[Hurricane]

GM: Will It Last Another Hundred Years?
Posted Byhil LeBeau

Today marks the last day of General Motors first 100 years. While the company will mark the occasion tomorrow by unveiling it's new electric car, the Chevy Volt, I have a much more sobering question: Will GM last another 100 years?

Yes, I know it's not realistic to predict any company will be around for the next century. After all, there are few that have made it the last 100. Still, GM starts its second century with substantial promise and problems.

The Promise:

• GM's brands are still powerful in the U.S. and expanding overseas. Now, I know this is no guarantee they will be around forever (look at Oldsmobile), but they give GM a good stable to leverage and grow.

• GM's overseas business is booming. Like it or not, this is the future of the auto business. The most successful companies will be those that can maximize their global positions.

• GM's management understands it can't stand still. Say what you will about CEO Rick Wagoner and his lieutenants, they know they have to move faster to stay competitive. The Volt's accelerated development is proof they realize how quickly GM must advance it's products in the future.

The problems:

• Too many brands. I've said it for some time, and continue to believe that GM is hurting itself by supporting too many brands. Selling HUMMER is nice start. In my opinion, they'd be wise to also unload SAAB and drop Buick in North America.

• Too many dealers in the U.S. This is a sticky and potentially costly problem. For every solid dealer in the U.S., GM also has some dogs that weigh down profits for dealers and the company. I know the franchise laws make it costly to weed out dealers, but this problem has to be resolved.

•. North American costs. Sure Wagoner and company have stripped $9 Billion out of the company's costs in the last 5 years. Yes, GM is a leaner operation in North America. And yet, GM has not turned a profit here at home. There's still a long ways for this company to go if it will make money in the largest auto market in the world.

Happy Birthday GM. Making it 100 years is a heck of an accomplishment. Even tougher will be surviving and thriving another century.

More here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/26719176/site/14081545

 

[Buickman]

GM: Will It Last Another Hundred Years?
Posted Byhil LeBeau

Today marks the last day of General Motors first 100 years. While the company will mark the occasion tomorrow by unveiling it's new electric car, the Chevy Volt, I have a much more sobering question: Will GM last another 100 years?

Yes, I know it's not realistic to predict any company will be around for the next century. After all, there are few that have made it the last 100. Still, GM starts its second century with substantial promise and problems.

The Promise:

• GM's brands are still powerful in the U.S. and expanding overseas. Now, I know this is no guarantee they will be around forever (look at Oldsmobile), but they give GM a good stable to leverage and grow.

• GM's overseas business is booming. Like it or not, this is the future of the auto business. The most successful companies will be those that can maximize their global positions.

• GM's management understands it can't stand still. Say what you will about CEO Rick Wagoner and his lieutenants, they know they have to move faster to stay competitive. The Volt's accelerated development is proof they realize how quickly GM must advance it's products in the future.

The problems:

• Too many brands. I've said it for some time, and continue to believe that GM is hurting itself by supporting too many brands. Selling HUMMER is nice start. In my opinion, they'd be wise to also unload SAAB and drop Buick in North America.

• Too many dealers in the U.S. This is a sticky and potentially costly problem. For every solid dealer in the U.S., GM also has some dogs that weigh down profits for dealers and the company. I know the franchise laws make it costly to weed out dealers, but this problem has to be resolved.

•. North American costs. Sure Wagoner and company have stripped $9 Billion out of the company's costs in the last 5 years. Yes, GM is a leaner operation in North America. And yet, GM has not turned a profit here at home. There's still a long ways for this company to go if it will make money in the largest auto market in the world.

Happy Birthday GM. Making it 100 years is a heck of an accomplishment. Even tougher will be surviving and thriving another century.

More here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/26719176/site/14081545

all these theories and ideas without addressing the real problem and that is the failed leadership of one Red Ink Rick Wagoner.

 

[fp115]

•. North American costs. Sure Wagoner and company have stripped $9 Billion out of the company's costs in the last 5 years. Yes, GM is a leaner operation in North America. And yet, GM has not turned a profit here at home. There's still a long ways for this company to go if it will make money in the largest auto market in the world.

They cut much more than 9 billion.
Savings don't come into play till next year for the most part.

 

[fp115]

all these theories and ideas without addressing the real problem and that is the failed leadership of one Red Ink Rick Wagoner.

This past month has been so peaceful without this annoyance.

 

[prototype66]

This past month has been so peaceful without this annoyance.

ditto

 

[squat]

I think GM will do just fine. So far they're the only ones actually looking at advanced tech like the Volt. They'll leapfrog everyone else in terms of propulsion and they'll already be set up for using a fuel better than gas when one becomes available.

