Robert
Farago of TheTruthAboutCars.com (TTAC) has checked in
with General Motors Death Watch 60, in which he discusses how General Motors'
possible filing for bankruptcy would adversely affect the Ford Motor Company, as the two automakers
utilize many of the same suppliers. After systematically discussing GM’s numerous problems (product, the UAW,
leadership, etc.), Farago concludes bankruptcy would lead to the emergence of a leaner, more competitive
GM... a conclusion he views as not lost on the Ford Motor Company in light of their recent dealings with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
[Source: TheTruthAboutCars.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Glenn Laycock @ Mar 5th 2006 8:27PM
This article is correct.
Bankrupsy, if successful (a real important card game)in restructuring -- will be Toyota's worst nightmare no question.
You can bet Toyota's extensive lobbying powers will be working overtime to prevent that.
Ford will follow GM into Bankrupsy if it come to that, and Chrysler will either follow, or demand to be a partner in what changes are made.
Presto @ Mar 5th 2006 9:24PM
What brain child came up with that article? duh?
Seriously though, GM needs to become a smaller car company and trim some fat off it's lineup. I truly hope they become successful because it's good for America and for the industry in general.
Rastus @ Mar 5th 2006 10:10PM
Have not yet read the article, but I'm sure I will. Regardless...just wanted to say this:
The VERY FACT that we ARE discussing bankruptcy wrt GM is pathetic! Absolutely a disgrace to each and every person who has worked for a better future.
For the past 30 years, GM's management has been selling out...selling out their customers, their products, their service...and now the rooster has come home to roost.
Those retired GM execs who cashed in, I hope to Hell you are sitting happy on your wad of cash...because the milking of a once-respectible company is at the point now where we are talking bankruptcy. You fat-ass' know who you are, the highers up who push for more productivity, who rape your suppliers and beat them up at any given opportunity...well, your kind has reached it's end. Because you can no longer rape and sell-out what isn't there to rape and sell out, yes?
I hope to hell you are happy...because you are a pathetic bunch, every last one of you.
Good riddance, and goodnight,
~~~smootchie bootches~~~~
Rastus @ Mar 5th 2006 10:24PM
PS, "productivity" in and of itself is wonderful and leads to higher profitability. I'm not slamming that whatsoever. But GM, their idea of "productivity" is spitting out a zillion Pieces-O-Schiza which nobody wants in the first place...which in turn leads to Blood Sales. You've turned the very idea of productivity upside-down. It takes a real bastardization to spit out a zillion products which nobody 'cept Avis and Herts are willing to buy.
And yep, I was a damn fool to buy one myself. I regret climbing into each and every day ...as the cheapness of the interior, the cheapness of the trannie (imagine being at a stoplight and having to put the car into reverse only to be able to put the thing into 1st...as otherwise it won't go at all, no matter how hard you yank on the stick...absolutely trash, trash which only the finest Motel-6 of the automotive kingdom could possibly spit out).
But hey, I don't have to worry about anyone wanting to steal it, that's for sure.
Ed @ Mar 5th 2006 11:18PM
Hmm, Congress changed the personal bankruptcy laws to reduce the state's responsibility for individuals' bad financial decisions.
Why is it that the bankruptcy code still allows massive corporations to burden the state with their idiocy? GM runs itself into the ground with decades of positively retarded management and they'll end up crying in court hoping that the BK judge will bail them out. Pathetic.
Chris @ Mar 5th 2006 11:46PM
GM and Ford both need to get smaller and get more focused on what the business is: cars. They have both turned into financial institutions more then car makers, while best in breed companies such as Toyota and Honda are growing bigger with the focus sticking to cars. Ford and GM can be competitors, they just have to regain their Focus (pun intended).
klaatu @ Mar 6th 2006 8:00AM
I just heard on the radio this morning that GM is selling 17% of Suzuki, retaining only 3%, for some $2 billion.
They sold off the portion of Subaru they owned, too.
Looks like another lifeboat just got away from the "GM Titanic" just in time.
Whey you see a company GM's size selling off what it once considered vital collaborative companies for what used to be pocket change - you know their time is near.
The "GM Titanic" is just about ready to snap in half, have the boilers fall out and both parts up-end into Davey Jones' locker. For good.
I suspect that it won't be a survivable wreck, and that Chapter 7 will be the way out, not Chapter 11.
Micah @ Mar 6th 2006 9:16AM
So...uh, what's up with that picture?
I know I'm more likely to read the article if there's a pic, but it looks like someone raided the archives of DigitalBlasphemy.
klaatu @ Mar 6th 2006 12:02PM
Micah, it's a Phoenix, a bird which reincarnated from ashes in an old American Indian fable. Get it?
Ironic that Pontiac (GM) used to build a (really really crap car) called the Phoenix, too.
Google "phoenix bird" and you'll probably come up with a better explanation than mine.
Micah @ Mar 6th 2006 12:56PM
Ahhhh... I see the symbolism now.
Thanks!
Aki @ Mar 6th 2006 1:13PM
Restructuring the work force alone won't guarantee profitability, nor would it make Toyota sweat. Management needs to change as well, in addition to the guys that keep letting junk come off the lines. Sure there will be less overhead, but the problem is much more fundamental than just having excess employees and wages.
Richard Warren @ Mar 6th 2006 2:09PM
Regarding the Phoenix:
The Phoenix bird symbolizes immortality, resurrection, and life after death. In ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology, it is associated with the sun god. According to the Greeks the bird lives in Arabia, near a cool well.
Every morning at dawn, the Sun God would stop his chariot to listen to the bird sing a beautiful song while it bathed in the well.
Only one Phoenix exists at one time. When the bird felt its death was near, every 500 to 1,461 years, it would build a nest of aromatic wood and set it on fire. The bird then was consumed by the flames.
A new Phoenix sprang forth from the pyre. It embalmed the ashes of its predecessor in an egg of myrrh and flew with it to Heliopolis, "City of the Sun," where the egg was deposited on the altar of the sun god.
The Phoenix, has become a universal symbol of rebirth and the most famous of all fabulous birds. Clad in feathers of red and gold, the color of the rising sun, it had a melodious voice that became mournful with approuching death.
Other creatures were then so overcome by its beauty and sadness that they themselves fell dead. According to legend, only one Phoenix could live at a time.
The Phoenix never died permanently. Legend says it existed when the universe was created and that it knows secrets of life and reincarnation even the deities do not know.
klaatu @ Mar 6th 2006 2:47PM
Correction to my post - Richard is right, it was Egyptian, not American Indian. It was the Thunderbird which was American Indian.
Hence the color of the Thunderbird logo on the original 1955 cars which has some relationship to the color of stones made into jewelery by American Indians of the southwest.
My bad, sorry - "close, but no cigar" with Phoenix.
(Though I'm dead right about the Pontiac Phoenix which was a total POS!!!)
John @ Mar 9th 2006 6:10AM
This company with these workers, this management, these designers, are utterly and completely incapable of building a desirable product line. Period, end of discussion. Liquidate or sell the company, and let better carmakers pick up the demand. GM has been a national embarrassment for so long, it's well past time to end the misery and pull the plug.