GM Making "Difficult Decisions" To Survive

The only available decisions are never difficult -- they are simply painful. Pain is better than death. I'd like to know the terms under which that $7 billion credit is available.

The truck market belongs to the first manufacturer out of the gate with a lightweight aluminum and carbon fiber truck powered by a smaller diesel designed for longevity and reliability.

Sorry but the aluminum/carbon fiber truck isn't coming from anyone anytime soon. First off all there would need to be a LOT of aluminum in that frame to have the same capability as a steel frame, so there goes a lot of the weight savings right there. Second of all I don't think to many people are willing to shell out enough dough for a truck to make a model w/ those requirements profitable.

Yes lets just cancel the truck, its a stupid vehicle anyway!

These weren't difficult decisions--that is pure spin.

A difficult decision would have been to address the too many brands/models/dealers issue to ensure GM's long-term success.

What will it take for GM's executive team to finally tackle this problem? How bad will it have to get? How low will GM's stock price have to go before it addresses what we all know must be done?

The next move from the whole hybrid and fuel efficiency is going to be weight savings. Back years ago small cars were able to get high 30's in MPGs and I've seen people here and there talk about their little old cars. But that was years ago before airbags, crumple zones, stronger frames, etc. all came into play and all added weight. Each of those killed the efficiency and the engine can only be tuned so much for fuel mileage. Shed some weight with lighter materials like CF and aluminum and you can make a BIG difference.

Thinner sound deadening and insulation materials such as those offered by GrafTech who make a Carbon Fiber bades insulation/deadener for aircraft would be a great start. It's just a matter of becoming affordable. But when you make a product less than half as thick as regular insulation and deadeners that offers superior quality, why not.

Yup! We need light wight and low speed! The cars should not be able to go more than 100km/h.

If we could only get government management (the administration) to do the same...

This is what happens if you keep producing junk cars that don't last long. GM supported Nazi Germany in the 30's, it tried to make fake hybrids just to compete with Toyota but miserably failed, and now it is near bankruptcy.

And Ford is pretty much the same. Seriously, let the American workers work for the German or Japanese car factories, that is the only way to save the U.S. economy.

GM has came along way in terms of quality,however they did produce alot of inferior products in the past.I dont know about the German automakers but Toyota sends about 73% of their profit back home where as GM keeps
over 90%in the USA.So as far as working the Japanese or any other foreign company no thanks.

LOL!

90% of ZERO = Zero.

you shoulda said gm keeps 90% of their LOSSES here.

"you shoulda said gm keeps 90% of their LOSSES here"

How does that make any sense???????????

If you want to talk about supporting the Nazi movement Henry Ford would be the person to look at not the company GM, he and Hitler were big fans of each other (part of a huge PR problem for Ford Inc at the time). If you have a problem with GM and it's Nazi involvement what do you think of VW, Porche, and Audi?

GM is one of the biggest car companies in the world!?!?!?..... but where's their R&D?... a company that huge is dying?... I honestly think that all the legacy GM has been through is kind of sick if it was to come to an end....

GM has R&D in all of it's operations. Currently R&D is setup in 'homerooms'. GMNA does trucks/SUVs, Caddy cars, and Corvette. GM Holden is doing volume RWD large and midsize cars. GM Daewoo is doing subcompact cars/SUVs, compact SUVs, and micro cars. GM Europe is doing FWD/AWD cars. GM Brazil is the current homeroom for compact pickups and SUVs.

Poor GM. It's sad that they are on the brink of bankruptsy right when they started making great products such as the Lambda Crossovers and the new CTS.

Over 90% of their investments.To be able to lose money I think that means they have some to lose.