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Automotive News & Views What if you were in charge of GM?
874 messages, Last post on Oct 28, 2009 at 10:20 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: tlong (Jun 26, 2009 2:02 pm) And yes the Autobahn is far superior in construction to any public road we have in the US.
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Replying to: TIMGT5 (Jun 26, 2009 2:15 pm) 
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Jun 26, 2009 2:12 pm) The Corolla, Matix and Vibe are not classified as "B" cars. Toyota's B car is the Yaris, which is built overseas, GM's B car is the Chevy Aveo which is a rebadged Daweoo from South Korea, other cars in the B class are the Fit, The Versa, The Smart, and the upcoming Festiva from Ford, these cars slot below traditional compacts such as the Corolla, Civic, Sentra and Cobalt. If anyone has information otherwise please correct me, but I have read that GM needs at least 17K-18K at retail on any car made in Michigan to break even.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jun 26, 2009 2:51 pm) Considering that fellow in the white house wants to run the domestic car industry I am afraid your scenario could happen. I guess the majority of my fellow voters decided that freedom was worth less than the pie in the sky promise of a secure nanny state, sorry to get political on you guys. |
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Replying to: TIMGT5 (Jun 26, 2009 1:29 am) Continental Red Seal Engines were the number one industrial gas engine in the US for almost a century. They were produced in Musgegon MI. They had the market share in welding machines, forklifts, etc. They were even in Checker Cabs and Divco milk trucks for a while. They were so good that as late as in 1980 they had about 100% of the market share in forklifts. Their management and staff were all deer-hunting, good old boys from Muskegon. Everybody got along well and no one rocked the boat or had travelled more than 10 miles outside of Muskgegon. Problem was that even in 1980 they were still making a FLATHEAD engine!! Along came the Japanese with their far superior overhead valve, full flow lubication system industrial gas engines. The rest is history. End of story. Same thing with Detroit Diesel. At one time they owned the industrial engine diesel business. Almost 100% of all log skidders, big forklifts, irrigation pump sets, etc.were powered by Jimmy diesels. Their nickname was "Ol Reliable". Some would say that the Detroit (or Deeee-troit if you want the correct pronunciation) 671 did more to win WWII for us than anything else. Problem is they were making a two cycle engine well after everyone saw the benefits to the contemporary four stroke engine. Along came the Brits with the four cycle Perkins (as well as Cummins, and CAT) and the rest is history. Detroit Diesel is no more. Not to personalize this, but Rick Wagoner is the son of an upper middle clase southern family who played basketball at Duke. Duke even now is not exactly a school for hungry poor boys. Rick never was a PFC in a rifle company. He never even went to OCS. I doubt he ever had a paper route. No one should have expected someone from his background to have changed anything. Gentlemen, it all begins with leadership. Without that what do you have? |
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Replying to: TIMGT5 (Jun 26, 2009 4:24 pm) I'd be more on your side if you brought up the argument of rewarding the D3s incompetence.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Jun 26, 2009 7:52 pm) We have volumes of regulation for everything, it is that for several decades our government failed to enforce them when it came to securities and real estate. The two guys who could have done something about the freedie mac and fannie mae debacle (Barney Frank and Chris Dodd heads of the senate banking comittee) chose to ignore warnings from a certain AZ senator that there were major problems with these 2 organizations and that action needed to be taken back in 2006 to stop them both from hemoraging capital. That alone would not have prevented the recession but it would have made for a slower, softer landing in housing market which would have made the effects of the recession milder elsewhere. As for a planned economy, sorry that does not work and never will. If we look at those bastions of economic planning the USSR, Cuba, North Korea and so on, we see how this fails miserably. The fallacy that economists like Keynes back in the 30's operated under and his modern day disciple Paul Krugman are operating under today is that the economy is a machine that can be fixed with wrench. The Austrian school countered this by saying that the economy is not a machine, but an incredibly complex eco system in which no one entitiy or individual can control because no one can fully predict the consequences of actions taken. I would suggest some further reading: The Road to Serfdom by Frederick Hayek Vision of the Anointed, by Dr, Thomas Sowell Both are great works which explain the fallacies and unintended consequences of government Economic Planning very well. Our founding fathers were specific about the role of the federal government. Government's role is to play referee, keep the playing field level, and protect people against certain dangers, abuse and fraud. The rest is up to us, to be smart consumers and investors. As a libertarian, I will never buy into the idea that 455 men and women sitting under a domed building in DC, along with one guy at 1600 Pennsylvania avenue can micro-manage the lives of 300 million of my fellow citizens. That is exactly what they are trying to do though in the name of protecting us from ourselves.
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Replying to: blckislandguy (Jun 26, 2009 5:03 pm) |
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Replying to: TIMGT5 (Jun 26, 2009 4:20 pm) That explains much. I see none of the "B" cars are built here, either. Here is an article that may explain how they make money at the plant, though: http://www.autoblog.com/2009/06/26/officially-official-gm-to-build-b-segment-car- s-in-lake-orion-m/ ".....The plant will also be able to build C cars like the new Cruze and possibly a Buick version of the Opel Astra. The Viva would be a B-segment car similar in size to the new Ford Fiesta. Powertrain components will also be sourced from GM's North American operations although no specifics have been announced yet. GM emphasized that this is the first car of this size to be built in the United States from any major automaker." This is just an assumption, but that Buick version of the Astra may be the one slated to be exported to China from here.
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Replying to: TIMGT5 (Jun 26, 2009 4:24 pm) Remember, too little involvement leads to our wonderful cratered roads that lead to rotten-tomato suspensions. On the other hand, too much leads to "Government Motors," which still has to build rotten-tomato suspensions because of our moonscape roads. 
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Automotive News & Views What if you were in charge of GM?
