General Motors Death Watch 160: Promises Promises / Volt Birth Watch 24: Fly Me to the Moon
Bob Lutz compares GM's Volt development program to NASA putting a man on the moon.
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General Motors Death Watch 159: What's GMNext? Panic!
GM is showing signs of genuine panic. After that, they're out of options.
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General Motors Death Watch 158: Of Mice and Men
“It would have helped to have a little bit of sunshine.” What a strange statement. Not “General Motors is prepared to weather the economic…
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General Motors Death Watch 157: The Fog of War
Last November, all GM’s eight U.S. brands lost ground. As the automaker’s pretty much shot its vehicular wad, the falling stats have convinced ma…
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General Motors Death Watch 156: Struth!
This is my first General Motors pre-obituary. I’ve never penned one because I never liked having to face the reality that GM's killing itself one bone-…
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General Motors Death Watch 151: Maximum Bob's Keepin' It Real
Bob Lutz is a gift. The Car Czar’s uncanny ability to spout uninformed, arrogant nonsense makes analyzing GM’s corporate confusion a slam dunk. U…
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GM Death Watch 150: My Kingdom for a Malibu
GM touts their new Chevrolet Malibu as "The car you can't ignore." I've driven the new ‘Bu. It's a handsome, well-built, thoroughly competent machine.…
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General Motors Death Watch 149: Contractual Obligations
After perusing the United Auto Workers’ (UAW) contract with GM, I reckon both sides got a good deal. The UAW secured job guarantees: assurances that GM…
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General Motors Death Watch 148: You Can't Fix Stupid
Clearly, nothing about the United Auto Workers (UAW) proposed contract with GM is clear. Until we see the precise details, the agreement's ramifications are…
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General Motors Death Watch 147: Everything You Know is Wrong
Day two of the UAW strike and media consensus has been reached: chill. Amongst The Detroit News’ (DTN) hopeful headlines: “Gettelfinger: Strike m…
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General Motors Death Watch 146: The UAW Strikes Again
After more than a week of overtime negotiations, the United Auto Workers (UAW) is on strike at General Motors. For those who think this action signals the be…
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General Motors Death Watch 145: The Truth About GM's August Sales
Imagine GM CEO Rick Wagoner in his RenCen bunker in the middle of August. Reports from the front indicate his North American division faces a third straight…
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General Motors Death Watch 144: Nolo Contendere
Last week, I spoke with former Florida Oldsmobile dealer Robert Horvath. Horvath insisted that General Motors cut a secret deal with Toyota to deep-six Olds.…
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General Motors Death Watch 143: Off Target
I’d like to meet the idiot who thought that the Cadillac BLS was a good idea. Actually, I’d like to meet the group of idiots who said sure, let&r…
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General Motors Death Watch 142: Chapter 11: A Capital Idea?
By their own admission, General Motors' North American operations are currently doing business with negative working capital (NWC). At About.com, an unnamed…
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General Motors Death Watch 141: False Dawn
In the second financial quarter, General Motors made $891m. The General's camp followers have been delighted with the slim not to say two percent profit. Mea…
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General Motors Death Watch 140: Good News, Bad News
I've been wary of GM's alt propulsion press vehicles since ’04, when The General faked a hybrid test drive with Autoweek, slapping a cod cover on a pus…
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General Motors Death Watch 139: Money Talks
On Tuesday, the junk bond market sneezed and General Motors caught a cold. Less poetically, the money men behind the buyout of GM’s Allison transmissio…
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General Motors Death Watch 138: The Big Picture
"We anticipate will still be the most profitable market in the decade ahead. It's really key not to be excessively dependent on the U.S., but you still nee…
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General Motors Death Watch 137: The General Dumps Allison
“This is another important step to strengthen our liquidity and provide resources to support our heavy investments in new products and technology.&rdqu…
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General Motors Death Watch 136: Black Tuesday
In June ’05, GM CEO Rick Wagoner unveiled his turnaround plan for the beleaguered automaker: accelerate new products, eliminate discounts, renegotiate…
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General Motors Death Watch 135: A Whimper, Not a Bang
Let’s keep things in perspective. Delphi has been in bankruptcy since October 8, 2005. As in "we need protection from our creditors and a new way to do…
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General Motors Death Watch 134: How Do I Do It? I'm in Debt up to My Eyeballs!
