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Probably continue to collect my $22 million salary per year while laughing at people throwing misinformation around on internet forums like they know something and run the company so that it can continue to survive WITHOUT another government bailout. That sounds like a pretty good plan.
redesign the entire truck line... under powered, ugly, cheap looking interior. It's embarrassing, Ford and Dodge look and perform like they are 20 years newer. I so wanted to buy the new Denali but couldn't force myself to get an inferior product just to please my love for the brand.
I don't disagree that the Lexus is a nicer experience, but they are not the same price.
You make some very valid points - If you do see above, I did say a "loaded" Impala vs an ES 350...but to your point, the interior doesn't change is EXACTLY where GM needs to step up...why? Because a $35k Lexus interior is pure artwork...and you can only go up from there...but a $35k (fully loaded Impala) is still cheap Chevy crap...and that is why Japanese cars are crushing us here in the US.
Ill say the same thing for a Ford - who overall makes some of the ugliest, cheapest interiors of any brand of car...they are pitiful in almost every way...and Im not Mustang bashing either - but dear lord who develops their interior designs...Louis Braille? Its no wonder Lexus / Toyota out sells GM and Ford...but they say "its cause everyone is buying SUVs"... Im not so sure I buy that...and even if you look at a Lexus SUVs - they smoke the GM and Ford SUVs in almost every category...and again, no BS at the dealerships...they treat you like royalty...
Someone above said that GM needs to be "profitable"...hhhmmm, I think GM needs to follow the Lexus business model, where the focus is 100% on the customer experience. Lexus would rather take a $200 hit on a part to make you happy vs make that $200 and lose you as a customer. GM would rather put that $200 on their books, but they forget that the next time Im buying a car its going to be a Lexus... Im on my 4th Lexus for a reason...because EVERY car I've owned has been nearly maintenance free, headache free, and an absolute pleasure to own and drive...how many GM or Ford customers can honestly say that? Look at a Lexus dealership; they have marble floors, mahogany sales desks, service shop is immaculate and leather couches in the waiting area... Alot of GM dealerships have dirty linoleum floors, paint or wallpaper from the mid-80s, rusty metal desks, chairs with holes in the fabric and their service area looks like a local Midas shop... Its sad that we have such little pride in our own market / products / customer experience...
I don't know why Mary Bara is running GM. Most of GM's cars are uninspired. Dealers suck. Advertising sucks. So...given all that, what would you do if today you were announced as GM's new CEO?
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I don't know if it's Mary BarRa specifically or if it's the 'culture' which has been in place for decades. Granted, a company can do anything it want's if it has the will but GM's board and the culture that filters down sets the pace and standards. GM seems to be 'risk averse' and there can be several reasons for that: Share price, Fear of losing one's job by rocking the boat, etc...
To you a Lexus Interior is pure artwork and to others it is just an interior. To me it is an expensive Toyota. The car mags used to claim domestic car dash boards/instrument panels were all cheap plastic. However, there really is no difference in one brand's cheap plastic and another brand's expensive plastic. It is all cheap plastic. I saw a review of 2007 Tahoe done by C&D they complained because the dash board wasn't a soft touch dash board. I wondered about that and went out to my 2003 Tahoe and checked it's dashboard. Son of a Gun even though I had owned the vehicle for 4 years I didn't realize it didn't have a soft touch dash board. It wasn't even simulated like the 2007 version. Sometimes things really aren't that big of a deal.
From a quality reliability standpoint there has been little difference between all brands for close to 15 years now except when Mercedes fell off the bandwagon in the mid 2000s for some reason or other. Oh, by the way I am still driving that 2003 Tahoe. All features function as they originally did even though it has a low 120K miles on it. Typically, people get over a quarter million miles on them without major issues.
I would tell the Corvette team to give customers the option to buy a C8 with a manual transmission. It's available in the 911, even Pontiac figured out how to do it on the Fiero and that was 30 years ago.
You couldn’t have said it better...after getting bailed out less the 10 years ago (by the way ,it was the ONLY option...)
The next logical step is consolidating .
No way out of it...after the patching up,you’ve got to eventually fix it.
