http://www.cosworthvega.com/cosworth_vega_history.html

Everything that is wrong with GM today is in the story of the Cosworth Vega.

Lazy and lousy engineering; a union strike; years of advertising before the repeatedly-delayed introduction of the car; overpromising in the ads (see Volt); quality woes; overpricing; Large-ego-interference by top management; too many dealerships;CAFE standard blues; finally getting it right on its death bed. – oh and it’s ugly as hell too.

I watched this all unfold between 1971 and 1975 and knew that GM was dead; the corpse just hadn’t stopped twitching yet.
That’s when I learned the GM/Aircraft Carrier analogy – both take a long, long time to turn around, and both are hard to sink. However, once they’ve been seriously damaged, they’re almost impossible to save.

The NUMMI experience would suggest that this is incorrect. NUMMI rehired most of the UAW workers who had worked on the GM line, schooled them in Toyota Production System techniques, and turned a hellhole of a plant into a productive facility with a low absentee rate and high assembly quality.

GM in particular has gotten the union that they deserve. When the worker is disrespected, they offer disrespect in return. When the company is indifferent to product quality and customer satisfaction, the workers respond accordingly.

Managers are ultimately there to manage the business. The results, good or bad, belong to them.

They can apply for the new jobs, but the other auto manufacturers are not going to hire them. Displaced workers from the Detroit 3 are tainted. The transplants (Honda, Nissan, Toyota and others) seem to be afraid that the displaced workers might try to unionize and the workers have a reputation, deserved or not, of being inflexible and difficult to retrain.

OTOH, with the state of “churn” in the North American job market, the displaced workers might be able to fill jobs abandoned by the workers who go to work for the transplants. Possibly some might be hired by various suppliers who provide parts for the transplants.

Let me see…does Honda outsell GM? Can you say Ridgeline, RL?
“Back over at the Honda brand, one surprise in the numbers is the collapse of Accord sales, down from 30,936 to only 19,783, a 36 percent drop in Honda’s #1 selling product. “

When some or all of the Detroit-3 disappear other North American manufacturers including Honda, Nissan, and Toyota will increase production to supply the demand. Displaced workers can apply for the new jobs.

Well said Sir!! Instead of whining that you are going to lose your “secure job in your Union” and ask to bail out your BROKE employer……Its time to find a better job.

Quasi

That’s a bold assumption to make, and that assumes that Nissan, Toyota, and Honda is willing to increase production. This also assumes that the economy will pick up significant momentum to justify this increase in production

The jobs may not show up the day the big 3 go down but I beleave they eventually will. The demand for auto’s WILL go up with a drop in production. The key is in a functional company without gouging unions. I beleave I am making more than I am worth right now. I also beleave that I may lose my job at anytime by my employers fault or my own. But I beleave that my world will always go around because I refuse to borrow from my grandchildren.

The British car industry started with 200 brands, dominated the world between 1939 and 1955. In 1950, the UK provided 52% of the world’s exported vehicles (if Wikipedia has it right.) Unions, management and government ineptitude took their toll. 1975, the bulk of the Brit car industry was nationalized as British Leyland. Which did less good than a nationalized Amtrak. Chrysler sold out to Peugeot. Jaguar went to Ford, Bentley to VW, Rolls to BMW, Rover was sold to China. There is no more “British” car industry. And so? Did their world collaps? They still drive. Still drive on the wrong side of the road, but that’s a totally different matter.

That’s a bold assumption to make, and that assumes that Nissan, Toyota, and Honda is willing to increase production. This also assumes that the economy will pick up significant momentum to justify this increase in production.

Given the current and future economic outlook and the significant reduction in sales for all three companies, I doubt this will happen anytime soon, if at all.

This statement caught my eye. Most analyses I have read work on the assumption that the ‘approach’ refers to a decline to close to the minimum level.

But if one was cynical (ahem), ‘approach’ can have a different meaning this context. Look at it from the other side – ‘approach’ I take to mean ‘almost reach’, but it doesn’t specify from whether it’s a position of ‘operating’ solvency, or insolvency…

(Of course, it doesn’t make any difference either way, just thought it was a piece of weasel wording which warranted comment.)

Also, as RF notes, a lot of the MSM coverage seems to miss the fact that the Q3 results peg GM’s standing at September 30. If they’re burning through $2.3 billion a month (and there’s no reason to think that has in any way decreased over the past few weeks), they’re not even going to last until Obama’s inauguration. In fact, by that count, they’re already well below the $14 billion minimum cited by some sources. The final countdown can now be measured in hours.

