GM, threatened by Toyota, vows to 'fight for every sale'

JIm Higgins · 2007-01-05T18:13:30+00:00

GM still has the Bullmoose attitudeGM, threatened by Toyota, vows to 'fight for every sale' Motors boss Rick Wagoner insists the US company will not give up itsposition as the world's top automaker without a fight.Speaking ahead of this weekend's press opening of the North AmericanInternational Auto Show, the GM chairman and chief executive said he waswell aware of the seemingly unstoppable threat posed by Japan's Toyota."I like being number one, and I think our people take pride in it. So it'snot something we're going to sit back and let somebody else pass us,"Wagoner told reporters on Friday."We're going to have to fight for every sale and do it in way that isconsistent with building the enterprise," he said."If as a result of that we get passed, it won't be a happy day for me. ButI've lost basketball games before, and as a result of that you get ready,you learn and go back and play the next day," said Wagoner, who playedcollege basketball at North Carolina's Duke University in the early 1970s."We're going to fight to keep the position, and if we lose, we're going tofight to get it back."Last month, Toyota said it planned to make 9.42 million vehicles worldwidethis year. That would exceed the 9.18 million GM expected to have made in2006.This year, GM's production looks likely to fall with the company, like itsDetroit rival Ford, laying off thousands of workers and shuttering plants.--The brave might not live forever but the timid do not live at all

Jan 05, 2007 21 Replies

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<HLS 19 years ago

This was apparently a faulty bit of information. Please disregard.

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Mike Santini 19 years ago

The only way GM can now win this fight is to carpet bomb the Toyota factories in japan with a formation of B17s....or finally decide to design some extremely stylish cars which they appear not to want to do because the new Malibu just aint gonna cut it unless you are a women who wants someting to haul kids and groceries in.

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