Thats definitely Mary Barra’s (it ain’t over till it’s over...sorry,couldn’t resist) mandate
1) Bring back Pontiac and the Firebird brand.
2) Revive Holden manufacturing in Australia.
3) Kill Buick.
4) Bring back the S10.
5) Redesign the Chevy pickup face.
6) Make Cadillac a testbed of new designs.
7) Fire Tadge.
1) Negotiate a large signing bonus.
2) Negotiate a large severance package.
3) Hire Mary Barra as executive chairman or special consultant.
4) Kill Buick.
5) Corvette— continue to invest in line extension to ME, but know there’s extreme brand loyalty already.
6) Focus on sedan and SUV EV launches ...1. acquire better sedan chassis designs — more Fisker than Volt and fold into caddy line; 2. GMC Denali EV. All has to be profitable!
7) Bring back Pontiac Solstice/Opel like roadster but have learned from how PSA made each unit more profitable than GM did (lower fixed costs, etc).
8) Stop posting on CF forum. I’ve got work to do!
To you a Lexus Interior is pure artwork and to others it is just an interior. To me it is an expensive Toyota. The car mags used to claim domestic car dash boards/instrument panels were all cheap plastic. However, there really is no difference in one brand's cheap plastic and another brand's expensive plastic.
Maybe you have never owned a Lexus or your not into those type of cars - different strokes for different folks. I think if you did you would realize that its interior doesn't have alot cheap plastic - it offers real leather everywhere (GM doesn't) and real wood (GM doesn't), an amazing stereo (GM doesn't)...quality NAV (GM doesn't) and the list goes on and on... There is nothing "cheap" about the interior of a Lexus, or Mercedes or Audi...(and Im talking the entry level models not the higher end) but GM thinks they can charge similar money on a loaded version of their cars, and without offering these nice features offered by other car makers, this is why they continue to lose market share, year over year... They say the market is moving towards SUVs, I say they are embarrassed to admit they cant seem to make a car to compete with the makers like those brands I've mentioned. You dont see Lexus, Toyota, Mercedes, BMW or Audi moving to all trucks and SUVs - why? Cause they are making quality CARS that american consumers want...
One thing GM (and Ford) needs to start doing is to start paying attention to what Lexus does (and has been doing). Look at the Lexus ES 350 (their 4-door sedan). You see gorgeous leather, (real) wood everywhere, amazing stereo sound quality, great gas mileage, super reliable, sleek and sexy exteriors and basically ZERO maintenance costs. Also, their dealerships treat me like a king. No BS about a loaner car, no BS about warranty, no BS about repairs getting done correctly...no headaches EVER.
Now you look at a Chevy Impala and you get the typical plastic interior, no wood, leather "inserts", cheap stereos, typical gas mileage, not even close as reliable, and you get a ton of BS from GM dealerships...
If GM (and Ford) want to stay in the game - they better start building cars like Lexus. Sad that a loaded Impala and the ES 350 are closely priced, yet the quality is night and day...
Which interior do you think offers better quality? Which car would you spend $35k on? This is what I would focus on, if I were the CEO.
Impala
ES 350
I was GM all my life because my dad worked for GMPD. Bought a new Lexus GS 350 a year ago and will never own a domestic again. Granted the domestics have better performance cars but I got sick of all the problems domestics have. I thought I'd always be GM. Now it will always be Lexus for me. I still love Vette's though.
Marry Barra is doing what she has to do to stay on top of- and hopefully get ahead of competitors in the rapidly changing automobile industry.
However electric cars sound find accept we don't have enough electric power to fill an extensive need. The folks pushing it also say "don't put a nuclear power plant in my area!"
Here are some things, if I were CEO, I would do particularly a it relates to the "future Vette."
I would challenge my engineers to "think out of the box" and work on improving gasoline engine efficiency. What F1 has done with smaller engines, using KERS and no refueling allowed during a race caused creative solutions. They are besting the race times on the same tracks with twice the efficiency using 1.6 liter engines!
Currently in the average US car about ~15 to 17% of the energy in gasoline goes to power the rear wheels. Of that, about a 1/3 winds up being turned into heat when braking!
