General Motors is DONE!!!!

[oddballer]

Ford and GM can't compete with the import manufacturers because they are saddled with the auto workers union that makes an average of $30 an hour more than laborers at the japanese companies American factories. This disparity causes them to either be overpriced or put out a low quality product. I will not buy another American made vehicle until the union is dead.

on a average a car made here in the US costs 2000 more than in foreign countries....... insurance, union fees, etc.... are killing our competitiveness....... there was a time and place for unions but greed has really taken over....... imo

im sure the gov will bailout GM...... its a must.... the economy cannot take another blow to the midsection........

 

[Death Pony]

This is bad news. Personally, I think one reason that they're in this situation is because their designs are not the best lookers on the road. A big factor in buying a car for most people is the way it looks, and GM and Ford have been slacking lately. I do like the design for the Corvette, Camaro, Solstice, Astra, and Sky that GM has developed, but everything else is too bland. Ford did a great job with the Mustang and GT, but everything else needs to stand out more. I might try to get back into my car designing days and sell some of them to GM and Ford. All we can really do is sit back and hope they recover.

Another reason GM and Ford need to be bailed out is because they have a European branch that does rather well overseas. The European branches have some sweet designs too.

http://www.gm.com/europe/brands/opel/
http://www.ford.co.uk/safari/all_cars/-/-/-/-/-/-

 

[cichlaguapote]

Ford and GM can't compete with the import manufacturers because they are saddled with the auto workers union that makes an average of $30 an hour more than laborers at the japanese companies American factories. This disparity causes them to either be overpriced or put out a low quality product. I will not buy another American made vehicle until the union is dead.

Yeah basically.. A huge load of why they're failing is union/workers. Quality has also dropped in recent years. Unions are good but they make long term employee's comfortable. Comfortable = not as much concern. My sister bought a new grand prix and they literally didn't put any power steering fluid in it. GM/Ford tend to have way more issues when new than their foreign counterparts.

Edit: Oddballer said what I was saying..

 

[oddballer]

on a side note........ i was just talking to one of my friends whos a GM selling fords and he gave me a interesting statistic.......


*Ratio of engineers to lawyers graduated each year in Japan: 10 to 1
*Ratio of engineers to lawyers graduated each year in the U.S.: 1 to 10

 

[jcardona1]

I personally hate American vehicles. I never have and never will own an american-made car.

well unless i can afford a Corvette

 

[oddballer]

I personally hate American vehicles. I never have and never will own an american-made car.

well unless i can afford a Corvette

statistically American made cars are not any better nor worst than foreign made..... but popular belief has made people more critical of domestic products........

 

[gomezladdams]

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
you know how long Ive been waiting for that new camaro!!!

 

[lucy42083]

on a side note........ i was just talking to one of my friends whos a GM selling fords and he gave me a interesting statistic.......


*Ratio of engineers to lawyers graduated each year in Japan: 10 to 1
*Ratio of engineers to lawyers graduated each year in the U.S.: 1 to 10

Very interesting...I was reading an article that was saying basically this is one of the roots of the current economic downturn, that America currently has such a low number of very experienced/competent engineers and scientists. Of course the immediate culprits for the economic crisis are the mortgage market and credit crunch, but those statistics above are true and are not sustainable.

The government limits the number of foreign visas issued each year to foreigners coming to work as high level engineers and scientists at American companies. Some legislators have contemplated raising this limit to allow more smart, innovative engineers/scientists in the country to work for and help out struggling American companies. However, this will not happen because of the inevitable backlash that will come in a time when Americans are losing their jobs, that foreigners are "taking their jobs." But, the problem is, that there just are not enough competent American engineers and scientists who will do these jobs and do them well. Pretty much everyone now goes to college to either major in some fun/interesting humanities subject, or to major in business/finance, or in preparation for law or medical school. Almost no one wants to be an engineer - and even when you do go to any US college engineering class, you will see that the vast majority of students in there are of Indian or other Asian decent, many of them foreign-born.

I'm not sure why this is, but I honestly think that encouraging higher education in engineering and the 'hard' sciences is necessary for the US to remain very competitive economically in the world. So, kids, there you go - save the economy, become an engineer lol.

Disclaimer: I am one of the aforementioned people who majored in something useless (philosophy and English) in college and then went to law school, so umm.., do as I say, not as I do, I guess. And there is definitely a ridiculous glut of lawyers in this country, unfortunately I am contributing to it, but too late now.

 

[freeskier]

if they do bailout GM, they wont be bailing out another company, theyll be bailing out the people as well since so many jobs would have been lost...

Ford and GM can't compete with the import manufacturers because they are saddled with the auto workers union that makes an average of $30 an hour more than laborers at the japanese companies American factories. This disparity causes them to either be overpriced or put out a low quality product. I will not buy another American made vehicle until the union is dead.

So on one hand jobs should be saved but on the other hand those jobs should only be saved if they are low-wage non-union?? Although a great scapegoat, the union is not responsible for GM's demise: bad leadership is. From JC's article it is clear that retiree benefits are weighing heavily on GM's balance sheet, NOT current wages.

GM is a terribly run company. They have been for years. Look at this 1990 Fortune Mag article if you are interested in learning about why Japanese companies have surpassed Americans: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1990/10/22/74201/index.htm


GM's current crisis CANNOT be blamed on the economy, competition, or union wages, only on poor leadership. Current economic conditions are uncovering GMs many operational flaws, but are not the cause of their woes. Why did they create a Hummer brand 8 years ago that they are now selling off? Could they not forsee that the market was headed in the opposite direction? Easy and immediate profits led them to make bad long-term decisions. Japanese automobile companies were similarly led astray, just not as severely.

 

[jcardona1]

that was a good article. 20 years later and its still very applicable. it reminds me of the famous canoe race. this is brilliant. sad but true...



A Japanese company (Toyota?) and an American company (General Motors?) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents and1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the "Rowing Team Quality First Program", with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, and extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was out-sourced to India.

The End