Struggles at General Motors: GM may close more factories

[Bozita]

http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0504/26/A01-162446.htm

Struggles at General Motors

GM may close more factories
Despite a decade of cutbacks, analysts say sluggish sales point to more job losses.

By Ed Garsten / The Detroit News



General Motors Corp., faced with shrinking North American market share and evaporating profits, may have no choice but to close more plants and lay off thousands more workers.

The automaker is trying to wring cost out of its money-losing North American business, which is saddled excess manufacturing capacity.

In the past 16 months, GM has been forced to shut down various North American assembly plants for 121 weeks because of slow sales and bloated inventories, according to an analysis by The Detroit News.

This week alone, GM temporarily laid off 7,000 workers, joining an estimated 8,500 workers already idled due previous plant closings or permanent production cuts. By contract, GM must pay the workers 95 percent of their pay.

more...

[LiberalEsto]

1. They gambled on cheap oil from Iraq,

and look where that got them.

[Wright Patman]

2. They'll have to file Chapter 11

at some point to break those contracts. Imagine any other industry in America where you receive 95 percent of your pay for not working while your company figures out how to move the bloated inventory.

[Mari333]

3. They couldnt read the writing on the wall?

peak oil, inflated gas prices..Michigan is already the no 1 state with no jobs available. Where I live if you make 9 dollars an hour and have a steady job you are considered very very lucky.
They might as well hold a funeral for the middle class.

[brainshrub]

4. Americans only have themselves to blame.

They wanted to save .25 on that t-shirt at Wal-Mart and didn't give a crap about all the jobs overseas; Now they can't afford to be in the middle class anymore.

[tanyev]

5. Maybe all those months of 0% financing

weren't such a good idea, after all.

[0007]

6. The steel mills aren't cranking too much these days, it appears

that things are slowly slowing down. America may wind up being just one big ghetto one day if we don't change our way of thinking.

[raccoon]

21. Anybody else besides me think we should change

our national anthem to a Bruce Springsteen song, such as
"Downbound Train" or "My Hometown?"

[0007]

22. "Downbound Train" would be great!

...or Bobby Dylan's "Its all over Now Baby Blue"

You must leave now
Take what you need, you think will last
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast.
Yonder stands your orphan, with his gun
Crying like a fire in the sun.
Look out the saints are comin' through
And it's all over now, baby blue.

The highway is for gamblers, better use your sins
Take what you have gathered from coincidence
The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets
This sky too, is folding under you
And it's all over now, baby blue.

All your seasick sailors, they are rowing home
All your reindeer armies, are all going home
The lover who just walked out your door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor
The carpet too, is moving under you
And it's all over now, baby blue.

Leave your stepping stones behind, someone calls for you
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you
The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, baby blue.

[Dr.Phool]

7. Great business plan

Keep making Hummers and SUV's, with the price of oil skyrocketing. Resist Hybrids.

Toyota has doubled the production of the Prius 4 times in the last 18 months, and there's still a year wait to get one.

[leftchick]

8. I hope Toyota or Honda makes a Hybrid minivan

or something like it for a family that has boys like me! :)

[AlCzervik]

10. i'm pretty sure Honda is coming out with a hybrid version of the Odessey

in the next 2 years but don't hold me to that.

[leftchick]

12. that would be very cool!

I love the Prius but my boys hove so much stuff wherever we go! I could handle any kind of stationwagon too!
:)

[Paulie]

18. Toyota makes one today, onsale in Japan

Actually, I believe they make two different models, but I only found one quickly:

http://toyota.jp/alphardhybrid/index.html

[leftchick]

19. thanks!

that is kinda cute too! I am going to Japan this fall and I will check them out.

[Coastie for Truth]

35. If you're in Tokyo

there's a neat Toyota showroom about two or three blocks from the US Embassy toward Tononoman Hospital and Shimbashi Station - has all of the Toyotas on sale anywhere in the world (there are lots of mini cars and big cars that are not sold in the US or Canada).

