By Robert Farago
June 1, 2009
GM filed for bankruptcy today. From now on, TTAC will chronicle GM's fortunes under the series name bestowed upon post-C11 Chrysler: Zombie Watch. For there's no doubt in my mind that GM will not recover from its federal stewardship to emerge, as Dan Neil puts it, "smaller, leaner, smarter and hungrier." Sure, I'll spot Dan smaller (obviously). Leaner? An efficient government-funded company is an oxymoron to rival military intelligence. Speaking of which, smarter? GM is as far from smart as Steven Hawking is from professional wresting. In fact, listening to GM CEO Fritz Henderson bleat to the press today, it struck me that the automaker is pulling a Mark Mothersbaugh: it's
de-evolving. Less obscurely, the company is actually getting stupider.
Editorial: General Motors Death Watch 260: The End
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Posted in Editorials | GM Death Watch | 99 comments 
By Stein X Leikanger
June 1, 2009
GM was a politburo building cars. GM died for the same reasons that the Soviet Union died: because it killed initiative and proved unable to manage its resources at a pace that matched competing economies. Just as the Soviet politburo promoted the party faithful, demanding adherence to the party line, GM management brooked no discontent, and would get rid of any dissenting voices, banishing them to the corporate equivalent of Siberia: away from RenCen. The Soviet Union destroyed itself because of its unwillingness to accept reality. Spending untold billions on a show military force, it starved all other facets of its economic life. The Soviet leadership also accepted incredible inefficiencies in its production apparatus, and failed to exploit its vast reservoir of natural resources. Ditto GM.
Editorial: General Motors Death Watch 258: Stein X. Leikanger’s “GM Politburo”
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Posted in Editorials | GM Death Watch | 27 comments
By Paul Niedermeyer
June 1, 2009
How do you write an obituary for an entity that’s been dead for seventeen years? Like that high-school biology frog-leg experiment, GM’s twitching since 1992 was due to externally administered stimuli. Yes, I would have much preferred to write GM’s obit in ‘92. Back then, the guilty party was merely GM’s brain-dead management. It would have been easy just to rag on about all the lame cars they built. But it’s become a lot more complicated and uglier. Now we all have blood (and red ink) on our hands. And it’s not going to wash out easily.
Editorial: General Motors Death Watch 257: Paul Niedermeyer’s GM Obit
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Posted in Editorials | GM Death Watch | 29 comments
By Robert Farago
May 27, 2009
The Associated Press called it: GM is set to enter popular parlance as "Government Motors." When the automaker files for Chapter 11, the nickname will stick, as the debate over GM's future centers on whether or not the United States government should own a commercial enterprise. To which the only possible answer is no. It was no back when President Bush over-ruled Congress and authorized the first multi-billion dollar "loan." It's no now, as the feds prepare to stump-up
another $20 billion dollars to keep GM in business. There are lots of reasons why "new" GM is a bad idea. But here's the most important impediment: Government Motors doesn't have the vehicles it needs to survive.
Editorial: General Motors Death Watch 254: All That You Dream
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Posted in Editorials | GM Death Watch | 73 comments
By Robert Farago
May 23, 2009
The Detroit News headline: "Obama Auto Bailout Draws Fire." Suddenly, without warning, Motown's hometown newspaper has changed sides. What was "their" bailout has become "Obama's." The altered allegiance comes hot on the heels Chrysler and GM's decision to terminate around a thousand dealers apiece. This is not music to the domestic supporters' ears; the dealer cull represents the complete, final and unavoidable end of Motor City's domination of the American car industry. The fact that the domestics' supporters are suddenly behind the franchisee push back---which could scupper both automakers' future---shows the depth of Detroit's denial. While the bailout boosters gave The Presidential Task Force on Automobiles (PTFOA) props for shit-canning GM CEO Rick Wagoner, you can file this one under no good deed goes unpunished.
Editorial: General Motors Death Watch 253: Life During Wartime
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Posted in Editorials | GM Death Watch | 22 comments
By Ken Elias
May 20, 2009
I've just purchased a Pontiac G8 GT. Sport red metallic with every option. I paid too much (even though it was a below-invoice deal). The car just begged me to buy it. Yep, car guys make the dumbest deals when it comes to their own personal transportation. And I love it. I will drive the wheels off this car, and enjoy every torque-rich moment. But enough about me. Now about Pontiac, and GM. With less than 11 days to go before what was once the largest corporation in the world files for bankruptcy, with the Pontiac brand disappearing (what exactly is a “niche” brand anyways?), the G8 GT is a reminder of what could have and should have been. But is it also an indication of what will be? And is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Editorial: General Motors Death Watch 252: The Truth About the Pontiac G8 GT
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Posted in Editorials | GM Death Watch | 75 comments
By Robert Farago
May 3, 2009
“G.M. is very different than Chrysler,” said Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff. “But I suppose the one lesson for G.M., and all the other players, is that this is a moment when a Democratic president said, ‘I am really willing to let a company dissolve, and there’s not going to be an open checkbook.’ There’s got to be real viability.” Huh? I was under the impression that this was the moment when a Democratic president said "I am NOT really willing to let a failed automaker dissolve. Uncle Sam's checkbook is as open as a hooker's gams. For the sake of political expediency, there's got to be pretend viability." Of course, it's much worse than that. The White House has caught Detroit disease, where stupid decisions vie with no decisions for supremacy, leaving the status quo bruised and battered, but triumphant.
General Motors Death Watch 251: Putsch Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
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Posted in Editorials | GM Death Watch | 48 comments
By Ronnie Schreiber
May 1, 2009
GM's investors and bondholders have taken their lumps. The value of their investments have plummeted and they've been blamed for enabling GM's mismanagement. Hedge fund managers and institutional investors are not the most popular people in the wake of the financial meltdown so it's easy to forget that many investors are not Wall Street wheeler dealers, but regular folks with investments.
General Motors Death Watch 250: Interview with a GM Bondholder
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Posted in Editorials | GM Death Watch | 71 comments
By Michael Karesh
May 1, 2009
It doesn't seem that long ago that General Motors was pouring billions of dollars into Cadillac in a bid to create a line of world-class luxury cars. American enthusiasts rejoiced. Now, with GM on the verge of bankruptcy, all signs point to a full-scale retreat. Assuming GM pulls through, within the next five years it will kill Buick outside China--or at least kill its Lexian aspirations--and shift Cadillac downmarket into a "near luxury" position.
Editorial: General Motors Death Watch 249: Cadillac Descending
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Posted in Editorials | GM Death Watch | 54 comments
By Robert Farago
April 28, 2009
This is not what I expected. Sure, I got the bankruptcy bit right. Big deal. Better analysts than I were making that call back when I was playing with Corgi toys (another car company destined for the scrap heap). But I never thought Uncle Sam would nationalize GM. Ace commentator PCH101 will tell you it's all in good fun: a temporary government intervention that gives taxpayers a shot at recovering some of the tens of billions [we shouldn't have] spent keeping the zombie automaker alive. Or at least postpones GM's inevitable dissolution for a less financially fraught finale. But I reckon politics will rear its ugly head, create a distortion field around GM's carmaking business and kill any hope of GM surviving in any way, shape or form. The acid test: the Chevy Volt.
General Motors Death Watch 248: The Chevy Volt Must Die
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Posted in Editorials | GM Death Watch | 94 comments
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