Great news for GM

[PARAGON]

Jerry York quit the GM board yesterday. While it might mean Kerkorian will try to do other crap for his own benefit, getting York, who wants to turn GM into a discount automaker, out can't be much less than a blessing.

[KenP]

Originally Posted by PARAGON

Jerry York quit the GM board yesterday. While it might mean Kerkorian will try to do other crap for his own benefit, getting York, who wants to turn GM into a discount automaker, out can't be much less than a blessing.

True, but I do wonder what's up Kerkorian's sleeve.

[usetosellhummer]

it's a good thing

[Agriv8r]

[f5fstop]

Originally Posted by KenP

True, but I do wonder what's up Kerkorian's sleeve.

Yes, what is Kirk up to now????

[usetosellhummer]

I belive he is getting his way, K's announcement sent the stok downward and he is so public about his unhappiness with the board or it's head. I sold for 3 years and was shocked how many people working in upper mgt. have no concept of what really makes the biz work. Selling cars, the numbder one thing that must be done to make it all work. Look at the bad products and decessions made by people with marketing degrees and no car people.
Olds.
Aztek
too long to change Grand am and other platforms
long in the tooth models
too much focus on suv and trucks for profit
no forcasting of future fuel or milage requirements
the thinking of quanity over quality for profit. pushing value in product down to nothing. book out a Monte Carlo, Grand Prix, Tahoe
it's getting really bad. Go Mr. K

[GeorgeSSSS]

Here's my 2 cents.

I've met Bob Lutz, I know people who have worked with him for extended periods of time, and I've read his book "Guts."

He knows what he's doing. He's going to build cars that people want to buy. When the customers come, everything else falls into place. I run a small business -- -- I know.

Look at what he's doing with Cadillac -- -- making it desirable iron again.

GM will be fine because Bobbie L has his priorities straight.

George SSSS

[f5fstop]

Discounting Kirk and Lutz, GM has improved quality tremendously in the past five years. They have lagged in putting out what people want, but that is changing; not as fast as I and many others would like, but it is happening.
I believe they do sell more vehicle models, with over 30 mpg, than any other manufacturer, the new designed 900 trucks, in my opinion are sharp looking and practical for trucks.
The new Saturn Aura appears to be a big winner, and the G6 (which I personally do not like) is selling great. The Cobalt is a big seller, and that fugly HHR is also selling great (don't ask me why). Their sales in Europe are starting to rise again, and in China, they are now the largest selling manufacturer. Latin America, Africa and the Middle East are also showing signs of rising sales.


The legacy costs GM has is hurting them, but they are working on that. Just look at the reductions in UAW workers and their changes in benefits. They have basically frozen all non-UAW workers retirement benefits as of Dec. 31 of this year.

I bet the negotiations next year with the UAW will be very interesting, and the world will see how flexible the UAW can be. If they are not flexible, GM will continue to have problems. If they prove to be flexible, GM will benefit as well as all other manufacturers.

We can all condemn GM for some bad decisions (hell, I do and I work for them), but if they went out of business tomorrow, or were forced out or split up by someone like Kirkorian, believe me, there are few on this site who would not feel the results. Thousands of dealerships would close and their employees would be gone, truckers would see serious layoffs, port workers, suppliers, tire companies, etc. will all be affected, and with this number of people unemployed, it will also affect the professional arena such as Doctors, Lawyers, Dentists, etc.
Some states would be devastated such as MI, OH, IN with this large of a tax base suddenly gone. This would cause cutbacks in service, or more likely a raise in taxes.

I'm not sure how many people have jobs due to GM, but I would bet it is over a quarter of a million directly, and can't even fathom how many indirectly.

[31_bandits]

That extremely modest market cap (Ford as well) does go a ways towards putting these companies in positions to be meddled with. I was also hopeful that this was a good sign for future things.

[31_bandits]

Originally Posted by f5fstop

big snip

I'm not sure how many people have jobs due to GM, but I would bet it is over a quarter of a million directly, and can't even fathom how many indirectly.

FWIW from a total stranger, you write some of the best posts i happen across in the wild and wacky world of auto-forums, f5.

I agree that GM is coming around. The Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade redesign was really successful, the whole Caddy lineup owes few apologies the Lucerne is kingly for what it is, and blah. The Aveo sucks, and i can't wait to see the new pickups.