It's finally official -- GM is bankrupt

[kristoj]

The inevitable has finally occured, with GM filing for chapter 11 reorg today. You guys in Detroit may know better than me, but I am skeptical of all the talk about how GM will emerge as a lean, mean and competitive car company. I just don't see that happening.

The sad part is that that have some real world-class products now -- Saturn Aura and Astra, Cadillac CTS, Pontiac G8 and Solstice all come to mind. But their cost structure, while greatly reduced, will still be higher than their competitors and the brand damage caused over the past 20 years from sub par products (like the Pontiac Aztec) will be difficult to undo. Not to mention being run by the government (!)

I wish them luck the best of luck, though.

[mbouse]

sadly, me thinks, it took government intervention to get the union & upper management's attention that neither were doing themselves ANY good.

i was never a proponent of government bailouts, even back in the Iacocca days with the massive loans. you screw up, you gotta pay is the way the rest of the country runs..and so should have LLC and GM. now, rather than less goverment...they both have unkle sam in their back pockets telling them how to run the show.... when was our government good at anything but fighting wars and raising taxes? what makes the govt think they can IMPROVE GM?

now, your hemi engine is guarunteed by Obama, so will your Saturn. i dunno about your market, John, but the Solstice never hit it off around here. i watched as two of those cars were traded back and forth between the Sturgis dealer and the Coldwater dealer on a every-three-month basis. both of those dealerships are permanently closed today.

makes my ten year old Ford Ranger look a little better this afternoon.

[mdrburchette]

On behalf of all my buddies in the local dealerships, I pray GM will come out of it in good enough shape to be profitable and self sustaining. 20 odd years of my life was dedicated to keeping GM customers happy and in their cars.

[ga.spyder]

I really dislike the idea of these gov't bailouts.If a company cant make it ,then....see ya!You hear a lot of blame being heaped on Obama and Bush for these policies,but none of these failures originated with either one!These are the result of many years of overpriced labor,poor management and zero eyes to the future.If your gonna ''Buy American'' then ''Buy a Ford''.They are the only ones that arent in our pockets!! I surrender the soapbox,and thanks for listening
Craig

[So Cal Mark]

let's see-Buy American, Buy Ford. Are the Fords that are assembled in Mexico considered American?
GM has been morally bankrupt for about 25 years, now is their chance to finish off the retirees and small suppliers. They've already alienated most former customers.
Car salespeople retrained as "car people"? hahahaha. They are trained as salespeople, that's it.

[kristoj]

Now we all know the government -- which now owns GM -- isn't morally bankrupt, right? That is, in addition to being actually bankrupt in the case of California anyway. I think it's safe to say their objective is to legislate the automobile as we all know it out of existance. We can only hope that we won't all be forced into transportation appliances like the Prius.

[So Cal Mark]

Calif won't be bankrupt for another month, and not at all if our stimulus package comes through.

[Spiddy]

We can only hope that we won't all be forced into transportation appliances like the Prius.

GOD FORBID

[JimM]

Calif won't be bankrupt for another month, and not at all if our stimulus package comes through.

It might take two more months--they just tripled the car registration fees. $72.00 for my '78 Fiat alone! As for GM, everyone already knew they were going to go under, but as a taxpayer I did not really expect to buy the company. My biggest concern about this deal is that I feel we have the blind leading the blind with both parties being somewhat deaf to practical advice and totally lacking common sense. Enough sermonizing----Good Luck to all. Jim

[Jazgeek]

I see in today's news that GM has sold Hummer to an unnamed entity.

Thoughts on who?

1. Al Gore - so he can destroy them all
2. Arnold Schwarzenegger - so he can make all californians drive one
3. Fiat - so they can make it smaller
4. Honda - so they can rebadge it as Pilot MkII
5. Toyota - so they can finally get some credability as a truck manufacturer

serioiusly though, there was a consortium of investors from Quebec that put a bid in last February, wonder if they accepted that offer.... lol... we can call it De Ummer "spoken with a bad French Canadian accent"

[ga.spyder]

Nope....Sold to a Chinese Heavy industry corp.!! Now they can make it way cheaper,and sell them back to us for enormous profits!!!

[htchevyii]

Soon the Chinese will all be driving around in Hummers and we will all be driving tiny pos Chinese cars and mopeds.

[mdrburchette]

Wonder if that's who we'll rely on for our military vehicles.

[pope]

The military version is the Hum-Vee and is built by AM General, same company that builds the little post office delivery trucks.
Sidenote: Those Post Office trucks average 25 years in service each.
The commercial version is the Hummer (H1) and that is built by AM General but was discontinued several years ago. The H2 is also built by AM General and sold by GM. The H3 is built by GM and is a Chevy Suburban reskinned. AM General is not part of the deal, so China bought the H3 and maybe the rights to sell the H2.

[Europa]

Pope, I thought the H2 had the Suburban/full size pickup underpinnings and the H3 was based on the Chevy Trailblazer & GMC Envoy platform.