Earlier today, GM’s purchasing chief warned his light truck parts suppliers that he’s looking to halve their number. No surprise there. GM’s SUV and pickup truck sales (and margins) have fallen like a stone thrown in a deep, dark well. But here’s the strange thing: Bo Anderson wants credit for his forward thinking. “The effort is proactive," he told the Traverse City management seminar. "To be sure that we get the best suppliers." Bo’s boast is based on GM’s faith that it will persevere through the current unpleasantness because yes, Virginia, you CAN cut your way to prosperity. Only no, Bo, you can’t. But hey, it’s something to do.
And by God, GM’s determined to do it. On Wednesday, freshly-minted GM CFO Ray Young cart-and-ponied automotive analysts at a JPMorgan conference in Dearborn. Young reaffirmed boss Rick Wagoner’s quasi-religious commitment to cost-cutting. And then he revealed glad tidings! The automaker would realize some of their projected savings sooner, rather than later. “We're accelerating all of this stuff,” Young pronounced.
All this stuff, indeed. Even a die-hard death watcher has trouble keeping-up with all the “normal” calls on GM’s remaining cash pile, versus the company’s efforts to trim its operating overheads, versus the “exceptional” costs of those cuts, versus, and here’s the key bit (to anyone who thinks a company should take in more money than it spends), the automaker’s sinking market share and cratering revenues. This in a declining market that’s undergoing a radical shift in consumer tastes. It’s no wonder that Young’s fellow bean counters chose to focus on cuts. It’s so much easier.
But that doesn’t make it right. And even if it IS right (for management karma), it’s not good enough for those who check the corporate body for signs of terminal cancer. Ask Moody’s. Just before Ray’s presentation, they downgraded GM’s credit, again, to Caa1. That’s seven levels below investment grade. With a negative outlook. The move slams the door even tighter on any chance that GM might borrow money Ford-style to “invest” its way out its hole (you know, if they had something approximating a plan).
Clearly, money’s too tight to mention. Literally. When asked about the $1.5b line of credit GM used in the last financial quarter, Mighty Ray Young claimed The General borrowed the money to ”test the mechanism” and help meet costs at a “seasonal low point.” (Try THAT one when your wife asks you why you put an HDTV on the credit card.) When reporters asked Young when that loan might be, you know, repaid, Young refused to give a date. GM will decide later, after it “monitors the U.S. auto industry's performance over the next couple months.”
Obviously, Young doesn’t expect the U.S. auto industry in general– or The General in specific– to recover by October. GM, once the world’s largest and most profitable company, has been reduced to scrounging behind the sofa.
And if that’s not enough to signal lifeboat lowering, Young also warned that “if the market shrinks further” the automaker will have to “reconsider” its scheduled contributions to the multi-billion dollar union-run health care superfund. And consider “how strategic” its 49 percent share of lender GMAC may be. Oh, and it’s selling more assets, ASAP.
So it’s the market’s fault. Not GM’s. The lack of accountability, the denial of reality, continues apace. Meanwhile, thanks to the festering sore that is former division and bankrupt parts supplier Delphi, the decline could soon become the final death spiral. When (no longer if) Delphi enters Chapter 7 liquidation, GM may not be able to take the monetary hit or supply chain disruption. Speaking of which…
There is nothing on GM’s product horizon that can generate sufficient revenues to slow– never mind stop– GM’s descent into insolvency. Even if the plug-in electric – gas hybrid Hail Mary known (but not yet realized) as the Volt arrived in Chevy showrooms next Thursday, even if it was a smash hit straight out of the box, the vehicle can not, will not generate enough profits (i.e. cash) to save GM.
Someone should tell GM CEO Rick Wagoner that every day he doesn’t file for Chapter 11 brings him one day closer to something far worse.
By selling everything he can to buy more time for a market turnaround that can't come soon enough, propping-up a product renaissance that can't possibly sustain eight increasingly meaningless U.S. brands, Wagoner is in real danger of emptying the larder and destroying any remaining corporate value, leading GM into Chapter 7.
