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2005-06-12 Home Front: Economy

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Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2005-06-12 14:34|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Sometimes you have to slip the comb under the cholla and pull it out. Yeah, it hurts, but then it's over and you can get healed.

Either GM does this, or they file Chapter 11 and stiff all the retirees. Or, they get liquidated and Toyota and Kia buy some more plants.

Posted by Jackal">Jackal 2005-06-12 17:27|| home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]">[home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2005-06-12 17:27|| Front Page Top

#2 Jackal-
I have several GM salesmen for clients, and to a man, they are all quietly dreading one of two possibilities: first, that GM may implode due to runaway costs and utterly incompetent management. (Right now, the largest single cost at GM is health care.) Apparently, Federal law is such that GM might just be able to do that and simply blow off all its pensions and health care plans. The other rumor that has them concerned - one that has apparently been floated as a trial balloon - is scuttling Buick, Saturn, Pontiac, Hummer, and GMC's personal vehicles. This would come damn close to taking out about one HALF - or more - of the Automotive Division's personnel. The dealership structure would, with the exception of Cadillac, be 'dualled': each dealer would sell a combination of Chevies, Caddys, and/or Saturns.
These guys all feel that GM is in deep, deep trouble and it will not survive the decade in its present form.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2005-06-12 19:13|| 2005-06-12 19:13|| Front Page Top

#3 Look for
The Union Label
On a guy in a breadline
Near You!

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2005-06-12 21:28|| 2005-06-12 21:28|| Front Page Top

#4 Time for Detroit to stop fiddling with the Unions and focus on dev George Jetson's flying/space car, or does the guy from Guam, i.e Madonna's daddy, have to do it, AGAIN. IN about ten years the Koreans will be where the Japanese automakers were in the late 1960s - ready to blow out Detroit and the world.

Posted by JosephMendiola">JosephMendiola 2005-06-12 21:55|| n/a]">[n/a] 2005-06-12 21:55|| Front Page Top

#5 I grew up in the Detroit area and had family and neighbors who worked in local plants or in the tubes. When I was young, I always thought GM cars were the best. My family had near-canine loyalty to Pontiac. Of course, this was the days of the SS/396, GTO, and Corvair, before the Vega, the Cimarron, and V8-6-4. It's a shame to see how far the company has fallen.

Unfortunately, the overhead is killing them. Having 6 divisions made sense when they had almost 50% of the market. Now that they have 25%, they have, what, nine divisions? Caddy, Buick, Pontiac, Chevy, Saab, GMC, Isuzu, Saturn, Hummer, Opel, ... Unless they can quickly get back to 50% share (as likely as My embracing Islam), they need to cut down the brands and the dealers servicing them. If you are selling half as many cars (I know the market's bigger, but let's just say half), you should have half as many dealers. Either they can close a bunch of them and give the franchise to others nearby, or they can continue to have them all slowly sink. You can keep the brands, but you simply must cut down the overlap, accepting fewer sales per brand, and having fewer dealers per brand.

No more Pontiac minivans. No more Buick trucks. Get Chevrolet out of any truck larger than Class 2 (or 3) and GMC out of any truck smaller than that. Clip Saturn back to its original plastic-bodied import-fighters. It did OK (not great, but OK) there. I don't know what to do about Saab.

As for the health care and pensions being thrown out in a bankruptcy, that's essentially what United, Kaiser, and many other companies have done. If it ends up being that or liquidation, which do we want?

Fans of Hudson and Packard must have felt the same way in the 50s.

Posted by Jackal">Jackal 2005-06-12 22:12|| home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]">[home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2005-06-12 22:12|| Front Page Top

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