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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (237780)	6/17/2005 9:33:11 PM
From: Tenchusatsu	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1578706

Mindmeld, American cars are indeed too large, but in case you haven't noticed, Japanese cars are also getting larger. The #1 reason why GM is losing while Toyota is winning is quality. (#2 reason might be the labor and management infrastructure within GM, but that's another debate.) Meanwhile, the local elementary school right next to my home is still filled with minivans and SUVs. Seems to me that families still like paying for gas guzzlers at the pump. Why? Because SUVs are convenient and safe, and to a parent, that's worth more than preventing the greenhouse effect or bankrupting the Saudis. Of course, you can go against the free market and put huge preventative taxes or tariffs on oil, but then that's an artificial way of making oil more expensive. And like I said before, other countries are more than happy to buy up the oil that we don't want. Tenchusatsu

To: RetiredNow who wrote (237780)	6/18/2005 2:04:43 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1578706

Do you really think oil is the most economical fuel we have right now? I have proof that the truth is the opposite. GM is failing and is contemplating bankruptcy because their large vehicle sales have gone down the toilet. Toyota is getting rich because their small, fuel efficient vehicles and hybrids are selling faster than they can make them. The market is telling us that oil is not the future. The demand already exists. The only thing left to do is to provide the supply. While I tend to agree with you that GM is failing, I think their shortfall of hybrids and small cars is symptomatic of their problems and not the root cause. Its not the first time GM has failed to anticipate changes in taste and needs. It seems to be SOP for them. Furthermore, I would suggest they have never made a real commitment to small/fuel efficient cars. They roll them out when their is a gas shortage or they are required by the EPA because of gas mileage but its clear their hearts are not in it. Had they not lucked out with their line of pick up trucks during the 1990s.....falling into a new trend as it were........I think they would have been in trouble long ago. I think its symptomatic of a company whose corporate mgmt. seems to be perpetually 20 years behind the times. I am not sure how you turn around a group that is so petulant and resistant to change. They have brought people from the outsid to lead but nothing seems to change. And they do such stupid things.........the other day I saw a Cadillac Escalade pick up truck........it looked bizarre.....sort of like a trailer trash girl covered in rhinestones in an effort to look good. And they can't seem to let go of the boxy designs of their 1980s models. They are worse than Boeing was just a few years ago. I think if they don't change their ways significantly, they will go under. ted