P.S: Please Take a Minute to Visit My Stock Market Website as Well: http://snurl.com/stockassault

I, too, agree that Rick Wagoner has done a good job and should be able to complete the restructuring. If anyone should resign, it is Chris Dodd. That horse’s ass is a real joke.

You say that RW has had nine years. As far as I know he became CEO in 2005, and the first thing he did was engage the UAW in finding a way to level labor and legacy costs. Without that change, the domestics could not allocate the same amount of money to be put into a vehicles that the imports do. Consumers could see the shortchanging, in features, fit and finish and quality.

The UAW contracts of 2005 and 2007 equalized costs by 2010, after a transition of only 3-5 years. Who else would have succeeded at all? Never mind in only such a short transition time.

He didn’t plan for, Franklin Raines, Tim Johnson and Jamie Gorelick along with Chris Dudd and Barney F(ife)rank looting Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers. Or Ahmedinjehad using the Oil weapon, and $4.50 gasoline.

The downturn came a year too soon. Before the transition was finished, and the transition costs amortized.
The cars designed on his watch assume equal money is available, and will be used, to be spent for features that the foreign companies have, given equal labor and legacy costs. The new cars have been well received from Pickup trucks to Malibu and crossovers like Vue. New technology like the large Dual mode hybrid drive, the coming smaller car-sized Dual mode hybrid, Plug in hybrids, and the Volt EREV, are coming under his watch. As well as a competitive vehicles below the award winning mid-size Malibu, like the worldwide Cruze.

All in all, he has done a pretty good job in his THREE Years as GM CEO… IMHO, the best job since Al Sloan. He is even looking at growing GM, as you can’t grow a business by downsizing. He is looking forward to entering new markets like Sloan did with electric starters, hydraulic brakes, and multi-sized autos.

Wagoner wants to add 300,000 minivans to his product line, that doesn’t have any. And add small off-road vehicles, Jeep, for a product line that doesn’t have any small off-roaders. Even as he chops redundancy by emasculating redundant Pontiac, to a subbrand, and rationalizing the sales channels to Chevy Caddy and a combined Pontiac, Buick, GMC, Dodge Trucks, and Jeeps, PBGDJ. Did you know that the PBG mergers are 80% completed already, by sales volume?

No wonder both Lee Iacocca and Bob Lutz don’t want him fired,and ahve come out and said so publically.

I was asking yesterday, if the falling gas prices might begin to help (I did not say solve) GM and the others. I got some very informative feedback from the local expert (we all know who it is, and I think his head may grow to large to get into his Smart4Two, so I will not mention his name….hint…hint..nudge…nudge..). I was all told I had no idea what I was talking about, but again I was putting out the question not stating any facts.

Well I decided to peak around and sure enough, it does seem that SUV sales are back on the rise with steep decline in gas prices. People are actually still able to get loans or finance in other ways.
————–
#149 DonC

Apparently America needs its collective head examined because its not happening. Contrary to what you’re suggesting, GM truck sales in November were hardly on the rise. In fact, they were down by 39%. More disturbing for the “gas as sales driver” argument, they were down this dramatically even in the face of special Red Tag Sale pricing offering, for example, discounts and cash back worth something like $7.5K on a SUV or truck normally priced at $29K. Not to mention the special financing deals for GMAC vehicles.
=============================================
=============================================

I see where this is going, maybe I can diffuse it. You are actually BOTH right. (Just to be clear as to JEC’s veiled reference to me, lol–I was saying there was a uptick in SUV sales ‘at the street level’

Here is how it breaks down…because the fly is in the calculation. How can as DonC suggests trucks sales be off 39%? (Actually, if we want to strip it down to the core business-specifically GMC, it was off more, -41%) How can JEC and myself point to people saying it is ‘better’ at the same time?

As DonC mentioned, there is a lot of discounts out there, and as JEC mentioned-’gas is cheap,’ this is in fact driving sales up (on a month over month basis). HOWEVER, this is NOT translating to sales…at least to GM, and therefore has not shown up yet in any published numbers.

The monthly numbers and product breakdown of sales are not calculated from monthly sales between the consumer and dealership, but rather dealership and GM…which is practically frozen up.

The fact is, the dealers have a pantload of inventory and they are capturing those sales, ie) not turning around and ordering replacement stock…that is why GM is trying to blackmail them with the ‘Dealer Re-Consenus Program”

Here is inventory levels (days) as of Nevember 1st to illustrate:

Enclave – 142
Acadia – 195
Vue – 196
Escalade – 149
Silverado – 95
Trailblazer – 97
Tahoe – 147

As reference the number ‘60′ is industry optimal level. The overall industry stood at 69 days…and GM? 126

Obviously, dealers got blindsided by ‘falling knife’ sales in the last 3 months and their ‘days on lot’ numbers are expanding, even if inventory itself is not. So when they sell a Tahoe, GM is NOT recapturing that sale…and it is not being recorded as a ‘uptick in sales’

NOTE: Look at those numbers and think about GMAC’s letter to the dealers, “You owe 5% per month on outstanding vehicles and the vehicle is DUE IN FULL in 180 days…or you are in arrears and we can cut you off”–that is the environment the dealers are in…they are not reordering, they are just trying to pay their bills and realign inventory to current demand.

Side note: Other products that were interesting for GM:

Solstice – 361
Astra – 411
XLR – 358
Cobalt – 220
Corvette – 219
G5 – 267
G8 – 283

/so everyone is right, lol

Has anyone noticed that almost all the great American companies are kaput?
Oh don’t worry, we can install energy saving lights in government buildings and stand on the seashore and watch the oceans recede.

We just had a 30% increase in electric rates to put emissions equipment on coal plants for AEP. Let’s talk about diminishing returns and the idiocy of government regulation.

My poor country, my poor children.