But do you want a Hummer? or a Suburban? And if you do, are you willing to pay more for it? Right now, there are several reasons these vehicles SHOULD cost more. First, GM only have a finite amount of R&D money. Currently they are spending a certain amount on development of these monster vehicles. They could, and I believe should, be doing more to develop more efficient and less polluting vehicles - not only for environmental reasons but for economic and security reasons too. Second, SUVs get an exemption from certain gas mileage requirements because they are classified as trucks - an exemption intended to help farmers and construction workers who used trucks as 'work vehicles'. Letting SUVs conform to truck mileage targets was a huge mistake; it allowed the big-three to design and sell gas guzzlers all this time.

A move towards 'efficiency' and better environmental performance does not mean a nation of minis; it just means, a better balance. You can have your 'big' car, just may not be as cheap as before.

I must say, using 'security' as an angle on the gas efficiency front is a stroke of genius. While Republicans may bury their heads in the sand when it comes to 'global warming', no one can argue that buying gas from our biggest enemies represents a bit of a security problem. Of course, the Rep's would rather 'drill, baby, drill' ...

The Yugo production line is now available.

I believe GM has 7 Corporate Jets. I beileve the one they used the other day was $35m, same as the boss man's salary. So they have 3.5% of their worth in one of their jets and another 3.5% of their worth in the salary of the guy sitting in it.

I wonder how much GM's invested in and spends on teleconferencing facilities? I know it's not the same as face-to-face, but it sure is a lot more cost-efficient than using a private jet.

I dread to think just how inefficient GM are ... I bet if you started looking, you'd find a horrendous number of blatant excesses and dumb practices. I think one reason Honda set up their US operations in Ohio, and Toyota setup wherever they are, is that they wanted to break with the whole 'Motown' culture.

I know Saturn was setup to be a 'modern' division, and at least used to be successful. I don't know where they stand today.

FWIW, Toyota's North American HQ is in Erlanger, KY, just outside Cincy. I was a co-op for a year for Toyota, so I know a little about them (but not a whole lot).

That's beyond excessive. Let them go under if they can't change their business practices. I can understand why the Pres and VP of a company shouldn't on the same plane, because, if it went down there goes the company's #1 and #2 person. I've heard of more plane crashes involving smallish corporate style jets than I have commercial jetliners - so I would think flying 1st class on a commercial flight would be just as 'secure'.

Seven to five and now to three. What a bunch of clowns:

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsO...4AK5EG20081121

And I liked this tidbit from the end of the article:

Speaking as a travel agent-yup they could buy a helluva lot of first class tickets for that money. Probably even charter one a fair few times.

Seven jets???

I'll run that company for $1 million a year and one private jet, you can't get a better deal than that..

I'll do it for half that and a hot air balloon.

DEAL OR NO DEAL???

OK, final offer - $499,000 + 1 airfix kit

Well I wouldn't be caught dead in a hummer. Suburban - not my choice, but ok perhaps.

For anyone who cares - I have a Grand Caravan. With big dogs, and hauling stuff for fixing up the house (I do a lot of my own stuff) a minivan is the perfect vehicle for me. It doesn't get the best gas mileage - nor the worst. I don't drive a ton of miles, so for me the gas mileage isn't top priority. Higher is better than lower - but the space and features of the vehicle matter more to me. And it did cost more than a small car.

Before this one - I had a Pontiac minivan. Awesome vehicle - when I gave it to a kid, it had 160,000 miles on it and very few repairs.

I guess as far as R&D - they're in business (hopefully) to sell cars - they should put their development money into whatever's most likely to sell imo.

$375K and a golf cart...............

Not to try and defend the big three too much, but isn't it their job to make what their customers want to buy? And if the people wanted to buy bigass SUV's, shouldn't all of us who own one share the blame?

Regarding the private jet, perhaps it was a PR gaffe, but every major company flys employees around in such a fashion...you have a CEO who makes 28 million, or over $100K per day...do you really want him waiting around the airport? Or perhaps your money is better spent in a corp. jet where he can get in and out sooner, plus work at an executive level while flying.

Even at my lowly level employers have flown me to customers in company jets (not as nice as Ford's no doubt) for various reasons.

I don't disagree that $28 mil is a lot, but it is what the market will bear. Eisner made hundreds of Millions at Disney...and Disney made tens of Billions during that time as well.

A bicycle could go faster.

So this begs the question-Should these guys get that kind of salary? It would seem there have been more cases of CEOs cutting and running when the company is going down the tubes and taking the farm with them, or sitting there while their company is going down the tubes and still being paid obscene amounts.