After Bloomberg sounded the alarm re: The General's lousy prospects, phenomenal cash burn and potential slide into Chapter 11 (or foreign ownership or both), the Detroit News adds fuel to pyre. Of course, Sharon Terlep does does so in her own special way (i.e. it wazzunt me). "General Motors Corp.'s already fragile turnaround could be derailed by any number of threats looming in 2008, from more strikes at parts suppliers to a further meltdown of the housing market, according to the automaker's annual report filed Thursday." Without nailing GM for guarding the terms and conditions of its payment into the $34b union health care VEBA, the scribe hints at the implications. "GM's ability to spend in other areas of the business will be affected if it can't secure financing under favorable terms." After citing another possible downgrade in GM's ratings "if GM continues to burn cash in its home market or if operations outside the United States become less profitable," Terlep can't resist throwing GM a bone. The penultimate danger cited: "Competition from rivals introducing key new models this year. GM's product cadence will slow down this year after a number of successful, high-profile new vehicles in 2006 and 2007." Successful? Successful how?
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I could (in blissful ignorance) buy a Saturn Astra this year, but regret it deeply later if GM goes belly-up.
Any Chrysler product went off my radar two years ago (before I started reading TTAC).
Ford is sitting on its haunches waiting for… what? I almost bought a Focus, until I heard that a “new” version was coming out — bleh.
These guys are so far behind the curve, it’s a risk to invest in their (collectively bankrupt) vision and business model.
I’ll be giving up my nearly 11-year-old Camaro soon; I was hoping that the next Camaro would be a fuel-efficient, turbocharged sports coupe, with good aero design and a modern look.
Oops, I just described the upcoming Hyundai Genesis Coupe.
So how is that new Malibu doing now?
I think I’ve still seen only one on the road.
I’ve seen a dozen new Malibus-give or take a couple-all grey.
What’s up with Detroit’s advertising new models in attractive colors, but shipping almost-exclusively grey vehicles to the dealers?
For the first two years the PT Cruiser was out, I saw very few of them painted anything but dark grey, light grey, or medium grey.
Great way to build excitement for your new model! Bore ’em to death with grey!
The article says that 2004 was the full year of GM profitability. IIRC, the last few years of GM profits were due to GMAC; the manufacturing piece was losing money. Given that GMAC’s profits are history, and even a drain, it’s not looking good. At least Wagoner can’t say he hasn’t been lucky. The GMAC partial sale was due to desperate need of case, not to foresight regarding the subprime housing crash.
Zenith: Its not just Malibus, we were shopping for cars last fall, and all we saw was gray, everywhere. We took to saying that you can have any color you want as long as it is gray.
Speaking of grey, I’ve seen nothing but grey Chevys everywhere. Just this morning, I saw 2 HHRs, in boring-grey, right behind one another.
I don’t mean to sound elitist, but I just don’t understand the appeal.
“Honey, that’s a beautiful grey! Ohhh, let’s get that one!”
Anyway, “successful” is most likely again regarding fleet sales alone *L*. What I’m wondering is what makes the said models “high profile”. From the plastics I’ve seen in various GM rental cars I’ve been in lately.. I don’t see anything “high profile” about them.
Robert Schwartz
Zenith: Its not just Malibus, we were shopping for cars last fall, and all we saw was gray, everywhere. We took to saying that you can have any color you want as long as it is gray.
Silver/gray was the most popular color for several years. White just passed it last year. Even more depressing are the color choices for interiors – black, tan, gray. At least Malibu and a few other new models are addressing that problem, but just try finding one with a different color in dealer stock!
I bemoaned the pitiful color palette most manufacturers offer back in July 2006.