quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
So the shitty small cars that nobody really likes aren't working out for them?

Surprise surprise.

Yeah, I wanted a Honda, Toyota, or Subaru when I bought a new car in 2012, but they were all a lot more money than the Cruze I got instead. Couldn't afford any of the others, and you can just bet what will happen to prices once the Japs find out their competition is dropping again.

I looked at a Suburban last week, and Holy Mother Of God, it was HUGE!!! Way too big to consider driving on a daily basis, to say nothing about the poor mileage compared to a sedan. Any sedan.

By the way, I had (and liked) an Isuzu Rodeo, Jeep Cherokee Sport, and Grand Cherokee, so I'm not opposed to SUVs at all. I just can't afford to spend that kind of money on a vehicle any more.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
“Barra said the industry is changing rapidly and moving toward electric propulsion, autonomous vehicles and ride-sharing, and GM must adjust.“

Bullshit

Ditto that.

Maybe in Mary's dreams. Maybe they should study what the car and truck buyer wants, not what GM perceives what they need. Same reason why after 47 years in GM dealership parts departments I ceased driving their products and went to FCA vehicles, in fact purchased two within eight months for us.

Of course with ideas like this how can they fail?https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/11/02/gm-ebike-general-motors/1849227002/

“We’re focusing on electrics!!”

“Oh, Obama isn’t still President? Get rid of that Volt. Park it out back by that EV1.”

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
So the shitty small cars that nobody really likes aren't working out for them?

They're shitty, small cars nobody likes until and unless the price of fuel goes through the roof again, then...

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Surprise surprise.

People will be looking to unload their fuel-guzzling behemoth trucks and SUVs for shitty, small cars.

Until the price of fuel drops again. Then...

And what people pushing the green incentives forget is a lot of us have fuel-guzzlers that ARE PAID OFF IN FULL.

So unless you drive A LOT, the fuel savings $$$ means nothing.

To buy a green car for say, $25K vs paying $50 more a week in gas for your gas guzzler. It's going to take 10+ years to start seeing any 'savings' from that green car....

We just drive locally, at most an hour away from home, but typically much much less. Vehicles are paid in full, spend maybe $100/mo in gas. If I need to drive long distances for vacation or what not, I just rent an appropriate vehicle. Far better than having a gonzo Suburban when I don't use it 95% of the time.

My daughter got a Sonic that is tech maxed out gets 35-40 mpg's and she loves it. Her husband drives a large GMC Truck loaded with every option, and they drive the fuel efficient car everywhere they go together. It's surprisingly quiet when driving and talking hands free on the car's speaker phone. My other daughter's Subaru, on the other hand, has so much road noise you can't talk when she's on the highway.

quote:

And what people pushing the green incentives forget is a lot of us have fuel-guzzlers that ARE PAID OFF IN FULL.

I agree.
I have an old Chevy Tahoe which mostly sits... but I have no reason to get rid of it. I take it to my friend's farm, I haul furniture, I go hunting. Sure it uses a lot of gas, but when I need or want a big vehicle with 4WD, it's ready to go.

This will be their downfall (well...this and the UAW) and have them go the way of Sears & Roebuck until the next democrat president comes in and bails them out.

I don't know anyone who wants a battery operated car or one that "drives itself". What a crock. From what I see on the road young people don't appear to really care what they're driving as long as it's new and given to them free from mommy and daddy. It appears their only goal is to avoid highway girders while texting or face talking. When I was young EVERY dude wanted a muscle car and only a few could afford one, everyone else including me made do with whatever we could wire together or build. I don't know what teenagers and young people are thinking about cars these days. If I would hazard to guess they're thinking absoluntely nothing in particular about cars not unlike anything else in their life. There are exceptions of course and thank goodness for those.

Of course the Libs are already saying it is Trumps Fault.. And telling everyone How Obama saved the auto industry. (Before he was president.)
Even though he wont claim any of the 2009 budget because that was Bushes fault.

This is why I would never EVER buy a government motors vehicle. Screw GM.

My last Chevy truck buying experience:
About 35 4 door trucks on the lot.
5 or 6 Colorados.
8 or 10 Equinox.
A couple of each of the other models.
Pretty evident what the push to sell was.

The Millennials don't care about driving or cars.

When Ford was faced with imminent doom they had to take a long, hard look at what they were doing wrong. Today they are building the best products they have ever built. 85% of my 2018 F150 is built in the US / Canada.

When GM was faced with imminent doom they went for a "too big to fail" bailout. With our money they could continue to build the same stuff with the same attitude. The last Silverado I looked at had 53% US / Canada content with Mexico being the predominant supplier. Sell the damn things to Mexicans and go broke like you should have ten years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
GM to slash up to 14,000 jobs in North America; 7 plants could close as part of restructuring

Make America Great Again...

dafuq does that mean? Uncle Sam should bail them out?

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
So the shitty small cars that nobody really likes aren't working out for them?

They're shitty, small cars nobody likes until and unless the price of fuel goes through the roof again, then...

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Surprise surprise.

People will be looking to unload their fuel-guzzling behemoth trucks and SUVs for shitty, small cars.

Until the price of fuel drops again. Then...

And what people pushing the green incentives forget is a lot of us have fuel-guzzlers that ARE PAID OFF IN FULL.

So unless you drive A LOT, the fuel savings $$$ means nothing.

To buy a green car for say, $25K vs paying $50 more a week in gas for your gas guzzler. It's going to take 10+ years to start seeing any 'savings' from that green car....