GM had an excellent May. Despite the title of this series, I’m not going to dwell on the fact that The General’s ten percent year-on-year sales i…
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General Motors Death Watch 133: Saturnalia, American-style
As GM tosses the last pieces of furniture into the cash conflagration burning down their house, you are going to see some seriously weird shit. Saturn’…
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General Motors Death Watch 122: Burn Baby Burn
GM’s Board of Bystanders just voted to allow its top execs to resume trading their company’s shares. GM’s big dogs have until May 21 to buy…
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The Truth About NHTSA's Revised Corporate Average Fuel Economy Figures
On Friday, Senator Carl Levin condemned a draft Commerce Committee bill revising federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. The bill would rais…
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General Motors Death Watch 121: On the Fritz
"We have a continued sense of high urgency." Last Sunday, I ressurrected auto industry analyst Mary Ann Keller’s 2005 call to GM to face its problems w…
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General Motors Death Watch 120: The Definition of Insanity
After Rick Wagoner “woke up” to the news that Toyota had replaced General Motors as the world’s largest automaker, GM’s CEO fired-off…
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General Motors Death Watch 119: Toyota Replaces GM as the World's Largest Automaker
“Our goal has never been to sell the most cars in the world.” For those who’ve been following GM’s fall from grace, this statement&nd…
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General Motors Death Watch 118: Too Much Too Little Too Late
When Car Czar Bob Lutz told the world that GM was putting the Zeta platform on hold, it was the second time the rear-wheel drive (RWD) program had been chopp…
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General Motors Death Watch 117: Wrong-Wheel Drive
"It was at the point where if you extrapolated that trend line out, you could see where that trend line hit the ground.” No, GM Car Czar “Maximum…
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General Motors Death Watch 115: Small is… Hang on… Thinking…
It’s déjà vu all over again. GM’s sales sink, the PR flacks weave a tangled web and the product guys dangle shiny objects in front…
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General Motors Death Watch 114: Suboptimal
Is it any wonder GM announced another deadbeat deal and cash incentives the day after they reported their long-delayed fourth quarter and year end financial…
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General Motors Death Watch 113: Hey Diddle Diddle
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: GM Car Czar Bob Lutz is a gift. To the media– not GM stockholders. The General’s Vice Chairma…
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General Motors Death Watch 112: The Three Headed Dog Days of Winter
GM CEO Rick Wagoner was once the automaker’s Chief Financial Officer. So why has GM twice delayed filing its 10-K financial statements (reporting their…
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General Motors Death Watch 111: Munit Haec Et Altera Vincit
Since the General Motors Death Watch began, GM employees, dealers and customers have emailed me their perspective on the General’s general degradation.…
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General Motors Death Watch 109: Fingerspitzengefuhl
Our man Mehta recently ran into a GM PR flack at an industry event. When Sajeev revealed TTAC as his spiritual home, the GM underling shook with rage. Still,…
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General Motors Death Watch 108: Stuffed?
I know it’s hard to believe that the world’s largest automaker is going down– especially when the company’s management swears up, dow…
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General Motors Death Watch 107: Volte Face?
It’s no secret that The Detroit News (DTN) likes to cheer for the home team. It’s also no surprise that the financially challenged paper imports…
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General Motors Death Watch 106: GM Unplugged
Last spring, reporters forced GM CEO Rabid Rick Wagoner to confront his company’s demons. At the opening of a Russian assembly plant, in the midst of U…
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General Motors Death Watch 105: Bob Lutz Screws the Pooch
Writing in his Fastlane Blog, GM Car Czar Bob Lutz recently claimed that proposals to raise Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards by four percent p…
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General Motors Death Watch 104: TMI?
