GM Is Number Two (And That's Alright)

Last year, Toyota finished the year with an unsatisfying quasi-tie for the title “world’s largest automaker.” The NY Times reports that ToMoCo has won 2008’s volume battle by a 620k unit margin. According to US News and World Report’s Flow Chart Blog, this is no bad thing. Blogger RIck Newman argues that even the most well-insulated GM executive can no longer deny that things have been going horribly, terribly wrong. The company can move on dot org. It can accept the fact that it’s an underdog that must fight for consumer consideration. It can lose the size queen sheen, and operate as if profits are the real measure of success. (A point GM CEO Rick Wagoner made last year when his minions cooked the books to retain the world’s largest automaker title, before the company ran out of cash.) Most importantly of all, Newman argues, Rick Wagoner can finally tell the truth about cars.

“Up until the last few months, GM’s embattled CEO insisted – when asked – that GM had no intention of relinquishing the top spot to Toyota,” writes Newman. “But he was only saying what he had to. Wagoner and everybody else in the business knew that Toyota would eclipse GM in global sales eventually: Toyota’s share in key markets has been rising, while GM’s has been holding steady or falling. But if Wagoner had acknowledged that, it would have sounded defeatist, in an industry where machismo still matters.”

[Cue: The Village People]

“Wagoner no longer has to defend an indefensible title. At some point, he’ll have the opportunity to change the storyline from the rise and fall of GM, to the fall and rise. But first he needs to fix a lot of problems, like plunging sales, vast overcapacity, and near insolvency. Once he does that, he can worry about bragging rights.”

Good luck with that. Our tax money is right behind you! Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for a sign that GM’s leaders know how to roll with the changes.