GM Reinvention/GM retardation

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

First link is the actual commercial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-oEudd6AYM

This link is the 'spoof commercial' and sadly, much, much closer to the truth and reality. LOL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFV1vQwMlpU

Enjoy amigo's. :)

[jonjon72]

LOL.....thats funny as hell but true.

"in effect, more Japanese!"

[3GFX]

The original ad pisses me off because all it shows is patriotic American clips, nothing that entails good vehicular marketing. Its a goverment ad. I'm suprised it doesn't have "Vote Cheney 2010" at the end.

[dragons4life]

I hope my dealer does merge with another, casue thanks to GM all the people i work with on the saturday has a their job at risk.

our lots are full of new cars lol....anyone want a Colbolt SS with hail dmg lol...

[EvilEric]

Since the Gov's now own part of GM. They should make every government vehicle a GM to make use of all those extra cars and support their investment.

[fini]

my first thought was..

i wonder how much money they blew making that commercial...

[Wild Weasel]

Since the Gov's now own part of GM. They should make every government vehicle a GM to make use of all those extra cars and support their investment.

And how would this be fair to the other companies like Ford and Toyota (both of whom are producing cars in Ontario as well) who have been able to survive and compete on their own?

Artificially driving business toward a failed automaker just because the gov't has a stake in it only serves to punish the better companies and to interfere with the proper market conditions necessary for the economy to grow and prosper.

No... what they need to do is hope and pray that this restructuring actually ends up in a viable car company building cars that people want to buy at a price that makes sense.

I'm more curious to see what Frank Stronach and Roger Penske end up doing with the pieces they got their hands on.

[WhiteSpeed3]

face it ppl GM will never go down what ppl dont seem to understand is that GM is the biggest car company and supports a lot of smaller companies that make parts for them , and if GM goes down so do those compaines and those companies dont only make parts for GM they make parts for every company ford, honda, mazda, toyota so the government arent only thinking of how many ppl will be out of work that work for GM they are thinking of all the ppl that will eventually loose there jobs b/c GM is gone

so in the end its helping everyone not only GM if u think about it

[Mazda3X2]

"in effect, more Japanese." I love it!

[-RJ3-]

face it ppl GM will never go down what ppl dont seem to understand is that GM is the biggest car company and supports a lot of smaller companies that make parts for them , and if GM goes down so do those compaines and those companies dont only make parts for GM they make parts for every company ford, honda, mazda, toyota so the government arent only thinking of how many ppl will be out of work that work for GM they are thinking of all the ppl that will eventually loose there jobs b/c GM is gone

so in the end its helping everyone not only GM if u think about it

I agree, Detroit is the motor city where pretty much GM's headquarters is. Without GM, I think the car companies, would need to find ways to develop a cheaper and economical way of maintaining the parts cheaper for cars. Not only that, but what if GM went bankrupt.... This would also be a threat to other manufacturers in NA.

[TokyoKiller]

Ahhh, the ad didn't mention one thing. The fact that its now called "Government Motors".


LOL.

[Cardinal Fang]

I hope this company learns something from this whole mess. I'm not going to talk about the build quality of their cars because I honestly believe it to be the same as the Japanese manufacturers now. Many tests have proven that out and my experience with friends that have owned GM in the past 5 years have reinforced this to me. I'm not going to talk about inefficiencies in the company or where their strategic marketing failed them because it's obvious where their short comings are in this area. My issue is that GM has never appealed to me in car design.

I am not their target market. I find their designs uninspiring. They are boring and too conservative for my taste. They do nothing to make me want to drive their cars. If you want style you have to move into their expensive muscle cars or Cadillacs and even then it's only tolerable. Their compact car models are just bad and look like they've been designed by a high school student. The same could be said for the other two car companies.

I just wish there was more to their cars. I really do. Until then I'm not going to be driving one anytime soon and I don't care how this company emerges from this mess. If they make their cars look plain they're only going to appeal to one segmant of the public. If they're ok with that then more power to them.

[seelsy]

I hope this company learns something from this whole mess. I'm not going to talk about the build quality of their cars because I honestly believe it to be the same as the Japanese manufacturers now. Many tests have proven that out my experience with friends that have owned GM in the past 5 years have reinforced this to me. I'm not going to talk about inefficiencies in the company or where their strategic marketing failed them because it's obvious where their short comings are in this area. My issue is that GM has never appealed to me in car design.

