Quote:
Originally Posted by ByTheLake
This has been like watching a car crash in slow motion. Standing on the side lines, it's been painfully obvious for several years that fuel expenses would likely rise sharply and that GM's small car portfolio was agonizingly substandard.
As the GMT-900 beasts were rolled out, they seemed absolutely huge and out of place with this impending reality. I realize that the big trucks offered good margins, but how much strategic vision did the company demonstrate?
It's gonna be a rough year.
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I cant believe people here are so easily influences by half ass articles like the one here. The GMT900s came out in 2006 which means that they were likely under development in 2001 or 2002. GM (or anyone else) cannot just cut a billion dollar product overnight because gas prices went up. Even in 2006 gas prices werent high compared to today. MEanwhile companies like Toyota who are supposedly on top of every trend are launching huge gas guzzling pickups and SUvs and no one in the press cares. This time last year the media was swooning over the Tundra and saying how it was the import truck that was going to break the Big 3's stranglehold on the pickup market. In 2008 the media ignores the Tundra and pretends that only the Big 3 spent money developing trucks. The best sellinng hybrid is the Prius and its been out since 2004. Toyota didnt develop the Prius in response to $4 a gallon gas because when the Prius was being engineered gas was under $2 a gallon. Toyota was in the right place at the right time and they are reaping the benefits. Even with the Prius under their belt Toyota spent a billion dollars on a new 14 mpg pickup. IF they know so much about the market and anticipated gas prices why would they do that?