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Automotive News & Views United Automobile Workers of America (UAW)
16705 messages, Last post on Nov 25, 2009 at 6:56 PM
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Replying to: dave8697 (Dec 22, 2008 6:22 pm) So I'm sure you have an 18" TV at home as your primary set? After all, a big screen HDTV is not life changing. However most people don't buy for life changing. They buy for desirable.
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Replying to: dave8697 (Dec 22, 2008 6:59 pm) The excellent US products already exist. When people get sick of the list above, the game will change. Just go on with your US bashing without ever stating a single fact to back it up. You stated that we only need to increase percentages by a few points and it has much more effect than wage cuts for the UAW. I stated that is easy to say and hard to do. What are the game changers? You proceeded to list a bunch of economic problems and then rant about my supposed bashing of which there was none in my post. So I'll ask again - how do you propose the market share increases by a few percentage points for the D3? What are the PRODUCTS that are going to be the game changers to do that? You're ranting a lot but have not answered my question. |
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Replying to: gagrice (Dec 22, 2008 7:21 pm) I keep waiting for the UAW strike where they are protesting that they are not allowed to make a high enough quality vehicle, the parts don't fit right, and they don't want their names on poor vehicles. Instead they kick the sick dog (GM) when it's down and looking like it may still be gasping for air. |
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Although the UAW can be blamed for a portion of the problems which resulted in the necessity for a goverment bailout. The manufacturers ability, or lack of, to manage their companies plays an equally large part in the current situation. The unwillingness to acknowledge any fault, and deflecting blame effortlessly by these supposedly capable executives on any target other than their ineptitude is beyond comprehension. Watching the body English of 2 of the Big 3 leaders and the UAW president during the Senate hearings revealed far more than their spoken words. The ego punctures affected some more than others. Nothing is more painful than than finding that you aren't as clever, wise, proactive or dynamic as your self-created image indicates, then having to listen to that being televised all over the world. Ouch! Guess what? The 'circumstances beyond our control' excuse just don't play well any more. |
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Replying to: tlong (Dec 22, 2008 10:51 pm) Regards, OW |
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I'm tired of talking about who is at fault the GM fiasco. What should GM and the UAW do now? Let's discuss where we are now and what must be done to lay the groundwork for GM's recovery. EVERYONE would like to go back to the 90's - Let's figure out how to get there. But remember - to get there, we can't go back. We HAVE to go forward. Here's where we are: Car sales are miserable. It's true that people aren't buying Toyotas or Honda's either, but that doesn't help GM in itself. The question is - when people do start buying cars again, what are they going to buy? How can we get them to select GM cars over foreign competitors? Are we agreed that a lot of GM's sales over the past several years were based on being able and willing to offer better terms on loans and better deals than the Japanese were willing to offer? Those kinds of deals are probably going to be difficult for GM to provide for the next year or two. If that isn't possible, it's going to come down to product. Is the current product mix going to be what people want when credit loosens up? Some of that depends on gasoline prices.... $1.50 per gal = SUV's. $3.50 per gal = econobox. Odds say that gas prices go back up. What does GM have in the queue? What should they have? Are the current models good enough? Does GM have to have a whole line of gas-misers or electric cars? I don't think that the Volt (assuming it comes in on time and at the projected price point) is going to do much if anything for GM's bottom line. Toyota is apparently only making S100 or $200 per car on the Prius - even after several years of production. Will product be enough? For whatever reasons, GM's margins on cars aren't as high as their competitors. Where can costs be cut? In the supply chain? Will the UAw HAVE to make concessions? Must they be substanial? What about the dealers? Should dealers be bailed out? Is GM better off if 2,000 dealers fail? Enough about how we got here. What's the path forward?
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Replying to: dallasdude1 (Dec 22, 2008 3:23 pm) And let's be completely realistic and remember that when the Taurus was the best-selling car, the Accord and Camry were smaller than the domestic offerings. Also remember that by the early 1990s Ford kept the Taurus in the number-one spot by offering hefty incentives and dumping a huge percentage of total production on fleet customers. Two practices that would eventually destroy the Taurus' brand equity. |
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Replying to: lokki (Dec 23, 2008 6:32 am) GM's marketing has been terrible for years. GM has to stop selling the deal, and start selling the car. Granted, GM had to do this for years because the product just was not competitive. But with the new vehicles, it can focus more on the product itself. lokki: Is the current product mix going to be what people want when credit loosens up? Some of that depends on gasoline prices.... $1.50 per gal = SUV's. $3.50 per gal = econobox. Odds say that gas prices go back up. What does GM have in the queue? What should they have? Are the current models good enough? Does GM have to have a whole line of gas-misers or electric cars? GM needs to have a full lineup of vehicles, just like Toyota does right now. I don't see Toyota dumping the Tundra and Sequoia in response to higher gas prices. There is still a market for those vehicles. The full lineup of vehicles, however, does not mean a full lineup of brands. Accept that the general public under the age of 45 no longer views a Buick as more prestigious than a Pontiac or a Chevrolet. Pontiac's performance image has been dead for decades. Saturn is just another division of GM, not a different kind of car company. The differences between the Outlook, Traverse and Acadia are lost on most buyers (the Buick Enclave is distinctive and attractive). At a bare minimum, GM needs Chevrolet and Cadillac. There might be room for a combined Buick-GMC. But everything else needs to go. Please - no more Chevrolets rebadged as Pontiacs. The G5 and G3 are jokes. Make one vehicle, make it as good as possible, and then promote it as much as Toyota does the Camry, or Honda does the Accord. What GM also needs to do is stop treating smaller vehicles like the red-headed stepchildren. It needs to lavish as much care and attention to detail on the Aveo and Cobalt as it does on the CTS and Corvette. lokki: I don't think that the Volt (assuming it comes in on time and at the projected price point) is going to do much if anything for GM's bottom line. Toyota is apparently only making S100 or $200 per car on the Prius - even after several years of production.lokki: Will product be enough? For whatever reasons, GM's margins on cars aren't as high as their competitors. Where can costs be cut? In the supply chain? Will the UAw HAVE to make concessions? Must they be substanial? The UAW wages should not be cut. What needs to be cut are health care benefits, and retiree health care. The UAW also needs to accept work rules and staffing requirements that are competitive with the transplant operations. Discipline at the plants must also improve. Daily absentee rates among blue-collar workers are much higher at the domestic plants than they are at the transplant operations. This cannot continue. But leave the wages alone. lokki: What about the dealers? Should dealers be bailed out? Is GM better off if 2,000 dealers fail? No. GM needs to shrink its dealer base, and also get rid of Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and HUMMER. Those brands are going to go away, and there is nothing anyone can really do about it.
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Replying to: grbeck (Dec 23, 2008 7:40 am) Agreed, although I think that GM will have a hard time shedding dealerships, which enjoy strong protection under state laws, unless it goes bankrupt. IMO, this is one more reason why GM has no future unless it takes the bankruptcy route. |
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Replying to: lokki (Dec 23, 2008 6:32 am)
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