Next Up For Bailout Money: GM Says it Needs $18 Billion
As the second of the Big Three to come wagging their tails between their legs to the US Congress, General Motors is asking for a total of $18 billion dollars to avoid imminent bankruptcy. The only problem: nobody gave them the electric car memo.
Unlike Ford, which in their tail wagging earlier today made a huge shift to focusing on electric car development, GM chose to focus their restructuring plan on the fact that they have a large number of fuel efficient vehicles (defined as 30+ mpg on the highway) already on the road. Plus, they say that by 2012 more than half of their cars will be flex-fuel capable.
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They make a passing mention of the upcoming Volt and highlight the upcoming introduction of SUV and pickup truck hybrids like the 2009 Saturn VUE, Silverado and Sierra hybrids. By 2012, GM says it will offer 15 hybrid models.
Oh man. Whoop-dee. Where’s the reinvigoration? Where’re the new strategies? WTF? We already know about flex-fuel cars and Detroit has done a piss-poor job of marketing them. We already know about your old-school hybrid technology. Nobody cares about hybrid SUVs anymore. Give me a break GM. Are you really going to hang your hat on the one piece of truly innovative technology you have — the Volt? Have you given up?
I’m sorry, but the writing’s on the wall. These are not the solutions that Americans are clamoring for or excited to support. The fact of the matter is that companies like Nissan, Mitsubishi and now Ford have seen the future of driving for most people, and that future is electric.
Look, as much as I appreciate the fact that current electric car technology won’t fit everybody’s needs — read: rural folks who drive long distances daily and haul a lot — and that clean car technology for those folks involves biofuel powered automobiles, the electric car looks like it’s the best solution for 80-90% of the US’ driving population.
Certainly flex-fuel vehicles are going to be an integral portion of our automotive future (if the manufacturers would just start tuning cars to actually run efficiently on ethanol), but it’s not the best available technology for short distance commuters or city folks.
For GM to come up with this as their best plan shows a lack of initiative and creativity. It’s like they went home and sulked and procrastinated until the night before the big project was due and then did some s@#t piece of BS right before it was due.
Just ridiculous. Didn’t the Big Three talk to each other before presenting their plans? Didn’t GM realize it was going to come off looking like the schmuck? Give me a break. All their plan shows is that they’re as resistant as ever to real change.
You can read the press release here
Download the actual restructuring plan here
Photo Credit: gotplaid?’s Flickr Photostream under a Creative Commons License
Thanks for the feedback Nick!
Mr. W
April - I totally agree with you. Congress is being really hard on the auto industry (which is warranted) but they are foregetting they voted against higher standards for emmissions and gas mileage. How soon they forget and how quick they are to point the finger.
The government should not have to legislate this stuff. It is sad that Americans as consumers have not forced this issue sooner.
The big three are in trouble due to lack of leadership at CEO level and the
Wages reduce for the union employees just reduce the contact pay raise in
Boards. Some recommendation they need to do . This will stream line there
operations. 1.) No CEO’s should be paid no more than 400,000 year salary
anything else should be base on performance of the company. 2.) eliminate at
all plant level the production manager position this is another level of
management not require. The Plant Manger can handle all the duties of the
production manger.
3) eliminate all the extra perks upper management get to drive a company car
paid gas and insurance at all levels from Supertendents at plant level and up
this is very cost. 4) Used of the Corp Planes understand GM has 8 planes sale
them. Most of the meeting can be done by satellite if face to face meeting is
necessary 5.) All three companies are TOP HEAVY at higher MANAGEMENT and Union
positions. A example union has spirit guide, the average 20% clip board non
productive jobs in the union that is NOT authorized by head count this at most
of the plants. They could eliminate all Supertendents at plants and just
keep one Area mangers, 6) Union should have to pay part of there benefits like
insurance the salary employee has paid there insurance for 20+ years while the
union pay nothing no cost of living allowance 7.) eliminate several clip board
jobs in the union is a waste of manpower and money such as problem solvers,
quality jobs, lean manufactory nothing lean about any of these position they
screw off and are appoint position by the union.
.
the up coming year wage freeze this will put them in line with the foreign auto
workers pay 9.) Attendances Policy for the union employee are out of control
unable to get ride of the bad actors with this current union
contacts absentee problems is protect by the union 10) Develop car & trucks
that can get 40-50 miles a gallon. The government has to STOP the companies from
leaving USA install heavy taxes and tariffs on company that left USA.
. JOBS are the key to our economy however the mismanagement need a new
direction and replace the CEO’s and Boards that don’t get it. It look like Wall
Street did not get equal treatment as the auto companies they were give a blank
check with no controls or accountability. Not sure if we can identified where
the money went with the Wall Street bail out - why ? Those CEO’s need to be
address the same applied with the salary caps. Several should go to jail. IF YOU
ALLOW THE CEO ON WALL STREET TO GET AWAY WITH THIS WILL SEND THE WRONG MESSAGE.
It clear that Washington Republican don’t get it, the three Republican Senators
( Ky,Tenn, Alabama) have foreign auto factories in there state its clear
another attack on the middle class again by the rich republicans that don’t give
a dam about jobs or the economy. Why did they not address the Wall Street CEO’s
like they have done the auto companies. Republican way of thinking that has got
us in this mess to begin with. The Last Depression was start by a Republican is
time for another?
The (GRD) great republican depression is a necessary purge of the American soul! It will rid the world and the American mind of the “entitlement” notion, and lower expectations so drastically, a 14 hp, 40 mph, 200 mpg golf cart will be considered a great luxury! The huge and powerful empire, the U.S.S.R. collapsed in very short time, for the same reasons we are finding carrying on difficult. Beware, it can so happen to us, they left a legacy of unused armament stockpiles greater than our entire military forces. If the Chinese turn Obama down for a loan to get out of trouble, we are screwed tight in the tender spot without grease! The car companies will be the smallest part of our survival problems to be sure.