Now we know why GM failed

The recent news about GM being forced to own up to defective switches on millions of vehicles going back 10 years or so just tells me why GM failed in the first place. incompetent management and design were clearly an endemic problem. Can we be sure they have really fixed all the management problems as well as the technical failures.

I am not convinced by the rhetoric and the firings. It takes a long time to turn bad like they did and it will take a very long time to fix too. I am not holding my breath.

 

When you figure that the Chevy Volt and various other American cars have their gas caps inconveniently located on the passenger side, I think you have a pretty good indication why GM is failing. Reminds of when Ducati, once very proud of their engineering, produced a motorcycle in which you had to remove the bike stand to access the oil drain plug, so you had to lean the bike up against something and take off the bike stand in order to change the oil. It's almost bloody mindboggling.

 

Their classic cars from the 60's and 70's are cool .

 

yup GM knew about it for years and had evidence, yet wrote familys of victims there was nothing conclusive. GM's fine? less then a day of profits.

 

Good point. Just about everybody else puts it on the correct side. Maybe they think they will sell their cars in UK. But it reminds me of a story when I was a UK CEO and I came to several US companies to tell them about products required for UK, Europe and Middle East in the oil industry. One senior Engineer stood up angrily and wanted to know why his US product wasn't OK and that he was going to continue to specify US stuff. The answer was simple it didn't meet the requirements of the market and they would never sell their product in some markets. That company was eventually sold by its US parent and bought by a UK company. I thought the Engineer was very naive, but maybe thats what has been wrong with GM, naivety about other markets than just US. But then your comments display naivety about the US market too.

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If you apply the correct use of the word 'cool' then I think those cars are barely warm, not even cool.

 

GM went broke because legacy costs - solid-gold retirements and health care benefits for life - ran the break-even price on cars over $35,000 per unit.

Everybody has recalls from time to time.

The only way to not make a mistake is to never do anything.

 

When did you first discover your intense hatred for GM?

 

Some time between the first and second time we tax payers had to bail out Chrysler. Apparently American citizens are responsible for a private institution...

 

About half of the cars made have the gas cap on the passenger side.
It allows for people to fill up from both sides of the Service island.
Check it out next time your on the highway (hint: the gas cap is on the opposite side from the tailpipe).

And it really doesn't matter much for Volt owners, they plug in for most of their fuel.

 

A long time ago. There cars have never been very good. Their European versions were always cheep and 'rust buckets'. When they went bankrupt they should never have been saved. You used the word 'hatred'. I wouldn't use that word. They have always been, IMO, a badly managed company with lousy products. Its amazing they have lasted so long. Someone must love 'em, not me.

 

GM went broke because legacy costs - solid-gold retirements and health care benefits for life - ran the break-even price on cars over $35,000 per unit.

True, but that also speaks to mismanagement.

 

They made some lousy products in the 1970s, but then, so did all US automobile manufacturers. The quality of their most recent offerings is significantly improved. All automobile manufacturers have faced major recalls at one time or another. Hate GM to your heart's content. I don't really care.

 

Now that they have a decent chance of competing with the imports, they make some very good vehicles. Volt two years in a row had the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any vehicle according to Consumer Report. The new Chevy has had the highest Consumer Report rating ever given to an American car or import.. The new Chevy truck has been awarded a tie with Ram as truck of the year.

 

Many vehicles have passenger-side fuel fillers...I have driven Fords, Chryslers, and Toyotas with them.

Ducatis have ALWAYS been miserable to service...I recall that on one model, adjusting the valves is a big job. It does not require engine removal...but that's the easiest way to do it!

 

Taxcutter says:
Wise management was demonstrated by Caterpillar a decade ago. They went through a long bitter strike to get rid of the UAW legacy costs. Caterpillar is going great guns. GM, Ford, and Chrysler continue to hang on by their fingernails.

Another sales downturn is coming soon. Such is the cyclical nature of the auto biz. Will GM, Ford an Chrysler - mired in legacy costs and an outdated marketing model - survive that downturn?

 

Oh really - And how many of those European versions have you seen, much less driven?

 

Vauxhall / Opel used to be rust buckets. Saab made very good cars until GM bought them then never invested anything in the products and went downhill quite quickly. I imagine there maybe others I can't think of but those three I have driven. Latterly Vauxhall/opel range has shown some improvements because some of the features are quite advanced compared with US models. I don't know about the rust situation.

 

The Opel (Commodore) has been in production for over 35 years. Not bad for a product that went downhill quickly

 

European cars, eh?

Ever driven a Fiat 124?

Mechanics call BMWs "helicopters" because they spend so much time on lifts. Yup, BMWs handle well but you have to replace all four McPherson struts (BMW is the only company that puts struts on all four wheels) every 10,000 miles.

Ever seen a Peugeot? A 24 karat hunk of junk.

If GM had gone bankrupt as they should have, somebody (probably Toyota) would have bought up GM Powertrain lock, stock, and barrel. Their Gen III, IV, and V engines are powerful, efficient, compact, and light weight (for their power) and relative inexpensive to manufacture.

 

The reason that GM went broke was because of the unions and the democrats in Mi. Why should anyone make over $25 an hour just screwing bolts on an assembly line? You dont have to have a PHD to do that!!!

 

FYI, I own a Buick Encore and the gas cap is on the same side as the tailpipe!

 

Yes and even after the government bailed out Chevy and made them more cost competitive the Silverado still costs $1,000 more than the Ram.

That has always been the problem with Chevy for the same quality you have to pay more because of extra costs that have nothing to do with the quality of the product.

 

That depends on whether you thought that was a good car in the first place. It's not one I would ever have considered as a vehicle worth buying. And so would have been a non starter for me. The fact that the marque has been produced for 35 years doesn't make it a good car for me. That would be true of many US GM Cars too. For Eg. I think Cadillacs are really cheaply made but expensively sold.

As you rightly perceive I have a very negative perception of GM vehicles. Lots of marketing, without not a lot of decent substance IMO. I.e. The executives fell foul of believing their own marketing without backing it up with real quality. I hope they change, maybe they should try to find an Allan Mullally, clone, to repeat what Ford have done with their range. Mind you Ford always produced good cheep vehicles not necessarily best technology but you got a lot of goodies for your money. I like Ford. The F150 in US is a very good workhorse, not as good as Toyota's offerings but still good.

 

Gas caps are located on the passenger side for safety. Getting in and out of the vehicle while fueling can result in fumes being ignited by static electricity.


My BMW and my Mercedes both have the fuel cap on the passenger side.

 

According to the OP, GM was forced to make a recall.
"Documents in a now-settled civil lawsuit against GM show the car company knew of a potential faulty ignition defect leading to engine stalling in 2004, before it launched the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...ll-airbags-switches-fatalities-nhtsa/5621405/

So, you can add to, "The only way to avoid making a mistake is to never to anything," with the Democrat strategy announced by the Clintons of, "Deny, deny, deny." When you knowing install faulty ignition switches it can hardly be called "a mistake".