As we’ve said before, there will be a federal loan guarantees, tax credits, perhaps a bailout and for sure a whole lot of wasted tax money before we reach this sad denouement. But reach it we will. Because you can trim a diseased tree all you like, but everything either grows or dies.
Perhaps GM is waiting until Obama becomes president before filing for Chapter 11. With the union support his campaign will be receiving, Obama has no choice but to bail out GM.
Meanwhile, thanks to the festering sore that is former division and bankrupt parts supplier Delphi, the decline could soon become the final death spiral.
Anybody hear of the WAR of yesterday and the doom and gloom scenario that was supposed to unfold?
This is a truly tragic and sad state of affairs. I was hoping GM would do a chapter 11, but looks like they are going ride this train wreck right into the ground. So many innocent people will be devastated by this action. I guess Redink Rick’s ego/pride will keep him from doing what is necessary to save GM.
jolo :
The Wild Ass Rumor was proven to be just that. Hence the title. So far.
Meanwhile, I assume you’ve read our post re: the feds are “asking” GM to assume $1.5b 0 $8b worth of unfunded Delphi pension liabilities.
The General is amazing. The only plans they seem to come up with seem to be totally reactive to whatever wind is blowing and how hard. However, the entire country operates in this modus reverse. It is as if America is populated with drones and clones, who simply disco sway to which ever wind is blowing the hardest. Whew, glad I opted for the ‘opt out’ of this enigma menagerie.
There should be a new Wild Ass Rumor every week, just to keep readership levels up and people on their toes.
How about:
Rick Wagoner allegedly to declare Angelina Jolie’s twins are a product of a three-way between Rick, Angelina, and a space alien, 9 months ago.
Then the next week it could be:
Rick Wagoner declares space alien gave him the technology to finish the Volt in time for 2010 release date in exchange for sex with Angelina. More details to follow as they become available.
Robert Farago responded:
jolo :
The Wild Ass Rumor was proven to be just that. Hence the title. So far.
As you say, so far; it may have been pushed out to Monday… see – http://www.kokomotribune.com/local/local_story_228130053.html
Seems to me that certain execs at GM are doing some serious ignoring of the facts.
Here in Motown, Nero fiddles while Rome burns….tough to say at this point who has the least tenuous grasp on reality…Kwame Kilpatrick and his retinue of lawyers, or Rick Wagoner and his posse of accountants.
As a beancounter, these guys give my profession a bad name…..
But at some point, GM’s audit firm has to step in and blow the whistle, telling the financial world that it is all smoke, mirrors and wishes….that GM ain’t a going concern any longer…..(according to recent accounting rules and to avoid shareholder lawsuits, that is!)
Any bets on what will happen first? The Honorable Mr. Kilpatrick to be removed from office (one way or another) or GM to file C11?
One minor correction, RF. GM’s Moody credit rating is Caa1, not Caaa1.
This was an important reduction of credit. Previously, GM’s credit was in the B’s, which means the obligations are speculative and subject to high credit risk. As a Caa, the rating is considered to be of poor standing and subject to very high credit risk. That is a pretty significant difference, even if it is just one level.
GM is one credit rating away from being in the C’s at both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch as well. S&P lowered their’s most recently two weeks ago and Fitch last lowered it in late June. I don’t know how often the companies lower credit ratings, but the S&P and Fitch may lower their ratings soon.
Mark MacInnis :
But at some point, GM’s audit firm has to step in and blow the whistle, telling the financial world that it is all smoke, mirrors and wishes….that GM ain’t a going concern any longer…..(according to recent accounting rules and to avoid shareholder lawsuits, that is!)
Excellent point! Anybody know the name of GM’s auditing firm?
First Delphi, if they go chapter 7 ala Bethlehem steel and others, the US govt. already has a mechanism that automatically picks up courtesy of us the taxpayers part of the pension liability.
