UAW: GM 'cannot shrink itself to prosperity'

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: marvdmartian

GM's return to prosperity depends on it offering products that consumers find attractive, exciting and want to buy.

Yeah, the problem with that is that it normally takes a car company something like 3-5 years to come out with a new model. That's what's hurting the "big 3" right now, is that they depended on the truck/suv market to prop them up, and were so convinced that it would do so indefinitely, that they didn't bother designing much of anything in the small to medium car range, where higher gas mileage numbers usually exist.

Pretty much. They were weak in these segments before SUV sales became really popular and gave them a boost. Instead of going back and working on their weak offerings in these areas, they seem to have spent most of their time focusing on making more SUVs to keep cashing in on the craze. It was a good idea of course to ride that trend, but if they were wise they also would have seen that it was in fact a trend and that they needed to be prepared for its eventual end. The japanese jumped on this trend as well, arriving later to the game in some ways...but the japanese already had a solid passenger car lineup that was well liked to fall back on when the SUV craze started to wane.

 

[kevinthenerd]

GM used to be a great company. A few years back I thought they ruled. Their recent decisions have made them my least favorite car company. I'd buy a Chrysler or a Ford any day before I get another GM. (I like my Saturn, but I'm babying it to hell hoping it'll last long enough so I can go a few years without a car payment when I'm done with this one.)

 

[Ameesh]

UAW Members are terrorists!

 

[meltdown75]

according to CAW President Buzz Hargrove, a significant number of the workers at the Oshawa, Ontario-based GM plant are eligible for retirement and even more will be by the time the plant closing comes into effect. so it looks like a good number of the job losses can be avoided through attrition - at least in terms of the Oshawa 2 plant.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/11/21/1317018-cp.html

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: EatSpam

Originally posted by: alphatarget1
the workers should've known better to get new job skills and get the hell out.

with that said, GM wasn't doing so bad in the SUV craze and now they're pretty fvcked. They build some nice cars but no sympathy in that department from me. why are japanese manufacturers able to build nice cars with american labor whereas american cars are generally of lower quality?

GM cars are actually of fine quality, if you maintain them.

eh, they're a little rough around the edges but not total ******.

 

[kevinthenerd]

Originally posted by: meltdown75
according to CAW President Buzz Hargrove, a significant number of the workers at the Oshawa, Ontario-based GM plant are eligible for retirement and even more will be by the time the plant closing comes into effect. so it looks like a good number of the job losses can be avoided through attrition - at least in terms of the Oshawa 2 plant.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2005/11/21/1317018-cp.html

They'll get paid either way. It's better for GM if they work and produce something.

 

[FeuerFrei]

Originally posted by: dartworth

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
They can't very well bring themselves to prosperity by paying people to do nothing, can they? (job bank)

The job bank is about .5% of GM's total revenues...they have bigger problems than that

While you may be correct with your percentage, or just pulling it out of your ass, the fact remains that the jobs bank is a 100% waste of money. Unlike other areas where they can maybe only trim 10% of expenses.

 

[drnickriviera]

I saw something on CNBC a few days ago. They listed the number of production hours per vehicle. Toyota was at the top at 27hrs. GM and Ford the bottom, around 36-38hrs.

 

[xgsound]

Neither side is willing to change and they keep fighting. The longer they fight, the deeper US auto manufacturing is going to decline.

When Ross Perot owned part of GM he told management as long as he owned part of the company they would have to do better. So they bought him out at a huge cost instead of changing.

GM can't survive paying $36 @ hour either, but it's not the only thing holding them back.


Jim

 

[Viperoni]

GM's return to prosperity depends on it offering products that consumers find attractive, exciting and want to buy.

Never would have thought.