Steering a path to recovery?

[DanCBJMS1988]

Steering a path to recovery?

By Clare Matheson
BBC News business reporter

US carmaking giant General Motors (GM) is expected to unveil another drop in profits later this week.

This would mark the group's fifth quarterly drop in earnings and thus add to the ever-growing chorus of concern about the Detroit-based company. The predictions come despite the group racking up its best worldwide sales - 9.2 million cars and trucks - since 1978 and a strict cost-cutting programme.




The American love affair with SUVs seems to be coming to an end

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4638974.stm

[DanCBJMS1988]

By the way, a business analyist has been interviewed today at 10pm EST (3am GMT) on a program known as "The World Today" on the BBC World Service regarding Kirk Kekorian's views of GM. This analyst believes that GM is "undervalued", and I agree. GM (and well as Ford) has so much potential that can be achieved, and if you need to get your guns rolling, you need to bring the might of your global operations into your home country.

[tgagneguam]

Originally Posted by DanCBJMS1988

By the way, a business analyist has been interviewed today at 10pm EST (3am GMT) on a program known as "The World Today" on the BBC World Service regarding Kirk Kekorian's views of GM. This analyst believes that GM is "undervalued", and I agree. GM (and well as Ford) has so much potential that can be achieved, and if you need to get your guns rolling, you need to bring the might of your global operations into your home country.

Yup, and people were saying GM was undervalued at $32/share; a cheap share price doesn't necessarily translate into an undervalued stock.

[New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66]

"Commentators have also accused GM of failing to come up with original new designs, instead relying too much on gas guzzling trucks, or sports utility vehicles (SUVs), to boost sales."

Huh? The G6 is sexy. The Solstice? The Sky? Equinox? HHR? Rendevous?

[Bravada]

Originally Posted by New_Mexico_Sunset_on_Rt66

Huh? The G6 is sexy. The Solstice? The Sky? Equinox? HHR? Rendevous?

G6 sexy? Doesn't take much to turn you on

Rendezvous - perhaps it's "original", but can't be referred to as an "achievement" in the styling department

Not to say that GM isn't improving - it is and I hope they will continue to rebound.

[johnny smallblock]

Originally Posted by DanCBJMS1988

The American love affair with SUVs seems to be coming to an end

[cfch3399]

Some ways to cut costs:
- a hiring freeze
- reduce marketing dramatically
- cut travel expenses for Wagoner & co.
and while we are at it, don't let LaNeve give interviews, press conferences, etc.

[MCGARRETT]

Yes.....the love affair with the SUV is over, because last year Americans bought 3,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 SUV's and this year they are going to buy 2. You can easily see how everyone is abandoning the truck and SUV market.....

Toyota is NOT making a new Tundra and Sequoia
Nissan did NOT introduce a brand new full size truck and SUV
Honda did NOT just introduce a truck
Dodge did NOT just extensively re-fresh their full size truck.

If I have to read or hear about, once again, why GM is so stupid, because they re-designed their trucks and SUV's rather than work on some RWD bat-mobile or a some hybrid lunchbox that runs on happy thoughts and air....


Yeah GM, your are soooo dumb. DONT re-design what are some of the oldest vehicles in your line up....DONT redesign your best selling and most profitable vehicles, nevermind that every single one of your competitors has already introduced new vehicles that are aimed at eating your lunch....

[Havasavana]

Originally Posted by cfch3399

Some ways to cut costs:
- a hiring freeze
- reduce marketing dramatically
- cut travel expenses for Wagoner & co.
and while we are at it, don't let LaNeve give interviews, press conferences, etc.

Yeah, I like those ideas. Especially the third one since it should make it harder for Wagoner/GM to get into any more deals like Fiat and Fuji. The last suggestion has a lot of merit too.

[Bravada]

Ummm, I don't know about the costs of Wagoner's travels - are they so high?

Marketing is what sells cars. I wouldn't cut it down, but I would get rid of LaNeve and his guys - if all they can come up with is a Red Tag event just after the fire sale season. And this would certainly ensure LaNeve won't speak for GM again

As concerns the hiring freeze - I've been to a manufacturing company (a lot smaller than GM, a few hundred people) where unions were so strong that they made the management freeze any new hiring on the grounds that they should rather make use of the already-employed guys. They ended up with totally incompetent people in most managerial posts, with, for example, the purchasing/logistics guy being a former salesman under 30, who was named manager of this department perhaps only because he agreed to work for peanuts. He had no idea about purchasing and the operations. I can give you many other examples of that.