But that won’t hurt GM, heres what will, the inability to get those parts quickly and cheaply from another independent supplier.
Remember when Ford had no choice but to take back some of their former supplier’s (visteon) plants simply because they needed the parts quickly? After beating many of these suppliers like Delphi into bankrupcy by driving the cost of the parts downward for years, the big three will now have to pay that piper.
It always did occur to me, can you get a quality car made from cheap parts by a bankrupt company?
Secondly, the other shoe has already dropped from this junk credit rating that GM and others are in. They will be unable to do either cheap leases or 0% financing in the future. For the first time since GM started mass discounting of everything over 10 years ago, they will have to sell with just a small discount from the dealer, and no help from the factory.
So this will be an apple to apple comparison a toyota at full price against a chevy at full price. If we took a vote on that who do you think wins 3 to 1?
Another thought from the feverish, bean-counter mind that compels me….
MAYBE, since a chapter 7 filing abrogates all the pension liabilities and dumps them on the federal government in the form of the PBGC, GM management realizes that C11 doesn’t do them any good. MAYBE they’ll go C7, then a shareholders group and banking consortium picks up the assets (plants, trademarks, etc.)for a song. Creates “THE NEW GENERAL MOTORS” and goes forward to compete sans legacy costs, and without the UAW…(a la PanAm…I think after they went C&, somebody tried to resurrect the name, didn’t they?…..)
Or MAYBE, I am completely outta my mind thinking up these conspiracy theories….
They will be unable to do either cheap leases or 0% financing in the future. For the first time since GM started mass discounting of everything over 10 years ago, they will have to sell with just a small discount from the dealer, and no help from the factory.
Which leads to a huge problem for GM; Americans are now conditioned to wait for the next sale before buying a GM or any other domestic for that matter. But this leads to a couple of questions for GM.
One, wasn’t it just a few years ago that they swore themselves of massive sales, that “this time, they mean it”? Are they just a junkie for sales?
Second, why don’t they just cut MSRP to a figure that is more in line for where the cars are actually sold? If they have to offer cash back and other incentives to move the product, just lower the starting price. They could even have a huge marketing campaign centered around this, with some executives saying “We know times are tough for Americans, so we are lowering the prices of all our vehicles to help you get into a new GM product.” Lower the price of trucks thousands of dollars. Set MSRP at a point at which it is actually realistic that you might get something close to it. Now I know there are problems with this. The other domestics would follow quickly, as well as your other competitors. Also, if, and this is a big if, it would make it difficult in the future to raise your prices back up to level which they will make profit (or something close to it). This would be desparate, but isn’t that where GM is now?
Mark, you took the words right out of my mouth regarding Kilpatrick/Detroit vs Wagoner/GM. Both seem to truly think they are the one and only person capable of rescuing their respective organizations.
The difference being, of course, where are the legion calls for the resignation/firing of Wagoner?
As much as I hate the prospect of a bailout, I do have an indirect stake in the success of GM as a resident of SE Michigan, an engineer at a (still healthy) tier 1 supplier, and the son of two GM retirees (who have sworn off GM products forever). If GM goes down, it will be apocalyptic to the Michigan economy, already the stuff of old-school hard-luck Springsteen songs.
If there’s a bailout of any sort, even loan guarantees, could there be strings attached of the sort that boot out the BOD and most of the upper management? Who to replace them with is anyone’s guess, but I’m sure there are some talented engineers/businesspeople among the 8.5% unemployment around here.
Did I mention I just bought my first house? We’re in for some good times…
Amazing balls these GM guys have. As a supplier invited to this bullshit management seminar, rather than listen to GM telling us that they’ll pick the best ones, I would TELL GM that FIRST OF ALL, YOU tell ME how you’re going to PAY for my product. Because if I don’t like the response, and I probably won’t, I’m telling you to go pound rocks, and come back to the table only when you can answer this most basic of questions.
