GM: Possible pitfalls could derail rebound

GM has so many days of truck/SUV inventory the UAW is doing GM a major favor as GM clears out the inventory. The UAW members are on short rations by theor own choice as they do GM a favor. It will be months before there is an adverse effect on GM.

Not to worry, most dealerships prefer to have at least a sixty day supply of vehicles on hand, particularly at this time of year. Some GM dealers have slightly more that that in stock at the moment but other dealers are selling more and need to pick vehicles they sell from the dealer pool.

Welll....

It could be a dangerous game. GM has closed 29 plants so far. It is costing

"JP Morgan analyst Eric Selle estimates GM will spend $1.8 billion if the strike lasts a month, based largely on hourly wage costs, according to a research report earlier this month."

Back in the day the NGs were a place where we engineers and technicians exchanged ideas as well as offering solutions to each others questions and problems. We never asked one to prove what they had told us and we only sighted sources when they need to go there for MORE information and may be allowed access. Oven the years most of those with whom I conversed left because the NGs were becoming a place where people were looking for a free or cheap fix for their old worn out cars. If I would read a post from one who obviously knew nothing about cars or have the ability to correct their problem I would suggest they take the vehicle to a competent technician with the proper equipment to diagnose their problem and allow him to correct it for them. If i did that I was jumped on by some people in the NG when in fact that was the best advice for that individual. How many times have your read advice in the NGs today that is way wrong as a solution?

Back in the late fifties, when I owned a Toyopet, there was no source for information. When the net came around the Toyota NG was a great source for information from techs for the few people that owned them, today that NG is primarily a political debating room for the kooks. and that's sad.

One can use what I tell them to broaden their knowledge or they can ignore me, I could not care less, but I seldom see anybody showing me where I have been wrong and if they do, I will admit I was wrong. What generally happens is they start calling anybody who does not share their personal opinion names or resorting to vulgarities.

Many of the things I know, I know from experience, or from sources that require a password etc. I.E. Since I was in the fleet service business I have access t o manufactures sites that I could not direct someone else to search without reveling my password. The average person can not get into Toyotas "Dealer Daily or Ford Star, I can.

The average person does not spend over a $100 to subscribe to "Automotive News" or receive trade magazines like "Metal Making" as do I. How does one tell an other where to find all of the information from those sources? I can only suggest where one may find that information but I surly will not do a search on their behalf for something I know to be correct.

So basically, you are saying the NG's have changed over time, and you have not changed with them. NG's are not only filled with "people looking for a free or cheap fix for their old worn out cars". And if they were, so what? Is it beneath you to try and help someone who can't afford to buy a brand new Lexus? As for someone being given the wrong advise, shit happens. But, usually one of the regular's will pop in and correct that person.

I wouldn't know. I don't visit the Toyota group.

You still don't get what I am trying to say. Most of the information you spew out can be verified by several free sources on the Internet. Yet, when asked for proof to back up your claims, you revert to the childish saying "do your own homework". Well, that's not how it works, and if you are really everything you say you are, you should know that. If you are giving your "opinion", that's fine. But when you actually state in your post that what you are saying is not your "opinion", it is actually a "fact", then you need to back it up. For all we know, you could actually be the person you claim to be, or you could be some teenager in his garage typing what he feels like.

As I have said many times you can believe what I say or not. I have many sources but if you think I should spend my limited to do a search to find a site to verify what I know to be fact, so you can go to that site to verify what I know to be true, it's not going to happen. I have giving sources where one came search if one wants more information but that the end of it. Do you own search, if that does not suit you, to bad. The Congressional Record is the largest library in the world with a wealth of information on most every subject. The Smithsonian Institution and the Franklin institute in Philadelphia is another source for all types of information. Try searching there for what ever you want if you can't afford to subscribe to industry publications like "Automotive News."

Look at it this way. Mike is defending silly decisions the management is making all the time. Either he is a member of the management team or just stupid which amounts to the same category. It is good to have that view defended but I do agree it would be interesting to get some real information why management makes such mistakes over and over again. There is no question that Gm did a lot of right things in the earlier days and became very very big. Somewhere along the line they began to make mistakes that got them into the situation it is in today. In management books this phenomen is known and companies follow this pattern and even the biggest companies can die. It can be very difficult to stay big for a long time. When the surround changes and new technology comes along and the management is too busy and incompetent to see it. At the current time in the lifetime of Gm there are so many things wrong that even with competent leaders there is not much that they could do. They are trapped in the net of UAW and dealers with contracts that may have seemed like a good idea a long time ago.

That might have been a more ligament perception of what was happen at GM fire years ago but that is far from what is happen today. If you doubt that, take a look at GM stock prices. Apparently, the market does not agree with your assessment

Look at it this way. Mike is defending silly decisions the management is making all the time. Either he is a member of the management team or just stupid which amounts to the same category. It is good to have that view defended but I do agree it would be interesting to get some real information why management makes such mistakes over and over again. There is no question that Gm did a lot of right things in the earlier days and became very very big. Somewhere along the line they began to make mistakes that got them into the situation it is in today. In management books this phenomen is known and companies follow this pattern and even the biggest companies can die. It can be very difficult to stay big for a long time. When the surround changes and new technology comes along and the management is too busy and incompetent to see it. At the current time in the lifetime of Gm there are so many things wrong that even with competent leaders there is not much that they could do. They are trapped in the net of UAW and dealers with contracts that may have seemed like a good idea a long time ago.