A New Look And Feel For GM

[the1sen]

GM - The new leaf begins to turn...

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The worst part is: it's true.

[the1sen]

Giant Mess

[fun4two]

No kidding, coudn't be more true

[Darth G-F]

Wait a minute, is that a real ad?

[the1sen]

It is a real ad - the video is the same as the original, and most of the verbiage has been changed.

Gracias amigos.

[Uncle Sam]

Yeah, GM really screwed the United States by generating all that production and employment for 100 years by the world's once largest industrial concern. Fortunately the 21st century holds the promise of all the economic benefits to be derived from sarcastic critics equipped to deliver their observations by instantaneous media. If it wasn't for Jon Stewart we might have a real financial mess on our hands. I hope he runs for the Senate soon.

[...m...]

...i understand your resentment, sam, and you're right that general motors contributed a lot to amercian industry through the first half of the twentieth century, but by the seventies their senior management viewed their home market as chattel to be exploited, no longer concerned with creating honest value for revenue, and unfortunately that toxic mindset only grew more pervasive throughout company over the ensuing four decades...

...the video's tagline is spot-on: general motors planned their own obsolescence, short-term gain over long-term viability...

[swede]

You cant live on what you did in the past, competition will pass you by real fast, GM is case in point. No product development or innovation

Sad but true

[...m...]

Originally Posted by swede

No product development or innovation Sad but true

...what's unfortunate is that, excepting around the turn of the century, GM maintained a brilliant R&D group, the automotive equivalent of old-school big-iron bell labs, producing truly outstanding innovative work - which was with depressing regularity stifled from ever making it through to production...such seems to be the case with most megacorporations as the dead weight of middle management playing things safe slowly settles in to smother any embers of struggling vibrancy...

...nobody ever lost a paycheck for mediocrity, and least not until they brought the whole institution down around them...

[Noisycow]

Great vid - thanks for posting!

[shoco]

This video is right on the mark. GM did dismantle our public transportation system way back in the 30's or 40's. I have always thought their engineering was superior, but since about the 70's they just haven't made anything special enough to be called a classic design.

[the1sen]

Originally Posted by ...m...

...nobody ever lost a paycheck for mediocrity, and least not until they brought the whole institution down around them...

I sadly understand... The absolute truth is that in the automotive industry, there is very little risk taking... Aside from the Aztek, the Sky, and the Solstice, GM didn't put their innovative ideas into production or even TRY to find new markets like their European and Japanese counterparts.

Mediocrity in American society is exalted and it absolutely sucks, ESPECIALLY in any creative environment. The higher ups seem to have a "better vision" that's more viable than the people they hire to be creative.

GM, Ford, Chrysler have mismanaged their way into their own graves. But they're somehow related to jesus and are going to resurrect and save our economy.

I don't blame them for making money. I blame them for making money and not making something worth buying in exchange from 197x to now.

[kverges]

GM obvioulsy did a lot to create so much hate, but I personally know many of the engineers and they are creative, hard-working and enthusiastic. Also, GM makes many products that are outstanding. The C6 and its variants are great value and world-class performers. The Solstice/Sky were rated superior in performance by Grassroots Motorsports to the MX5. The CTS-V is amazing!

What amazes me is the love of Japanese cars. Other than the very select few like the GTR, MX5, 370Z what a bunch of uninspiring transportation appliances. Toyota may be #1, but ironically I cannot think of single Toyota or Lexus vehicle I'd buy. My wife bought a RAV4 some time ago and I slowly cajoled her into a Mini and she's never looked back.

[Stormy320]

Originally Posted by kverges

Toyota may be #1, but ironically I cannot think of single Toyota or Lexus vehicle I'd buy. My wife bought a RAV4 some time ago and I slowly cajoled her into a Mini and she's never looked back.

I have an FJ Cruiser and it's an awesome vehicle. Solid and strong. A very creative looking SUV, especially if you make your own mods. I will be giving it a facelift and giving it to my son when he is 16 (he's 4 months old now) .

[kverges]

Popular vehicle, but useless to me. 3-door configuration is impractical, it cannot tow like my Diesel pickup, and I personally cannot stand SUV's from a driving experience perspective.

But then again, other than my Diesel pickup and VW wagon and Mini, we have basically no vehicles but 2-seaters. Unless I NEED the space for dogs or extra passengers with me, I won't drive anything but a sports or GT car, so I am on the lunatic fringe.

As a side note, for our driving school we were looking into rollover safety of open cars without roll bars and I was amazed to find that NHTSA shows rollover death and fatalities are far worse in SUVs. I bet that is largely due to more SUVs on the road, but frankly I prefer the thought that my car performs well enough to let me avoid an accident rather than survive it by being in the bigger vehicle. I know I could get nailed anyway.

[Uncle Sam]

I guess two general points I would make in regard to discussion would be; one, it is easy to be a critic, and two, absolutes are limiting.

GM and, not to forget its many related (yes, defunct) subsidiary/suppliers like Frigidaire, Visteon, etc. have made contributions since the 1970's. Many European automakers acknowledged the superiority of GM air conditioners and automatic transmissions by including them in their cars in the 1980's. Since I have owned and am interested in performance cars I tend to remember Corvettes where many technologies are introduced first on a high-dollar car. My 1985Corvette had forged aluminum suspension A-arms, composite springs, tuned port injection, Formula One derived tread patterns on the Goodyear street tires developed for the car, an electronic dash, etc.. That car was 300 HP/3300 lbs. and it would be interesting to compare it to an Evora.

The most obvious recently GM developed technology that is world class are rheological shocks. I believe Ferrari, Maserati and others are using almost the exact hardware with specific software tuning for their applications.

As for the evaluation of public transportation, a general observation is that a car gives an individual choice that public transportation severely lacks.

It easy to forget that, even in decline, American car manufacturers have sold millions of vehicles to customers, not all of whom are dupes. It is true that poor management in a publicly traded company is focused on short term returns for market reasons and has resulted in compromised product, but I would say that management tied to a governmentally-directed company will be a bigger failure.

[fpitas]

Originally Posted by Uncle Sam

I would say that management tied to a governmentally-directed company will be a bigger failure.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but...they're bankrupt. How can anyone do worse?

[Uncle Sam]

Originally Posted by fpitas

Not to put too fine a point on it, but...they're bankrupt. How can anyone do worse?

Run constantly in the red on the taxpayer's dime.

[zcar222]

Originally Posted by fpitas

Not to put too fine a point on it, but...they're bankrupt. How can anyone do worse?

Ummm... Because they are going to use your money to produce new cars. Which are going to be half-ass government rated cars for government fleets. Don't get me started on how the govt is going to manipulate the cash flow situation of their new fleet of vehicles. It can get much much worse.

-Whit

[fpitas]

Originally Posted by zcar222

Ummm... Because they are going to use your money to produce new cars. Which are going to be half-ass government rated cars for government fleets. Don't get me started on how the govt is going to manipulate the cash flow situation of their new fleet of vehicles. It can get much much worse.

-Whit

I guess. The alternative was to allow them to belly-flop and take down many subsidiary industries with them. I'm not sure what the best solution is, but just ignoring the situation has drawbacks too.