Is GM about to go broke?

writes:

>First time in 50 years shares fell under $10...

GM is like Ford - trying to prop up an ailing domestic US operation by
sucking the lifeblood out of non-US brands. GM's doing it with Saab, etc.
Ford is doing with Volvo, Jaguar, etc.

>Looks like TheEnd, who will be buying it?

>http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...TO01/807030390

>Shame really, nothing really wrong with the product, the management
>are to blame

Indeed - under all the b/s, the product is not really all that bad. GM's
problem is that it's tried to pool all it's brands together in one
contiguous heap and that approach is failing significantly.

Craig.
--
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http://lios.apana.org.au/~c900 | http://www.classicsaab.net and other URL's
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"Saab C900 Viggenist" > wrote in message
...
> writes:
>
> Ford is doing with Volvo, Jaguar, etc.

That'd be a mighty impressive trick with regard to Jaguar, considering they
don't own it..........

--
Kwyj.

"Saab C900 Viggenist" > wrote in message
...
> writes:
>
>>First time in 50 years shares fell under $10...
>
> GM is like Ford - trying to prop up an ailing domestic US operation by
> sucking the lifeblood out of non-US brands. GM's doing it with Saab, etc.

PS: Would you care to explain how GM is using Saab to prop up *anything*,
considering that Saab hasn't turned a profit in years and they don't even
plan on being profitable for at least another 2 years?
Sounds to me like Saab is one of the many leeches you refer to as 'sucking
the lifeblood'.

--
Kwyj.

"Kwyjibo" > wrote in message
. au...

>
> PS: Would you care to explain how GM is using Saab to prop up *anything*,
> considering that Saab hasn't turned a profit in years and they don't even
> plan on being profitable for at least another 2 years?
> Sounds to me like Saab is one of the many leeches you refer to as 'sucking
> the lifeblood'.

Yup I wont be surprised if GM dumps Saab soon.

--
Regards
Dan,

"Dan----" > wrote in message
...

> Yup I wont be surprised if GM dumps Saab soon.

Why the **** they'd want to own the useless **** of a thing in the first
place is beyond me

--
Regards,
Noddy.

"Noddy" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Dan----" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>> Yup I wont be surprised if GM dumps Saab soon.
>
> Why the **** they'd want to own the useless **** of a thing in the first
> place is beyond me

I think they were tricked into it.
GM Management couldn't think because their brains have melted in a suana in
Sweeden.
Bit like trying to get a horse to ride a unicycle really. :-)

"Saab C900 Viggenist" > wrote in message
...
> writes:
>
>>First time in 50 years shares fell under $10...
>
> GM is like Ford - trying to prop up an ailing domestic US operation by
> sucking the lifeblood out of non-US brands. GM's doing it with Saab, etc.
> Ford is doing with Volvo, Jaguar, etc.

I think the situation with Ford wrt Jaguar is exactly the opposite. Ford
poured billions into Jaguar and Land Rover and got nothing but more loses in
return. Ford was stupid to by Jaguar and really really stupid to by Land
Rover. Maybe the Indians can make money with those two. It will be
interesting to see. No one has made money with those turkeys since the 60's
(even BMW dumped Land Rover). Ford has not starved its European operations
to finance North America. In fact, Ford of Europe appears to be doing quite
well these days. Even Volvo has been well financed. Still, buying Volvo was
not a good move. It added nothing to the Ford corporate portfolio except an
over lapping range of cars. It seems that Ford is planning for Volvo to move
upscale to compete with BMW and Mercedes. Whether Ford will retain ownership
during the transition phase is an open question. If I was Ford I'd sell
Volvo in a second, for the right price. As for SAAB - it was a loser from
the day GM bought it. And GM has only made things worse by trying to badge
engineer other GM products into Saabs.

>>Looks like TheEnd, who will be buying it?

I am not sure who would want Volvo. My guess is that one of the European
competitors might try to buy it to keep the Indians or Chinese from buying
it as an entry into the European market. If Jaguar / Land Rover had been
worth a d&%n, I feel certain one of the remaining European based companies
would have tried to buy it to keep the Indians out. But given the long term
prospects for Jaguar, I would have run away from it like the plague. Ford
did wonders in improving the quality and reliability of Jaguar vehicles and
increased the range of offerings (only mistake was the X series) but there
is just too much competition in that market segment, and outside of the US
and the UK, Jaguar is looked at as a brand to stay away from. The
association with Ford did not improve the image of the company. People who
want to buy premium luxury cars don't want to hear that they are buying a
high priced Ford. Still, I'd love to have one of the new XKs.

>
>>http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...TO01/807030390
>
>>Shame really, nothing really wrong with the product, the management
>>are to blame
>
> Indeed - under all the b/s, the product is not really all that bad. GM's
> problem is that it's tried to pool all it's brands together in one
> contiguous heap and that approach is failing significantly.
>
> Craig.

I think the problem is that GM was unwilling to maintain the idea of
different brands serving different market segments. Sloan envisioned a
company where the Chevrolet an Pontiac buyers would move up to an Oldsmobile
or Buick and finally to a Cadillac as they became more affluent. These days,
the Chevrolet buyer just moves up to a more expensive Chevrolet. Buick and
Pontiac offer cars that compete with the lower mid-end of the Chevrolet
range. All brands try to compete with each other over most of the price
range. Too many barely different models competing with each other. Instead
of forcing dealer to work hard to market vehicle sin their price segment, GM
gave in and tried to give every dealer cars for almost every segment. Only
Cadillac seems to be focused on selling to a particular market segment.

Ed