If I were Bob Lutz the first thing I'd do is clean-house and get the corporate attitude corrected: group together everyone who had anything to do with the design, management, construction, and marketing of most every GM product from around 2002 and earlier and fire them all (except for their truck division, 1st gen Saturn guys, and the Vette team). Especially the morons who advocated vehicles like the SSR, Aztec, and freakin' Lumina familes. Not cushy buy-out packages, but good old-fashioned firing. What could possibly be the excuse for a company that didn't produce a market-competetive vehicle for nearly 20 years? Minivans? Nope, missed the boat in the early '80s--never have caught up. Passenger cars? Nope, from cheapest to most expensive all a bunch of garbage. Powertrains? Ugh. The 3800 was a pretty good engine maybe 10-15 years ago. The Quad4 was interesting but blew itself up. 2.5 Duke? When was a car like the GrandPrix ever considered a world-wide contender? The Grand Am? Cavalier? Forget about it. Fiero? Killed it just when it was almost what it intended to be. I defy anyone to name any car that GM produced between 1980 and 2000 that was truly a leader in anything other than poor design and build quality (1st gen Saturns excluded) on a world-wide scale. Seriously, name any passenger car in any class, it's possible I've forgotten something, but I bet I can name one from another manufacturer that was better at that time--the only possible exception I can think-of is maybe the Typhoon/Cyclone which came from the truck division but were almost cars, or maybe the GrandNational/T-Types, which were great at what they were, but certailny none bread and butter vehicles...

I'm a 29 year old engineer who started reading car mags as soon as I could read and isn't there something wrong with the fact that I can't remember a single GM car that was an absolute stand-out in it's class?

Bob Lutz did a good thing at saving Chrysler a few years ago but not from an actual product stand-point in anything other than the revolutionary Minivan that he lucked-upon (Aries, Omni, or other K car anyone?) and if I were him the very next thing I'd do for GM is fire myself.


posted by 67.10.24...

• GM Says It May Kill Off One of Its Brands, dmz789, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 13:28:49
  • Why not manufacture everything in China?, Draken, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:51:02
    • Good question., dmz789, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 18:31:14
    • Re: Why not manufacture everything in China?, compaqted, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 13:30:20
      • Re: Why not manufacture everything in China?, Draken, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 17:18:21
  • need to be lean and mean, compaqted, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:11:35
    • sounds great, TML , Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:13:58
    • Now now... I'd agree with that, but fold Saab?, NateinAA, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:31:58
  • To a certain extent they get what they deserve, Noel, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 07:26:32
    • Anti-union, eh?......, Blobakazeke, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 08:21:05
      • Re: Anti-union? Absolutely!, Noel, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:53:19
        • Anti-unionism and the corporate state..., Blobakazeke, Fri, 25 Mar 2005 07:34:57
          • Re: Anti-unionism and the corporate state..., 2 9-5's, Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:28:16
            • There are some times when you have no other option, RS , Fri, 25 Mar 2005 11:34:45
        • Re: Anti-union? Absolutely!, 2 9-5's, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 17:20:13
      • Zeke isn't totally off-base here, it is true that the, Drew in Houston, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:50:47
      • Re: Anti-union, eh?......, 2 9-5's, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 08:50:13
        • I think I should've been a diplomat ..., Urby, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 09:11:10
      • Re: Anti-union, eh?......, Urby, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 08:48:04
        • On Teachers..(and more)..>>>, PGAero , Thu, 24 Mar 2005 10:31:32
  • Killing brands is just plain stupid IMHO....more, Mark, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 03:49:16
  • Things to consider REALLY LONG, Caarma , Wed, 23 Mar 2005 22:17:25
    • Re: Things to consider REALLY LONG, mac, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 16:42:08
  • Buick?, Draken, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:58:26
  • I'd kill off more than two . . ., miked, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:50:12
    • it's a good point, Scott Paterson , Wed, 23 Mar 2005 23:54:42
  • Re: GM Says It May Kill Off One of Its Brands, Drew in Houston, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:23:06 <-- Viewing This Message
    • Re: GM Says It May Kill Off One of Its Brands, dmz789, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 00:27:16
      • Re: GM Says It May Kill Off One of Its Brands, Drew in Houston, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 04:49:42
  • Re: GM Says It May Kill Off One of Its Brands, 2 9-5's, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 19:27:45
    • A Caddy with 120K miles on it is, Noel, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 07:11:41
      • agreed - caddy is safe too, Scott Paterson , Fri, 25 Mar 2005 18:24:52
    • Kill the Impaler, nypb, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 20:28:51
      • Re: Kill the Impaler, Stan, Sat, 26 Mar 2005 16:27:27
  • Re: GM Says It May Kill Off One of Its Brands, Erik W, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 17:28:06
    • easy way to save money, Brian_in_MA, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 17:39:16
  • Buick is very strong in Red China, Sam, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 15:29:11
    • Chinese Buicks Different than American Ones?, Draken, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 22:06:46
      • Even the Chinese get better GMs then we do, Mark, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 23:29:22
  • Re: GM Says It May Kill Off One of Its Brands, dboone, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 14:58:03
  • No mention of Saab, but it's always possible. Still...., Noel, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 14:09:09
    • I like your ideas, but... (very long), MO, Thu, 24 Mar 2005 15:13:08
  • If they kill Pontiac, Rafe, Wed, 23 Mar 2005 13:44:21

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