We just drive locally, at most an hour away from home, but typically much much less. Vehicles are paid in full, spend maybe $100/mo in gas. If I need to drive long distances for vacation or what not, I just rent an appropriate vehicle. Far better than having a gonzo Suburban when I don't use it 95% of the time.

Ditto that

No more bailouts for any corporation. Let them file bankruptcy, reorganize, sell off assets and do what economically has to be done to be a viable company. This is how capitalism and economics works, it's the only way it can work successfully.

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
So the shitty small cars that nobody really likes aren't working out for them?

Surprise surprise.

Yeah, I wanted a Honda, Toyota, or Subaru when I bought a new car in 2012, but they were all a lot more money than the Cruze I got instead. Couldn't afford any of the others, and you can just bet what will happen to prices once the Japs find out their competition is dropping again.

I looked at a Suburban last week, and Holy Mother Of God, it was HUGE!!! Way too big to consider driving on a daily basis, to say nothing about the poor mileage compared to a sedan. Any sedan.

By the way, I had (and liked) an Isuzu Rodeo, Jeep Cherokee Sport, and Grand Cherokee, so I'm not opposed to SUVs at all. I just can't afford to spend that kind of money on a vehicle any more.

We had an Outback until kid #3 came along and we couldn't fit all 3 of their astronaut crash landing seats across the back. My Honda Accord actually is 1" wider back there and enough to fit them all in. Anyway, we needed something bigger and went poverty-spec basic LT Suburban, which is 1' shorter than a Silverado crew cab with a short bed and loved it, until a deer took it out and we've been in a rental Grand Caravan (zero desire to own one) and loaner 2018 Silverado crew cab (it works, but no Suburban) for six weeks waiting on a replacement headliner for the Suburban. GM makes good large body on frame SUVs. I hope they don't bungle up the 2020 Tahoe/Suburban/Yukon.

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:

quote:

Originally posted by slabsides45:
I just hope the union stands up for the little man and shows GM what for. If they'd just secure some really really really good benefits and long term contractual obligations that put GM over a financial barrel, that'd stick it to The Man. Then everything would be ok.

Where is your sarcasm smiley? Unions blow

Unions were useful during the infancy of manufacturing, in today’s manufacturing world we have plenty of agencies looking out for our work force. The only industry where I still think uníos are useful is the coal industry which is riddled with deficiencies in worker safety
Think

quote:

Originally posted by Veeper:

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
GM to slash up to 14,000 jobs in North America; 7 plants could close as part of restructuring

Make America Great Again...

dafuq does that mean? Uncle Sam should bail them out?

On another site I posted a line from The Who "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss" regarding GM post bankruptcy. Summed up the whole operation IMO.

Another article with more details about which models they're phasing out. The Volt is one of them. More proof to the CEO's statement being bullshit. If the focus is going to be on electrics, why phase out their hybrid?

https://www.caranddriver.com/n...sing-production-cars

GM Closing Plants in North America, Ending Production of Multiple Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Buick Car Models

Three plants in the U.S. and Canada will cease production in 2019, including Lordstown, Ohio; Detroit-Hamtramck, Michigan; and Oshawa, Ontario.
NOVEMBER 26, 2018 AT 7:12 AM BY JOSEPH CAPPARELLA PHOTOS BY GENERAL MOTORS 197 COMMENTS

GM Closing Plants in North America, Ending Production of Multiple Chevrolet, Cadillac, and Buick Car Models

UPDATE 11/26/18: Chevrolet representative Kevin Kelly confirmed to C/D that Cruze and Volt production will end in March 2019 and Impala production will end in the fourth quarter of 2019. GM representative Jim Cain said that Buick LaCrosse production will also end in March, Cadillac XTS production will end in the fourth quarter of 2019, and Cadillac CT6 production will end in mid-2019, although he also added that this announcement will not affect the recently revealed CT6-V. GM will do a short production run of CT6-V models for the U.S. market before the Hamtramck plant shuts down, Cain told C/D.

In a major restructuring of its operations, General Motors has announced it is shutting down three plants in the United States and Canada that currently produce cars including the Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Impala sedans and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid. The company says its future production plans will focus on building more SUVs and trucks while also prioritizing battery-electric vehicles.

The plants that are closing include facilities in Lordstown, Ohio, which builds the Cruze; Detroit-Hamtramck, Michigan, which builds the Volt, the Impala, and the Cadillac CT6 and Buick LaCrosse sedans; and Oshawa, Ontario, which builds the Impala and the Cadillac XTS along with serving as a final assembly location for the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. These plants currently employ a total of approximately 5600 workers. GM says these plants will be "unallocated" in 2019, meaning no future products will be assigned there.

While GM is not yet going the way of Ford, which canceled nearly all of its U.S. car nameplates in one fell swoop, it does seem that big changes are coming to the GM lineup. Going forward, the company says it aims to share more components across its product portfolio, estimating that 75 percent of its future global sales will come from just five distinct vehicle architectures. GM cites slowing car sales as a reason for this shift, and the numbers bear this out. Through September 2018, sales of several of these Chevrolet and Cadillac car models were down compared to the same period in 2017: the Cruze was down 27 percent, the Impala was down 13 percent, and the Volt and LaCrosse were each down 14 percent.

GM says that these production shifts will help the company increase cash flow to $6 billion by the end of 2020. "We recognize the need to stay in front of changing market conditions and customer preferences to position our company for long-term success," CEO Mary Barra said in a statement. This move comes on the heels of a major GM cost-cutting initiative that offered buyouts to 18,000 employees in a bid to slash costs. GM is now saying that it will cut salaried staff by 15 percent.

We will update this story as we learn more about GM's restructuring and future production plans.