1

You know how I knew GM was doomed?

 

When the production Camaro came out, and the window was so short, you can't fit a Route 44 Ocean  Water from Sonic through it upright.

2 On topic: You know who's sponsoring Manchester United?

You are.

http://tinyurl.com/bwqqpru

And at over twice the rate of the old sponsorship.

Awesome.

3 Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable tyrant.

4 O/T, from headline thread cause I'm a late lurker. OSP, I'd love to read for you. Might need help linking my email thingy to my nic, though.

5 I'm still wating for my free car!

6 How'd that short-circuiting of Bankruptcy law work out for you?

Oh.  If you were an Obama Donor it worked out pretty well, I guess...

7 GM died when it had to be bailed out. RIP GM, and a speedy trip to the dust bin.

8 Economic malaise.  Imported from Detroit.

9 Obama used our money to fund a big fat gift to the unions.  And who would have guessed that a union-owned car maker would go down the crapper?

Not Obama, obviously.

10

"Bend over and take it like a man. "

 

Chevy runs deep.

11 Government Motors or Facebook?

Government Motors- I was smart enough to avoid Facebook; I wasn't given a choice with GM.

12 How's that  GM  stock  workin'  out  for  you?  Obama  car  czar  strangely  quiet.

13

@11 -  FB is the worse investment.

 

When GM finally croaks, there will be stuff to sell off.  Equipment, spares, etc...

 

If FB were to "end," all that needs to happen is an FDISK.

14 13 "Bend over and take it like a man. "
Chevy runs deep.

Don't forget Chrysler.  RAM tough!

15 So, this administration literally stole  90% of the legitimate GM bondholders' money, and emptied   the coffers of the Delphi pension fund, in order to give all of the money to the UAW.    Then,   they   handed over billions of my tax dollars to the corporation to allow them more time to do the same thing they have been doing badly for the past 40 years.  How come it didn't turn out different this time?

16 Why am I picturing the big, climactic scene from Hamlet? 

17 Haff YOO driven und Ford lately?  HMM?  HAFF YOO?

18 "Bend over and take it like a man. "

Chevy runs deep. Posted by: reason

Like a rock.

19 It's okay, though. For the fiftieth time, [all together now], 'the housing market is showing signs of improvement.'

20 But! But! But! They paid back all their loans! Ahead of schedule!! Obama saved GM!

What are you wingnuts lying about now?

21 but...but...but...Earflaps the wonderworker has already stated several times that he saved the auto industry-

this unexpected, and most definitely unasked for, reality stuff is definitely racist. And mean. And stuff.

22

gm, solyndra, lightsquared, etc..

FAIL

 

healthcare......

23

GM will probably do a regular bankruptcy this time, I assume.  I'd hate to be a GM supplier right now.  Lots of bills are not going to get paid.  More suppliers, the ones dumb enough to extend credit to GM, are going down.  The auto industry will suffer even more disruption, and while foreign suppliers will be bailed out by their governments, domestic suppliers will be allowed to take the gas pipe.  But perhaps this time the UAW will NOT be bailed out.  That would be magnificent.  They had their chance to be reasonable and help GM make it - but they did what they always do - screw the pooch.

24 dangit RO, you beat me by seconds.

25

I hate to say "I told you so" to 52% of the country...but you know, Glenn Beck explained  how this whole mess was going to turn out back in 2009.

 

And he did it using  a  wooden Thomas the Tank Engine playset as a visual aid.

 

Because  even a three-year-old knows which order the  cars   are supposed to  go in.

26 Like a rock.

 

Posted by: Blue Hen at July 31, 2012 10:53 AM (dQKMZ)

 

Get outa my head!

27

GM paid zero in federal income taxes in 2011 too.

That break will reduce GM's U.S. tax bill by an estimated $14 billion in the coming years, and its global taxes by close to $19 billion, according to a company filing.

28 I expected GM to fold long before this. The Barky take-over did not cure the problem, it only hid the problem by giving GM to the unions who caused the problem to begin with.


They needed to fail and invalidate the union contracts. Not faail and invaldate the investors by rewarding the unions. I just want to know why the State of Indiana dropped their civil suit.