I am not their target market. I find their designs uninspiring. They are boring and too conservative for my taste. They do nothing to make me want to drive their cars. If you want style you have to move into their expensive muscle cars or Cadillacs and even then it's only tolerable. Their compact car models are just bad and look like they've been designed by a high school student. The same could be said for the other two car companies.

I just wish there was more to their cars. I really do. Until then I'm not going to be driving one anytime soon and I don't care how this company emerges from this mess. If they make their cars look plain they're only going to appeal to one segmant of the public. If they're ok with that then more power to them.

+ 1:bana2

[Cardinal Fang]

I really hate that banana.....

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

I really hate that banana.....

+1 :bana2:bana

[TokyoKiller]

I really hate that banana.....

I can only imagine why...

[FoXy]

The whole thing is bogus if you ask me. I mean yes, I understand that GM and other car manufacturers are a large part of our economy but why the government should have to bail them out is beyond me. If a small comapny fails the bank forcloses and they are SOL but GM fails due to their own stupidity and everyone starts caring all of a sudden and crying about saving them.

I want to say they are doomed to fail eventually due to their poor designs, poor marketing and poor spending habits... but there are always going to be those "typical" north americans who are about supporting GM and actually think that they are doing something positive. I mean honestly... when you find yourself digging... just stop. Stay in the hole and we'll fill it in for you.

[Cardinal Fang]

Unfortunately GM failing is far more serious then your analogy lets on. If a small buisness fails then only those working for the buisness are hurt. If GM fails and entire network of dealerships, parts suppliers and material suppliers to the parts plants would fail. The estimate is that the network around GM is 10 times larger then the company itself.

The Globe and Mail reported that if GM in Ontario went under with it's network our unemployement rate would climb close to 18%. That would be catistrophic for our economy and foriegn investiment in the province. As mush as I hate the idea of bailout the alternative is far worse.

[FoXy]

Agreed, it just sucks that the government should have to bail them out.

I used to work for a company that was associated with GM and I have seen how many different companies supply to them and are associated with them. Its unbelievable.
I just don't understand how they could have gone SO WRONG to fall this far when they used to be the #1 selling brand in NA. They've screwed themselves by overspending and paying their workers way more than they should have.

[iconicrocket]

Yup, totally agreed on GM needing the bailout. Although they didn't deserve it, the government's had to step in to prevent an even worst situation that would have develop had GM been left alone.

Hopefully we should get a smaller, leaner, and more competitive GM after chapter 11 to compete with the foreign manufacturer. Too bad they sold Opel to Magna, that was one of their best division.

[DruidB]

They've screwed themselves by overspending and paying their workers way more than they should have.

Everyone thinks GM pays more than anyone else... this really is not true... many many companies pay the same or more... Ford, Chrysler, Toyota (very close to the same wage even without a union), Domtar, Cyanamid, Hydro etc...

I feel the real problem was thier product line and dealer network was still the same size or larger than it was in 1980 when GM had 40% of the total market... When the market started to get flooded with more and more choices and sales started to decline the dealer network didnt change much... the company should have cut model lines and streamlined and focused on having a high quality car for every category... instead of competition between its own brands...
ill give you an example...

The niagara Regions three main cities (Welland,St Catharines and Niagara Falls) have 9 GM dealerships, 3 Ford dealerships, 3 Chrysler dealerships, 3 Toyota Dealerships, 3 Honda Dealers, 2 Nissan Dealers, 2 Hyundai, 1 Kia, 1 Mazda... See the trend? 9 Dealerships might have been fine when GM had 40% of the market... but not now

[iconicrocket]

Everyone thinks GM pays more than anyone else... this really is not true... many many companies pay the same or more... Ford, Chrysler, Toyota (very close to the same wage even without a union), Domtar, Cyanamid, Hydro etc...



I don't know about that.

The unionized workers are getting remunerated at a higher level than the competitors. That's including wages, benefits, and pension. The wage gap between GM and international companies per car in 2005 was ~$1300, it's probably higher now, IIRC it's ~$2200 which is huge!

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/payne200511290819.asp

Simple case of milking it while it was good and crying when it got bad. I'm not buying that line that the CAW feeds you that the cost of wages is only 10% of the vehicle's price, but neglected to tell you that compare to the international it's ~$2200 more.

And we're not talking about the legacy costs.

[shuller1458]

Atleast it's goverment own now, and stocks will go up and up, good to make some quick cash. :)

[DruidB]

I don't know about that.
The wage gap between GM and international companies per car in 2005 was ~$1300, it's probably higher now, IIRC it's ~$2200 which is huge!
.

My point is its not just GM, All of the big 3+toyota have similar hourly wages... so do many other non automotive companies...