General Motors Death Watch 184: Resignation

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Rick Wagoner is a lame duck. No matter how you look at it, it's clear that the failing, flailing CEO must go. Next week, The General's Board of Bystanders will meet to "discuss" the crisis. GM's dividend will disappear, triggering fresh anxiety (and some atta boys) from the financial markets and the media. The Bystanders should push Rick out of the RenCen penthouse, to glide to Aruba on his golden parachute. But they won't. They can't. Wagoner walking would be the final straw: an admission that GM's forked. And before he goes, Wagoner's got one more job to do…

Obviously, Wagoner doesn’t want to be GM's CEO when the artist once known as the world’s largest automaker (a.k.a. the world’s most profitable company) files for bankruptcy. Common sense suggests that Wagoner wants to be IN the lifeboat BEFORE the women and children (i.e. assembly workers) make egress… problematic. Or, preferably, he'd like to be watching the ship sink from the safety of a tax-free tropical island.

Remember that Wagoner’s banked well over $100m in pay and benefits during his tenure at the top. And no, they can’t take that away from him. (His pension is bankruptcy proof.) So, really, all Wagoner has to worry about is his “legacy.” He’s proclaimed that GM has enough liquidity to make it to end of ’08 (woo-hoo!), To leave on a high note, Rick's got to raise some money– say, $15b or so– and then quit before the well runs dry (again). There’s only one problem: who’s going to lend GM $15b?

There are two ways GM could secure that kind of cash. First, they could hock their foreign operations. In a way, that’s already happened. Instead of plowing overseas profits back into overseas operations– to fend off increasingly strong competition– GM NA has been using foreign income to prop-up, indeed, justify, the overall corporate bottom line. We don’t know exactly how much, from where and when this transfer has occurred, but we do know that GM NA sucks. Cash, that is.

Putting a lien on GM Europe, Latin America, et al. would be seven kinds of stupid. Although the same old management mistakes are beginning to take their toll abroad (overlapping brands, too many brands, non-competitive products), GM’s foreign empire is in relatively good shape. But the bottom line is the bottom line. The money raised by the loan would only stave-off a GM NA filing, not prevent it. GM has no high-profit replacement for light trucks to pull its ass out of the fire. When the inevitable occurs, the whole Empire would crash and burn.

The second, more likely strategy: secure federal loan guarantees and then hit-up the banks. As mentioned before, it's virtually a done deal; Uncle Sam (that's you) will back-up the notes needed to keep GM from filing for bankruptcy. It will be the perfect time for Rick Wagoner to leave– even though GM will continue to burn through the money and stay on course for Chapter 11.

C11's a good thing for GM. It's the only way it can prune its bloated dealer network and diseased brand portfolio. But again, Wagoner will do everything he can to NOT be the man in charge when– not if– the deal goes down. All of which leaves GM where we started, 183 episodes ago. Well, not quite…

Back at the beginning, I argued that all eight GM brands should be hived off into separate companies. Since then, Wagoner’s decisions have sucked the life blood (cash, distinctive models, brand equity) out of HUMMER, Buick, Saturn, Saab, Pontiac and GMC. What’s worse, he’s rearranged the automaker's structure to further blur their identities. At this point, no competitor, private equity firm or management buyout group would dare touch ANY of GM's brands.

These days, Cadillac and Chevrolet are GM’s only viable brands, and not convincingly so. Does anyone really think Caddy has what it takes to compete with BMW, Lexus and Audi? Even GM’s fiercest supporters are beginning to understand that the Volt will not be enough to rescue The General. Will the plug-in gas – electric hybrid even be enough to rescue Chevy in the face of the well-established Toyota Prius? The Honda Accord? Hyundai? Anyone? Bueller?

I used to believe that a better, stronger GM would arise from the ashes of Chapter 11. I am now resigned to the fact that it's too late. To use Car Czar Bob Lutz' terminology, all of GM's brands are damaged beyond recovery. Still, some good WILL come of this. Someone will sell something worthwhile in GM's stead.

Meanwhile, THIS is Rick Wagoner’s legacy: an enormous automobile company without a chance at survival. That pays $1m a week to its employees not to work (not including benefits). That pays $250m a month in interest payments. That bought car divisions it didn’t need and sold cash cows it did. That sank from 29 percent of U.S. market share to less than 19. That wiped away tens of billions of dollars from shareholder value. That lied to itself and the world that it was better than it was.

[NB: This is an updated version of the original post.]

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Deepsouth Deepsouth on Jul 07, 2008

    We all know that they...the domestics.. have for gotten about product. It's just ALL deal spin. The domestics..all of them ..have to lure you in w/the deal not the desire. This is what the downfall of domestic product has done to me. I am a sales manager at a family owned small chain. In the last 3 weeks, I have lost 3 sales people due to lack of income.One retired, two others have just left. I now work with a complete inexperienced staff. None have college degree. The true talent has moved to other product lines. The average flat on a new car is $100.00 and spending an afternoon with a customer for that is no longer appealing for the average man working on commission. I have seen FIVE...5...count 'em five Ford deals go out in the last year within 20 miles of our store. We are just surviving by the skin of our teeth. We treat people w/respect but they don't won't us to make a profit. They seem to take glory in beating us down. The other day, I saw a profit cap sheet on a new 48-k SUV..it was $12.13 and then we had to pay the salesman flat. The fall out is here for the domestic car dealer. It's real and I'm living it. I invite any of the staff..of TTAC..to come to our floor..for a week and see what we go thru to sell product.

  • Speedlaw Speedlaw on Jul 08, 2008

    As a happy bmw owner, I'd say the current CTS is very close. Whether it is as bulletproof as the BMW is something to be seen at 160,000 miles. The Caddy SUV was nice. Almost bought one, but the dealer body scared me off. One didn't really care and the other tried to sell me a leftover flood car, denying it when I pointed out the grit under the cleaned carpets and the rusted seat rails. Acura sold an MDX that day. The caddy dealers WERE the loud suit, cigar chomping stereotype.

  • ToolGuy This might be a good option for my spouse when it becomes available -- thought about reserving one but the $500 deposit is a little too serious. Oh sorry, that was the Volvo EX30, not the Mustang. Is Volvo part of Ford? Is the Mustang an EV? I'm so confused.
  • Mikey My late wife loved Mustangs ..We alway rented one while travelling . GM blood vetoed me purchasing one . 3 years after retirement bought an 08 rag top, followed by a 15 EB Hard top, In 18 i bought a low low mileage 05 GT rag with a stick.. The car had not been properly stored. That led to rodent issues !! Electrical nightmare. Lots of bucks !! The stick wasn't kind to my aging knees.. The 05 went to a long term dedicated Mustang guy. He loves it .. Today my garage tenant is a sweet 19 Camaro RS rag 6yl Auto. I just might take it out of hibernation this weekend. The Mustang will always hold a place in my heart.. Kudos to Ford for keeping it alive . I refuse to refer to the fake one by that storied name .
  • Ajla On the Mach-E, I still don't like it but my understanding is that it helps allow Ford to continue offering a V8 in the Mustang and F-150. Considering Dodge and Ram jumped off a cliff into 6-cylinder land there's probably some credibility to that story.
  • Ajla If I was Ford I would just troll Stellantis at all times.
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
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