The Future of GM- a commentary
04-26-2009, 07:36 PM
#61
Le Mans Master
When you get a chance look at the history of what the UAW did for the workers at Lionel Trains. Rather then take a pay cut and 2 weeks unpaid vacation the union stood its ground. Now Lionel Trains are made in China. You can place a bet if the workers had the choice they would still have jobs. The UAW stated if they gave in they would have to renegotiate with the automakers. The union has one interest only now. And that is the union.
04-26-2009, 07:51 PM
#62
Safety Car
Pontiac death=Gettelfinger? No. Bad model design/biz planning/execution.
If you are talking about Honda/Toyota pay scale fine but remember that they been very successful by making what appears to be, in your opinion, very boring cars. Honda doesn't really have that many car & truck & SUV models (16 including Acura) and they are going to discontinue the S2000 at the same time they are bringing back the Insight. What does that tell you about what cars they see a need for? Obama isn't forcing them into it. Their business model is just more sparse and concentrated. Toyota is very similar. One line of trucks/SUVs, one or two lines of cars.
If you are talking about Honda/Toyota pay scale fine but remember that they been very successful by making what appears to be, in your opinion, very boring cars. Honda doesn't really have that many car & truck & SUV models (16 including Acura) and they are going to discontinue the S2000 at the same time they are bringing back the Insight. What does that tell you about what cars they see a need for? Obama isn't forcing them into it. Their business model is just more sparse and concentrated. Toyota is very similar. One line of trucks/SUVs, one or two lines of cars.
04-26-2009, 08:09 PM
#63
Safety Car
04-26-2009, 08:12 PM
#64
preaching to the choir!
after a little encounter today, i sorta agree..
i go into a local dealer today just curious if the have a camaro or when they will get one... just want to see one.. not my cup of tea.. unless im mightily surprised..
so off the curb comes a skinny dude with prison tats bad teeth.. he knows nothing about them so he gets the attention of (I assume) the floor manager (or whatever the guy is called) a slicked back cowboy boot wearing guy makes me think of a cross between elvis and beezelbub (i swear i though he was gonna whip out a smokin contract and ask for my soul).. and he goes on to tell me about how they had some coming in soon and so forth that they was marking them up 5 to 10k... from MSRP...
so i just laugh, say good luck and do an about face and im outta there..
never to return.. and i think thats the key here. i wont go back to that dealership to look regardless..
economy's in the tank, sales are slow and the last of the lounge lizards and bottom feeders are whats left in many dealerships and they acting like times aint changed.. but the water is risin and noah has loaded the critters up in the arc and is waiting for the final deluge..
they could have said a lot of things.. like come back. we dont know whats gonna be available, 'can i give you a call when they hit the floor'? would you like to schedule a test drive..'?
but no... its we'ere still looking for a few good rubes to skin before we all go down the drain...
and good riddens is almost what i wanna say...
i go into a local dealer today just curious if the have a camaro or when they will get one... just want to see one.. not my cup of tea.. unless im mightily surprised..
so off the curb comes a skinny dude with prison tats bad teeth.. he knows nothing about them so he gets the attention of (I assume) the floor manager (or whatever the guy is called) a slicked back cowboy boot wearing guy makes me think of a cross between elvis and beezelbub (i swear i though he was gonna whip out a smokin contract and ask for my soul).. and he goes on to tell me about how they had some coming in soon and so forth that they was marking them up 5 to 10k... from MSRP...
so i just laugh, say good luck and do an about face and im outta there..
never to return.. and i think thats the key here. i wont go back to that dealership to look regardless..
economy's in the tank, sales are slow and the last of the lounge lizards and bottom feeders are whats left in many dealerships and they acting like times aint changed.. but the water is risin and noah has loaded the critters up in the arc and is waiting for the final deluge..
they could have said a lot of things.. like come back. we dont know whats gonna be available, 'can i give you a call when they hit the floor'? would you like to schedule a test drive..'?
but no... its we'ere still looking for a few good rubes to skin before we all go down the drain...
and good riddens is almost what i wanna say...
you can try to sell at msrp but not above. then if gm is smart they will adjust the msrp lower to increase sales.
04-26-2009, 08:25 PM
#65
Le Mans Master
Member Since: Dec 2005
Location: North Western Connecticut
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"Boma-Boma", huh? Trust me, it is open season already. Just listen to yourself.