29 Panic when obama wants to give the preferred shareholders their cut back.

30 But perhaps this time the UAW will NOT be bailed out. That would be magnificent. They had their chance to be reasonable and help GM make it - but they did what they always do - screw the pooch.
Posted by: Reactionary

No way this will happen, in an election year. He needs the UAW. Especially after Wisconsin.

31

Cash for Clunkers II, Hybrid Boogaloo

32 I heard on the radio the other day that GM has lost more money since the bail out than the amount of the bail out.  We screwed the bond holders and all we got was a massive failed quasi-governmental "business."  Who could've seen that the Volt wouldn't sell like hotcakes?  And let's not forget Cash for Clunkers.  We've got a real clunker now.

33 The solution is obvious: produce more Volts!

34 ...but...the Volt!

35 who will be responsible for Government GM  Pensions?

36 I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on tv, so can anyone explain to a simple caveman like me, how did GM get the special bankruptcy, and not get sued out the wazoo by the bondholders who were left holding the empty bag? 

37 Moving forward (hah)- what does the imminent cratering of GUM- oh sorry, GM - mean to barky the dungheap's chances in Michigan?

Semi-rhetorical question, just want to see what y'all say.

38 gm, solyndra, lightsquared, etc..
FAIL
healthcare...... Posted by: willow

Insert 'US Post Office'

"The U.S. Postal Service affirmed it wonÂ’t make a required $5.5 billion payment due tomorrow to the U.S. Treasury for future retireesÂ’ health care, an obligation the agency said must end for it to become financially viable."

Cue sad trombone!

39 Barry's plan is working!!!!

40 I drove my Chevy to the Levy but the Chevy had died.

41 So, how does firing people before they even start help? They think saving on the guy's salary is going to help?

42 We'll make it up in volume.

43 There was an American father, standing beside him is in eight year old son.  His son's hand seems engulfed by his.  The air is clear and warm.  He looks out over the vista before them.

"One day son this will all be yours."

And laid out in neat rows vast acres of cars bleaching in the sun.  Tires slowing cracking and deflating.  Safety glass crazing and paint bleaching.  All the cars are of such marquees as Cadillac and Corvette.

The son is puzzled.  "Why mine?"

"Because this is all the great and mighty Obama could gift upon you."

44 You Capitalist pig-dogs with all of your money-vaults are intentionally  NOT buying GM products just to make The President look  bad!

45

Posted by: BurtTC at July 31, 2012 10:57 AM (TOk1P)

 

The Supremes.

46

Subprime lending?   So what?   When has subprime lending EVER been a problem?   It's not like it   could ever    tank the economy!

 

(in case it's not obvious,    [/sarc])

47 The Dolt is out of production, out of production like the DoDo.

48 No way this will happen, in an election year. He needs the UAW. Especially after Wisconsin.

Posted by: Blue Hen at July 31, 2012 10:56 AM (dQKMZ)

 

-----------------------

-----------------------

 

GM will not go down before the election.  Even if the news is terrible, they'll limp along a while longer.  There's too much inertia in this beast.  I think the next failure will probably not fully kick in until Mitt's in the oval office.  The problem there is that we'll have to let them go bankrupt.  Much of the country will see the justice in it, but there will also be great wailing and gnashing of teeth.  The media will hammer us for it.

49 *burp* *beeeeeeeeelch*

Don't look at us, we're absolutely stuffed. Couldn't eat another volt.

50

Why have one bubble when you can have three or four??

51 "If they're in the black, why all the pink slips?"

RACIST!

52 Drove a Dodge Caliber recently. Nasty car.

53 test

54

Two weeks ago, Opel chief Karl-Friedrich Stracke presented numbers to Dan Akerson. Akerson fires him.

 

Stracke acted stupidly.

 

 

55

weft cute, They refuse to learn from the mistakes.

I suppose one doesn't have to when you have a Large population and They have a rapid response Team of New IRS workers..

56 -e woops sorry.

57 Semi-rhetorical question, just want to see what y'all say.

Posted by: Chariots of Toast at July 31, 2012 10:57 AM (ksERZ)

 

 

-------------------

-------------------

 

I don't think it will happen in time to matter.  But if it does, I think it will be a nice blow to Barky here.  The UAW will see that he's no savior to them, and more will stay home.

58 Today, media in the U.S. and Germany report that Lyon had been escorted from the building and to a waiting car by GMÂ’s head of person



Was it a Ford?

