Jerry York: 2010 GM IPO “The Dumbest Thing in the World”

[Stéphane Dumas]

Originally Posted by Idler Arm

From first hand experience I can tell you he is most polite, soft spoken, unassuming, and brutally correct when he does speak. I consider myself quite fortunate to have him as a friend.

No one is right all of the time, yet Jerry's track record is phenomenal. From Chrysler to IBM, to Tyco, to Apple, to GM, he has repeatedly shown comprehension and brilliance in offering solutions.

I wonder, if Fritz Henderson could have second taughts and could re-hire York? Or a guy who think of the same ideas as York?

[Idler Arm]

Originally Posted by Stéphane Dumas

I wonder, if Fritz Henderson could have second taughts and could re-hire York? Or a guy who think of the same ideas as York?

York on Board could make that IPO a reality.(if they listen to the guy)

[jcgable]

This sounds like a well written and balanced article with no political leaning or bias of any sort whatsoever.

[rueben44]

I say lets just watch and see what happens. It is just more bashing but we will see and it will not take that long. By the end of the year we will see if we have a trend going. If the nay sayers are proven wrong will they stand up and shout as loudly they were wrong? No they will not!!!

People forget GM has cars and are bringing car to market that can sell on merit. If that is so they could keep current fleet number and stay at 21% but you will notice they keep cutting fleet and their number have not suffered greatly for it.

Regal
CTS Wagon
CTS Coupe
Cruze
Volt
Some Type of Plug in Hybrid
Spark

All of these are coming to market soon....

[megeebee]

Originally Posted by Idler Arm

York on Board could make that IPO a reality.(if they listen to the guy)

Stranger things have happened.............

[Exploder]

So RF thinks anyone who defends Detroit is an idiot, and now someone who criticizes Detroit is also an idiot? Make up your mind, Bobby.

[Quixote88]

Originally Posted by mgescuro

Well, he has a point.

But the part about GM not making up the volume?? I think the new GM can absolutely do that.

Why?

The remaining 4 brands will grow. And they will grow to expand into the niches left vacant by Hummer, Saab, Pontiac, and Saturn.
We can no longer think of Chevy as "the American family car." It must be thought of as the all purpose American car, taking over Pontiac performance and Saturn's style.
GMC can easily take over HUMMER's niche, assuming GMC finds the offroading niche a viable market.
Cadillac must take over Saab's niche, which should be easy with ATS and CTS families.

but the brands must grow. Cadillac can't live on CTS and ATS. It needs families. Coupes, sedans, wagons, convertibles for both families.
Chevy must expand into "City" cars and smaller niches as well as more performance vehicles.

We need to start thinking out of the box. If GM keeps the remaining 4 brands as they are, then absolutely, we will have a problem.

Exactly!
I don't see what's so difficult for people to understand about this... The remaining 4 Divisions are all going to evolve into something more than they were in the past.

Now, I'm not saying that everything GM decides to do with the brands is going to be correct... They have a spotty track record at best over the past 30 years. But for the most part, the upcoming models seem to be strong contenders for each brand. Chevrolet is becoming the "everyman" car. By the end of 2010 or at least the first half of 2011, there shouldn't be very many segments in which they're not competitive. Buick is showing signs of life, and in my opinion, is once again the keystone of GMNA's future. Along with the Enclave and LaCrosse, the upcoming lineup(Regal, Verano, Encore) seems that it will be highly competitive in the marketplace. GMC, long rumored to be GM's most profitable brand, will be expanding its role, as we all know. And Cadillac is the wild card... We simply don't know enough about the upcoming models to have a clear enough idea of whether they'll be competitive or simply an afterthought.

The new products seem to be coming with a new focus on the individual brands and their marketing. As we've seen over the past month, Buick's advertising is focusing on the car (LaCrosse). This is unlike the past where the only commercial you may have seen would be telling you how big the current rebate is on "remaining Buicks." That was if you saw a Buick ad at all... (The same went for Pontiac and Saturn.) Cadillac's new SRX spots are also well done.

I'm not saying that GM will definitely hold on to market share in the future. But I can see that it's not impossible for them to make up for the lost brands... I wouldn't rule out them actually gaining market share with their new found focus.

[Idler Arm]

Originally Posted by Quixote88

Exactly!
I don't see what's so difficult for people to understand about this... The remaining 4 Divisions are all going to evolve into something more than they were in the past.

Now, I'm not saying that everything GM decides to do with the brands is going to be correct... They have a spotty track record at best over the past 30 years. But for the most part, the upcoming models seem to be strong contenders for each brand. Chevrolet is becoming the "everyman" car. By the end of 2010 or at least the first half of 2011, there shouldn't be very many segments in which they're not competitive. Buick is showing signs of life, and in my opinion, is once again the keystone of GMNA's future. Along with the Enclave and LaCrosse, the upcoming lineup(Regal, Verano, Encore) seems that it will be highly competitive in the marketplace. GMC, long rumored to be GM's most profitable brand, will be expanding its role, as we all know. And Cadillac is the wild card... We simply don't know enough about the upcoming models to have a clear enough idea of whether they'll be competitive or simply an afterthought.

The new products seem to be coming with a new focus on the individual brands and their marketing. As we've seen over the past month, Buick's advertising is focusing on the car (LaCrosse). This is unlike the past where the only commercial you may have seen would be telling you how big the current rebate is on "remaining Buicks." That was if you saw a Buick ad at all... (The same went for Pontiac and Saturn.) Cadillac's new SRX spots are also well done.

I'm not saying that GM will definitely hold on to market share in the future. But I can see that it's not impossible for them to make up for the lost brands... I wouldn't rule out them actually gaining market share with their new found focus.

Excellent post.

[megeebee]

Originally Posted by Quixote88

Exactly!
I don't see what's so difficult for people to understand about this... The remaining 4 Divisions are all going to evolve into something more than they were in the past.

Now, I'm not saying that everything GM decides to do with the brands is going to be correct... They have a spotty track record at best over the past 30 years. But for the most part, the upcoming models seem to be strong contenders for each brand. Chevrolet is becoming the "everyman" car. By the end of 2010 or at least the first half of 2011, there shouldn't be very many segments in which they're not competitive. Buick is showing signs of life, and in my opinion, is once again the keystone of GMNA's future. Along with the Enclave and LaCrosse, the upcoming lineup(Regal, Verano, Encore) seems that it will be highly competitive in the marketplace. GMC, long rumored to be GM's most profitable brand, will be expanding its role, as we all know. And Cadillac is the wild card... We simply don't know enough about the upcoming models to have a clear enough idea of whether they'll be competitive or simply an afterthought.

The new products seem to be coming with a new focus on the individual brands and their marketing. As we've seen over the past month, Buick's advertising is focusing on the car (LaCrosse). This is unlike the past where the only commercial you may have seen would be telling you how big the current rebate is on "remaining Buicks." That was if you saw a Buick ad at all... (The same went for Pontiac and Saturn.) Cadillac's new SRX spots are also well done.

I'm not saying that GM will definitely hold on to market share in the future. But I can see that it's not impossible for them to make up for the lost brands... I wouldn't rule out them actually gaining market share with their new found focus.

Well put.

[vcs2600]

Agreed when someone starts an argument about GM's marketshare or volume, just forget about. A huge chunk of that volume was unprofitable, throw it in the toliet, drop a deuce on it, flush it, and forget it about it.

GM's IPO is never going to be based on pure market share.

The enticing thing about GM's pipeline is that's made up of vehicles that can sell on their own merits, not conditional on some brand or marketing campaign or some other extraneous factor. These are vehicles that people can and will buy as soon as they are available.