General Motors was a bit taken aback by the backlash that followed after it announced it would be closing several of its North American plants and discontinuing six nameplates.
The automaker knew that the restructuring plan, which it internally referred to as “Turbo”, wasn’t going to make it any more popular, but in light of the 2009 financial crisis, it seems the company was at least expecting to receive praise for exercising foresight and axing slow-selling models before things got out of hand.
In a recent interview with Reuters, GM president Mark Reuss said the automaker had to make necessary changes to its business.
“We’re not here to make everybody angry,” he said, before adding that GM has to stop “investing money in things that don’t make money.”
The job cuts that came as part of the “Turbo” plan still took their toll, though. GM CEO Mary Barra had made a point of cozying up to politicians in Washington as Donald Trump began to take aim at the North American Free Trade Agreement. It was a smart plan, with potential changes to NAFTA threatening to affect GM’s bottomline on its trucks made in Mexico, but the job cuts in November have essentially reversed any inroads it had made.
As Reuters reports, one democratic representative said the job cuts have made GM “the most thoroughly disliked company in Washington.”
US president Donald Trump took aim at GM following the announcement of the restructuring as well and called on Mary Barra to allocate a different product to the Lordstown, Ohio plant where the Chevrolet Cruze was built.
At the time, Trump’s economic advisor Larry Kudlow said the president felt slighted by GM after reducing strict Obama-era fuel economy standards. “We’ve done this to help you and I think his disappointment is, it seems like that they kind of turned his back on him,” Kudlow said.
(source: Reuters)
Comments
“Turbo” is a perfect acronym for Barra and her management team:
Terrible
Unaware
Reprehensible
Broken
Overpaid
In Canada, Toyota is not angry at you GM, You handed over 30% of your sales to them. They are thrilled!
Proves GM upper management is out of touch in many ways. Sad but true. Worried about, ‘investing money in things that don’t make money’ could be said about management, too.
Sometimes things just all come together in one big s**t show.
Combine the slowing of the auto market.
Combine the ” out of touch” product line of sedans.
Combine the “out of touch” CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Combine the LACKLUSTER onslaught of new products.
Combine the closing of plants.
Combine the moving of products to other countries.
Combine the “in touch” products of the competition.
Combine the CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE of the competition.
Combine the confusion of the direction of the company.
Combine the confusion of who IS in charge.( bean counter, engineering, marketing)
Add that all up and stir, POOF, you get anger.
Yep you guys are right.
GM should forgo the profits and cost cutting in a contacting market.
They should invest more into small sedans that have dropped from 70% to 30% of the market and dropping.
They should continue to build cars at Oshawa just to keep the Canadian market that is smaller than most states happy just to employ some hostile Unifo members.
The reality is depending on the model, pricing of the model, the volume of the model , the cost of setting up a plant etc it will determine where it is built.
A lot of work and thought in respects of cost and investment goes into where things are done.
Some of you think it this is just like playing a board game and you just up your token and move to Boardwalk.
Normally it is the same folks over and over that truly never show true understanding even a part of what it takes to put product into a plant.
Is GM doing it all right…no. But who is? No one.
Running a company in real life is not easy and that is why you are on the web and they are getting paid a lot of money working around the clock while taking abused from about everyone no matter if you get it right or not.
I am disappointed by what is going on at Cadillac but you also have to understand more than Mark and Mary are involved in all this.
Even Lutz at the top of his game had a board to answer to.
Profits are up, cost are down, stock is up and spending on new technology is greater than most MFGs so this sets GM up well for the future.
Blazer SHOULD be built in Lordstown, no excuse other than greed.
Here we go with scott3 again. What company do you run? 2015 chrysler and Ford agreed to turn small car plants into truck and SUV plants, GM waited 3yrs until they seen proof of what was going on in the markets because they upped the ante by investing in redesigned and restyled their whole car lineup. They started to produce the bolt which is not even a tenth of the sales of the Tesla model 3. Management has no idea what they are doing. Barra said in 2016 they had analyst’s that could predict markets 5yrs in the future. Not happening. They are confused about market conditions for their products and it shows
Outside of Tesla the Bolt is the best selling EV in the US. It’s also the fastest EV outside of Tesla and it’s cheaper than any Tesla. The Bolt isn’t GM’s problem. They just need to wrap it into a more mainstream package.