59

"I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on tv, so can anyone explain to a simple caveman like me, how did GM get the special bankruptcy, and not get sued out the wazoo by the bondholders who were left holding the empty bag? "

 

Because the bondholders were threatened with being called raysis  and/or  greedy.

 

These  things  still  sorta  worked back then.

60 Obama is a direct descendant of the first GM bondholder.

61 Tami, probably whisked away in a BMW.  It is Germany after all.

62 who will be responsible for Government GM Pensions? Posted by: willow

Not entirely sure. Up until this year the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation was, aka Dah Taxpayah.

"The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is an independent agency of the United States government that was created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) "

However,
"Last week [May 2012], General Motors announced that it will offer 42,000 of its salaried retirees the opportunity to take their lifetime monthly pension benefits as a one-time lump-sum payment. Retirees who donÂ’t take the lump-sum offer will receive an annuity equivalent to their pensions from Prudential."

So, I'm still going with Dah Taxpayah but who knows...

63 Anxious to support American business, I bought a brand new chevy cobalt off the dealer lot, at 40k miles its become an unreliable problematic death trap, thanks to electrical problems.  They did a recall on the power steering but that does not change the core problem which is that any minor voltage fluctuation from a touchy wire, weak battery, dirty ground etc.. causes the computer to instantly drop into "limp" causing the car to freak out.  Even though I have had the power steering recall done twice now, when the computer freaks out the power steering still cuts in and out.  Nearly having killed my wife (pregnant with twin boys) several times now.  Busy paying off my credit cards but cant wait until I can afford a new safer car.

That's to say nothing that the control arm bushings that are totally wrecked within the first years of ownership for everyone.  The coilovers need to be replaced and even steering intermediate shafts including any purchase replacements have have "Obamad" right out the gate because of a bad design and lack of lube.

First and Last GM ever!

64

50 -

 

So they did sue, and got tossed by the Supremes?  On what grounds, and how  were we not calling for their impeachment, long before they got a chance to rule on Obamacare? 

 

Egad, we're just like Liberia.  No rule of law, but at least we're not drinking the blood and eating the  hearts  of our enemies.  Yet. 

65

we will just demand all non gm cars be crushed.

for the greater good of the children of GM

66

I don't know why everyone's    being so stupid.     GM makes the Chevy Volt, right?   And India is, having another really big, blackout, right?   So there's lots of, Indian people, who don't, have power.   So GM should sell, the Volts, to India so that the India people, will have power!   GM makes money and, India has the Voltage necessary to, feed their holy cows or whatever.

 

Win win!

67 And I just noticed my new hash : +SmuD.  I am not the SMOD you are looking for.  Be thankful.

68 I'll just say GM is #1, and my words, magically, will make it so. Rather like a sewing machine, actually. You may all genuflect.

69 Phil Donahue can't figure out why GM is a smashing success

70 I met Dan Akerson at my college a couple years ago, just as he was taking over GM. He brushed aside any doubts that there was a large portion of the American public who was antagonized by the bailout (and abrogation of established financial practices).

71

>>Because the bondholders were threatened with being called raysis and/or greedy

 

I am pretty sure it went to the courts.

72 "If they're in the black, why all the pink slips?"

Hm, this sounds racist.

73 "Pink"  slips ?!  Why  not  "red"  slips?  Once  again  MY  people  are  disenfranchised  and  disrespected.  MY  First  Nation  People  brother  Iron  Eyes  Cody  weeps.  You  are  all  racists  and  HOW !

74

GM's sales, meanwhile, increasingly rely on  subprime lending  -- lending, that is, to credit risks, who use that loan to buy GM stock. This is a problem, because these loans are issued by GM Financial, which is owned by GM, and, therefore, the American public.

 

 

"Hey!  We invented that dodge -- using company stock to finance sales at our Special Purpose Entities.  Where's our cut -- make with the royalties!"   --- Ghost of Ken Lay and Inmate #8675309 in Federal POUND ME IN THE ASS Prison (aka Jeff Skilling).

 

You know, the Smartest Guys In The Room.

 

75 I know how to save GM.  Turn it over to Lizzie Warren.  She knows how to save capitalism.

76 'Bout time that miserable, lazy Ewok dragged himself out of bed, or wherever it is he sleeps.

