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cantstopcrying · Dec 04, 2008, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timgt5

GM should go from eight to four brands, getting rid of Hummer, Saab, GMC, and Saturn; keeping Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac and Cadillac.

High labor and Legacy costs. This is a sticky issue for many but the fact is that these costs put the General at a $1,500-$3,000.00 per car cost disadvantage versus Honda and Toyota, which use their advantage to market high quality compacts such as the Civic and Corolla. GM on their lower cost cars is forced to compromise on engineering, standard features and build quality in order to make profit. GM taking the steps to reduce the number of brands will call for a reduction in workforce, which in turn will help with the costs. Also this is an area where taxpayer funds might be best used.

GM runs a bloated and overpaid management system. Toyota and Honda run far leaner management per number of cars sold than the General and their executives are not paid nearly the salaries of any of the big three, yet their respective companies are very well managed.

Here are my ideas to address some of these issues and for a future product mix.

In order to protect itself from its immediate situation GM should go ahead and proceed with Chap 11 and start restructuring. This will allow GM to shed some of it’s over burdensome labor contracts. The government can step in with funds to insure that during this period that all warranty work will be covered in full. GM and Congressional leaders should hold a national televised press conference in prime time to explain to the American public what this entails and to ensure the public that GM is not going out of business and that there is a plan in place to address the company’s problems.

Now the General can begin restructuring itself, eliminating brands and putting its resources where they can gain the best results. Here is where to trim the fat:

Hummer: There is really no need for this brand to continue. The Hummer vehicles of today are nothing more than re-badged Chevrolets. The H2 is just a re-skinned Suburban and the H3 is just a four door body shell over a Colorado pick up truck frame. The ones you see our military use are made by AM General and not GM as is widely believed.

Saab: There is not a reason to really hang on to this low volume maker. Many Saab loyalists gave up on the brand after the GM takeover. Saab lacks the prestige of Jaguar, Mercedes and BMW and does little to add to the bottom line. Sell it.

GMC: This brand is nothing more than pure badge engineering at its worst. There is not a dime’s difference between the GMC’s and Chevrolets mechanically. It is just a different grill and trim.

Saturn: This brand was conceived as Honda/Toyota killer almost two decades ago. Its unique business model, plastic bodied cars and culture of one-price fits all garnered a lot of interest. All of that is now gone and the Saturn cars are just re-badged versions of other GM products. It has two unique entries; the Vue and the Astra, neither of which are at the top of their respective classes.

So under my plan the four remaining players: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick and Cadillac would have the following dealer couplings:

Chevrolet-Pontiac

Buick-Cadillac.

This issue has caused me soooo much stress. I live about 20 or so miles from Flint. I watched Flint die. I'm watching Detroit die. My dad, like most dad's in Michigan, worked at GM Metal Fab/Truck and Bus for over 30 years. I get so frustrated and worked up listening to all that is going on. I actually had points I was going to make (some agreeing, some disagreeing with what you had said) (that's why your post is parsed in the quote above) but I can't. Isn't it stupid? I am so flustered I can't do it. Anyway, thank you for paying attention to what is going on; what, if allowed to happened, will become the worst thing to happen to America in a very long time as far as economic impact. I don't know if you saw my post, but www.theengineofdemocracy.com will allow you to submit your thoughts, write to congress etc. I believe www.americanautoindustryrocks.com is similar.