Sometimes If You Love Them, You Have to Say ‘No’
As Americans, we live in a car culture. We love our cars, we depend upon them, and some folks are even defined by them. Anyone who says they can’t make a profit selling cars to Americans simply isn’t trying very hard.
In a world with a finite oil supply, giant gas guzzlers aren’t eternally popular. Who could have possible foreseen that, eh? The Big Three whine incessantly that they can’t make a profit selling small, fuel efficient cars. Odd. Other companies seem to. And it’s not like they’re selling the cars cheaply. Have you priced a Camry or Accord, recently. They aren’t cheap. But they *are* reliable, and they get great gas mileage. Perhaps the Detroit Three should try producing reliable, efficient cars for a change?!?
I have absolutely no sympathy for GM, of course. They could have owned the US auto market. Had they continued to develop the EV1 line along with their SUVs, I’m sure they’d have a very profitable electric and hybrid division by now. Instead, they tanked the EV1 in order to maintain the status quo. Good work, guys!
I realize that it is a very unpopular view here in Michigan, but if the big three are going to fail, perhaps it’s time we let them? Americans will always need cars, and I suspect some innovative folks will step in to fill that need. In the long term that may be the best answer. It’s just a shame the number of workers that are going to have to suffer due to the short-sightedness of the American Auto Manufacturers.
Have you seen those commercials on TV from GM now saying they paid back the government loan with interest 5 years early? Maybe they can now focus on making cars that don’t suck.
Yeah… what they conveniently leave out is the fact that the majority of that loan was converted in to GM stock which isn’t worth much. If the company does well, we might *actually* get all of our money back in 4-5 years… no interest, of course.
Well no one ever said GM was bad at PR. I mean ‘technically’ they paid it back in some way, right? High they might as well of done it with crayon drawings of dollar bills at this point.
Where the hell is the webcomicers bail out? We provide much needed entertainment to the world. For free!
Indeed! Webcomicers Unite for some of that interest-free dosh! I’ll be dieting for years, so I assure you Mr. President, I am currently too big to fail! 😉