GM

[tw]

Originally Posted by classicman

tw will have some great insight into this.

I wish I did. Because GM top management and the BoDs were so corrupt, then Rick Wagoner has zero chance of being fired. Finally Obama did what was that obvious and necessary.

A resulting and repeated top management shuffles have resulted in almost no information. Did the car guys finally take charge? Did a corporate war recently end? Not obvious.

Well, the Chevy Volt even could not work a few years ago when they tried to demonstrate it to a PBS show. The Volt was supposed to be out already. Something happened. The Chevy Volt is now scheduled for sale at the end of 2010. Was it delayed because car guys finally got control of the car? Are now trying to fix fundamental defects? Or do defect exist because bean counters have still subverted reliability? I cannot learn anything.

We can suspect the Volt is delayed to make something better. Just not known is why.

Unknown who is running GM. They are busy claiming profits and pay backs that sound so much like the money games of earlier years. Is GM really making profits? Even that is not obvious. Especially when GM (apparently) need not release detailed information.

Alan Mullaly said something stunning in a recent meeting I attended. All Fords will have four cylinder options by next year. That implies all Fords will have 70 HP/liter engines in all cars. All Ford cars will have as much horsepower as mid 1970 American V-8 cars. Ford is clearly innovating. Whereas I still would not buy a Ford. Anyone who is buying an American car should only consider Fords.

Marchionne has been making statements about Chrysler. Pushing the new Jeep. Does it still have a suspension and steering system that has always been defined as "barbaric"? Unknown if Chrysler’s car guys are finally designing cars. The new Jeep might be an indicator. Meanwhile, Chrysler will remain a dog until it start selling more reliable and superior engineered Fiats. That is still years away. And then we will see whether Marchionne's magic worked.

We know Ford has long been on the right track. Especially interesting is an apparent productive chemistry between Ford and Mullaly. There is very good reason to suspect Chrysler dealerships will have products to sell in a few years. GM remains a complete unknown. The battle between car guys and bean counters may be in full war mode. Or GM may be slowly converted from bean counter to car guy mentality. Almost complete silence says nothing useful.