In Soviet Russia, You don't jump car! Car Jump You!

↓↑report

Hey Jackhole,

Have you seen the recent products from GM ?!?!

Get you head out of the 1980's, man !!

Oh btw, since you clearly don't know this, the automotive sector is about 1/3 of the entire US economy.

↓↑report

Oh btw, since you clearly don't know this, the automotive sector is about 1/3 of the entire US economy.....Coolio


Are you serious? 33% of our economy is autorelated? No wonder the bubble finally burst. How on earth can our 33% of our economy depend on automobiles?

↓↑report

It's really closer to 13% that's directly related but then you have other parts of the economy that are partially related, businesses that make things related to cars like car-port manufacturers, stop-light manufacturers, pavers, and even the makers of those little tree air fresheners and then there's the added fact that most stores offer some little nick-nack for your car that you can add in. You won't see a 33% decline in the economy if GM goes under, or even if all of the auto manufacturers, but it would still be a big hit.
What bugs me is for years politicians have been saying they should build these sorts of vehicles and auto-makers have either been saying they don't make business sense or they'd have to be sold at a loss. If the government thinks this is the type of vehicle manufacturers need to make in order be sustainable it doesn't seem logical to withhold subsidies because a company doesn't look sustainable.

↓↑report

"car-port manufacturers, stop-light manufacturers, pavers, and even the makers of those little tree air fresheners"

Ya, all the countries that produce those are gonna be pissed when we stop buying from them and make them here to actually make it impact OUR economy.

The auto industry is NOT 33% of our economy.

↓↑report

I read an article that said that 1 in 6 people will be in severe economic trouble if the big 3 go down, and that would be horrible in this economy, because the corporate dildos, and the corrupt auto workers are some of the only people keeping money flowing in this economy.

↓↑report

So f'ked up idiots like you can bitch.

↓↑report

One of the reasons GM should survive are vehicles like the Volt. The Volt is a game-changer, whose dividends will appear in a second or third generation of the vehicle. That's why every other company has rushed to come out with their own EV or E-Rev concept after the Volt was announced --- even though many of them initially shot down the idea of using Lithium-Ion batteries.

To be out of this race is to seriously handicap your future. It's good that the "incompetent mismanagement" at GM was able to look beyond the short-run and invest for the future.

↓↑report

@ Gary Lowe "To continue their mission of building poorly conceived cars that have been overwhelming rejected by the buying public?"

I keep hearing this whole, "domestic auto makers should make cars people want to buy" well, they do. According to this post: http://www.autoblog.com/tag/by+the+numbers/ GM sold more cars than any other automakers, Toyota 2nd, Ford 3rd, Chrysler 4th.

Judging weather all these people buying these cars "want" to buy them or not is irrelevant. People buy a LOT of domestic cars. The problem is not making cars people want, it's making cars profitably.

Bag on the domestic automakers all you want, but these guys have a system set up to move product. The fact that they sell so many more cars than everyone else and they still lose money is a testament to poor management.

Look at the numbers, if GM and Chrysler fold that's a big gap in the market, a gap I don't think the other automakers would be able to fill immediately. So, car prices would likely go up, and the automakers filling the gap would not necessarily be better products than GM/Chrysler.

↓↑report

GM should spend all the money it has on a real promising car, Cruze, not some 40K junk

↓↑report

If GM was truly serious about reviving their company they would actually put the production of this Volt on hold and start reinnovating ALL of their seriously aging economy and mid sized cars, making them more than just on par with the foreign competition.

Yes I have seen the Malibu and seriously if you do a non biased comparison to the foreign competitors, it will leave you with an impression that says that the Malibu can use a little more improvement in a lot of areas, especially interior space. A Hyundai Elantra is only .9 cubic inces smaller in interior space than a Malibu and it's considered a compact sedan. The performance alone in a Malibu is what you would expect from a late 90's American FWD sedan, to nicely put it. In other words not much has changed how they handle now vs GM cars of the 90's

Aside from the Malibu, GM is really seriously lacking on the economy cars. Economy cars should not punish you with poor quality fit & finish and performance for not being able to afford a mid sized sedan. The Mazda 3 and Hyundai Elantra are great examples that economy cars don't have to suck. Torision bars should not be allowed except on sub-compacts. Ford has followed this ever since the very first Tempo introduced back in 1984 with independent suspension.

For far too long most domestics gave the impression that they had what most would call a "God Complex" where they would design whatever junk or boring vehicle they like and don't care because loyal people will buy them anyway. Well now they can't afford to think like that anymore. Ford learned this much sooner than Chrysler and GM, which is why Ford will start to rebound slowly. Chrysler's only card that they have left is Fiat and well GM....Let's just say if they don't knock it off with the "Oh let's get someone to lend us money so we can put out the Volt very soon so people will buy it and save our company" mindset and start having a sound business plan that consists of attractive & competitive economy cars and sedans, GM might as well go bankrupt, and maybe think about closing their doors if things get much worse. Bad businesses need to learn the harse consequenses of bankruptcy if they refuse to change their ways while drowning in more debt.

Right now soaking money into GM is sort of like someone spending money trying to keep a rusting 85 Oldsmobile Delta 88 or (insert your least liked old clunker here) running for another week, just for it to break down again and again and again.

↓↑report

tanooki2003's got it. From a recent non US news article i read
"In fact, the problems faced by GM pre-date the recent crisis. It and other US car firms have faced increasingly tough competition from Japanese car firms, which have developed more energy-efficient and smaller models."
Yup, we all know it, it's just nice to hear some news sources reasonably indicating the problem started a while ago and has been accelerated by the economy. Whether or not GM has improved does not changed how much decades of ineffective products have weekend American perception of the brand and the company's financial viability.

↓↑report

Nope, edsel is more like it. Why a car company incapable of selling conventionally powered cars in such a way as to cover their business expenses et-al would so foolishly string their hopes on an unproven model with an exterior style indicative of the 80s is beyond me. Wait, no no, I get it, it's just like the EV1. Build it in such a way that it either a) cannot be brought to fruition or b) is too costly than they can say "yup no market" all over again and blame those calling for cars like this and not their own ineptitude. Brilliant!

↓↑report

Hmmm Zamafir

You know you just might be onto something. I might have to take you up on that theory. I will have to pay a little closer attention to GM in their fading years.

↓↑report

The all new Chevy Volt, made in Korea, sold in the United States.

↓↑report