One Detroit car dealer says they turn people away every day because they can’t get loans.

Toyota, Honda and others are ALSO not selling as well and I don’t see anyone criticizing them and their expertise.

For the record: I drive a Honda

Like millions of other Americans who are tired of bailing out companies I too would like all these poorly managed companies to fail. But alas they live to fight another day. Now that they have their bailout money look for the unions to try and grab some of it.

Your perception of GM is about 20 years off reality. You may not like the Malibu but it did win the NA car of the year in 2008 as voted by auto writers. Cadillac CTS won Motortrend’s car of the year in 2008. In 2007, the Saturn Aura and Chevy Silverado won the car and truck of the year awards by the same auto journalists.

By mid-2009, GM will have 9 hybrid models in the market?more than any other automaker. BTW, I read that the Cadillac Escalade hybrid gets better fuel economy than the Mini.

No one produces a Mini-like vehicle so your logic about not producing what people want also applies to Toyota, Honda et al .

It shouldn’t be a surprise to you that all auto OEM’s are suffering. Annual US sales have dropped from 17 million to 10.7 million almost over night due to the housing bubble led credit crisis. I agree with you that GM brands have lost their way in the last decade but nothing like a bankruptcy to focus one’s attention. GM is in the midst of restructuring to a 12 million level. At that level, they will be profitable and if sales levels return to a more normal 14-15 million units, there will be enough profits to pay off the loans and then some.

Well see what happens I guess. Maybe Obama will be able to jump start our economy somehow. All we can do now is hope.

Dr. Wright
The Wright Place TV Show
http://www.wrightplacetv.com
http://www.twitter.com/drwright1

GM outsold Toyota by about 1.2 million vehicles in the United States last year and holds a U.S. lead over Toyota of nearly 700,000 so far this year.

Ford outsold Honda by about 850,000 and Nissan by more than 1.3 million vehicles in the United States last year.

Check out http://tinyurl.com/68e3ea (I think the last point in that article is BS though)

I think the US automakers have been making great cars people DO want for years, but people refuse to believe that fact.

I am by NO means excusing other missteps – I think your 3rd point is DEAD-ON. I don’t remember where I read this, but the Big 3 have to spend almost $1000 extra for each car because of benefits, etc. from the unions. That is where the problem lies, they are unable to compete effectively with the foreign manufacturers – not because their cars are bad or they’re not building what people want. It’s their cost structure forced on them by the UAW.

If they could break that hold, I think the Big 3 could begin to compete more effectively again. But if the cost structure doesn’t change, no help from Congress will change the eventual outcome.

BTW, I’ve owned Ford vehicles for the past 8 years – would put up their quality against any of the foreign made stuff.

It reminds me a little bit of the scene from Man For All Seasons, when Thomas More is talking with a friend of his:

“William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!
Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
William Roper: Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ’round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man’s laws, not God’s! And if you cut them down, and you’re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake! ”

These automakers want to bring the government into their business, but do they not know that it is nearly impossible to get government out of business once it has a foothold? They’d ignore all the principles of capitalism that made them successful once, but if they do they’ll have nowhere to turn when they want to run their own businesses again.

Let them fail. If they haven’t managed themselves wisely, they deserve to fail. Having these companies around another couple of years is NOT worth the price of increased socialism.