To paraphrase someone (don't remember who) - "it's about the cars, stupid!" (No, not you, Daniel). Build cars people want and they will buy them. If I may point to a GM division which has been overlooked in this discussion - Holden? Top selling car in Australia is the Holden Commodore, by a long chalk. Large, rear wheel drive, goes, stops, handles etc. (Oddly enough the second biggest selling car is the Ford Falcon - for description, look under Holden Commodore above). It's been interesting to see the comments about the Pontiac GTO (Holden Monaro). Biggest complaint is it doesnt look like a GTO. But I havent seen a critical review yet about build quality, handling, performance, etc. And remember the Monaro is just a 2-door Commodore, with a very small market locally.
How many largish, rwd cars are made and sold in the US by GM - Cadillac excepted - may one ask?
And the blistering attacks on GM's unionised workforce! GMAFB! Holdens workforce is even more unionised, and they recently received a pay rise, based on - wait for it - productivity by the company. They were rewarded for performance. Gee, how unusual.
Methinks the buck stops with management. You know what worries me? That Holdens new(ish) CEO, Denny Mooney is a product of Detroit philosophy and breeding. Holdens last two CEOs were - chronologically - Australian and German. From outside the square. So, look for all the reasons you want to discover the failing of GM. I'm thinking I can see why...
Steve Magee
