AutoWeek's Dutch Mandel thinks GM has got it sussed. The mag's Editor & Associate Publisher is full of praise for The General's decision to shut down truck plants, kill Hummer and ramp-up car production. Mandel calls the plan "a brilliant tactical move." That's because it "telegraphs a message that this company understands life as we have known it has changed." (What was their first clue?) Dutch then pooh-poohs the notion that consumers should change/are changing their driving habits. It's better for a "big-time corporate CEO to be proactive and go with the flow of consumer sentiment." He's obviously confused about the difference between being proactive (which implies anticipating a problem and taking steps to avoid it) and a knee-jerk reaction in response to a sudden "oh shit!" realization that you'd better do something fast because you're going down the toilet. Nevertheless, Mandel "applaud[s] all who put collective heads together to make this tough decision– Rick Wagoner, Fritz Henderson, Bob Lutz, all the way down the line." How come GM doesn't list its advertising budget as a PR expense?
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That still leaves GM with nothing to build but the awful Cobalt and even worse Aveo, because for years they loathed small-car buyers with the white hot heat of a thousand suns.
Selections from this month’s CR, “gas-saving sedans”, MPG and rating:
Compact (CR’s class):
Hyundai Elantra: 27 82
Honda Civic EX: 31 82
Prius Touring: 42 80
[…]
Ford Focus: 26 65
[…]
Chevy Cobalt: 24 50
Subcompact:
Honda Fit: 34 75
Nissan Versa: 28 65
[…]
Toyota Yaris(*): 34 36
Chevy Aveo: 25 36
(* – MT; AT did a bit better; has the distinction of being the only Toyota CR really hates; STILL beat the Aveo).
Why on EARTH would anybody buy a Cobalt, much less an Aveo? Maybe if they drop the price to $4995 like the original Hyundai Excel…
I, for one, am glad to hear it. I’ll rush right out to my broker and load up on GM stock.
As I head out the door, it dawns on me what a brilliant move it was to dump 51% of GMAC some time before their loan portfolio imploded. And all this time I thought it was because they were desperate for cash.
How are forced moves “brilliant?” It was obvious to many as recently as six years ago that the Hubbert Curve was going to have a profound effect on worldwide oil markets. GM’s six-figure “economists” either didn’t understand, didn’t know or, like their Board of Directors, didn’t listen. Smug, GM will be content to believe that cutting SUVs and pickups will be enough without realizing that within the next 2 years 6-cylinder powered Epsilon and EpII vehicles will be the next hard hit. The new American standard family car in the next 5 years (about the time it takes to bring a car to market) will look like a Corolla. GM’s Waterloo will be on the backs of their myriad of mid-sizers. Sounds crazy, but watch.
WOW!
Shows you can convince yourself of anything.
Why on EARTH would anybody buy a Cobalt
Speaking as the owner of a Cavalier, they are rugged and reliable even if they look like they were screwed together by a 4 year old. 70k miles worth of potholes, dirt roads, and snow storms and the car is still on its original tires and has never needed an alignment, and it’s never broken down.
We’ve also owned Fords and a Mazda, and they just don’t take a beating like a Chevy.
It’s only a brilliant tactical move because of the completely moronic strategic ones that made it necessary.
To put it another way, it’s like saying a doctor performed a brilliant amputation, ignoring that fact that the same doctor ignored a festering infection, normally treatable by antibiotics, for years.
Wow. And I was close to signing up again after about 5 years with no Autoweek, glad I saw this first. RF you are entirely correct and Mandel is entirely wrong. GM is reacting, not making “timely” moves.
Notice that Honda planned ahead, designing their plants to allow them to produce multiple models. When the Civic went nuts and the Pilot/Ridgeline tanked, they just moved the Pilot/Rigeline production to the Odyssey plant (also down) and increase Civic production in Ontario. So instead of running truck production at 1/3 volume (GM) they are able to run that plant at full volume (efficient) and crank out more Civics also to meet the rising demand.
SloStang
We’ve also owned Fords and a Mazda, and they just don’t take a beating like a Chevy.
By George, I think you’ve got it! Chevy’s next ad campaign — “Chevy. No one builds better beaters!”
There must be some wonderful quotations re:retreat that apply here.
Dutch certainly isn’t his father.
SloStang,
I have a really hard time believing there’s a Cavalier out there that could go that long while outliving a Mazda; MAYBE I could believe the Focus if you had an extreme outlier for both.
But those aren’t the yardsticks here. Are you even aware of that? Overall, the Cavalier has been exceedingly unreliable – you know, in the studies that measure this kind of stuff?
Interestingly enough, my LAST (ever) GM car was a 1997 Cavalier.
Craptastic non-service under the worthless warrantee by the local dealer and multiple disc rotor “turnings” later (and an absolute refusal to put new parts on), as well as windshield wipers which worked just fine (as long as it wasn’t raining) not to mention a mystery sound from the new electronic automatic transmission and my suspicion that GM had taken yet another short cut on traction control (hence the continually warping front rotors) gave me a chance to tell the Chevy service writer that he had a choice.
When presented with an $80 bill for turning the front rotors for the 3rd or 4th time, with less than 36,000 miles / 3 years on the car (and as noted above, no chance of convincing them to actually do themselves proud / do well by a customer, and replace the dang parts) – I said “you can have $80, or you can have a GM customer for the next 25 or 30 years. Choose now.”
He chose, I went out, bought non-GM rotors myself (no use putting more drek on drek, is there?) and traded it off. I didn’t want someone buying the car after me to have the GM rotors on there, any more than I wanted the GM rotors on there.
I haven’t bought a GM product in 9 years and won’t be bothering ever again – just as promised (even assuming they survive).
I wrote to GM and even told them so, and got a nice letter back by some guy whose job solely consisted of writing such letters. I bet he was one busy guy, and by the look of the continuing GM sales drop over the last decade, he’s probably the busiest guy in the organization.
But those aren’t the yardsticks here. Are you even aware of that? Overall, the Cavalier has been exceedingly unreliable
Please define “unreliable”. Do you mean the brake light that stopped working and was fixed under warranty without question? That’s the biggest problem I’ve had with the car, and I can live with that. Yes, the local Chevy dealer actually does do a great job with warranty work.
I did test drive a Toyota and was quite disappointed actually, not enough torque. Given that the Chevy dealer is closer and I’ve had good experiences with them, I chose the Cavalier.
Leaving the 6th Army stuck in Stalingrad was probably also “a brilliant tactical move …”
Dutch certainly isn’t his father.
True, but he’s not as pompous and self-impressed as his boss, Keith Crain, another member of the lucky sperm club.