77

@57 - Indeed.  I had one as a loaner on a trip not too long ago.  Horrid.  Not even 10K on it, and it already rattled like someone spilled a bag of M&M's into the dash.

 

Before that, I had gotten an Avenger.  Another  insight  into why GM is still floundering.

78

weft perhaps bailing out prudential will come sooner than later.

 

79 GM is both Obama and Bush's fault.  For the free market to work, the losers must lose just as the winners win.  Dumbasses, the both of 'em.  Economics.  How does it work.

80 wasting all my money on a Saturday night...in your Pinko Cadillac.....Pinko Cadillac...

81

Egad, we're just like Liberia. No rule of law, but at least we're not drinking the blood and eating the hearts of our enemies. Yet.

Posted by: BurtTC at July 31, 2012 11:04 AM (TOk1P)

 

Unless you count the sudden onset of rampant cannibalism that's erupted out of thin air this summer.

82 Anna's gettin' SmuDDy...

83 @83- Before that, I had gotten an Avenger. Another insight into why GM is still floundering."

Them vehicles is Chrysler produx. The OTHER floundering auto "maker", which is owned by an Italian company- you know, Italy- which is about to implode.

84

smud

so

many

under

deaththreat?

85 I'd like to see a comparison between the Chyrsler bailout with Lee Iacoca and the recent GM Chrysler bailout.

86 she's a very smudy girl, the kind you won't bring home to mutha?

87 White House will announce today a new CEO for GM:  Michael Moore.

88 LOL

Rick James!

89

And I just noticed my new hash : +SmuD. I am not the SMOD you are looking for. Be thankful.

 

No, but it's perfect for yesterday's "Fifty Shades of Gray"    discussion.

90 I'd hate to be a GM supplier right now. Lots of bills are not going to get paid.   Sharp suppliers could take payment in the form of title to various hard assets like robots, computers, etc, then lease them back to GM for a token amount.  Then when the collapse happens, they can just walk in and recover "their" lease equipement. 

91 Turn it over to Lizzie Warren. She knows how to save capitalism. Which makes her latest ad about how we should be more like China quite funny.

92 giggles.

93 MWR, I am trying to erase all vestiges of that horrible book series from my brain.  I remember that post though and it was too kind in its savaging, should have sunk its teeth deeper and ripped the throat out. 

94 Whoever thought it would turn out well to hire a not-car guy as the head of GM. He admitted it. What the Everlasting F*CK?!!! Have a guy that does not understand, love, eat, breathe, and sleep cars at the helm? Only Barky is dumb enough to do that. The "Philosophy" and "ideology" before everything with these people, expecting it to work out right. It never will.

95

GM will go bankrupt again.  The question is what will be done then.  Do they sell off the assets and break GM apart?  If so, who would buy it and operate it?  If you shut them down entirely the disruption to the market would be unfathomably huge.  Suppliers would fall like dominos across the nation, inflicting great harm on the other auto makers.  The rest of the car makers can't fill the hole without disruptions that will thrown product quality and logistical control into the toilet.  SO - I assume that no matter what it will have to be an orderly process, and the State will step in to make sure that's how it goes.  GM is the original Too-Big-To-Fail.

96 Oh, and don't forget how much of their "sales" are all but no-bid contract sales to government fleets.

We really don't have any firm numbers on how much the JEF and his lackeys have inflated the sales of GM products.

97 Way to go, GM. Keep kicking that can down the road. At least the Volts will keep everyone toasty warm at night. BTW, the boss here just bought a Volt. Last year he built a new house and garage. Hope his investments were not for naught.

98 So they did sue, and got tossed by the Supremes? On what grounds, and how were we not calling for their impeachment, long before they got a chance to rule on Obamacare?


If we are still talking about the investors in GM they did sue but failed to get standing in federal court.  Surprisingly they (State of IN) never took it past the initial levels.  It never made it to the Supremes.

99 instead of refund checks the irs should just ship all taxpayers a new chevy volt. that will fix everything.

100 Credit scores are racist.

101
but...but...but...Earflaps the wonderworker has already stated several times that he saved the auto industry-


Heh. Earflaps the wonderworker. I'm SO stealing that.

102 What is the difference between Kia and GM?

Kia got better.