1. Give up the corporate jet. And why does Rick W/Fritz H have to attend every new plant opening or auto show (GM India-9/2/08, Paris Auto Show, LA Auto Show)
2. Give up the corporate gas card. That’s right, managers still have corporate gas cards.
3. Kill the executive climate controlled parking garage. Make them park outside with the rest of us common folks.
4. Create a clear marketing message. GM is not a BRAND. The money spent on those GM emblems on the front fender/door is non value added.
5. Support current products with good marketing. Why are they spending advertising dollars for the VOLT, it’s 2 yrs away?!?!
6. Auction off the Intellectual Property for the VOLT. Use the money for the vehicles that actually fund the company. And I don’t mean the Escalade Hybrid.
7. Kill some brands!!!!!

Remember Daewoo, went bankrupt in Korea and was scooped up by GM. We have the AVEO, and several China models from this.
Perhaps the same good could come out of a GM bankruptcy.

Fuji Heavy Industries won’t go under, right?

Toyota’s bought a significant stake in them (Subaru) and is working with them on a future sports/sporty car, so no way. They get to bathe in Toyota’s Scoorge McDuck money pit. Isuzu too.

…

Fuji Heavy Industries won’t go under, right?

About that 370Z & a Nissan bankruptcy. The way the rest of the world economy is imploding…

2009: Very very unlikely

2010: Not quite so unlikely

2011: Anybody’s guess

http://www.newsweek.com/id/168109

Their losses are not significantly higher than their losses in the past few years, so I’m guessing no.

I think the mainstream financial and automotive media knew in their heart of hearts that GM/Detroit had issues long ago. But they pulled their punches.

Sure, they didn’t want to offend a major advertising segment. That’s part of it, but the real reason is deeper. Many reporters see similarities between the Detroit 2.x and their own business models.

There are strong similarities…

Unions with unproductive and overpriced work rules? Both major newpapers and GM.

Myopic management that doesn’t understand the customer? Most major media liberal management and big 2.x managers are equally clueless / contemptuous of the masses.

Brutal competition from much faster industries? For the big 2.x, it’s Toyondissan. For the media, it’s the web 2.0. (And maybe talk radio).

If Detroit is able to secure a stream of taxpayer funds, look for those in the media to start making noises about how they are to ‘important’ to fall.

The world has changed. Consumers are actually educated and the internet has played a huge part of that. If you can’t see the writing on the wall since 1991 when the hydrogen car was an actual vehicle and government grants were available in the numbers of $5M per car company through 1995.

It is simple personal economics – if gas prices increase this affects my energy bill, my food costs, my driving habits etc. Then I need to invest in things that keep my costs down – never mind global warming it is how far can I personally make my budget go. Why is Honda and Toyota doing so well – simple they recognized this and again just like the 1980’s took advantage of the market changes. You can’t blame them for being at the forefront of providing quality vehicles, vehicles that hold their investment value, and are fuel efficient on top of that.

But it’s not the end for US car manufacturers, just perhaps the big three. In Southern California there is Apteria which has a backlog until 2010 and Tesla Motors (electric cars) in Northern California. Innovation, change and listening to the consumer market as to what will drive them to purchase. (Marketing 101).

Insanity is defined as ” doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

That’s the big 3 in a nutshell.

But while that’s sad, and reprehensible it its the wrong thing: there are no brains at the top of this company. It needs to be totally reinvented or gutted.

Why does GM have 53 different vehicles that no one wants while Honda has 15 that people do want?

I don’t get it.

GM management drove it into oblivion. How can a team develop a vehicle and get production approved on a vehicle with negative profit? At my former Japanese employer heads would roll if the vehicle wasn’t profitable. This has gone on for at least 10 years. And here we are at GM.”

You nailed it. Saab, Saturn, the GM 10s,the Sky & Solstice twins.Money losers all. And while we’re building cars at a loss lets add DEX-COOL problems,plastic intake manifolds that leak,CVT transmissions that fail before 40,000 miles, try to convince the world that ON Star is more desireable than a NAV system [since we've already dropped billions into it's technology], farm out small car development with hook ups that went nowhere : Subaru, Fiat, Isuzu,Suzuki, Nummi and sell our participation in the first four at a loss. The hit list is so long that blood should run in the streets in a mass beheading.

This is criminal abandonment of fiduciary duty and if the BOD doesn’t see fit to do anything about it, why should the US taxpayer?

We do need socialized medicine for everyone in the U.S. We must get rid of the insurance companies that take 1 out of every 3 dollars we spend on health care and torture our doctors with their unique to each company’s forms and rules.

But just relieving GM of some of their expenses will not save GM. As others on TTAC have mentioned over and over GM needs a drastic fundamental reorganization.

Or maybe this money pit should just be encouraged to go away. We need some of GM’s workers in order to catch up to the Germans making solar panels or the Japanese making new types of batteries.