Oil Pressure Sensor Died
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 12,861
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Bob Lutz in his book Car Guys vs Bean Counters is a must read to really understand the cost dynamic at GM. It was really bad and Bob started a culture change that is still evolving under Mary.
Bob says if left to the car guys they would build the best cars in the world but the company would go bankrupt as it would not make a profit. The bean counters protect them. But the Car Guys push the bean counters to accept increases in cost where it is beneficial.
Bob had a designer show a car that had chrome surrounds on the windows. The designer said he would have to leave them off as it would kill the budget. Bob asked if the car would sell better with them the designer said yes. Then Bob noted that if it sells better we make more money and you are safe on the budget vs selling the car with out them and selling less car and not making all the money they could on the line.
Some of the things were nuts at GM. Lutz asked why GM could not make as good panel gaps as the Elantra. The Metal shop man said they could do it but never were told to do so. Lutz was told they could not make the changes unless they were directed. by management. Well Lutz told him to do it and never ask just do it. Well several weeks later and only a couple hundred thousand in tooling they corrected the 08 Malibu door and panel gaps to class leading.
This is the kind of culture that was in place and what has been addressed. They are not done but they have made a major change in how many things are done.
Often the same parts were sold under 6 different part numbers and GM did not know it. The Bean Counters found this and now they pay less for the same parts.
Large companies are difficult to manage and GM really got out of hand. It takes time to right a ship this big.
Now if they were Ferrari selling a limited number of cars per year and they could name their price then these things matter little. Yet Ferrari uses thin leather they claim for weight that fails in just a few years. My friend has a F40 that he had to have the seats redone even with low miles. He made Carbon covers for the bolsters to prevent the wear. He said it was thin cheap leather.
Bob says if left to the car guys they would build the best cars in the world but the company would go bankrupt as it would not make a profit. The bean counters protect them. But the Car Guys push the bean counters to accept increases in cost where it is beneficial.
Bob had a designer show a car that had chrome surrounds on the windows. The designer said he would have to leave them off as it would kill the budget. Bob asked if the car would sell better with them the designer said yes. Then Bob noted that if it sells better we make more money and you are safe on the budget vs selling the car with out them and selling less car and not making all the money they could on the line.
Some of the things were nuts at GM. Lutz asked why GM could not make as good panel gaps as the Elantra. The Metal shop man said they could do it but never were told to do so. Lutz was told they could not make the changes unless they were directed. by management. Well Lutz told him to do it and never ask just do it. Well several weeks later and only a couple hundred thousand in tooling they corrected the 08 Malibu door and panel gaps to class leading.
This is the kind of culture that was in place and what has been addressed. They are not done but they have made a major change in how many things are done.
Often the same parts were sold under 6 different part numbers and GM did not know it. The Bean Counters found this and now they pay less for the same parts.
Large companies are difficult to manage and GM really got out of hand. It takes time to right a ship this big.
Now if they were Ferrari selling a limited number of cars per year and they could name their price then these things matter little. Yet Ferrari uses thin leather they claim for weight that fails in just a few years. My friend has a F40 that he had to have the seats redone even with low miles. He made Carbon covers for the bolsters to prevent the wear. He said it was thin cheap leather.
