here we end up having people slack off and getting drunk. When its found that these people are doing these things, the union just keeps them their job because it almost seems impossible to fire a union employee these days. And I damn well know people that would take that job in a heartbeat if given the chance.
