They key reason GM is on the verge of extinction

Let's look at the market through one American family, the one I know best. My own. We are not hard-core, buy-American consumers; we don't inspect country-of-origin labels on every purchase.

That said, I do believe it's important -- for the Michigan economy overall, for my own employer and lots of my friends and neighbors and their employers -- that GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group survive and prosper.

All four of the vehicles in use by my immediate family are brands from those companies: a 2006 sedan for me, a 2003 SUV for my wife, a 1996 sedan with 178,000 miles on the odometer and a chunk of wood wedging the left headlamp in place for my 22-year-old son and a 2000 sedan with 140,000 miles for my 20-year-old daughter.

Most, though not all, of our vehicles over the years have been Detroit brands: Chevrolet, Plymouth, Dodge, Pontiac, Ford, Jeep and Eagle.

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aussie2u - 5/11/2006 5:20:23 PM

+1 Boost

It's really hard to know what "supporting America" is these days. Take GM for instance. It announced that it's spending 3 BILLION DOLLARS to put state of the art plants in CHINA! Contrast that to BMW building their X5 facility here in South Carolina, employing Americans.

"It's where the money goes..." is what I'm told is important. Ok, so BMW may give employee's $25/hour while taking major profits back overseas to the Fatherland. But should I get a warm and fuzzy feeling about GM exec's paying Chineese and then distributing profits to their big exec's and then stockholders? Lately that example hasn't exactly made me a believer with the Enrons of the world.

So I think the marketing arm of GM has a real problem. Not only can they not make cars enough people want to buy, they can't even guilt me into buying one by showing me how it will help our country or economy! Thats a real problem that I don't see a solution to.

lewissalem - 5/12/2006 5:05:43 PM

+1 Boost

..Sorry. I'll believe it when I see it. When Chrysler can build a mini-van that lasts more than 30k miles without the trasmission breaking.

Daytripper - 5/13/2006 4:13:33 AM

+1 Boost

Reliability is not the whole problem. There's also design and engineering. The V-6 and 4-cylinder engines in the mid-size and compact sedans that should be Detroit's bread and butter are noisy and harsh-sounding when compared with what comes from the Japanese Big-3 (Toyota, Nissan, & Honda). And Detroit really needs to do a better job with its seats, to many American cars have seats that are too flat, unsupportive, and that have cushions that are too short.

MercBasher - 5/13/2006 10:46:24 AM

+1 Boost

GM's biggest problem is its spinless Board of Directors because they won't initiate an executive search for effective Executives to lead GM.

Almost all of GM's problems are self-induced, and caused by a decade of poor decisions including decisions about brand, specific products, marketing, dealer strategies, lobbying emphasis, etc. etc.

The second biggest problem is that the major investors in GM don't care enough to solve the biggest problem, and boot out the lazy directors.