Comments on: Man the Lifeboats! GM’s Going All-Out Overseas

By: BerettaGTZ

BerettaGTZ — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:38:18 +0000

Implying that emerging markets are willing to settle for “utility grade beef” is an insult to emerging markets. Since when were American customers “discerning diners in the restaurant district” and emerging markets “starving”?? Spend some time in those markets and you’ll realize that those customers are just as demanding as American customers, if not more so. The menu and ingredients have to be different, because the tastes and requirements are different.

“You’d better buy that Suburban now, because there are starving customers in China who would do anything for one of them.”

By: Nicodemus

Nicodemus — Fri, 02 May 2008 04:35:04 +0000

Relative to GMs North American stuff, the GM Euro cars are pretty good. Relative to other European cars they are at best average.

By: kjc117

kjc117 — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:30:16 +0000

GM has to go after emerging markets. The clock is ticking on GM it will just be a matter of time before the Chinese and Indians realize Toyota and Honda have better products.

By: blowfish

blowfish — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:01:39 +0000

Seems the 5 yr/100k warranty excluded the timing belt (and related damage if it failed) after the first scheduled maintenance of 30k. So if the belt failed at 35k or whatever, was the warranty valid or not? Nobody from GM seemed willing to say

If they explicitly excluded the timing belt changing at 35k , then is your Baby. Just like brake pads, the useable, wearable stuff is not included. Mnd you if the car sells for 100 grand then they will send Taxi to pick u up on service days too.

A lot of these new cars owners dont know enuf about cars, then anything looks polished up could be a very good car.

They have to wait for TTAC to be printed in there own language.

By: rtz

rtz — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:26:43 +0000

End US auto manufacturing and only import?

By: mel23

mel23 — Thu, 01 May 2008 22:49:47 +0000

God Wagoner is good at what he does. That is to lead GM down the path to corporate suicide. In NA, throw away money on niche stuff like the G8 and Camaro with gas prices so predictably rising while the Cobalt needs 3-4 more mpg to really compete with the Civic. And then in the so called emerging market, tarnish the good Chevrolet name with the Daewoo junk. Interesting reading on Edmunds under the forums where Aveo customers wonder what warranty coverage they really have. Seems the 5 yr/100k warranty excluded the timing belt (and related damage if it failed) after the first scheduled maintenance of 30k. So if the belt failed at 35k or whatever, was the warranty valid or not? Nobody from GM seemed willing to say. Somehow I don’t think this is going to cut it against Honda/Toyota. So give the emerging market folks some time to learn about GM quality, and we’ll see what happens to GM market share there. But hey, with space travel moving right along, maybe the next emerging market will be Mars where people haven’t experienced GM quality.

By: hal

hal — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:49:40 +0000

i think “utility grade beef” is a good description of the Chevrolet badged Daewoos sold in Europe.
I’d put a lot of what is sold in NA by the domestics into the same category.

By: gawdodirt

gawdodirt — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:32:58 +0000

Discerning diners? If you’re referring to the U.S. or Europe, you gotta be joking! I’d never buy some of the “Utility Grade Beef” sold by the coveted Asian manufacturers here to the unsuspecting masses!!

The Smart car is popular ya know!

By: Alex Dykes

Alex Dykes — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:58:35 +0000

I think if GM really wanted to recover, they should spin off N. American operations and just call themselves a European company. Perhaps they could keep Cadillac if they really wanted to.

By: Frank Williams

Frank Williams — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:07:05 +0000

ATTENTION EVERYONE:

I did NOT say anything about GM’s European models. Nowhere will you find any mention of Europe. If you read what I wrote, it’s talking about GM going full tilt after EMERGING MARKETS like RUSSIA and INDIA, where they do sell cars which are several grades below what the typical American or European customer would accept safety-wise and equipment-wise (and probably several other reasons).

By: Skooter

Skooter — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:41:49 +0000

GM’s european products are utility grade beef? That’s news to me.

By: Frank Williams

Frank Williams — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:40:52 +0000

I didn’t call their overseas products “crap.” However, to keep the prices low, the cars they design for “emerging” markets like India and Russia – where they’e going to focus a lot of their energy because they know they’ll sell cars there – are inferior in engineering, safety, build quality (to some extent) and emission controls to those they build for more established markets like Europe or the U.S. The Chevy Spark shown wouldn’t last a year on the U.S. market unless they did a serious number of upgrades on it. Utility grade beef is still edible, although there are very few in this country who would buy it.

By: gamper

gamper — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:39:16 +0000

I dont understand why you call GM’s overseas products crap (utility grade beef). Have you even driven the cars you are referring to? Doubt it. Be nice to see some objective reporting instead of just more cheerleading and pandering.

By: jkross22

jkross22 — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:28:04 +0000

Frank – Agree with your analysis.

Excuses only sound good to the person making them.