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Originally Posted by 1487
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?
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While I don't disagree with your comments, I suspect the reason that the media has their sights on GM is because GM focused so much on large fuel hungry trucks and SUV's. While Toyota could be accused of doing the same, they deflected attention by nature of the fact that they have a stable full of fuel efficient cars that the consumers line up to purchase.
If you view the car market from a large scale perspective, GM has been out of the car market for years. They are late to the party and it is taking some time to catch up. Remember the 1980's when the Olds Cutlass was the number one selling car in North America? Back then GM had a line up of hits that consumers flocked to dealers to buy. Today the tide has changed as consumers head to Honda, Toyota and now, even Hyundai stores to buy their favorite cars. We all know many a consumer that wouldn't even consider entering a GM store (no matter how good a Malibu is), something that was unheard of 20 years ago.
The world has the changed. The big question is "can GM change and keep up"?