[Bullet1293]

Originally Posted by MCGARRETT

Yes.....the love affair with the SUV is over, because last year Americans bought 3,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 SUV's and this year they are going to buy 2. You can easily see how everyone is abandoning the truck and SUV market.....

Toyota is NOT making a new Tundra and Sequoia
Nissan did NOT introduce a brand new full size truck and SUV
Honda did NOT just introduce a truck
Dodge did NOT just extensively re-fresh their full size truck.

If I have to read or hear about, once again, why GM is so stupid, because they re-designed their trucks and SUV's rather than work on some RWD bat-mobile or a some hybrid lunchbox that runs on happy thoughts and air....


Yeah GM, your are soooo dumb. DONT re-design what are some of the oldest vehicles in your line up....DONT redesign your best selling and most profitable vehicles, nevermind that every single one of your competitors has already introduced new vehicles that are aimed at eating your lunch....

[paul3230]

Originally Posted by MCGARRETT

Yes.....the love affair with the SUV is over, because last year Americans bought 3,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 SUV's and this year they are going to buy 2. You can easily see how everyone is abandoning the truck and SUV market.....

Toyota is NOT making a new Tundra and Sequoia
Nissan did NOT introduce a brand new full size truck and SUV
Honda did NOT just introduce a truck
Dodge did NOT just extensively re-fresh their full size truck.

If I have to read or hear about, once again, why GM is so stupid, because they re-designed their trucks and SUV's rather than work on some RWD bat-mobile or a some hybrid lunchbox that runs on happy thoughts and air....


Yeah GM, your are soooo dumb. DONT re-design what are some of the oldest vehicles in your line up....DONT redesign your best selling and most profitable vehicles, nevermind that every single one of your competitors has already introduced new vehicles that are aimed at eating your lunch....

Preach on!!! I swear if I here that GM should've just let there GMT800's rot I'll throw my computer against the wall!

[2648562]

"We don't see bankruptcy as a winning strategy in any way, shape or form," he said earlier this month.

"It's not a good plan, and it is not constructive for there to be a lot of speculation about it. It doesn't help sales, and we don't have any intention of doing it."
-------------------------------
Well, at least he's realized that much. Now if he only realized how the American consumer views all GM's job cuts and offshoring (yeah, I know they don't have much of a choice in some cases). I've talked to people who feel as if GM has declared war against America. And I know quite a few life-long GM loyalists who feel betrayed and have vowed never again to purchase anything from them. I'll personally buy a Honda that's merely assembled here or a Mexican built VW long before I buy a Mexican built GM truck or Cadillac.

There are still a big chunk of Americans that are passionate about cars and this country who want to buy American, but they're being let down almost on a daily basis by GM's management.

[Steel4ring]

Originally Posted by cfch3399

Some ways to cut costs:
- a hiring freeze
- reduce marketing dramatically
- cut travel expenses for Wagoner & co.
and while we are at it, don't let LaNeve give interviews, press conferences, etc.

These steps would not even put a dent in the overall picture. And by the way, if you reduce marketing, you are likely to reduce showroom traffic.

If anything GM needs to raise marketing....why? Because the only time GM products get any positive play is when GM promotes them. To cut marketing would be like a polticial candidate going dark on the air just before an election. It allows you opponents to paint an image of you.

If you want to talk about more effective marketing, then we can do that.

[Steel4ring]

The SUV is Dead?

Yeah, the guy that never needed an SUV at 99 cents a gallon isn't going to buy one at $2.50 a gallon. But GM is going to sell a hell of a lot more GMT-900's than Toyota is going to sell Priuses. And GM is going to make money on everyone of those sales. Has Toyota made anything on the hybrid hype?

Give me a break with this anti truck media. The top selling vehicles in the US are trucks. Full size SUV sales are expected to be around 750,000 to 800,000 this year. GM owns about 65% of the full size SUV market. And dare I say that the Yukon and Tahoe have a chance of taking share since they are clearly the best in class.

If the SUV was dead, then why does every auto maker play in that market?