Closing Arguments: New GM or Same Old Lemon?

It's no secret that peak oil and the developing world are certain to give us a constant series of powerful oil price shocks from now on. The only way any car company can survive is to make sure they are competing with compact plug-in hybrids like the VW Golf TwinDrive. Any car company not producing plug-in hybrids will be dead in five years.

Government Motors will not be successful in a World Economic environment

The US auto industry made a fatal error. They put their focus on money and took their eye off of the customer.

If GM, Ford, and Chrysler, start providing quality in the interest of the customer, THEN they can thrive.

If all American industry continues to work for shareholder profit and forgets the customer, the stock market won't save them. It's time for a new paradigm. A return to the old paradigm. "Customer First!"

The only way GM can make a come back if it really makes fuel efficient and quality cars. A general perception about American cars are that they become worthless after only 100,000 miles, compare to Toyota, Honda, Nissan or any other Japanese or European car. This perception really needs to be changed along with fuel efficient cars if GM or rather any American car makers needs to make a comeback.

This "restructuring" was done on the backs of thousands of GM shareholders and bondholders. Thousands of retired Americans lost a good part of their income when the Government put themselves ahead of legal bondholders. This will cripple GM in the future when it searches for cheap debt and left this life long GM buyer turning to Ford. Never before in business history has the Government stepped on contractual bondholder rights. GM won't get the time of day from the Bond markets in the future and it will add basis points to all large American Corporations. I would not buy a GE bond now....who knows when the Government will trample over your contractual rights.

Past experience has shown that GM has dropped some very popular models (brands), Lumina being one that I owned and loved. I now have a 2001 Saturn SL1 that gets nearly 40 mpg and is fun to drive; granted, it's a "basic" car, but some of us don't need lots of bells and whistles - just reliable, economic transportation. GM has decided to NOT continue Saturn production. Instead it will keep Chevrolet and GMC (many of these vehicles are identical just changing the brand and model logo), Cadillac, and Buick (these last two the luxury cars). It appears that GM is not really interested in customers or economical cars. Good luck to them, but they have a tough sell ahead of them. Oh, I've been a lifelong owner of GM vehicles.

Perhaps this is not germane to the "will GM survive" topic, but I haven't heard what Nasir stated about 100,000 miles being the expected life of GM vehicles. I have owned GM vehicles my whole driving life, about 40 years, and have put close to 200,000 or more on all of them. With proper maintenance, the bodies will rust away before they die mechanically (at least in Minnesota - road salt, you know).

i live in bowling green ky. and we have had the gm corvette assembly plant here for 25 yrs. when gm moved here from st louis missiouri they promised to hire 50% of its work force locally,they did not. the majority of the workers came with the plant from s. louis and the rest from other U. A. W. workers from other plants who were on layoffs. the city and state gave huge tax breaks to lure them here and have been doing so every time gm talks about moving the plant again. this occurs about every 5 yrs and as of 2009 they have less than 5% of the local people employed there. they will not survive unless they can make a more affordable car so the middle class can buy one. 20 to 30 thousand dollars for a car that depreciates in value by 3,000 when you buy it is the reason no one can afford to buy there cars and trucks. by the way the city agreed 10 yrs ago to build the corvette museaum and the city has yet to see a profit go figure.

To answer your question, all you need to do is go to the Chevrolet.com website. I went to the site to investigate the new 2010 Chevy Camaro- a nice looking car by the way. The site is horrible to work with! I had to comletely start over three times when trying to "build my own" car. The website is clunky, hard to work with, and full of misleading statements. Same old same old.

GM + Congress = ????? Doubts "Customer Service", "Customer First", etc., have not heard nor found these ideas promoted by American car manufacturers in years - decades maybe? When I needed to replace my Mercury station wagon, "tell the little woman what she really ought to buy is ..." = BARF!! Gag me again American car industry. Your sales bilge lines may work on the men you study/hustle. This offended/insulted American woman bought a most reliable Volvo B4 Ford bought the company. I'm keeping my Volvo station wagon because it meets/fills my needs for safety, fuel efficiency, comfort, etc. BTW, Volvo's Courteous Customer Service has always been honest with me from the first contact. They built the car I wanted/needed to protect and safely move my family and self. It has proven more than worth the construction and shipping time. Volvo Asked and LISTENED to my needs. Then Volvo met my needs so well that I am still happily driving the same quality upgraded vehicle. Can GM match/learn? Decades ago the Japaneese asked Americans what we wanted in our personal cars - listened - and built what Americans wanted - sold it to us in ever increasing numbers. Should GM decide to quit dictating to us via slicky ads & sales it might survive, maybe even thrive. Depends greatly on how well it Asks, Listens, Implements, Offers, Supports, and Maintains. Congress needs to get its own parts of this equation into Better Order and be part of the solutions rather than such hinderances. GM + Congress = ????

I will not buy a GM car... and I doubt they will be better now than before.

Plus having to be bailed out and owned by the government and run by a guy from AT@T does not sound promising.

