[Ming]

It's not the math that bothers me. It's the way that LaNeve almost seems to be saying that people shouldn't be buying their own 4-cylinder Malibu (!), but should be smart enough to see that what they really need is a Silverado (to commute to a desk job in).

I know that's not how he meant it, but it does gel with the general idea you get from listening to management that GM is patiently waiting for us all to "wise up" and start buying their most profitable (and most thirsty) vehicles again. Meanwhile they grimace and drag their feet, "surprised" at the sales of vehicles like the Cobalt XFE, as they grudgingly comply with what we really want, which isn't $40,000 8-passenger crossovers and SUV's and trucks with thousands of dollars of 'built-in profit', but more sensible and stylish cars like the 4-cyl. Malibu he says isn't all that different, fuel economy-wise from their trucks.

What GM wants to sell us and what the public wants to buy from them are not always the same. GM needs to make a visibly enthusiastic effort to bridge that gap, and quick.

The Malibu is a great car. Now I want to see GM make an all out advertising effort that convinces me that they aren't still trying to get me into a truck or SUV, but into their great new cars instead. I want to see and feel a GM that is confident that the profits from cars can sustain them --- that they aren't hopelessly addicted to SUV and truck profits - or their replacement, the super-sized, super-priced crossover. The "GM is only trying to clear out old SUV/Truck inventory, so that's why you haven't seen those kind of ads yet" excuse will only last a few months longer.