Being a GM fan sometimes I guess you put on blinders and don't keep the obvious in mind.

I have a friend who is retired and does vintage racing as a hobby. He uses a newer Tundra (styled like fist body style) to tow his race car and trailor around. About 6 months ago, someone we know got a new LMM Duramax diesel and we were looking over it. My freind was going on about how great it was, and he had not paid attention to GM, but now was thouroughly impressed.

So this weekend I was talking to said friend again, and he said he would be getting rid of his Tundra soon because he bought a second race car and will need a bigger trailor to take both with him at the same time. I immeditaly went into salesman mode, and was mentioning the deals on the Duramax's they have now. Without a second though he replied..."Now it would not be prudent to spend $40K with an about to be bankrupt company..would it?"

That was the end of the discussion.

So I guess my question is...how are GM and Chrysler performing right now compared to the rest of it's competitors. I saw GM was down 48% last month...anyone know how much Toyota or other competitors were down?

I am also starting to beleive Wagoners theory that people will not buy cars from a bankrupt company. It was hard enough to get people to buy a GM car vs. a Toyota before the financial issues..so the fact that government is backing warranties does not mean squat. If I take my GM blinders off..it would be insane on a common sense level to buy a GM car now..if you worried about your own butt. I mean a flight on a bankrupt airline...a fe housrs and it's over. Undies from bankrupt Kmart...as long as you make it out the door your fine. However something that costs $30K with a 10 year/100K warranty, and 4-5 years in payments? Not sure many people take that risk. Even if GM does emerge from bankruptcy, it will be years before peole have the confidence in the company they were just starting to gain. a bankrupt GM is a big bruise on our national ego.

 

And now every day it drags on puts them deeper and deeper into the hole w/ government loans. What is it, 15 billion dollars already that need to be paid back? And thats just from the last 4 months.

 

Dragging it out is fantastically irresponsible and damaging.

This should have been settled last fall - one way or the other.

 

Whats funny is...the more it drags out...the more desperate and beholden GM becomes. This is like revenge of the greenies or something.

Imagine if they told the banks that they have to give less loans to rich people, and more loans to poor people. I bet that would fly well. In terms of businesses, and product it is the same thing as asking GM to make less SUV's. and more small cars.

 

Agreed. I want a G8...buuuuut...with a probable dead brand, I'm not going to take that kind of depreciation risk. Say what you want, but it's my money!

The warranty thing makes me feel warm and fuzzy enough. But, I don't want to potentially be sitting $10k or more upside down on the car if indeed Pontiac is retired within a few years. I like knowing I can move it if need be. It's bad enough being stuck in a house.

I'll either let someone else take the hit, or wait to see if they slap a bowtie on it.

 

If this had been settled last fall, no one would be taking delivery of their Camaros right now. It would have been "the other."

By killing GMC they are surely going to force GM to make less trucks and more cars. Oh, wait, they spared the truck division but not the "Pontiac is car" division? They're trying to TRICK us!

 

Regarding the warranties, I wonder what's going to happen to the warranties on the dead brands like Pontiac? Will GM still honour them all the way through to the full term, or would they just give owners a token 2 years, something like what the governments have backed?

 

It's far worse then if they would have made a single announcement and had a coherent plan several months ago, even if they chopped out 2/3 of the company.

 

They are trying to trick us. That or they are incompetent, which there is a lot of evidence for as we already know that they ran GM into the ground once. GMC is apparently the Cadillac of trucks and as others like to point out makes money. As much as I think that GMC is completely redundant, I have a much greater feeling that Buick is a complete waste in North America. It just does not fit into any sort of coherent brand strategy with Chevrolet, Cadillac, and GMC. Chevrolet for bread and butter cars. You have GMC which is as we talked about. Then you have Cadillac, the "standard of the world" with FWD crossovers and FWD large cars. Then you have Buick which is crappier than Cadillac and costlier than Chevrolet. And it still has mundane styling. Hmmm.

 

They will honor the warranties. They are a contract between the automaker and the consumer. Theoretically, I'd assume that GM could toss the warranties if they were to file for bankruptcy, but it would alienate all those buyers left in the lurch and certainly be a PR nightmare for the "new" GM.

As of right now, I think you're right. For Buick to survive, they're certainly going to have to fill out the Buick line. They need a smaller, less expensive mid size car like the Insignia/Regal and a premium small car that doesn't overlap with anything at Chevy.

I don't really see how the styling of the Enclave or new LaCrosse are any more mundane than anything Pontiac or Chevrolet is selling right now.

 

I agree... that is the problem though.