Is this it? Could it be the General’s last stand?

We all know GM has been going through tough times for the past few years. But I, for one, find the sudden avalanche of bad news and all these doom and gloom articles to be less than encouraging. All of that has made me wonder, what’s going on? It seems like one day, they’re on the road to their recovery, on their way to pulling off a huge mid 90’s Chrysler type of comeback and literally the next, they’re on the verge of collapse.

You disappoint me… Maybe you’re better off that way
This really doesn’t make any sense, with “Maximum Bob” in charge of operations, tons of new products on the way and the supposedly endless resources that GM has, you’d think they would’ve been able to rocket right back to the top, as the undisputed best of the industry. Rather than that, we’ve seen delays, plans that get the axe, the “just wait ‘til you see this…”, and though most weren’t all that bad, products that were somewhat disappointing considering what we were told they were working on. Looking back, I guess this was the first sign that something was wrong. When the LaCrosse (French slang for Masturbation as you probably all know by now), which was supposed to be the first of the all new Buicks, which would be something like we’ve never seen before ended-up being the 2005.5 Century, I guess we should’ve known at that time that this couldn’t be good. However, they kept telling us when we weren’t happy, that well, “just wait ‘til you see what’s next!” and we (well, some of us anyway) believed them.

Another thing, which very well may also be part of the problem, is the brand identity, or lack thereof. I’d be willing to bet that if you removed the badges off a new Audi (which nobody has seen yet), VW, or Toyota for that matter and showed it to people, asking them to identify the anonymous car, they’d be able to tell you. If GM attempted this these days, where no model seems to fit with any other, I think the people would name anything but the actual brand. Buick already did it with the LaCrosse; want to know what people guessed it was? Most people in the group identified it as a Lexus. Which is why it makes me sick to my stomach to see them kill the old nameplates which were part of their history (Century, Grand-Am, FIREBIRD, CAMARO, Cavalier, etc) and replace these models with a “new” one with is clearly just the next generation of the old one it replaces. Sure, these things get done by other brands as well, but when the Century was a huge seller for them, why ditch the name and call the 2005.5 Century the LaCrosse? Same thing applies for the G6 too, as well as many others I could name. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if this cost them a lot of old loyal customers, the change of model names as well as the big change in the direction a lot of their brands are now taking.

Cadillac would probably be the best example of this problem. They have now become quite popular with the enthusiast crowd as well as with younger people. You have to ask yourself, at what cost though? The person who wanted good old classic American luxury most likely won’t buy a modern Cadillac, because the CTS, DTS and STS are nothing like the models they replace. Some people would say that they’re much better, but that depends on who you are. Remember, there are all kinds of people out there, and we all need cars. If one brand won’t make them, someone else will. Buick could easily fill this position which has now been left vacant by the old Cadillac, but I fear their days might be numbered, given the current situation at GM. This could save them, or at least help, but this is also somewhat of a catch 22, they have no easy way out.

Lose some weight… please…
GM also has another big problem, which consists of them simply being too big. I actually took the time to count the number of brands once, and they’re up to approximately 14 I believe. This wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t that a lot of models have more than one version for more than one brand, and the changes that were made between the many versions aren’t too discernible from one another. Platform or component sharing is one thing, but when you have something like the Uplander, SV6, Relay and Terraza, as much as I hate to say this, it’s unacceptable. The multi lineup “a car for everyone” strategy may have worked great in it’s time, when each brand was on a different level in a well though-out hierarchy. These days, I couldn’t even tell you what brand is supposed to go where, and this, is one thing they need to fix, and fast. Competing with yourself is self-destructive and only encourages you to become generally mediocre (no pun intended).
In my opinion, they should kill off Chevy Truck, leaving all trucks to GMC. Seeing how GMC is their truck division, you’d think this would be the logical thing to do, yet for decades, they’ve sold slightly cheaper version of the GMC line-up as Chevy Truck. Saturn is Oldsmobile without the history, as I’ve heard someone say once, this division which has lost its way should be next to get canned, but not to completely leave. They should replace Saturn with Oldsmobile, but not build what Saturns were, make it the real return of the real Oldsmobile. They had a good “import fighter” there, they just gave-up much too soon.

Unless they stop competing with themselves and start focusing on competing with everyone else, the way they used to do, I’m afraid they may be doomed. What scares me even more is the fact that they still don’t seem to really be in a hurry to do any of this much needed restructuring. They actually don’t seem to be willing to change at all, not fast enough at least.

Good morning Mr. Lutz, this is your wake-up call
Something I find to not be very encouraging at all is the fact that despite the fact they’re losing money like you wouldn’t believe, market share is falling and fast, stocks are hitting all time lows, etc. They still don’t seem to be really trying to make any much needed drastic changes; they can’t seem to break their old habits. It’s precisely this, their traditional way of doing things; which is seriously hurting them in a market which has evolved quite a bit. The world is in constant evolution, all things change through time. If you absolutely downright refuse to change, you’re not going to last very not, not in the cut-throat ultra competitive business world.
Now, I’m well aware that big corporations such as General Motors can’t really turn around and do a full 180 overnight. The problem is, based on the announcements they’re making, the plans we know about and the latest news, frankly, this is not looking good. Changes need to happen now, not in 2007, or even 2009 in some cases. If they want any chance of surviving, they need to make big changes and they need to do it now.

All this is what leads me to ask? Could this be the end? Could this be the moment we thought we’d never see, that some of us have feared for the last few years? I’m not sure, but if they want to do anything, they need to make up, and do something, quick! Come on Lutz, we’re waiting… Where’s “The NEW General Motors”. As a long time GM enthusiast, I must say that these are sad days indeed, but as hard as it is to watch this, we shouldn’t go around throwing the blame on everyone else, because though others factors have helped, they’ve mostly done this to themselves.
I just hope it’s not too late, because I’ll be one of the very sad and disappointed people, the day that GM fades away, to be found only in the history books.