Yeah, but that is always it.
“The bolt isn’t the problem they just need to wrap in into a more MAINSTREAM package.”
Reword, beep, beep, beep, zip, zip, zip.
Everything we do isn’t the problem, it just needs to be more mainstream. Hummm!
I think where we differ in opinion is the purpose of the Bolt. I don’t think from the beginning GM wanted to sell 100k of Bolts a year like the Tesla Model 3. The cost equation just doesn’t work out for EV’s from an initial sales price standpoint. Yes you could argue cost of ownership, but that’s not how people justify their car purchases. The Bolt allowed GM to get their feet wet with 100% EV technology, and data gathering. It allows them to buy time to cheaper cell cost. In that regard in the US only Tesla and GM have years of experience and over 200k+ vehicles on the road. Tesla has done it with negative cash flow and GM with positive cash flow.
80% of EV owners lease and 55% PHEV owners lease…GM did sell 200K vehicles (in the US) yet less than half were even pure EVs…GM took the ICE Spark and created the Spark EV, it originally wanted to EV the ICE Sonic so the plant could easily switch between ICE and EV drivetrain based on demand…However, the Bolt evolved onto its own platform and there’s one article out there that states at least one reason was so they could maximize the interior volume including pushing the wheel-wells outwards…It’s also stated the next Gen Spark (there will be one, just maybe not in the US) will be built on the Bolt EVs platform…Perhaps they could have “EVed” the Sonic, gotten about 210 miles of range, got the MSRP way down to $29,995 and it would have sold (or leased) far better…It should have gain at least ACC if not supercruise by now along with a second motor which would have greatly assisted with data gathering…
The Nissan leaf is the 2nd best selling EV outside of the Tesla model 3 and model S. Why can’t people know facts before trying to present a case?
In 2017 and 2018 the Leaf wasn’t the 2nd best selling EV. And in the US Nissan hasn’t outsold GM (Volt + Bolt EV).
Again scott3 I agree with a lot of what you are saying. And in my comment I wasn’t saying GM is wrong in a lot of there decisions of late. I was just saying ALOT of NEGATIVE stuff all came together at once.
Also I’m not sure you remember I worked in the automotive component industry for near 15 years and am well aware of the difficult decisions that need to be made in order to turn profit. I also run my own business so at times even with that I need to make difficult decisions, as all business owners know.
This is where you and I are going to differ. There is a saying that goes “make hay when the sun shines” I’m not going to explain it to you if you can’t get it but I feel GM has NOT.
The sun has been shining the last two to three years, combine that with the tax breaks given and the sun has been shining and bright.
What hay has GM made ? That’s what I want your opinion on.
Sure GM has bought back there own stock to boost the share price, in my opinion.
Sure GM has paid shareholders dividends so stockholders wouldn’t sell there stock to maintain share price, In my opinion.
Sure GM spent ALOT on Cadillac moving back and forth up and down in and out etc.
Now lets talk product, most NEW product is in a state of wait and see.
GM is going to wait and see the truck sales numbers, sure profit is high on the truck sales, however currently RAM is eating market share. (remember if you make $100,000 per truck and sell 2 you only make $200,000)
“O” also remember that is EXACTLY how GM no longer sells 634,000 Sedans that Toyota and Honda sell.
I know you are an older middle age guy, you can remember when GM was the king, selling sedans like mad.
I’m curious, did you think back then GM was making the right choices as they continued to loose market share to Toyota and Honda.
“O” also remember that is EXACTLY how GM lost Cadillac sales. Remember when Cadillac was the ONLY luxury vehicle to own? I’m curious did you think GM was making the correct decisions back then as they lost market share to BMW, MB, Audi?
Now I could go on and on, but again there is no time so, Ill cut to the chase.
