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Automotive News & Views Can GM make Cadillac the standard of the world Again?
6098 messages, Last post on Aug 14, 2009 at 4:43 PM
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"The Oshawa plant where the Camaro, and hopefully future Zetas, are built is consistently one of the highest quality plants in the US." Huh? I thought Oshawa build Hummers??? Or is it Mishawa... something.... Fairly speaking yes I do hear good things about cars built there, but I've yet to hear any good reviews on GM's other plants. The big question is: how is GM going to improve things when only 1 or 2 plants are doing great jobs? "I do not know where the exchange rate would put the US built G8 at but you sure are going the wrong way. It would be cheaper here. And US GM is selling it at quite a bit lower price than what the same vehicle is sold for in' Austrailia. " Err, the GM products sold in Aussie are priced higher because they come from the European market division, where the Euro-Dollar rate affects pricing more than Aussie dollar to US dollar. The bomber is the fact that most European market parts are NOT avaialable in the US plants, leaving only 2 options should they wish to build foreign GM cars in US: 1) Replace the foreign parts with local parts, or 2) Produce these parts or import them to US plants. The former will lower both cost AND the vehicle quality, while the latter will bloat the price even more. "He roots for HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of AMERICANS to LOSE THEIR JOBS. He's not OW, he's GW. " My goodness. Honestly, I feel sorry for those losing their jobs, but its NOT OUR FAULT. Do I feel simpathy? Yes. Do I care to save them by buying GM products? I sure as hell dont. I'm not talking patriotism here, people, I'm talking cold hard reality. When its my turn to choose a side, I choose with my green, my hard earned green, not my red-white-blue. This is reality, and I KNOW I'm with the majority. Why do most Americans buy foreign? Because they choose logic over patriotism. Should "buy american" really resonate with customers, foregners like Honda would've lost a huge chunk of sales by now. Years from now, when quality really catch up (assuming it really happens), buyers will turn back to domestics, I'll take a second look when it happens. I wont buy Cadillac Ford etc the same way I'd stay away from RCA like plague. Yes I did consider STS but not anymore, too many bad reviews there. OTOH I will buy American, in the form of Apple and Intel. Oh wait, theyre built in China now, whatever. Do I care if companies like RCA, GM and FoMoCo perish? Nope. Its competition = its inevitable. Oh and btw, I used to drive a Ford Escape, so unless I'm totally mistaken I think its made in US. "In addition to what you say about Hummers, at the time GM had canceled an electric car of theirs that was in demand (EV1) to promote the environmentally grotesque and obscene Hummer line, which now thankfully seems to be going the way of the dodo bird. " Now this is somewhat absurd. Sorry, media, but the so called EV is in high demand by a bunch of loyalist. Second, lets not forget the cost of development, including battery chargers, will bloat the vehicle price UNLESS heavy federal incentives are on the way, which will NOT happen because our government dont have the money!!!!! However I'm interested in how the Volt will fare. See? I dont dish GM all the time, just most of the time 
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Oct 30, 2008 2:20 pm)
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Replying to: nvbanker (Nov 03, 2008 11:17 am) Regards, OW |
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Step #1 - Scrap Buick Step #2 - Stop using global platforms for Caddy. Step #3 - Keep LaNeve out Step #4 - Decide who your target demographic is Step #5 - Cater to ONE demographic and do it better than everyone else Step #6 - Defect from GM altogether.
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Replying to: zoomzoomdlr (Nov 03, 2008 4:37 pm) |
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People don't forget bad experiences and that's not just about GM. My grandfather had (according to family legend) the steering wheel come off in his hands on his new '49 Ford. Whatever the truth to that story, he would never buy a Ford after that, and none of his four children ever did either, and that's verifiable fact. 50 years of lost customers from one defect. It's also a fact that many people still don't believe in GM's reliability, no matter how good it's gotten over the past several years. GM needs something to change people's perceptions. It's that or suffer through another generation of lost sales. I keep wanting GM to do something dramatic to demonstrate the quality of its new cars..... Say, take a CTS to Times Square, and have it running at 70 mph day and night on a demo platform for a year with robot arms opening and closing the doors and trunk, with the lights flashing on and off, stereo blasting - oil changes done with the engine running etc. The idea is that nothing should break during the test. It might not really be an effective test or prove anything in truth, but it would be a great advertisement. This kind of thing is nothing new - recall Volvo running over a line of cars with a Monster Truck (OK - they got caught cheating, but GM wouldn't cheat this time) and Mercedes did it a few years ago with 3 diesels going 100,000 miles nonstop. http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=105899 I think it would be a great attention-getter.
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Replying to: lokki (Nov 04, 2008 1:09 pm) Nah. Too innovative for GM. That's one reason I see Ford as having a better chance. Even if they don't have a lot of money to develop new cars, they take an old Focus platform and put SYNC in it. They work on a new Fusion and it has an innovative dash display. They also have Mazda which adds a lot of innovation - better than GM's sources such as Holden IMHO. And Ford is much less bloated and has a better cash position. And if GM gets Chrysler, well, 10 divisions here we come... |
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Replying to: zoomzoomdlr (Nov 03, 2008 4:37 pm) |
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Oct 28, 2008 7:32 pm) uh, the same incentive they have for building them in the US today? you think Honda will just pack their bags if GM goes under? you think creating artificial jobs with tax payer dollars makes sense? How fair is that to Honda, Toyota and Nissan who have plants here and employ Americans with decent paying jobs that quite frankly are alot more secure than any employee at GM. If you can't beat em, join em. If you can't join em, then you'll go under. This isn't about saving an endagered species. "First of all, gas was $1 a gallon when GM was lobbying for that (Hummer tax credit). Why wouldn't you do what you can to encourage people into a vehicle you make $10 grand profit on???" Because it showed a lack of vision while Toyota was busy developing the Prius. I'm amaized that even through hindsight you can't see that. And part of that $10 grand in profit came at the expense of the tax payers. We should be giving tax credits to people who are willing to conserve energy, not needlessly burn it up.
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