Particularly for a Vette, a smaller, 4 valve/cylinder, double overhead cam, turbo engine can be much more efficient. GM already have a 2.7 liter L-4 producing 320 hp they are putting in 2019 Silverado's. The 4.2 liter Blackwing is 4.2 Liters and 550 hp. That is a start.
But the Blackwing can be made somewhat smaller for the average C8 and provide more efficient power with the addition of KERS. KERS also recovers some braking energy. An F1 type system could be used for normal cruising to power the car after shutting the engine off when stopped to power it up to cruising speed. Only then would the gasoline engine start. That would only take a portion of the ~160 hp currently available in F1 systems and would be available for sufficient time to get to cruising speed before turning on the engine. Getting from a low speed to cruising speed takes a significant amount of energy, just turn on your instant mpg display when leaving a stop light! AND that ~160 hp would be available for a 5 or 6 second burst when you wanted to have fun!
Another area to look at is what was done in WWII for an airplane engine. It had two turbo's. One providing compressed air for more power and to deal with lower density, higher altitude air. The other was connected mechanically to the prop gear system and added extra power! That was in WWII! Turbo's as they are used today save some energy when high power is needed. But for normal cruising they aren't being used. Some of 30% of the gasoline energy going out the exhaust can be captured to provide mechanical energy!
Another possibility is the use of thermoelectric modules utilize some of that wasted exhaust energy to produce electricity. The modules themselves have come down significantly in price. I paid <$10 for a 40 watt module about 1 inch square 1/8 inch thick for my latest patent, a welding helmet that provides clean filtered air (called a PAPR) that also cools the welders head! (Gets dam hot when welding, one reason we have trouble getting young folks in the industry! In addition some of the welding fumes, Cr, Ni, Mn are more toxic than Phosgene the WWI poison gas.) Two companies in the helmet business are currently looking at the issued parent(s) for possible license! Below is what I posted as a possible energy saver in cars >8 years ago. Put these modules on the exhaust and generate electricity to provide power steering, electric water pumps, AC, charge a battery, etc. In addition to being put on the exhaust pipe these modules can also be used on the engine cooling system where another ~30% of the energy is gasoline is wasted!
I'm sure GM has considered a number of efficiency issues but there are certainly things that can be done, once the challenge comes down from the top. But I recall when in R&D and we had to make presentations to the Division President each year. He said he does that as every dollar spent in R&D, if it leads to a viable product, needs many more dollars to bring it to the market, in manufacturing, sales and marketing! He said, it's my job to be sure those funds are available!
When I left as an R&D Lab manager into corporate management I always remembered his comments!
Mary Barra no doubt knows this but some who think electric vehicles are the future obviously don't or don't want to look at the facts! Solar and wind combined proved 3% of the US electric power in 2017.
Sure we can add more solar and perhaps wind. But they are a long way off from being a significant factor! And the life of both products is limited!
Recently consulted for a fabricator who makes the very large wind towers. Learned that they have a fixed 20 year life! Why, every time those large slow moving blades pass the tower structure there is a very large load applied. The fatigue life limit is 20 years. That's IF there are no defects in the welds- why I get hired! Sure while there were high federal subsidies it was "profitable" to produce them. But they are NOT viable without a big subsidy.
Not sure why our taxes are paying a $7000 subsidy so affluent folks can drive around in Teslas!
To you a Lexus Interior is pure artwork and to others it is just an interior. To me it is an expensive Toyota. The car mags used to claim domestic car dash boards/instrument panels were all cheap plastic. However, there really is no difference in one brand's cheap plastic and another brand's expensive plastic. It is all cheap plastic. I saw a review of 2007 Tahoe done by C&D they complained because the dash board wasn't a soft touch dash board. I wondered about that and went out to my 2003 Tahoe and checked it's dashboard. Son of a Gun even though I had owned the vehicle for 4 years I didn't realize it didn't have a soft touch dash board. It wasn't even simulated like the 2007 version. Sometimes things really aren't that big of a deal.