In my opinion GM would have been way better off long term if they would FOCUS on the CUSTOMER more. Take some of that great profit they were making and buy back some of the market share they continue to loose. Through some CUSTOMER SERVICE, more STANDARD options for equal price, You know just ONCE try to be the best in one thing again.
You have your opinion.
I have my opinion.
Yours matters to me about as much as mine matters to you, its just the way it works.
“What hay has GM made [in the past 2-3 years]? That’s what I want your opinion on”
Take your pick:
-A very good success with the 6th gen camaro. You can debate the details, but the car is awesome and all major publications agree.
-Silverado…has the best power-train lineup in the industry and the best fuel economy. All around an awesome vehicle.
– completely OWNING the full size SUV market with Tahoe/Suburban and with a new generation coming this will only continue.
– SOLID entries in the small and midsize CUV market that sell really well. Acadia, Traverse, Terrain, Equinox are all great cars and sell solidly. I have an equinox 2.0T and its one of the best crossovers I’ve ever driven.
– BOLT, truly the first small EV CUV I would even consider buying, were I in the market for one. The latest tech, best range, and completely a better option than any Tesla, and a hint of things to come. Only a matter of time before pickups and larger crossovers arrive.
– the sedans all get good reviews. Cruze has been a great car and sold very solidly, same with malibu.
A lot of people love to rag on GM, its so cliche now. And people LOVE to be armchair CEO as well. But the fact remains that they’ve turned out a lot of great cars over the past few years.
Hmmmmm…….and Gm’s BAILOUT was NOT at the cost of the US TAXPAYER???? GM is now a wallstreet lover at OUR expense.
-Camaro- Outsold by Mustang and an ancient challenger on a regular basis
-Silverado- Outclassed by Ram that is eating into Silverado’s market share. The Silverado L4 is a joke and the interiors are slammed. Ram
– I will give you the full-size SUV market ownership.
– Crossovers- Are a viable player although more should be made in the US and Canada. Not impressed at all with the Buick Envasion.
– Bolt- Jury is still out as to if the public will embrace Evs
-Sedans I have to give an “F”- either there was poor marketing, poor execution. Camry. Altima, Civic and Corolla seem to be holding their own.
“Camry. Altima, Civic and Corolla seem to be holding their own.”
Yet they are all declining. Also for Honda, Toyota and Nissan, those are their bread and butter. If that dam breaks then they have a lot of ground to make up in the cross/SUV/truck sector. For GM, Ford they dam is trucks, SUV/crossovers.
shhh, quit talking sense you’re going to stir up the indigents…
Yep
Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and Nissan aren’t mad at you GM. You just handed hundreds of thousands of sedan/hatchback sales over to them on a platter. Also some luxury sales to Mercedes/BMW and even Genesis. GM’s smoke and mirror spin doesn’t fool me one bit. They like Ford are just giving up and I hope it bites them big time down the road with these two handed pink slips!
I’m not angry at GM just stating my opinion. If I were angry I would have bought another brand.
But us loyal GMists CAN NOT have it both ways.
If you blame the dropping of the GM sedan, and the loss of market share of the truck, and the 3rd place of Camaro, the 2nd place Bolt out of two, and on and on, if you blame this stuff NOW on the downturn in the market.
WHY didn’t GM gain market share in sedans, in Camaro, Cadillac, Bolt EV,s, Trucks, in the UP and RISING great auto market of the past few years?
You simply cant have it both ways.
Either GAIN in the up market or don’t loose on the down. You can’t loose on the down and loose on the up.
And then say, well you just wait, it will be great.
Nobody would have been angry if GM had just said:
“These products built at these plants will be discontinued due to slow sales. The plants, however, will NOT be closed. They will be retooled to build a new generation of vehicles. No employees will lose their jobs as a result of these decisions.”
If they just said that, it would have been the end of the discussion.
It’s funny GM says they are discontinuing models that do not sell well or there’s not a market. The Cruze has sold 143k units in 2018, look at the Traxs, Envision, Encore and the Terrain the numbers are significantly lower but those products aren’t in trouble due to the fact they pay poverty wages in these other country’s!!!!
Fire both of those greedy buggers.