That’s on one the funniest “shticks” I’ve heard them do…(I do live a sheltered life)
Funny, in their humor, they touch on some really good points. Opening trade with Cuba discussion for example.
Agree that was priceless, but the truth always hurts.
I should mention here that Saddam Hussein in the late 80s ordered 8500 Malibu cars from GM Canada. They were to be used by the government bureaucrats. The cars were ordered with 4 speed manual transmissions, unavailable as standard equipment at that time.
GM really botched the job and after the first few were delivered, Iraq cancelled the remaining ones. This proves that GM, as always, was arrogance personified!
So GM Canada ended up selling these to Canadian bargain hunters at 50% of the normal list price. From what I gathered, even at that price they were no bargain.
I can see it now; No more Corvettes or Camaros, as nobody needs a car with such power. No more SUVs, because nobody needs such a large vehicle. The unwashed masses will have to drive “sensible” cars, no unlike 4 cylinder Camarys and Corollas. If their track record is any indication Tom & Ray would have everybody driving beige sedans. No thanks.
Your observations may be closer to the truth than you think! Obama has now publicly admitted that both Chrysler and GM will likely go into a “government supervised Chapter 11 Reorganization” i.e. bankruptcy. GM stock has had a negative value for some time now. The fate of the Camaro and the Corvette is up in the air, but the truck division is relatively sound and some foreign entity will likely be interested.
GM is reported going to be split into 2 and the various pieces reconstituted and sold to the highest bidder. Fiat wants to reduce its share in Chrysler to 20% with no money whatsoever changing hads. Fiat itself has just emerged from a drastic reorganization, led by a Canadian-born Italian who has lived in Detroit and Windsor, Canada just across the river. This guy is a hardnosed accountant and reviving Fiat must have been much more difficult tha what Iacocca did with Chrysler since Italian labor and politics defy management at the best of times.
Ummmm…April Fool’s Day!!
VC, I wished this (my post, not Clic & Clac’s) was an April Fool’s prank, but it was on a national TV business channel and subject to a 15 minute discussion by various experts.
The new GM chief is an accountant well versed in Chapter 11 type reorganization. and HE publicly did not rule out the bankruptcy. Hence Obama’s guarantee to the US public that the government will underwrite all new car warranties. Unfortunately they can’t underwrite future resale value and parts supply after 10 years.
I think Corvettes and Camaros (the new ones)will become collector’s items. The Obama administration wants eco-friendly cars in the restructuring plans of both Chrysler and GM. The trucks and big SUVs can justify their existence as COMMERCIAL vehicles.
“Fiat itself has just emerged from a drastic reorganization, led by a Canadian-born Italian who has lived in Detroit and Windsor, Canada just across the river.”
Fiat reprisal in America after the “brilliant” Strata and the Yugo reincarnate affiliation scares me. Fiat is like malaria or lime disease …you think you’ve beat it and never see it again and it comes back again and again.
I wouldn’t mind an eco-friendly Vette replacement…but it had better get to 60 mph not kph in under 5 seconds.
Long live the TeslaVette !
The US car market is the toughest in the world. Americans drive a lot, do little maintenance and abuse their cars in general. Even Toyota was surprised, when they entered the US market, how much Americans expected from their vehicles.
In Italy and Europe, Fiat has an average quality level compared to Renault and others. They are space efficient, easy to park, easy on gas, and don’t last long, but for Italians that does not seem to be important. They are much more tolerant of imperfection, exemplified by their government, traffic behavior, and law-enforcemnt units. It’s easier to sell an exciting but poor quality car in Italy than a substandard wine or cheese! Those things are important!
Finally, on the international corruption scale, Italy scores 44 (1 being the best), neck on neck with Malaysia, which also makes lousy cars. The US rates 14, for your interest. The top spots are held by the Scandinavian countries, Japan and Singapore, where you can’t even spit on the street or chew gum in public.
They should go Chapter 11. That company has been mismanaged for years. Why should my tax money go to paying for THEIR SCREW-UPS.
Managements biggest gripe why they can’t compete is because of the retirement and health benefits they have to pay their current and past employees. 10 years ago when GM was making RECORD PROFITS they had the money then to shore up the retirement and health benefits. They choose NOT to. Instead they handed out HUGE multi-million dollar bonuses to executives and dividends to the share holders. GM management has made many many statements/complaints that their BIGGEST pay-out each year is to these benefits. And they want us…the USA tax payers to do what they REFUSED to do 10 years ago. If they took just 2 billion dollars of their 5-8 billion dollars in profits they made that year, they would NOT be in this mess now. I’ve been saying this for years…They (most American companies) are looking at next quarters profits…NOT next decades profits.
Maybe when they come out of chapter 11 they’ll stop these absurd bonuses they pay their executives (VP’s and above) for the profit they made this past quarter. That type of bonus system removes any incentive of a VP or above to actually look down the road and build for the future. Upper management screwed their workers…screwed the buying public and now they want the US tax payers to pay for it.
GM & Chrysler WILL agree to a structured BANKRUPTCY. Which means they will legally stiff all their creditors and dump their pensioners onto the taxpayers. They will both close half their plants.
Whether we like it or not, this might be the speediest way out.
Executive bonuses are the least of GM’s worries. Seriously, they mean nothing in reality. But they sure get folks like you fired up on a class envy high. I hope you are even more fired up about the government giving $170 billion to AIG. We give GM what, $14 billion, and it’s hells bells! But we throw $170 billion away on a non-producer, like AIG and nobody blinks an eye.
Long story short, our new dim witted president is going to do everything in his power to destroy the American automotive industry. He might as well appoint himself to be the new CEO of GM (Government Motors).
Oh heck, we could have avoided this crisis if everybody with a 14 year old beater had just bought a new Toyota as I suggested and… Oh yeah, that wouldn’t have helped GM.