I don't think today's revelations from GM are the dawn of a new era for this automotive giant, just more lip service for the Obama regime and the public in general...40 days is not a long enough period of time to overcome 25 years of gross mis-management and poor standards on the part of GM. Don't blow smoke about how much could be accomplished in forty days with the unions and corporate management...it takes longer than that to file the bankruptcy paperwork. Tell me something they are doing about AFFORDABILITY, FUEL EFFICIENCY, AND PRODUCT QUALITY, then maybe I'll listen...until then, I AIN'T BUYING IT !!!

Gratitude ??? Hell yes, I'd show the government a ton of gratitude if they gave me 50 billion dollars !!!

Sink or swim, it all hinges on the decisions these corporate big-wigs make in the next year or so...If they decide to listen to the people and make a car that the people want and can afford then they may have a chance to succeed...If not they can only expect to continue on their downward spiral...along with the rest of the economy. they have effectively ostracized themselves for the bond and lending market so they are going to have to rely on their own corporate efficiency to bolster sales and profit...through their own gross-mismanagement, they have effectively killed the "goose that laid the golden egg" meaning their customers and the general public....who knows if that consumer confidence will ever be restored or whether the public will view them with jaded-optimism for years to come. These corporate giants have killed the middle class as we know it...and who knows if it will ever recover??? Don't tell me what you've done after 40 days...tell me what you've a year or so down the road to improve products and services to your customers. Then I'll listen !!!

What happened to the "no one will buy a car from a company in bankruptcy" argument? Wasn't that why we the taxpayer forked over the bail out money to GM and their ilk in the first place. Now that it is in bankruptcy it puts the lie to the whole argument for the bailout. Since we, the tax payers, now own Government Motors, I think each tax payer should be given a new GM car. Why should I fork over my own money for one when I've already bought one with my tax dollars? I've owned Plymouths, Jeeps, and now a Ford. I take pride in owning American cars. But now, I refuse to own a Government Motors car. Ford will get my money from now on unless they too are taken over by big government!

GM has to make it, they have NO choice! What they need to do is follow what the Germans did after the 2nd. WW, they need to build a "People's Car" like the VW. The first ones were a very basic car, no extras, no heater, no radio, ect. and they developed into the Car the rest of the world adopted as it's first "Economic, Gas Efficent Car". They were low in price that made it possible for low income people and students to be able to afford to buy, drive and maintain them. Hell, I bought my First one, Brand New, in 1969 for $2,200.00 when I was 21 and drove it for 15 years, I loved that car. This country needs to be able to get rid of their gas guzzeling bahemoth's and get into a smaller, more basic car that people who have lost their jobs or having to endure a cut in pay can afford to drive, maintain and pay lower insurance costs. By the time GM gets the "highbreads" on the market they are going to cost way too much for the average income person or family to buy. People want to get back to the basics, they have to, put in the heat and air but let US decide if we want to add the expence of a radio or a CD player and the rest of the "EXTRAS" if we want and can afford them. GM needs to give us a car we ALL can afford to drive and then maybe it will start that climb back to the top.

I want to belive GM has emerged as a changed company with new technology and innovation. A company of the 21st century. The photo of a new gasoline fueled, muscle car (CAMARO) in the background with a picture of a GM exec, I find discouraging. This photo in my view does not breed optimism, but pessimism. If GM has emerged as a changed company, than why are they advertising a camaro?Is it a Plug-in? Unless GM is building vehicles which can run solely on clean energy and eliminate a fossil fueled engine all together, I'm buying from the competition.

I think it's rather hypocritical of those who now say they won't purchase a GM or Chrysler vehicle because of government involvement, will be the first ones to run out and purchase a Honda Insight or a Toyota Prius; vehicles that have been highly subsidized by the Japanese government. No thank you. I've owned nothing but reliable, economical to maintain, and in some cases, fuel efficient vehicles from all three U.S. manufacturers since old enough to drive and will continue to do so. For one, I don't like sending a large part of my dollars overseas which one does with every import name plate purchased, regardless if they were manufactured here or overseas.

I have a 98 cavialar it has 240,000 miles on it. It is a great car, no one else I know had a car that lasted this long I like my car and think the bad remarks of the economy is making it worse on them. I like my car and it is a great car. Someone is saying GMs cars is not what it should be I think it is people giving bad advertisment about them, that is hurting them. I would like to see better gas millage that I get in the future. At prestent I get around 30 miles a gallon .

some one needs to tell them that most of their cars still suck. Plus they did away with GMAC which most of their profit came from.

Regarding the Camaro -- the V6 gets 29mpg Highway according to the EPA. Maybe that sounds less than stellar when comparing to the Pri/sight, but understnad these are two completely different clases of automobile. For the kind of vehivle the Camaro is (sports coupe) 29 mpg os actually Compare to Cobalt to the Civic / Corolla, and you get a much more even playing field. In fact, the Cobalt bests them both at 37 mps highway.

I have a question for all of those who just love to take a dig at GM...when was the last time you owned one? 1981? Have you really taken a good, ahrd look at what they offer NOW? Or have been so entrenched in your beloved Honda or Toyota that you don't even really know what yo're talking, yet you're quick to pass judgment on GM?