103

Sharp suppliers could take payment in the form of title to varioushard assets like robots, computers, etc, then lease them back to GM for a token amount. Then when the collapse happens, they can just walk in and recover"their" lease equipement.
Posted by: @PurpAv at July 31, 2012 11:12 AM (apjdA)

-------------------------

-------------------------

Well, maybe - but good luck to anybody who tries it.  For one, if the Union pukes figured out that was going on they'd have a sabotage plan ready.  Also, GM dare not put liens on their equipment because it would give the supplier some power - which they hate above all things.  But let's say that could be done and went off without a hitch - it's still useless.  If I make dash assemblies or wheels or molded parts or whatever, GM's welding robots, desktop computers, etc are of no interest to me.  It's just more useless junk to manage, plus I'd have the costs of having to get with the sherriff and go get my stuff.  Finding it would a challenge, then uninstalling it, etc etc. 

104 Didn't Barry recently run a commercial with some woman saying that Mitt Romney would have let the auto industry go broke but Barry saved them and everything is peachy again in Detroit?

105 It's a shame, in a way, because GM makes a few of the best cars out there.

Yes, they really do.

The Cadillac CTS is a solid entry.  The new ATS is looking to be outstanding.  The Buick Regal's top-three in its class, and far better looking than the weirdball Japanese products like the bottle-opener Acuras etc. it competes against.   The Corvette is still sui generis, and the GM trucks/Tahoe/Suburban are still the best designs in the business.   Even the small Chevys (yeah, okay, so they're all Korean designs and two out of three are Korean-made) are finally competitive.   The Volt is a technical success and a second-gen Volt could actually be a very good car.   The big crossovers are very good.

The problem is this: that's at best two divisions worth of first-rate product scattered across the whole company.    The company's best mass-market products are still not compliant with Barky's ecoloon-driven future.  Chevy's small cars might be good but Ford's are better.    And GM's small crossovers suck.

Akerson was an Obama bacillus inserted into the GM body and, unlike Mulally at Ford* he hasn't managed either to bend the corporate culture to his will or adapt himself to the needs of running a profitable car company (the basic needs of which are utterly at odds with those of his political minders.)

And I'm sure the White House is just paralyzed with fear at the prospect that the whole house of cards will collapse before November.

* Mulally's managed to get profits out of Ford and do a lot of good things to the company culture, but there's still a lot of weak spots in that company's product line too.   They're kinda in the right place at the right time, with good small cars, the Escape, and the midsize Fusion that picks up all the buyers who think its Japanese competition is just weird, ugly and uncomfortable.  But if the economy comes back, they've got absolutely no interesting, competitive, high-margin product beyond the GT500.  The Lincoln line is a catastrophe.  The cop-car/black car market is gone now that the Crown Vic and its derivatives are out of production. 

106
Turn it over to Lizzie Warren. She knows how to save capitalism.

Which makes her latest ad about how we should be more like China quite funny.

Posted by: soothsayer jumps in without reading at July 31, 2012 11:12 AM (3dufx)

China knows how to budget. Charging the executed political prisoner's family for the bullet is revenue-neutral, y'know.

107 Related:

Remember the millions of workers in defense related industries who were scheduled to get a notice they faced losing their jobs because of the defense spending cutbacks? Scheduled to receive it 60 days before said cutbacks, meaning they would receive it on November 1st?

Well, Obama's Department of Labor conveniently ruled yesterday that their employers couldn't sent out the notices -- because they were "too speculative."

108 I've been reading how GM is going to fudge its sales figures.  It turns out GM calculates sales as number of cars shipped to dealers, not actual sales to customers by the dealers.

So, GM has been pumping up dealer inventory (whether the dealer likes it or not) to inflate "sales".

Any sales figure GM releases will be bogus and at the behest of the Commie in Chief's Central Planning Committee.

109

instead of refund checks the irs should just ship all taxpayers a new chevy volt. that will fix everything.
 
Posted by: Marie at July 31, 2012 11:17 AM (P9OJs)

 

Please, in the name of all that is holy, NOOOOO!

My company makes some parts for that vile vehicle - a customer of our transferred some tools to us to do so.  Nothing pleases us more than when order volumes drop.  The suppliers knew that car would be a low volume waste of time.  Thus, many of them cheaped-out the tooling that went into the project.  It's largely crap, made as cheaply as possible in anticipation of the inevitable failure.

