Elvira

Thr world's 'economic engine' turning slower:

"The world's biggest carmaker, General Motors, will axe about 30,000 jobs in the US amid growing fears of bankruptcy, it said today.
The company, which employs 181,000 workers in America, is to close or cut back operations at 12 plants and produce 1m fewer vehicles every year as it seeks to save $7bn (£4bn).
...
The troubled firm also said a recent agreement with the United Auto Workers union will allow it to cut healthcare costs by about $3bn a year.
...
Bank of America recently raised the odds on GM filing for bankruptcy in the next two years to 40%."

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story...647632,00.html

Manc

I don't suppose it dawned on them to ahem.......make better cars?

Elvira

I see a poll coming on - how many BE US residents own American cars?

BritGuyTN

Yup, at risk of offending other BE members - who in their right mind at GM signed off on the chevy impala?

Bob

Saab ain't to bad...but yeah, most of the motors are a tad shite...would help wonders if they actually had a decent global market rather than just have a shrinking US market share...

Elvira

But Saab are Swedish...

Lord Lionheart

They're all conglomerates, GM owns Saab.

BritGuyTN

Which is how you end up with a chevy trailblazer rebadged as a saab

Lord Lionheart

I was under the impression that the worst times were behind GM?
i.e The terrible cars in the late 70's/early 80's. I' ve never been involved in the car business however I am in sales and marketing. I think some of the problems are the staid, old fashioned image of such brands as Pontiac, Buick and Oldsmobile, who buys these brands apart from people over 60, what market share does that represent?
As positives in the GM line-up, for me Chevrolet represents a cheap working man's car which is reliable and cheap to work on, which is a good thing but probably can't go up against the Toyota Camry's of the auto world. GMC the truck division must be pretty strong and I thought Saturn had built a reputation for reliability?
Cadillac is a name that has stood for quality, people still refer to something of superior quality as being ' the cadillac' of it's kind.
GM was behind the 8 ball on the whole hybrid car market however I don't understand how they can not be doing well as a company, with the huge potential in China of JV's( joint ventures) which many car companies including GM have invested in with the Chinese govt. to produce cars for the 1 billion vehicle potential Chinese car market?
Again I am obviously not involved in the automotive business sector but offer these rambling thoughts merely as food for thought?????
Just wonder how long it will be before they are imprting JV GM cars from China at the cost of it's N. American workforce, maybe I'm way off the mark??

Dimsie

We're not proud we have a Chevvy Monte Carlo and love it. Wouldn't change it for any other. So there!

Elvira

So you drove your chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye
Singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die...?

BritGuyTN

they need to get rid of the following domestic brands (oldmobile has already gone):

saturn - weird looking cars, losing features like plastic panels etc
buick - customer base is dying (literally)
GMC - rebadged chevy tracks and SUV's - whats the point?
pontiac - with the exception of the GOAT, solstice and G6, their line up is silmilarly pointless

they will then have a core of the following:

Chevrolet - every day vee-hic-els and trucks
Cadillac - luxury and sport models
Hummer - abominations for posers

they can take the cost savings from the reduced complexity of brands and use it to build decent cars

Why on earth haven't I been offered the job as GM CEO?

Elvira

I think the Guardian article also said that they've been left behind in the hybrid race...

Englishmum

Nope.

We had a Dodge Caravan when we first arrived - we needed the space to transport stuff back from IKEA LOL and after taking out a mortgage didn't have much money to buy anything nicer!

It was awful - badly built and couldn't cope in snow or ice...had some scary moments.

We now have a Volvo XC90 (Swedish) and a Subaru Outback (Japanese but I think this one was built in Indiana....)

Both much better build quality than the Dodge for sure, although I concede that both cars are more expensive to buy than the Dodge.

Elvira

When we used to come to the US for 2-3 months at a time, we would hire vans. Invariably these would be Dodge Caravans. They are cr4p. Once we got a brand new one: put 6000 miles on the clock and it was fit for the scrap heap when we turned it in...