Well, I would certainly agree that on a daily basis, the gov. folks need to get out of the way but charting an overall course for the road ahead when it is funded by the taxpayer...I'd like to have some friggen oversight by gov-beholden expertise.
Well, I would certainly agree that on a daily basis, the gov. folks need to get out of the way but charting an overall course for the road ahead when it is funded by the taxpayer...I'd like to have some friggen oversight by gov-beholden expertise.
First I want to see how his massive taxpayer giveaway scheme works out. 90 days clearly isn't enough time to see what if any impact the stimulus package will have long term.
Frankly I hope it works because few enjoy the current state of affairs including myself...
Nice looking car. If it works it will be a hit.
04-26-2009, 09:14 PM
#67
If there ever was a contradiction of terms.. For the record it's open season (for me) when I say it's open season! How I wish to refer to him has nothing to do with "attempting" to be objective
First I want to see how his massive taxpayer giveaway scheme works out. 90 days clearly isn't enough time to see what if any impact the stimulus package will have long term.
Frankly I hope it works because few enjoy the current state of affairs including myself...
First I want to see how his massive taxpayer giveaway scheme works out. 90 days clearly isn't enough time to see what if any impact the stimulus package will have long term.
Frankly I hope it works because few enjoy the current state of affairs including myself...
04-26-2009, 09:35 PM
#68
Le Mans Master
Right now I want him to fail at attempting yet another dog and pony show with releasing the so called torture documents. You think after 9/11 some would learn you cannot yell boo at terrorists to make them go away. We tried that after the first attempt on the Twin Towers in 93 and it did not work. After that we had our embassies in South Africa blown up, Cobalt Tower apartments in Saudi Arabia blown up killing Americans, and the U.S.S Cole killing our sailors, and then 9/11.
Now some want us to bring the CIA and policy makers to justice after doing a brilliant job keeping us safe. This is what dictators in third world countries do to former government officials. Quite frankly I'm very concerned.
04-26-2009, 11:05 PM
#69
Burning Brakes
That is a main contributing problem to GM's failure:
Its dealers. Little sales training, and dealers looking for short term gain, not long term business. Until GM changes its dealers attitude, they will not succeed. This doesnt apply to all dealers, but I would say most. As I have stated before, walked into 3 dealers, cash in hand, ready to buy, with no interest or follow up from any of them. I figured that if they werent interested in selling me a car, how interested would they be in helping me if I had a service problem?
04-27-2009, 07:57 AM
#70
Big difference between all out failure and policy failure. Many including myself want to see him succeed in protecting America and her allies. We also want him to succeed in bringing us back to economic stability. What many want him to fail at is bringing us closer to a socialist state with socialized health care and government run business.
Right now I want him to fail at attempting yet another dog and pony show with releasing the so called torture documents. You think after 9/11 some would learn you cannot yell boo at terrorists to make them go away. We tried that after the first attempt on the Twin Towers in 93 and it did not work. After that we had our embassies in South Africa blown up, Cobalt Tower apartments in Saudi Arabia blown up killing Americans, and the U.S.S Cole killing our sailors, and then 9/11.
Now some want us to bring the CIA and policy makers to justice after doing a brilliant job keeping us safe. This is what dictators in third world countries do to former government officials. Quite frankly I'm very concerned.
Right now I want him to fail at attempting yet another dog and pony show with releasing the so called torture documents. You think after 9/11 some would learn you cannot yell boo at terrorists to make them go away. We tried that after the first attempt on the Twin Towers in 93 and it did not work. After that we had our embassies in South Africa blown up, Cobalt Tower apartments in Saudi Arabia blown up killing Americans, and the U.S.S Cole killing our sailors, and then 9/11.
Now some want us to bring the CIA and policy makers to justice after doing a brilliant job keeping us safe. This is what dictators in third world countries do to former government officials. Quite frankly I'm very concerned.
04-27-2009, 12:41 PM
#71
Le Mans Master
The past is the past. And the future with your guy is looking very scary. Yet, I will say he did the right thing telling the UAW it needed to work out some concessions with Chrysler. So as you know I'm fair when he does right. Unfortunately, your side never did that in the past eight years. And that was very sad and very unfair.