110 And it further demonstrates the stupidity of the 52% who equated "GM bankruptcy" with "mass unemployment." The airlines declare bankruptcy every other year yet I can still get there safely. And yet we have mass unemployment in the Motor City.

111 And I'm sure the White House is just paralyzed with fear at the prospect that the whole house of cards will collapse before November....... don't worry, Barry will just pour more taxpayer money into GM to prop it up before the election.

112 That superhero guy with the cape?  The giant "S" on his chest doesn't stand for "Subprime."

113 The cop-car/black car market is gone now that the Crown Vic and its derivatives are out of production.

Posted by: JEM at July 31, 2012 11:21 AM (o+SC1)

I always thought the Crown Vic was the best car Ford ever made.  They moved all the civilian model production to Lincoln/Mecury and the killed that division. 

I will probably buy a Toyota next.

114 Who could've seen that the Volt wouldn't sell like hotcakes?

Posted by: WalrusRex at July 31, 2012 10:56 AM

I knew when I saw it that it would be a flop. It doesn't have a unique "look at me I care" shape like the Prius

http://tinyurl.com/cabkkdr

115 Sam Elliot needs to back slowly away from that mess.

116

"Who could've seen that the Volt wouldn't sell like  hotcakes? "

 

ISWYDT.

117 You know what is better than a car that catches on fire? 

A government-subsidized car that catches on fire.

118

119 So I have a technical question:  We use 'selling like hotcakes' to imply sales are brisk.  What if you are actually selling hotcakes and they are selling briskly.  How do you describe it?

120 4
Attn American Citizens: KY Jelly will go on sale immediately for the inevitable GM bankruptcy. Bend over and take it like a man.

Funny story...  I was talking with a nurse last night who was asked about the most embarrassing story she could remember from her job.

The story ended up being of a woman who had been prescribed KY jelly downstairs due to some issues.

The lady came back in a couple of days later with an infection and, when asked about it, said "I ran out of KY, so I just used grape instead."

121 @119 - no, the best car Ford ever built, under the Ford name, is still in production.

The Australian Falcon and Territory.

Ford's never, EVER sold anything that good in the US. 

Back in the '60s it started off as a derivation of the US Falcon.   By the mid '70s it was pretty uniquely Australian, though still sharing some chassis design with the earlier cars.   The EA-series car of the '80s was a big platform update, and the AU-series car of the late '90s put it on a par, structurally and mechanically, with the Germans.

Ford's tried to kill it off a couple times.  They built a RHD version of the '96 Tuna Taurus and sold it in competition with the Falcon in AU/NZ.   No one wanted a big FWD sedan, and while US buyers didn't think much of the shape the Australians HATED it viscerally. 

It went over with such a thud that the wonderful AU-series Falcon introduced in '98 was scorned by buyers due to its rounded shape, and Ford quickly scooted back to the studio to put some corners on it.

Ford's apparently trying to kill it again, with another FWD blandmobile.  Maybe gas prices will finally kill off the big RWD Australian sedan.  Would be a shame.

122

Unpossible!  In Feb 2011, our  tax dollars bought a Super Bowl commercial that declared the Motor City was filled with hard workers with know-how that runs generations deep.  "This is what we do." [finger point]  -- eminem

 

In Feb 2012, Clint told us all how (in another taxpayer funded Super Bowl commercial) Detroit was going to show us how to come from behind and win the big game in the 2nd half.

 

Yup, annnnyy minute now, we're gonna start kicking some automotive ass!

123 You know how the lefties always told us that the problem with the Big 3 is that "they weren't making the fuel efficient cars that Americans want to buy"

If it weren't for the Tahoes, Silverados, Suburbans, and Escalades, they'd have gone tits up again by now

Look at the smaller cars from Kia and GM, and the Kias actually look like they're better built for less money

124 So I have a technical question: We use 'selling like hotcakes' to imply sales are brisk. What if you are actually selling hotcakes and they are selling briskly. How do you describe it? Posted by: Vashta Nerada

And when was the last time you actually bought a hot cake?  That long ago,  eh?  If they're selling,  who's buying?