[colinmom71]

27. I've read that Toyota plans hybrids in each class of vehicle in the US...

Within the next 10 years. That is, they plan to offer a hybrid in each class, which are the compacts (currently the Prius), full size sedans, mini-van, SUV's (Highlander will be the first offering here), and trucks. The hybrid Highlander, last I heard, is planned to be introduced in about a year or two. But yeah, I'd love it if they'd get the Sienna in a hybrid version ASAP.

That hybrid mini-van in Japan is very nice! I love that electric swing-out chair option. Colin would love that, and I'd prefer it to a ramp van. Thanks for providing the link Paulie!

[TheFarseer]

37. yep, it's their own damn fault

I don't fell one bit sorry for them. I hope those execs never work again and have to live in a cardboard box although I do feel for the workers. This is not their fault and they don't deserve this. Hopefully some of them can get a job putting together Prius's in one of their American factories.

[Strawman]

9. Don't worry, our leaders have a plan

* is going to send Laura to MI to read "Who Moved My Cheese" to all of those laid off workers. There's plenty of new cheese in the ownership society.

[robcon]

11. It may be GM's death spiral.

Lower sales lead to plant closings, leading to fewer dealers/lower sales/more plant closings.

GM is not competitive, and may never be again.

[ugarte]

14. I think you're right

Every time I actually see a Chevrolet automobile, I find myself looking twice. They're like some rare bird species--and yet when I was growing up, that's all my family ever drove.

[trogdor]

26. Well, I certainly hope robcon is full of it.

I also have to admit, sadly, that he might be right.

That having been said, there is no reason, other than suits who cut corners, or slap one of GM's brands on some Suzuki shitbox, that Chevy can't make cars that compete well with Honda or Toyota.

[reprobate]

32. Robcon, it may be AMERICA's death spiral.

This is truly a case where 'trickle down' may be true. A slowdown of GM with plant closings will cause how many of their small suppliers to lay off employees and close their doors?

And what will their closings do to the economies of their communities?

I am not optimistic.

But then I seldom am.

[Paulie]

13. I feel for the workers

The reason GM is saddled excess manufacturing capacity is because the products they sell are all the same, no matter the brand, and not something people go out of their way to buy.

There will be only one brand in 5 years; "GM." All the others will be gone. And all they will have to do more badge engineering to make it happen.

I owned 3 new Oldsmobiles, they atleast at the end had their own engines to differentiate the brand (the Aurora v8 and the "shortstar" 3.5L LX5, all based around the Cadilac Northstar). They killed it off, I went Toyota. My Camaro isn't made anymore, and the product also died from neglect. sigh....

It's not the workers fault that GM is in this boat. Maybe they should outsource design/technology to Toyota USA? :)

[ugarte]

16. And don't forget their forgettable TV ad campaigns

They have probably the lamest ads on TV. It's like they're made in house or something to save money.

[DS1]

17. And while I'm aware that Dodge isn't GM, I saw a Viper up close the

other day. One would think for a manufacturer's Premier auto, it's rolling showcase so-to-speak, they'd have quality control that didn't allow for seams wavering between 3/8ths and 1/2 inch.

Sheesh.

[raccoon]

25. It's the fault of the big shots at GM,

as you said, it's not the workers' fault.

Rewind to the 1970's, when Americans were buying foreign cars, mostly Japanese, because they got better gas mileage. Ford and GM weren't making any smaller, lower mileage cars then. They came forward with --tah-dah--the Pinto and the Vega!

They're not making any hybrids. Why weren't they developing hybrids as soon as they got wind the Japanese were doing it? When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?

The sad thing is, when this happens, it's the rank and file that get the raw deal, not the head-up-their-behinds big shots who made the decisions.

[Coastie for Truth]

31. When Ross Perot said the same thing

--Squeaky Smith sued him -- then bought him out.

When Ptomkin and Reedman said the same thing - Squeaky Smith sued them.

Don't forget this is a company whose CEO (Charles Wilson) once said "What's good for GM is good for the country, and what's good for the country is good for GM."

[DS1]

15. 121 weeks = 30 months = just about how long Bush has been telling

us the economy is strong :crazy:

[Strawman]

23. we're turning the corner!

we've just made a sharp right turn down Poverty Alley!

