GM is proving it does not know how to run itself, so why would it be so bad if they were bought out by lets say BMW, or Toyota> It seems that Mercedes is doing a good job with Chrysler. They brought back the Hemi, and now have a slew of 425HP 4 doors. I would welcome anyone to buy GM that can actually make money. If they are making money they are making a good product at a good price. My Caddy CTS-V I bought for $52k 20 months ago is now worth $31k> If the company is making money, there is more money for research and development. There would be more money to try bringing back a car like the Camaro. The more these guys keep tanking, the less you will see in niche cars.

 

Who'd buy it?

I can see GM selling off pieces of itself, but I see no way anyone is going to buy GM with it's utterly massive pension liability & it's debt liability.

May be GM would sell it's plants, subsidararies, even Holden. But I don't see any way for GM to recover other than through it's own products AND a miraculous streamlining of it's operations....

... or federally guaranteed loans.

 

Wasn't Chrysler in the same boat when Mercedes bought them?

I don't see what the loan will accomplish when they have proven that they do not know how to run a company. They will just **** that away as well. THey are now in the same boat as Coke and Pepsi. You just wait for them to go on sale, because they are on sale every other week.

 

Chrysler was doing quite well when Mercedes bought them.

It's very sad that a coalition of people on this board have the vision, intelligence, realism, and integrity to better run GM than the people who are currently doing so. Or so it seems.

 

No one would put up with the UAW, either.

 

I'd rather see GM dead then see it foreignly owned. I don't think they're going to go under. So what, they're in trouble? Nissan was in trouble too, and almost lost its shirt in the early 90s. Ditto with Mitsubishi as we currently speak. I think that GM just needs to get some of its priorities straight and will come back strong.

 

Thank you!

 

I don't think anybody here is saying they could do better, seeing the fallout and reading the news is enough of an indication that somebody isn't doing their job effectively.

 

Nissan was bought out by Renault who threw money at it to develop FM and then went on an aggressive marketing campaign. Totally different from the situation GM is in. Mitsu Motor Corp of America is also totally different. Mitsu is a part of a HUGE company that is owned by Mitsubishi Bank. The Bank is also helped out by the Japanese government. Neither are a thing like the GM situation.

 

Maybe it's just me, but it seems to me that the perception of domestic vehicles is slowly but surely, positively increasing. A big step was actually with the new Mustang. Although I'll admit many probably bought them for appearance, it's still good that it a domestic was "cool again". Aftermarket is huge for them as well. Gm, meanwhile finally advertises their true qualities and seems to be putting in a big effort in getting people to look their way. I'm no expert and I haven't seen the numbers, but, won't a more consistent, aggressive GM be enough? Without loans or selling brands? Slowly crawling out of a dark tunnel?

 

Actually, Benz is the one tanking right now and it's Chryslers money that is holding the venture known as DCX together. The 300 and the LX cars were ready to go quite a while ago. Guess who pushed them back? The Germans.

Mercedes innovation and quality has been sliding for a while now, I don't think thats the business model you want to follow.

Also that Coke/Pepsi analogy is a little wierd, I don't know about their financial state but I know enough about retail to know that everything is always on sale. And I doubt Perrier drinkers are looking down their noses at Coke/Pepsi because its cheap, the former is the most recognized symbol in the world second only to mickey mouse, so I dont think they are doing to bad.

 

you're kidding right? why don't you hang around and READ a little more before saying you'd be ok with GM being bought out.

 

I too am gettting a sense of good quality cars coming out of GM. The problem is(as I see it), much worse than simply making a good car.

Perhaps 30 years ago, if GM had decided to make good cars, that would have been good enough. But nearly three decades of quality issues have more than bruised the general. This company has gaping, blood gushing wounds in addition to several chronic maladies.

GM can't produce a killer Vette, and expect that to wipe away 30 years of encultured perception. Much like children being born who will not know a life without a cell phone or microwave oven, people are being born into a world that assumes American autos are crap.

One good car, every now and then isn't gonna change the perception and culture. GM is going to need a deep and wide plan, that continues for years in order to sway the cultural perception.

Then there are operating costs. Competition is just too damned tight anymore. Legacy costs are killing this company. These are costs NOT incurred by its competitors....and it doesn't look like those costs are going to be neutralized anytime soon.

And as much as I'd like to think that GM is making a quality comeback, I cannot ignore the big elephant in the middle of the room. Toyota is huge, and has been huge for sometime now. They have done an amazing job in terms of quality as well as perception. Further, they provide tens of thousands of family wage jobs in this country. Their non-Union shops are producing better cars for less than our Union shops.

The facts are ugly, and I don't like to look at them. But ignoring them won't make them go away...which seems to be GM's plan "A".

greg

 

If GM is bought out, I'd like to see Toyota buy it out. Maybe they can inject some reliability into the cars.

Coming from a family that has owned and currently owns dozens of GM, Chrysler, Benz, BMW, and Lexus products, the only cars that haven't given us headaches were:

'96 Buick Regal (nothing ever went wrong)
'00 Lexus GS400 (nothing ever gone wrong)
'94 Dodge Spirit (3.0L Mitsubishi V6 - 248,000 kms with just a bad alternator and fuel pump)


Worst cars we've owned:

300SL (horrible reliability $4-5G every other year)
BMW 3 series (plastic waterpump...WTF?? $6G in repairs in one summer)
93 Camaro Z28 (Broke and replaced everything in this car-might be due to the way I drive it though )
97 Grand Prix GTP (rack and peanut steering, ignition issues, hesitations, fuel pump, 2 alts, 2 batteries, electrical gremlins, cheap interior trim, etc)

GM isn't horrible for reliability. I would rate them higher than Benz, Audi, and BMW, but they could stand for a lot of improvement.

 

I could be very bad for our economy if GM were bought out, but if they were merged with that wouldn't be nearly as bad IMO - almost could be a good thing. I'm certainly not upset to see Chrysler become DC.