Q1 GM reports $3.3 Billion Loss

[Zbad1]

Wow, they really beat expectations.

GM stock is up 10% this morning on this news.

GM is bigger than some mid sized nations. Reading their financials isn't something that can be done by anyone I know, and I'm surrounded by corporate accountants. They all laugh and says something like "It's Greek to me!".

[tkrelston]

Originally Posted by VCDJ

Yes that is exactly what i was saying. CEO of toyota is happiest guy on earth as long as Rick and Lutz are running gm. How can you lose over 10% of market share in 10 year. Lose billions each year. Invest in bad product like truck and suvs and ignore cars. Ignore hybrids for so long, not improve quality fast enough i can just keep going. I do not know how anybody who cares about gm can support idiots like rick and lutz. Ford is making money and they started turn around plan after gm. Ford is worht more as a company then gm. This guy rick lost over 50 billion of share holders value. What more reasons do you need to fire this guy????

Ah well you forgot a huge portion of Ford’s product is rehashed decade+ old products with new front clips, and interiors as opposed to total redesigns. You also forgot that Ford just sold off 3 brands. You forgot to take into account that GM now has more hybrids than Ford, and that the UAW contract changes don’t take into effect until 2010. Short term fixes never help, and GM seems to be working towards long term goals as opposed to GM of the past.

[VCDJ]

Originally Posted by tkrelston

Ah well you forgot a huge portion of Ford’s product is rehashed decade+ old products with new front clips, and interiors as opposed to total redesigns. You also forgot that Ford just sold off 3 brands. You forgot to take into account that GM now has more hybrids than Ford, and that the UAW contract changes don’t take into effect until 2010. Short term fixes never help, and GM seems to be working towards long term goals as opposed to GM of the past.

By the way escape hybrid outsells all gm hybrids. That tells you everything. What does tell you if ford can reach profit with decade old product and gm can not with new once. Ford did sell jag and land rover but it had no effect on its financial so far. Maybe you should try not to defend something that can not be defended like rick and lutz. ( just because gm makes 50k+ hybrids that does not mean that people will buy them.) saturn aura is not a hybrid. If that car is hybrid then every car with 9v battery is too.

[Rick_VT]

Originally Posted by VCDJ

GM needs to put hummer, saab for sale. They do not need any of those brands. Just by doing that it will make gm much better off. IF gm can get 500 million for 2 of those brands that means it did no cost gm anything to cut 2 devisions. Plus gm needs to change saturn name to opel and bring all opels here. That eliminates another devision. Third Change pontiac name to holden and bring all holdens here. That way another devision will be gone. So that way you do not have to waste money on saab, hummer, saturn and pontiac. You would just have. Holden, Opel, caddy, chevy, gmc and buick. So gm would go from 10 devisions to 6 and it would not cost them anything.

Jesus would you learn to spell some day soon please.

And your plan is just crap, changing Saturn to Opel wouldnt make a difference at all, at least Saturn is known im America Opel isnt so GM would have to spend tens of millions to generate awareness in the brand, so no saving there.

Change Pontiac to Holden, why?? Apart from Commodore and Statesman why would Pontiac want the rest of the Holden range, Barina Viva and Epica are all Daewoo rebadges what would Pontiac need these for and Astra is being sold by Saturn, Pontiac is the sports division, those other 3 are hardly sporty cars and once again you get rid of a name well known in NA in Pontiac for a name hardly known by majority of people there in Holden, millions more on advertising for new name, so where are your savings here??

As per usual you just carry on with all kinds of crap without actually knowing anything or thinking it through

[johnstarnes]

Originally Posted by tgagneguam

The salaries should be tied to the overall health of the company and its financial performance, not to whether or not the company lays off people, per se, as unfortunate as the loss of livelihood may be for assembly line workers, johnstarnes.

Nonetheless, GM's continued financial performance and its executive compensation seem puzzling to me. Sure, Wagoner et al. have accomplished a lot, but it still doesn't seem to be enough.

Thanks that was my point.....why would they get huge raises when the company is tanking and thousands are losing their jobs? Most folks who do a poor job either get no raise or get fired. But it seems that CEOs live by different rules.

[Chaz_23]

Will there ever be a quarter without billion dollar "one-time charges"? One-time charges are becoming the norm for GM.

[nickf1011]

Originally Posted by tkrelston

Ah well you forgot a huge portion of Ford’s product is rehashed decade+ old products with new front clips, and interiors as opposed to total redesigns. You also forgot that Ford just sold off 3 brands. You forgot to take into account that GM now has more hybrids than Ford, and that the UAW contract changes don’t take into effect until 2010. Short term fixes never help, and GM seems to be working towards long term goals as opposed to GM of the past.

The only Ford products that are REMOTELY close to being a decade old are the Panthers and the Ranger. Give me a break. And I wouldn't exactly call the GM W-body a spring chicken.

[Ach]

Originally Posted by tkrelston

Ah well you forgot a huge portion of Ford’s product is rehashed decade+ old products with new front clips, and interiors as opposed to total redesigns. You also forgot that Ford just sold off 3 brands. You forgot to take into account that GM now has more hybrids than Ford, and that the UAW contract changes don’t take into effect until 2010. Short term fixes never help, and GM seems to be working towards long term goals as opposed to GM of the past.