Gary Cowger recently sat down with Wards Automotive for a good old kvetch. GM’s group Vice President of Global Manufacturing and Labor Relations compla…
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General Motors Death Watch 103: Deja Vu All Over Again
About three years ago, GM CEO Rick Wagoner made a critical decision about his company’s products. Rather than radically revamp The General's full-sized…
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General Motors Death Watch 102: Cut the BLS
I recently received a review of the Cadillac BLS by a South African scribe. While the writer responded to my revisions by retreating to the pub, I couldn&rsq…
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General Motors Death Watch 101: Bankruptcy. Just Tzu It.
Plenty of pundits predict the world's largest automaker will jump down, turnaround, pick a bale of bucks and survive. We can debate this delusional suppositi…
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General Motors Death Watch 100: Tag It and Bag It
In Friday’s interview with Automotive News (AN), Rick Wagoner snapped. When confronted with the fact that Toyota is set to overtake GM as the world&rsq…
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General Motors Death Watch 99: It's A Small World
What do China, Thailand, India, Mexico, Eastern Europe and Venezuela have in common? They’re not America. Or, if you prefer, the United Auto Workers do…
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General Motors Death Watch 98: The Last Redoubt
Has anyone noticed that Toyota’s new pickup truck production plant is located in the same Texas town as The Alamo? I know: metaphorically speaking, it&…
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General Motors Death Watch 97: The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow. Or Not.
The media’s failure to get ahead of The Big Two Point Five’s swan dive from grace is a source of constant amusement. The press’ collective…
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General Motors Death Watch 96: Half Empty
Yesterday, a Yahoo news bulletin popped up: “GM’s losses narrow.” If that’s the way you see it, please don’t tarry here. You kn…
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General Motors Death Watch 95: Dear John
According to the highly credible “Ford and GM set to merge” journalists over at Automotive News, The General has agreed to pay bankrupt parts sup…
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General Motors Death Watch 94: Table Scraps
GM’s September sales figures are out. Despite generous Labor Day incentives, zero per cent financing to anyone with a pulse and an easy year-on-year co…
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General Motors Death Watch 93: Detroit Death Match
Yesterday, Automotive News reported that octogenarian GM investor Kirk Kerkorian is "frustrated with CEO Rick Wagoner's lack of enthusiasm for an alliance wi…
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General Motors Death Watch 92: GM's Hydrogen Powered Halo
Even as it struggles for its short term survival, GM has unleashed a cloud of hydrogen-powered publicity. A week ago last Sunday, GM announced that "Project…
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General Motors Death Watch 91 / Ford Death Watch 8: GM and Ford To Merge?
The idea that Ford and GM will merge or, as they say these days, “form an alliance” is yet another sign that we’re reaching the End of Days…
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General Motors Death Watch 90: Flight of Fancy
Did GM buy a piece of Moller International? The General’s recent TV commercials show its full product range rising off traffic-choked roadways and flyi…
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General Motors Death Watch 89: Elimination
So, General Motors has pulled its sponsorship from Survivor. Flackmeister Ryndee S. Carney claimed GM came to its decision “months ago, before the show…
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GM Death Watch 88: Almost Doesn't Count
Motor Trend just reviewed the new Saturn Aura. Reading between the lines, it’s clear that GM’s mission critical mainstream motor is another in a…
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General Motors Death Watch 87: Dead Beat
A few days after GM's vice president of vehicle sales, service and marketing assured auto industry analysts that his employer will maintain incentive-free &l…
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General Motors Death Watch 86: Pickups Stick
Last Thursday, Mark LeNeve declared that General Motors has “turned a corner.” Obviously, GM’s Vice President of North American Sales and M…
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