From a quality reliability standpoint there has been little difference between all brands for close to 15 years now except when Mercedes fell off the bandwagon in the mid 2000s for some reason or other. Oh, by the way I am still driving that 2003 Tahoe. All features function as they originally did even though it has a low 120K miles on it. Typically, people get over a quarter million miles on them without major issues.
Bill
I believe you will find your opinion in the minority. It is hard to deny that Lexus has very nice interiors. Maybe a bit dated compared to competition like Volvo and Mercedes but otherwise very nice interiors. Maybe those things you didn't notice, were things you didn't miss because you had never experienced better. Once you have a nice interior, its hard to go back.
Staying on top of and ahead of competitors is easier to do when you make cars that people want to buy more than they want to buy your competitor's cars... If that's the measure for her success or plan... She's failing.
I believe you will find your opinion in the minority. It is hard to deny that Lexus has very nice interiors. Maybe a bit dated compared to competition like Volvo and Mercedes but otherwise very nice interiors. Maybe those things you didn't notice, were things you didn't miss because you had never experienced better. Once you have a nice interior, its hard to go back.
I agree with the interior part- LS 500 eg prob has one of the best I’ve seen today. However, you can tell that for the same $90k msrp they skimped elsewhere.
1. It is *** (constipation) slow for a car with that much hp (400+) and exhaust noise because of the weight.
2. The exterior while highly designed and attractive to me obviously was not intended to be driven on any road with rocks... 3 out of 3 2018-2019 examples I’ve seen have extensive rock damage. Prob because no sideskirts or flaps. Beware of a wrapped LS500 (half apparently are). There is sure to be paint damage underneath.
3. Did I mention 0-60 is 5 effing seconds for a 2019 $90k luxury coupe (too slow to call a sports car)? A 2013 base Mustang, not gt, has a similar 0-60. No excuse at all why they haven’t broken 5s. It’s the Japanese equivalent of a Mas Granturismo!
Staying on top of and ahead of competitors is easier to do when you make cars that people want to buy more than they want to buy your competitor's cars... If that's the measure for her success or plan... She's failing.
I’d say that making a profit and showing near and long term top- and bottom-line growth is her plan but that’s just my speculation.
Aston Martin has made highly desirable cars, but they are close to their seventh bankruptcy, barring a Hail Mary save.
I agree with the interior part- LS 500 eg prob has one of the best I’ve seen today. However, you can tell that for the same $90k msrp they skimped elsewhere.
1. It is *** (constipation) slow for a car with that much hp (400+) and exhaust noise because of the weight.
2. The exterior while highly designed and attractive to me obviously was not intended to be driven on any road with rocks... 3 out of 3 2018-2019 examples I’ve seen have extensive rock damage. Prob because no sideskirts or flaps. Beware of a wrapped LS500 (half apparently are). There is sure to be paint damage underneath.
3. Did I mention 0-60 is 5 effing seconds for a 2019 $90k sports car? A 2013 base Mustang, not gt, has a similar 0-60. No excuse at all why they haven’t broken 5s. It’s the Japanese equivalent of a Mas Granturismo!
1) No one was talking about high end Lexus - so not sure why you are mentioning that. However, the LS500 is a LUXURY car - its not trying to be fast...your not comparing apples to apples.
2) You think a $90k LUXURY car should have side skirts? Are you joking? Show me a car design that doesn't have rock chips...not sure of your point here. I think car designers have more important focuses than rock chips...but I may be wrong.
3) Again your looking for sports car performance in a car designed and sold as a luxury car... That's like complaining your brand new Cadillac isn't as fast as my new Corvette...silly & pointless comparison.
Lastly - I just looked up the actual specs on the LS 500 (not even the SPORT model) - it goes 0 - 60 in 4.6 seconds - not too shabby for a car that weighs over 4700 lbs... over 1200 lbs more than a Corvette with 60 less HP and only a little over 1/2 a second slower... I dont call that slow at all..
12-12-2018, 02:59 PM
A 2013 base Mustang, not gt, has a similar 0-60. No excuse at all why they haven’t broken 5s. It’s the Japanese equivalent of a Mas Granturismo!