125 Ford's apparently trying to kill it again, with another FWD blandmobile. Maybe gas prices will finally kill off the big RWD Australian sedan. Would be a shame.

Posted by: JEM at July 31, 2012 11:42 AM

I love Aussie muscle cars, the older ones have a kind of "parallel world" look to them.

The 5th generation Camaro is built on the Holden Commodore platform and was designed by the Aussies.

126

"And I'm sure the White House is just paralyzed with fear at the prospect that the whole house of cards will collapse before November."

If we hit that bullseye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.

Akerson is turning out just like one would expect a political appointee.  He's running GM based not on what is good for the company but based on what makes him look good and preserves the illusion that GM is a functioning company.

With the reelection looming, Akerson is doing the best he can for his boss (B.H. Obama), not what is best for the shareholders (including American taxpayers).  If he were anywhere else the board would have thrown him out on his ass by now.

127 The Australian Falcon
Posted by: JEM

"The last of the V8 Interceptors!  Would have been a shame to blow it up."

128 Selling like Frosted Pop Tarts! Posted by: Mallamutt, RINO President for Life

Now we're talkin'.

129 Regarding bankruptcy. And I believe this is from the Chrysler not GM scenario but I can't remember and am too lazy to search through the media haze. IIRC the litigants lost on appeal because a majority of the creditor's committee had agreed to the shafting. In banko, the creditors input is solicited through this committee and it is given weight by the Court. Political pressure was put on enough of the cred comm to get them to fold. Therefore, the appellate judge told the minority to pound sand.

130 Volts would probably sell like hotcakes if they smelled  like hotcakes.

131 When you say "use that loan to buy GM stock," you mean GM's inventory of vehicles, or shares of GM's stock? I assume you're talking about vehicles.

132 Any business cycling through senior execs that fast is accelerating into insolvency, if they are not there already. I don't think GM can legitimately file for bankruptcy protection again, but since they ignored essentially ever portion of the Bankr. Code and Rules, they probably will. If I was a bond holder, I would be looking for any kind of jelly at this point.

133 I'd hate to be a GM supplier right now. The automakers do not pay for parts until 90 days after receipt of the parts. So there will be a hell of a lot of pain.

134 Volts would probably sell like hotcakes if they smelled like hotcakes. Posted by: StrongBad, Marketing Genius

I can do something about that.  Can you give me a ride?

135

Obama saved GM just like I'm going to save capitalism!

Let me do my war-on-povety dance I learned from my tribe---

"hey, ho.  western civ has go to go....woo wooo woo"

(Repeat as neccessary)

136 Frosted pop tart = Madonna with highlights.

137 Frosted pop tart = Madonna with highlights. Posted by: RickZ

I can get VD from my toaster?

138 126:
If something is 'selling like hotcakes' and it's actually hotcakes, it would be 'selling as hotcakes'. Like telling a bad driver "I didn't say you were driving like a fool, I said you were driving as a fool": the latter clearly implies that he doesn't just resemble a fool, he is one.

139 The Buick Regal's top-three in its class, and far better looking than the weirdball Japanese products like the bottle-opener Acuras etc. it competes against. That may be true, but nobody under the age of 65 will be caught dead in a Buick unless they're paid off like Tiger. Buick and Cadillac should be merged. The Buicks become the entry-level Caddies and Caddy concentrates on higher-end stuff like competing with the Bimmer 5 and 7 series and the Lexus GS and LS. Also, and this is very important, non-entry-level luxury cars should always be rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. Acura ruined their credibility by having only front drive. Lexus, BMW, and Mercedes all get this right.

140

My older brother was a freshly minted accountant at Ford when The Deuce purged Iacocca and his team.  He said the blood was ankle deep in the Glass House.

 

Former top execs waited by the guard house for a ride after being unceremoniously escorted out, stripped of their company cars.

141

From WSJ: GM also ousted their Global Marketing Chief, Joel Ewanick on Sunday for "failing to properly vet the financial details of a European soccer-sponsorship deal that he struck recently, according to people familiar with the matter."

 

"As recently as 2 weeks ago, Mr. Akerson said he was pleased with Mr. Ewanick's work, described him as 'fundamental' to the company and said he was doing 'a good job.'"