Had this happen to me as a sales engineer, when a new customer wanted to buy an advanced system from our company. Was told to appear at their purchasing department at 1:30 pm. Got there at 1:20 and watched through the open door as 3 purchasing agents spent 20 minutes throwing paper balls at each other from behind their desks and having a grand old time. When I finally talked to one of them at 1:55, he wanted to know the financial details of our company, 100% owned by Schlumberger. I told him, “Bud, you’ve wasted my time cooling my heels out there. Let me advise you that it’s our company doing the selling, you’re doing the buying. What are YOUR financials? Give me those and we’ll see if we even want to sell you anything.” And I walked out.
If you have to kowtow for every sale because you’re desperate, time for your own company to examine what in hell you’re in business for.
As it turned out, sold them a system cash in advance.
I think GM is in the position of those bozos I was told to appear before. Some people cannot distinguish reality from a dream, and Wagoner and his boys are among them.
Gosh, this is bad. The consequences of a GM bankruptcy is staggering. They spend $200B per year; which triggers into countless dollars of spending throughout the economy. Their bankruptcy is the headline; the thousands or tens of thousands of bankruptcies that action causes will severely harm our economic system.
As grating and upsetting a government bailout could be; it’s in our best interests for that to occur.
Don’t vehicle sales typically go down during the winter months? With the Florida hurricane, the chance for even higher fuel prices looms once again.
With GM only willing to make ~10,000 initial Volts, compared to Ford:
“The Mustang proved to be Ford’s most successful introduction since the Model A. Original sales forecasts projected less than 100,000 units for the first year, but in its first eighteen months, more than one million Mustangs were built”
I guess GM just sets their goals lower?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Mustang
An affordable electric Mustang or Camaro that could beat the Tesla in range, performance, and price and could be bought any day of the week? I’d buy one Monday morning(cash).
“The consequences of a GM bankruptcy is staggering. They spend $200B per year; which triggers into countless dollars of spending throughout the economy.”
Wouldn’t much of that spending be displaced, rather than disappearing? Say people buy F150s and Texas built Tundras instead of Silverados. Certainly there are some efficiencies of the remaining companies doing more business and thus not having to spend quite as much to build and market the extra trucks, but most of the money still would flow.
Certainly the dealer networks would suffer dramatically, because the country is vastly over-dealered. Even then, all of the mechanics and parts people would find new work and the really good sales and management types would as well.
Long term I don’t think the US market can any longer support three US based auto makers and remain open to all of the non-US based companies. Politically protectionism wouldn’t work either. i don’t see any realistic scenario which has the 2.8 all still doing business as usual five years from now.
These auto companies can’t be saved by any amount of government bailout money because they can’t change. They can’t make best selling products.
A lot of products used to be made in the USA. The big 3 may well soon be added to that list.
Just because they have been around for a long time doesn’t mean or guarantee they will always be around based only on that reason.
Why compete in the gasoline or diesel market when you can’t? Why not offer everything and anything that doesn’t use those two fuels instead?
Mark MacInnis: “at some point, GM’s audit firm has to step in and blow the whistle, telling the financial world … GM ain’t a going concern any longer”.
I began raising this issue a year or so ago. The auditors have to be worried sick about GM’s viability. If GM goes into bankruptcy, there are bound to be a jillion lawsuits against any bystanders (auditors, brokers, pension or mutual fund managers, trustees, etc.) with deep pockets. It’s the American Way.
folkdancer: “Anybody know the name of GM’s auditing firm?”
Deloitte and Touche. I think they have been GM’s independent auditors for many, many years.
MacInnis: “MAYBE they’ll go C7, then a shareholders group and banking consortium … Creates “THE NEW GENERAL MOTORS” and goes forward…”
Hmm…New General Motors…NGM… motto: “more scars than there are in the heavens” I like it!
Interesting: “The consequences of a GM bankruptcy [would be] staggering.”
I agree. The psychological blow might be as bad or worse than the direct financial harm to the economy.
