I agree. The question is, how long will it be before Americans realize that GM has the capability to build world-wide competitive products?

 

AMEN,
GM and the rest of them put out crap for so long, knowing the choices were pretty much limited to the big 3. I had a new oldsmobile in 1981. It was my first new car. I did not even drive it in the rain. 10000 miles needed brakes, exhaust, not to mention it had the "even firing V6" that was a piece of crap, and a Lockup torque converter that kicked more than a rented mule. Now we are supposed to be worried about them? My patriotism says yes, but I believe for many years they just took advantage of us and laughed at us stupid Americans.

 

Its more like the top 26-28 execs at Toyota COMBINED!

I think it would be pretty hard for a company like GM to make it though this rough economy. Toyota's and Honda's fuel efficient vehicles have been selling pretty good through this rough time but even their sales are down dramatically. Its hard to over come the two largest quarterly losses in US history, each 10+ billion, with no sight of becoming positive anytime soon.

It would be a shame if a bailout is needed when their execs are still being paid ridiculous salaries.

Ford many now have as large a lineup as GM, but they are in much better financial shape and better positioned to come out of this rough time imho.

 

I dont think so. The only reason they stayed afloat was trucks. Thats pretty much gone now and even if the speculated big gas price drop comes, I suspect that people will still be wary just 2-5 years down the road.

They may make it to 2010, it depends on how this next year goes. Its not looking good at all; they are completely dominated in car sales and do not make much money on them at all.

 

Our Buick Century Wagon lasted for 3000 miles. After GM put a new engine in it we traded right away for a Toyota Van.

 

1974, 1981...

How about this... my 1983 Honda Prelude was a fun car. Until its first Pennsylvania winter, and it's second, and third and then I sold it. The carburetor would stick and freeze, so it wouldn't start (dealer couldn't help) and the transmission would shift bad, etc. On the other hand, my wife's hideous Buick Skyhawk NEVER had a problem starting, handled better in snow, and was fine except some rust after a few years.

We can all come up with anecdotes.

How about talking about cars in this CENTURY?

 

Toyota quality was way above GM in the 70's


Enterprise gave me a free up grade from a Camry to a Bonneville due to no Camry's available. My friend did not understand why you had to turn the steering wheel two full turns to make a turn. I went to signal a turn and the car took off with sudden acceleration almost wound up in traffic because of this. There later was a recall for this.

I rented a 2002 Chevrolet midsize four wheel drive V6 I remember some letters like ZR1 I got cut off slammed on the brakes almost wrecked I realized that the brakes were just as bad as my 74 Nova also it was SEVERELY underpowered I was on the shoulder doing 5 MPH up a hill pedal in the floor reached the top and I was just about stopped standing on the gas pedal. I looked to get it towed back but I had to pay for it and a surcharge to boot. Lexus was in the body shop.

 

of course it will "survive"... question is how and what will come out.

I think it shows that Lutz is/was just an PR man. He is always babbling all this nonsense and promising this and that, and nothing ever came out of it.

Instead of focusing on better small cars, for last 2-3 years he is talking, advertising Volt, product that wont come out until 2010 at earliest and that they plan to sell 30,000 units per year.

Whats the point?

 

My parents had a 81 or 82 silver Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 2 door and it was one of the best cars we ever owned, comfortable, smooth and never gave us any kind of problems, my mom slid on ice going over a bridge in NC and slammed into the side of the bridge, we were just about to move to Panama and were about to sell it and had a buyer but it was going to be a nightmare to fix in time so my mom just drove home, did not look at the damage, and prayed it was not that bad, when we got out and looked there was not a single dent or noticeable scratch, the Olds was a solid car. My dad had a white Datsun 240Z at the same time he bought used that gave him nothing but problems the entire time he owned it and most of the time he had to take the Oldsmobile because the 240Z was not running half the time. The Olds was the last GM or American car we owned but it was one of the best we owned and never let us down and the 240Z was the first Japanese car my parents owned and it was one of the worst.



I hope GM makes it because it is a very important American company and will hurt alot of people and our economy if they go under, it is not the auto workers fault they are given crappy designs and cars to build. I know alot of people who work at GM and I don't want to see them lose their jobs but something drastic is going to have to happen to get GM back where they should be. The Chevy Malibu, Caddy CTS, Buick Enclave, GMC Acadia, C6 Corvette, Pontiac G8, and a few other models are showing very improved quality and able to compete much better then in the past but GM needs to build all vehicles like these and better. GM cars are certainly much better then their Ford and Chrysler/Dodge counterparts quality wise. GM European cars sell well in Europe and other parts and are highly regarded there. GM is making an effort to sell more fuel efficient vehicles and relying much less on trucks and SUVs. I think they will make it but they are going to have to heavily cut waste like certain plants, older workers that have still not retired after they should have, cut wages/benefits of union workers, will rely more on much lower paid 2nd tier workers, cut salaries of GM employees and CEO's, and they may need to de Unionize if they can't get costs down to where they need to be which is not going to be pretty. They need to spend more money on better materials and making and designing cars better and they are going to need to make cuts to get there but I think they can get there especially after seeing some of the much improved products they are coming out with.