 

 

"GM has lost market share in the U.S. this year and faces an economic crisis in Europe.  The auto maker's stock price is languishing and execs have acknowledged recently that the company's turnaround efforts since its exit from bankruptcy court in 2000 aren't moving as quickly or smoothly as planned.  On Wednesday, GM is expected to disclose July U.S. sales figures that show it lost more ground against Japanese rivals that are regaining U.S. strength as they recover from last year's earthquake and tsunami."

 

It's interesting to note that Akerson "within 6 months of becoming Chief Executive, put Ewanick in charge of the company's global marketing, a new position."

 

 

 

 

142 Ah government run business always does so well. They produce new and exciting products at cheaper and cheaper prices. It all reminds me of 1970's USSR.

143 @149 - y'know, GM's gone round and round on this one.

Buick's US results a decade ago would have comfortably justified killing the name, but just about that time the Chinese market took off and Buick is their flagship brand there.  Has something to do with it having been very, very successful in '30s Shanghai, supposedly.   So it's been all about carrying a weak Buick name in the US in order to support the booming Chinese market.

A decade ago I was flogging a different way of positioning the company's brands. 

Right now GM is obsessed with making Chevrolet their 'cheap-car' division.  Maybe that's a bit of legacy thinking, but if you look at the products that carry the brand image - the Corvette, the Camaro, the trucks - what it really comes down to is 'the cheap V8 division'.  GM's been pushing the Chevrolet name into other markets, Europe and Asia, where it really means 'Daewoo'.   Even in the US the 'little' Chevies - the Spark, Sonic, and Cruze - are Daewoo designs, and the first two are built in Korea.   But there's no real branding reason those had to be Chevrolets other than trying to push them out of as many Chevy showrooms as possible.

I'd have liked to see GM set Saturn (or maybe Pontiac) up as the cheap-car brand (pick one, kill the other), and kick Chevrolet up just a tick as the 'traditional American car' brand building stuff more like the Australian Holdens.   That might or might not have left room for Buick between Chevy and Cadillac. 

Pontiac had been devalued out of its 'flashy upmarket Chevrolet' role by three decades of absurd plastic nonsense, and Saturn had been starved of capital investment almost since day one.    Give the Chevy dealerships a Saturn sign for the Cruzes and Sonics.

144 I live in metro Detroit, and the propaganda machine is humming along here.

Everyone believes with every fiber of their being that:

1. GM has paid back every last cent of gubberment cash.

2. GM, as a company, is healthy. VERY healthy.

145 The Volt is a technical success and a second-gen Volt could actually be a very good car.

Dood, put your clown shoes away.  The Volts that don't catch fire were a success for the 1920s.

146 The 5th generation Camaro is built on the Holden Commodore platform and was designed by the Aussies.

As long as they don't have Aussie paint, glass, bushings or interiors they might be ok.

Slightly complaining 06 GTO owner.

147

So, this administration literally stole 90% of the legitimate GM bondholders' money,

 

So who were the bondholders who got screwed? IIRC, various Indiana public sector unions' retirement funds.

 

You have to laugh.

148 If the idiocy like my foreman and supervisor have runs all the way to the top, kiss GM goodbye. It seems all they want are suck ups and ass kissers. Performance and ability doesn't seem to enter into the equation.

149 Well, at least the fired execs weren't sent to a gulag so we're not totally like the USSR.

Or were they? When was the last time they were seen?

150 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

151 A Chevy man since before my ability to drive I currently purchased a Ford, My first one ever.
My S-10 was refusing to crank and the local Chevy dealer kept saying it was the starter, yet every starter they placed on it failed Those three starters were replaced after the first one and all I paid was $150.00 per starter for labor.
After the third failure I sought out a non Chevy auto mechanic who informed me the problem was a bad ground on the battery which he replaced and then my problems went away.
I called Chevy dealer and asked why it took three starters and close to $400.00 to fix starter problems when it was an undiscovered ground wire fault, he stated, "We don't want to fix your truck we here at Chevy prefer you buy a new truck". No shizzle fart brain BUT I couldn't afford a new or used truck at the time.
All I needed was a fix so I could still operate with a vehicle until I could buy another.
I told Chevy Dealer, " I may yet buy a new vehicle BUT it won't be a Chevy nor a GM product" So we went out when we were able and Bought a Ford.
GM can go down the drain, I don't care.