Mark MacInnis : MAYBE they’ll go C7, then a shareholders group and banking consortium picks up the assets (plants, trademarks, etc.)for a song. Creates “THE NEW GENERAL MOTORS” and goes forward to compete sans legacy costs, and without the UAW…(a la PanAm…I think after they went C&, somebody tried to resurrect the name, didn’t they?…..)
Your half right about Pan Am. All their valuable assets and routes were sold to Delta after they filed for Ch. 11, my father being one of those assets. What was left before the Ch. 7 filing was of very little value. All their remaining fleet was leased. Except the 707’s and I think 727’s in the Pan Am Express fleet that were old airplanes. The latin American routes were split up between other airlines. The name was resurrected twice but was only related to the original Pan Am in name, they didn’t even have the same routes. It’s still alive pictured on freight trains somewhere up in the northeast.
For those who are interested it is better explained here, Pan Am.
“What could go wrong did. No one who followed Juan Trippe had the foresight to do something strongly positive … it was the most astonishing example of Murphy’s law in extremis. The sale of Pan Am‘s profitable parts was inevitable to the company’s destruction. There were not enough pieces to build on”. —Stanley Gerwitz
Change the bold to Sloan & General Motors, history has already writen GM’s future you just have to look for it.
“Change the bold to Sloan & General Motors, history has already writen GM’s future you just have to look for it.”
I agree, GM hasn’t had a really effective leader post Sloan. Sloan was by no means perfect, but he built an outstanding organization which was literally the largest, most profitable, most studied and most copied corporation in the world. Since his departure the best have been effective caretakers, and the worst has got to be Wagoner.
See you at GM Death Watch 200.
“I agree, GM hasn’t had a really effective leader post Sloan. Sloan was by no means perfect, but he built an outstanding organization which was literally the largest, most profitable, most studied and most copied corporation in the world. Since his departure the best have been effective caretakers, and the worst has got to be Wagoner.”
Like I said before, although Rick Wagoner is a complete idiot who has no business running a multinational corporation, he is not the source of all of GM’s problems.
I don’t know how many times I have to reiterate this, but all of GM’s problems have stemmed from the Roger Smith era. GM’s problem of all of their brands being diluted and competing with each other stemmed from Roger Smith and how he decided to pack all of the brands together. All of the rampant beancounting stemmed from Roger Smith. Basically, if you do any research, you will see that all of the problems that we have pointed out with GM all have stemmed from the Roger Smith era.
Like I said before, GM should have gone down in the 90s. Back in 1992 and 1993, directly after Smith’s decade of mismanagement, GM was in almost the exact same condition that they are in today. Back then, like today, they were losing money and getting assfucked by both the Japanese and a resurgent Ford and Chrysler. They were saved purely by the shot of dumb luck that was the SUV craze. So, quit blaming Wagoner. There is only one person we can blame for this, and that is Roger Smith.
Runfromcheney: The profits made from all those pick up and SUV sales of the 90’s have been squandered under present GM management. GM has lost almost $70 billion since 2004 under present management. You are undoubtedly correct that the Smith era at GM was a disaster, but the company was making a lot of money by the late 90’s and the present management has pissed it away. GM had its chance by the late 90’s to recover and be an industry leading auto corporation but failed. You know like in “We don’t need no stinkin’ hybrids”.
They will not get another chance like they had in the late 90’s.
Just so I can make plans.Whats the ball park time frame here weeks,years, months?I go to work at GM everyday,there is no panic,its buisness as usual.I mean really, I have to grovel to get a Saturday off.Construction on the flex plant [Camaro}is going full tilt.Salary guys are sweating a bit,but I havn’t seen a cut yet.
If this is what folks mean by denial,believe me its alive and well.Upper managements parking is full of Yukons,and Suburbans.My theory is they drive them cause nobody else wants them.
I’m not saying bankruptcy aint gonna happen.But speaking as someone that witnesses it every day,I
personally don’t see much evidence of emminent armageddon.But being at the bottom of the food chain as I am,maybe I’m not supposed to know?
