Wagoner Says Customers Didn't Want Hybrids

[drees1]

Igotzzoom that was a good one Ms Cleo. Ha ha (((((CALL ME NOW))))) Rick pull you head out now.

[jbernie]

The saddest part is that Ming basically had to quote the whole article to post what he did.

So maybe the journo's could dig a little deeper and find out what GM could have offered and why they did not?

Not criticizing Ming but why bother posting 3 short paragraphs of effecively nothing?

[63GrandSport001]

Honestly if I were Rick I wouldn't point this out because it just shows that he is not up to the task..........

[Ming]

Originally Posted by jbernie

The saddest part is that Ming basically had to quote the whole article to post what he did.

So maybe the journo's could dig a little deeper and find out what GM could have offered and why they did not?

People are constantly criticizing GM for not having the foresight to have invested in a full hybrid, or for giving up the EV1 program.

This gives insight into Rick Wagoner's thoughts on the issue, right or wrong.

[K Dawg ONE]

What we need is an affordabale hybrid...the Prius always gets mentioend but no one ever mentions the Camry hybrid...it only has a $3k premium over the base 4 cylander and gets almsot all the same options options of a well-eqipped 4 cylander (and about the same price as one too).
A hybrid sedan more expensive than the 4 cyl but less than or equal to the 6-cylander and you have a winner. Pre-Gm days, I worked for Toyota...we had months of line-ups for the Camry Hybrid....187 hp, 50/50 fuel consumption, $34k CDN loaded with Nav and only $30k CDN base sticker price (about equal to a G6 with the Performance Package and only about $1k more than a 4 cyl G6 SE with a drivers package)...that there is the realworld hybrid winner!

[MaxLegroom]

Originally Posted by tgagneguam

Oh, is that what you did in lieu of building hybrids? I see. So how am I supposed to understand continually falling share in North America since the day you took your office, hmmmm? While retail share has stabilized, and maybe saw a bit of an uptick more recently, you largely presided over significantly falling share. That tells me that much of what you built failed to find favor with consumers; you weren't building what people wanted.

It's funny that people actually will buy this line from GM to explain its generally poor performance lately and historically. Good lord, Rick, how 'bout some candor from the top for once?

There is more to GM's cars not selling than that, surely. Sometimes, I'd tend to lay the blame at the dealer's doorstep. Every time a service writer has told a customer something needed to be done that was, in fact, totally unnecessary, or failed to fix a problem that actually did exist, or said "they all do that...", there went a customer, down to the next dealer. Was it a Toyota dealer? Another point I might add has to deal with "market adjustment" add ons. Recently, I looked at Malibus on 5 lots for such addendums, and saw them on 3 lots. At a point where GM is trying to get customers to come back, trying to rebuild their reputation, the dealers try to make a killing on anything that has just a whiff (or, in the Malibu's case, more than just a whiff) of hot to it. I'm not sure how others feel, but I don't care for having my intelligence insulted like that right off the bat, and that is no way to help get GM's reputation back.

[logansowner]

Yea, the Prius and Civic hybrid absolutely failed, didn't they? How the **** these people get these jobs is beyond me. My mother could run a company better.

Nobody wanted efficient cars? Bull. The real reason was that they didn't carry the profit of trucks.

I don't think it's good for GM to fail, but they will, this kind of failure to look forward, and realize the competition really was powerful is what led to the fall of Rome.

[jbernie]

Originally Posted by Ming

People are constantly criticizing GM for not having the foresight to have invested in a full hybrid, or for giving up the EV1 program.

This gives insight into Rick Wagoner's thoughts on the issue, right or wrong.

But at least go with an article that gives us more insight as to why they made the decisions they did. You are rewarding a sub standard article of no use to anyone with page views.

What as the comments from Lutz just the other week? The EV-1 would be an $80,000 car with 2 seats that would not meet safety standards and couldn't go very far. Maybe they could have done more with the technology, but sometimes the concepts are too ahead of their time to be practical.

