What a colossal mess! General Motors became one of the most expensive bankruptcies in American history on Monday. After pouring billions of our money into GM since last fall and warning us that the B word would be devastating, we are now being told that this approach will create a "new" GM owned by the US, CANADA and the UAW! That means Chrysler and GM are owned by their union and the government. Well, it sure made AMTRAK the envy of public transportation didn't it? I may be wrong, but I don't think that Amtrak has ever been profitable and we all know how wonderful the service is! Petty politics have already entered the picture with Congressmen demanding that plants from the "old GM" be kept open in their respective districts irregardless of any type of analytical evaluation of the viability of the location. Can you imagine if a Congressman has a "can't miss" idea for a new car design? I have information from GM engineers that they can't make any product decisions without clearing it with treasury! You know that the folks at FORD are just jubilant! Ford has expressed concern that with the government running the competition the playing field may not be a level one. It is going to get very interesting.....
One thing that really bugs me from all of this is that Chrysler and GM advertising is now telling us how great the "new" companies are and everything is rosy once again. GM has many great vehicles available right now. Chrysler has virtually none and there aren't any on the horizon any time soon. Fiat can't have a car ready for sale in the US for at least 20 months so just how will that help? GM, on the other hand, has done nothing to earn the consumer's confidence. If they want to get folks back into the showrooms, some of which have stayed away for a whole generation, they should tell it like it is. GM should run ads that tell consumers: America, we apologize for our actions during past 15 years. During the 80's and 90's we built some pretty poor vehicles in terms of styling, quality and customer service. We fell in love with big trucks and sport utilities and each unit made us a lot of money. Our factories were cranking out Yukons and Tahoes like the golden goose. Our number one volume customers were the RENTAL companies. We gave them lower prices than even our dealers PLUS we agreed to buy all of them back after 6 months or a year of use. They could care less about styling or quality or resale value. We messed up so badly that now we have paid the ultimate price: bankruptcy.
The sad thing is that GM is building some world class vehicles right now. The Malibu, Vibe, CTS, Corvette, Camaro, Outlook, Lacrosse are some examples of what the GM design staff is capable of. What GM is ignoring, is the promise that GM dealerships must meet the most stringent service and business practice standards in the industry. Commit to the client who owns your product, GM. I don't think that this will ever happen. With the government calling the shots, client satisfaction will be at the bottom of corporate priorities. Have you driven a Ford lately??
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