I dunno Mikey.If you were at the Oshawa plant you might be seeing evidence of the oncoming apocalypse, but I grant you its entirely psosible we’re just a bunch of keyboard warriors talking out of our asses.
By by my count, at current cash burn rates, GM its out of cash by early 2010.
mikey, darned if I can understand it either. GM is like the Black Knight; whenever an arm or leg is lopped off it just says “’tis but another adjustment to meet the demands of today’s fast-moving automotive marketplace.”
The thing that’s going for you and your co-workers is that even after all the cuts GM-North America is still a gigantic enterprise. If the debt burden can be reduced, and redundancy in brands, overhead and dealerships eliminated, with more attention to product competitiveness I’m sure GM’s future would be that of a major player in North America, selling lots of Impalas, Silverados, CTS’s–and, I hope, Buicks–at a profit.
It seems that the person mentioned in the article, Bo Andersson, as most Swedes, spells his last name with dubble s:es, and not with one s, as written in the editorial.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Andersson
mikey: I go to work at GM everyday,there is no panic,its business as usual.
Shouldn’t that be something that worries you. You are aware of how much money the General has been losing, the situation that is pretty public now and can’t be swept under the rug about their financials. Do you think it’s smart to still be running things “business as usual”. I would be less worried if you saw real action, major changes happening fast, and people in real panic because then the situaltion might change. If they continue as they always have you can’t expect any results to be positive.
Just look at Ford and the changes that have happened their, do you think it’s just business as usual their. I think the General needs even more radical surgery but doesn’t seam able to face what needs to be done, they just continue with the same old cuts they have been doing for the last 2 decades. Unfortunately they are cutting the people who didn’t really cause the problems, for the most part.
John Horner: I agree, GM hasn’t had a really effective leader post Sloan. Sloan was by no means perfect, but he built an outstanding organization which was literally the largest, most profitable, most studied and most copied corporation in the world. Since his departure the best have been effective caretakers, and the worst has got to be Wagoner.
“Engine” Charlie Wilson and Harlow Curtice were quite effective leaders. Wilson led GM through the early postwar years, and was an effective negotiator with the UAW, which was, if anything, more militant in the immediate postwar years than it is today (read about the infamous GM strike in the aftermath of World War II). The excellent Cadillac and Oldsmobile V-8s were developed under his watch, as were the trend-setting two-door hardtops.
Curtice was an energetic leader who kept GM ahead of the competition. It was under his watch that the 1955 Chevrolet was developed, and the Corvette morphed from an odd two-seater with an underpowered six into a true sports car with V-8 power. Cadillac maintained its supremacy of the luxury market with terrific “regular” models and the low-volume, semi-custom Eldorado line. Under his watch, GM’s main concern was capturing TOO MUCH market share, and thus triggering anti-trust action.
runfromcheney: I don’t know how many times I have to reiterate this, but all of GM’s problems have stemmed from the Roger Smith era.
GM’s problems began in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The brand overlap, serious quality problems, terrible small cars and refusal to seriously understand what made the Japanese popular at the low end and the Germans popular at the high end really began during this time.
Roger Smith was a terrible leader, but many of his actions were a response to problems that had taken root long before his tenure. Unfortunately, his solutions in many cases made the problems worse.
But the rot was spreading through GM before he rose to the top.
GM are still dreaming – they have no concept of the precarious position they are in. By the time the face up to reality it could wellbe too late
I feared that my father, a 30 year GM employee, might outlive the company he loved. Sadly, he died last Monday, but at least he did not live to see his beloved GM file for bankruptcy.
erased a duplicate.
Rather than trying to slow the car speeding off the cliff, they’re hitting the gas (or maybe the throttle’s just stuck). Seems like they’re counting on a taxpayer funded bailout and the more bleak the picture, the more likely the bailout.
Rick and the other incompetents on the BOD may have no leadership ability, technical aptitude or desire to push GM to win, but they’re not stupid.