The B2 Stealth Bomber flying wing setup existed decades ago but they couldn't build it until they had the computing power to be able to make the inherintly unstable design work in a way that was flyable.

Regardless of what people want to say about GM, the consumer is looking for the best deal possible, every hybrid costs more than its non Hybrid version, and even if there is no true non Hybrid variant within the manufacturers line up people will cross shop versus other brands. Very few people were ever going to save money by buying a Prius vs buying an equivalent non hybrid car, they bought it for the warm and fuzzies of using less foreign oil or reducing the personal enviromental impact. It is only now with gas prices being so high that the math is starting to work for a larger portion of the population.

Not forgetting how some people forget to do the math and go OMG must have a hybrid that does 40mpg and also pay the $20-25k for the Prius plus any finance charges for any loans they have plus the gas it will use anyway plus the potential for higher insurance rates and higher taxes etc, and what are they trading in? Fully paid of vehicles or vehicles not paid off where they need to carry the outstanding balance onto the new loan. GENIUS!!!

[logansowner]

Originally Posted by K Dawg ONE

What we need is an affordabale hybrid...the Prius always gets mentioend but no one ever mentions the Camry hybrid...it only has a $3k premium over the base 4 cylander and gets almsot all the same options options of a well-eqipped 4 cylander (and about the same price as one too).
A hybrid sedan more expensive than the 4 cyl but less than or equal to the 6-cylander and you have a winner. Pre-Gm days, I worked for Toyota...we had months of line-ups for the Camry Hybrid....187 hp, 50/50 fuel consumption, $34k CDN loaded with Nav and only $30k CDN base sticker price (about equal to a G6 with the Performance Package and only about $1k more than a 4 cyl G6 SE with a drivers package)...that there is the realworld hybrid winner!

Exactly...except i don't know what a cylander is...

[63GrandSport001]

Originally Posted by logansowner

Yea, the Prius and Civic hybrid absolutely failed, didn't they? How the **** these people get these jobs is beyond me. My mother could run a company better.

Nobody wanted efficient cars? Bull. The real reason was that they didn't carry the profit of trucks.

I don't think it's good for GM to fail, but they will, this kind of failure to look forward, and realize the competition really was powerful is what led to the fall of Rome.

I agree with you that the idea that the market didn't want fuel efficient cars until a year ago is also bull cuz Toyota and Honda were both able to sell about 300,000 compacts a year. It is that the compacts lack the huge profit margins of the big trucks and SUVs and GM was worried that compacts and good mid sizers would canabolize SUV and truck sales.

[63GrandSport001]

currently the hybrid isn't the answer as not only is gas sky high but the economy is getting worse and worse so we need something that is dirt cheap and gets great fuel economy.

If GM can make a car that can be sold for $10,000 that can get 40MPG or even better then it will sell like hot cakes esp. if they make it look good. The second most important market in this trying time will be the Cobalt replacement, it needs to get the right fuel economy with the right look and size. I can see compacts replacing the mid size sedans as the most popular selling cars in the US but the mid sizers will remain important and the sub compacts will gain in importance.

[PRO_USA1776]

Keep Cobalt name (drop Cruze!!), let brand recognition build on a continuning quality program where each year you make improvements, and each year it gets better...JUST LIKE HONDA AND TOYOTA DO...

Guess I'll go down and look at a subaru justy, toyota - carina, caron, tercel, toyopet, etc....

[roteague]

Originally Posted by ronald mcretard

what? Toyota and Honda, that's it. OK, Ford and Nissan too (with one car each) but they are both buying Toyota's system.

Ford isn't buying Toyota's system; they developed their own system. Nissan is the one buying someone else's system.

[kenman923]

So I suppose that Toyota is building Priuses in the U.S. for their health.

[K Dawg ONE]

Originally Posted by logansowner

Exactly...except i don't know what a cylander is...

Its the CDN equal of a US cylinder, lol