Proceeds from the Jag/LR sale were NOT included in, and had no bearing upon, Ford's first quarter results this year.

[nsap]

Originally Posted by VCDJ

By the way escape hybrid outsells all gm hybrids. That tells you everything. What does tell you if ford can reach profit with decade old product and gm can not with new once. Ford did sell jag and land rover but it had no effect on its financial so far. Maybe you should try not to defend something that can not be defended like rick and lutz. ( just because gm makes 50k+ hybrids that does not mean that people will buy them.) saturn aura is not a hybrid. If that car is hybrid then every car with 9v battery is too.

How many of those Escape Hybrids are sold to fleet customers?

[mbukukanyau]

Originally Posted by andy82471

Wow GM has mastered the art of putting a positive spin on a very bad situation. So a 3.3 billion loss isn't that bad anymore ? Only an ineptitude company like GM can still keep Wagoner as its chairman. He would have been long gone had it been any other company with half a brain.

obviously a person who does not know how to read financials. You think GM shares are up today due to Wagoners ineptness?
The core business has improved. Car sales are up, GM trucks are moving at a better rate that competation, even in the slow down, and loss in the car business is lower than expected.
Who did not expect a loss from GMAC, (ditech.com) ? Delphi, American Axle strike?

[wescoent]

Originally Posted by VCDJ

GM needs to put hummer, saab for sale. They do not need any of those brands. Just by doing that it will make gm much better off. IF gm can get 500 million for 2 of those brands that means it did no cost gm anything to cut 2 devisions. Plus gm needs to change saturn name to opel and bring all opels here. That eliminates another devision. Third Change pontiac name to holden and bring all holdens here. That way another devision will be gone. So that way you do not have to waste money on saab, hummer, saturn and pontiac. You would just have. Holden, Opel, caddy, chevy, gmc and buick. So gm would go from 10 devisions to 6 and it would not cost them anything.

No.

Keep Pontiac and Saturn as brands, but simply merge them into Opel and Holden operations and management.

Take Cadillac, and turn it into its own operating group, seperate from the rest of General Motors.

Enter into a partnership with Fiat to administer Saab.

Fold Hummer into the Chevrolet operating group.

[VCDJ]

Originally Posted by nsap

How many of those Escape Hybrids are sold to fleet customers?

I do not know but i do know that gm sold like 890 two mode hybrids in first 3 months. SO Escape hybrid outsold gm hybrids by wide margin even if you exclude fleet sales. By the way every chevy dealer around me has at least 2 tahoe hybrids and they have been sitting there for at least 2 months. Come on NSAP if we are going to talk about fleet sale take a look at pontica. Or how about cobalt, impala, aveo, gmt900. So lets not talk about fleet sales. You know as well as i do that rick must go. ITs just hard for you to admit that.

[windvale]

Originally Posted by tkrelston

Ah well you forgot a huge portion of Ford’s product is rehashed decade+ old products with new front clips, and interiors as opposed to total redesigns. You also forgot that Ford just sold off 3 brands. You forgot to take into account that GM now has more hybrids than Ford, and that the UAW contract changes don’t take into effect until 2010. Short term fixes never help, and GM seems to be working towards long term goals as opposed to GM of the past.

Dude ! Hang on, I'm just finishing up a new batch of the GM Kool-Aid for you to drink.

The GM hybrids exist only in Sales brochures. Just try actually buying one.

Ford's can boast, with J.D. Powers to back them up, that their initial quality is on a par with Toyota/Honda - can GM make that claim ?

The Volt (a.k.a "the messiah") is going to cost at least 35K per copy, and will have roughly the same dimensions as the Cobalt. Impact on the US market ? A fart in a thunderstorm, old boy...

"GM seems to be working towards Long term goals...". If they're not careful, they might just "long-term goal" themself right outta business.

[nsap]

Originally Posted by VCDJ

I do not know but i do know that gm sold like 890 two mode hybrids in first 3 months. SO Escape hybrid outsold gm hybrids by wide margin even if you exclude fleet sales. By the way every chevy dealer around me has at least 2 tahoe hybrids and they have been sitting there for at least 2 months. Come on NSAP if we are going to talk about fleet sale take a look at pontica. Or how about cobalt, impala, aveo, gmt900. So lets not talk about fleet sales. You know as well as i do that rick must go. ITs just hard for you to admit that.

Uh, go look at Page 1 of this thread. I called for Rick's demise before you even looked at this thread.

So, what is hard for me to admit?

[VCDJ]

Originally Posted by windvale

Dude ! Hang on, I'm just finishing up a new batch of the GM Kool-Aid for you to drink.

The GM hybrids exist only in Sales brochures. Just try actually buying one.

Ford's can boast, with J.D. Powers to back them up, that their initial quality is on a par with Toyota/Honda - can GM make that claim ?

The Volt (a.k.a "the messiah") is going to cost at least 35K per copy, and will have roughly the same dimensions as the Cobalt. Impact on the US market ? A fart in a thunderstorm, old boy...

"GM seems to be working towards Long term goals...". If they're not careful, they might just "long-term goal" themself right outta business.

I agree with you.