GM employee pricing is back 8-20 through 9-2
Rick Wagoner needs to…well that’s just the thing, he doesn’t *need* to do anything. A golden parachute pretty much guarantees that. Someday, when America’s two remaining exports become over-eating and compulsively raising your own pay people will wonder what went wrong. Because right now, its difficult to wonder what went wrong when you won’t even acknowledge anything’s wrong.
What makes you think that GM’s Auditors are any smarter than the GM Exec’s. They may be complicit in the problem. When Enron went under, their auditors were investigated as well. Don’t forget that GM has been investigated for several years by the SEC and I am sure that some of the somewhat shady accounting that went on was audited and approved by the auditors. Let’s face it US business is corrupt as hell.
mikey, there is an old story about cooking a frog and I am sure that it has been mentioned here before.
Drop a frog in hot water and it’ll jump out. Put the frog in cold water and slowly turn up the heat and it will not notice how hot it is. Eventually, it will cook.
So it is with the GM workers and execs. The union locals don’t like the negotiated national changes (See the strike at Lansing earlier this year). Local management don’t strive to change local agreements to reduce headcount because they don’t want to upset the apple cart. So we still have stupid lines of demarcation. Boths sides are slowly cooking and they can’t feel it.
Brains must the size of frogs.
Yeah I know the frog story,but jumping out of the pot isn’t really in the cards at this time.As I mentioned in my post I’m not doubting nor disputing any of the facts.I’ve benn reading the D.Ws since day one,while I may have questioned a few things, most of the facts and predictions have been fairly accurate.
My daily observation of the operation of GM was and is,that very little has changed in the past few years.Sure I’ve seen massive production cuts and the hourly ranks have been decimated.
Cause of my high seniority I’ve been at work during down weeks,with the white collars out numbering the blue.Talk about too many chiefs and not enough indians.
Even today a senior managers stature is measured by how many flunkys follow behind him,or her.
Time will tell if they know something I don’t.
Ex GM GUY:Sorry about your dad,its never easy.I hope he had a long and happy retirement.
I have to laugh. It’s like the movie, “50 First Dates.”
Which debacle will be the last one?
“Ok guys. For reals here now. The last one was almost the last one. This IS THE final nail in the coffin for sure…”
monkeyboy:
I have to laugh. It’s like the movie, “50 First Dates.”
Which debacle will be the last one?
It’ll stop being funny if/when it starts being you. MILLIONS of people will be adversely affected by GM’s mismanagement. And if we’d started the GM DW when GM’s decline had truly begun, we’d be up to GM DW 3452 by now. At least. And it would still be relevant.
Anyway, please restrict the discussion under the post to the matters at hand. If you wish to talk about TTAC’s editorial stance or style, contact me directly: robert.farago@thetruthaboutcars.com
Um, it had nothing to do with you or this site. This was merely the forum in which I posted my comment. Don’t take it personal.
It was a statement that was relevant to how many miscues the company has had. And you don’t know how relevant it really is. Or maybe you do.
“All this stuff, indeed. Even a die-hard death watcher has trouble keeping-up with all the “normal” calls on GM’s remaining cash pile…”
No matter.
What happens in Europe and the rest of the world? It would be interesting to hear thoughts about what would happen to the Opel/Vauxhall and Chevy (Daewoo) operations if GM went in to Chapter 11. The O/V product is largely strong and distinctive (Corsa, Astra and the strong new Insignia) though the market position is mixed. Chevy/Daewoo is much weaker with no real brand but a position in developing markets. Who might buy O/V, who wants extra Euro capacity? I could imagine that the Koreans would want to buy back Chevy/Daewoo. Any thoughts?
To answer the last post – a GM bankruptcy will look like those of Delphi, Dana, Tower, etc. – only the corporate parent and American subsidiaries will file, overseas ops will remain untouched. IIRC, GM also pledged the stock of GM Mexico so it will likely be included in a filing as well along with GM Canada. Essentially, all of GM’s NAO.