[dave123williams]

20. Phase 1 of the 'Bush Boom'...shutter GM.

[Ruby Romaine]

24. Andy Card was a GM lobbyist so we the taxpayers will bail out GM

but they'll still move factories to China.

[Coastie for Truth]

30. The Levins (Sander and Carl) were atty's for Ford,

Conyers is the largest minority Ford (and GM and Toyota) dealer, Dingell's wife is a GM VP, and Bonior was a UAW bureaucrat.

I lived in the Great Lakes State - it's a one party state -- "GMFORDCHRYSLERUAW"

[Bozita]

33. iirc, none of Michigan's cong delegation support raising CAFE standards

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Coastie for Truth]

34. That was my experience when I lived there

- Carl was evasive about CAFE at a Press Conference when the EV1 was released (surreounded by ev fans) -but he caught himself the next time and said he did not favor raising CAFE.

[Coastie for Truth]

28. More tragedy from the Waggoner and Lutz comedy team

Waggoner and Lutz - have the contractual right to make and brand Priuses from their Fremont California factory - just like Prizm/Corolla and Matrix/Vibe. Have you seen any Chevy Priuses - even on Fremont CA's auto mall? I haven't.

Waggoner and Lutz - discontinued the EV - when there was an equivalent 24 year long waiting list -- and they shredded all of the EV's. While Toyota and Honda have waiting lists for their hybrids.

Waggoner and Lutz - talk about hydrogen powered fuel cell cars - long after I'm dead and buried.

Waggoner and Lutz - dug Harley Earle up from his grave to sell the ugliest, most gas guzzling Buicks you can imagine.

Waggoner and Lutz - lobbied against raising CAFE and lobbied for gas guzzling SUV's and pickups and sport utility trucks. Sitting on factory lots - eating up shareholder value.

Waggoner and Lutz - cracked down on those who dared question them (Los Angeles Times) - shades of Roger "Squeaky" Smith of Michael Moore's "Roger and Me".

Where did Waggoner's short lived predecessor Bill Stemple go? He was smart, he went into the electric vehicle and solar energy business.

As a shareholder - it's time to dump Waggoner and Lutz. (I haven't owned a GM car since '87 - hold the stock to vote against incumbent management).

[Robert Oak]

29. they did it to themselves

I cannot think of a career choice that fosters, protects and encourages
incompetence more than the executive class.

GM is yet another prime example. They offshore outsource the jobs, reduce quality as a result, remove
the gas saving vehicles from their product lines...

put stupid DVD players in very overpriced gas guzzlers and are now
suprised they are going down.

Even within the US all engineering is outsourced so within
Ford, GM and what not you have engineers who are completely clueless
just managing suppliers...

now how dumb is that to keep an unmanageable bureacracy, fire US
workers and offshore and not consider revamping the product line...
plus have no technical competence in house.

I think they do not understand why SUVs even sold beyond
"people want status and power"..they spent billions analyzing the "psychology" and "primative mind" of consumers...with nary a thought to anything that was right in front of their face, obvious and practical.

...could it be the reason people bought them was not "power and status" but more SUVs are a truck combo
and people wanted a larger engine simply to get up mountains and steep
inclines? Could it be the 4WD which considering half the year is
snow and ice, might be a desired safety feature actually to be able to
get around in all kinds of weather?

Lets see, ability to haul large items, get up steep inclines, more
steel between you and the 4 wheeler truck slamming into you, more
visibility and wala...the ability to control the thing in bad weather
due to 4WD.

Now do you think anyone has considered putting those features
in a more eocnomical fuel efficient vehicle at GM? Why of course not...

Yet Toyota, which employs many Americans...of course is. Because
unlike Americans, the Japanese do not have this power hungry
incompetent executive class...they actually pay attention to their
customers and do not screw their workers and as a result
make a superior product.

[unhappycamper]

36. Make a well-built car that gets at least 50 MPG

and you'll have waiting lines. Too bad you schmucks are asleep.