 

[jkennedy293]

all these theories and ideas without addressing the real problem and that is the failed leadership of one Red Ink Rick Wagoner.

I can't wait until Rick resigns/get's fired/retires so you can start complaining about someone else.

 

[jkennedy293]

I don't think it is a question of whether GM will make it another 100 years, but what will it look like in 100 years? What will society look like 100 years?

 

[Ambalanche]

I don't think it is a question of whether GM will make it another 100 years, but what will it look like in 100 years? What will society look like 100 years?

I agree with you on both points. I'm glad GM is showing the Volt tomorrow, but how nice would it have been to have them show it tomorrow and announce that it would be available starting in January to kick off the next 100 years... Can't have it all I guess.

 

[Clownzilla]

I don't think it is a question of whether GM will make it another 100 years, but what will it look like in 100 years? What will society look like 100 years?

That's for the Terminators to decide..........

 

[04bonnie]

yes it will, if the world is still around in 100 years that is.

 

[ogg vorbis]

shrinking middle class, growing superfluous rights' legislation, commercialization (including more product placement due to tivo), entertainment/distraction, increased population and crime, increasing obesity/disease, more natural disasters (?).

but we won't blow ourselves up...on purpose.

 

[nadepalma]

• GM's overseas business is booming. Like it or not, this is the future of the auto business. The most successful companies will be those that can maximize their global positions.

Yup. Absolutely. GM has a real opportunity to do wonderful things in other markets to keep the company viable across the globe. And those lessons learned in other corners of the world will help them to build better products here at home too.

• Too many brands. I've said it for some time, and continue to believe that GM is hurting itself by supporting too many brands. Selling HUMMER is nice start. In my opinion, they'd be wise to also unload SAAB and drop Buick in North America.

Yup, slash the dead wood - but unlike LeBeau I think still maintain that Saturn, GMC and Hummer need to be axed. Saab may be a damaged brand, but without Saab GM would have even less of a luxury presence in Europe and other markets. Instead, those monies that would have been spent on Hummer, GMC - and especially Saturn - could be funneled into Pontiac, Buick, and Saab to make them better brands.

But again - this is only me.

Regardless the point remains that if GM fails to do what is necessary now, it will NOT exist tomorrow - let alone another one-hundred years.

 

[Stéphane Dumas]

That's for the Terminators to decide..........

speaking of the Terminators, that's reminds me Stephen Colbert once saying about AT&T, "you try to break in pieces, but like the TI2000, it still coming back"

 

[DarkKnight67]

They are happy to throw analysis after analysis at GM, saying what they need to do to change. But, the simple fact is, many of these people could care less how well the companies and manufacturers do, as long as their paycheck comes through from spouting rhetoric and saying what's wrong - without offering any true solutions other than to sell everything off and start fresh. WRONG! There are limits to what can be sold and who will buy. You don't see Toyota selling Scion just because of a decline in sales, they are looking for ways to fix it.

 

[ghughes]

Really no- They never dealt with the bloated pensions, job banks and contracts some 30 years ago; that and HEAVILY subsidized foreign competitors, nonselfish american consumers who buy from anywhere(unlike most socieities) and the failure to stop their captive dealers from funding the expansion of japanese competitors by disallowing joint dealerships - a la a joint mitsubisih, buick dealership. Had this happened the japanese/koreans/germans, etc would have had to spend their own capital to create a dealerhsip infrastructure in the US. THe biggie was the lack of funds to keep investments at the level of their competitors. This may have sealed their fate.

 

[GMFAN85]

all these theories and ideas without addressing the real problem and that is the failed leadership of one Red Ink Rick Wagoner.

Meanwhile, you keep whining on a GM message board while he actually tries to lift GM out of the several decades-long glut the company was placed in by Roger Smith and the other "genius" CEOs that preceded Wagoner.

 

[DealerGuyAtl]

Give it a rest guy. We all know your position on GM Management so how bout giving us a break with your constant complaints about Rick Wagoner. If you don't have anything positive to contribute to this forum, how bout joining Toyota's and leave us alone.

all these theories and ideas without addressing the real problem and that is the failed leadership of one Red Ink Rick Wagoner.

 

[neshapop]

Just reading about stock markets and overall shape of the economy I can't bet on anything be aroud in next 10 years!

 

[ptviperz]

Meanwhile, you keep whining on a GM message board while he actually tries to lift GM out of the several decades-long glut the company was placed in by Roger Smith and the other "genius" CEOs that preceded Wagoner.

Is he trying to lift them out of the gutter by paying himself 15million/year and a 5 million a year pension? While presiding over a market share that was over 30% when he started and is now under 20%? How is that a good job by anyone's definition? He's been there 8 years now, this mess is all on his shoulders.