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

To: combjelly who wrote (502032)	8/6/2009 2:49:06 PM
From: i-node	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575191

No, the fundamental problem has been the "bigger, lower, wider" meme that has dominated their thinking for over a half of a century. There is clearly a market for smaller cars. There is also a market for bigger cars. Consider that among GM's bestsellers are the Cadillacs. I have not argued that there aren't issues within management. However -- - The fact that there are issues within management in no way mitigates the fact that the unions create an insurmountable problem. Nothing management does can undo the damage caused by having unions in such a powerful position that they can literally dictate that inferior designs be adopted over superior designs that don't meet union criteria; and - One has to look at the bigger vs. smaller car issue and consider WHY it may be that management has not moved toward smaller, more energy efficient models. In this connection, consider that the Prius is at best marginally profitable (some analysts believe it continues to be a loser) and they do not have the intensive union problems that GM has. It is obvious that UAW plants are going to have a difficult time competing with vehicles that are built in another country. I'm sure you can see this.

To: combjelly who wrote (502032)	8/6/2009 2:50:05 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575191

"No, the fundamental problem has been the "bigger, lower, wider" meme that has dominated their thinking for over a half of a century." Even the Japanese have fallen into this. Consider the Honda Civic and Accord. I used to love Civics, and still like the hatchbacks from '85-'90. They looked great, had a ton of interior room but were small cars. Look at them now. The Civic has bloated to the size of the old Accords, the Accords are now HUGE, and Honda has had to introduce the Fit to still have a small car!