GM - how long before bankruptcy?

C

capmac

GM's U.S. sales fall 16 pct in August

Thursday September 1, 1:53 pm ET


DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM - News) on Thursday said U.S. sales in August fell 16 percent as its "Employee Discount for Everyone" incentive program lost momentum.

The world's largest automaker said its U.S. sales totaled 355,180 vehicles in August compared with 406,623 in August last year.

GM adjusted the percentage change to account for one extra selling day in August 2005. GM results also include its Saab brand and some medium- and heavy-duty trucks.

GM also said it is planning to produce 1.3 million vehicles in the fourth quarter in North America, up 1.8 percent from the year-ago period.
 
The perfect storm is definitely brewing for GM. High gas prices, aging models, tremendous labor costs and questionable quality. Can't really give a time frame, but I hear the CAW is planning Sept. 8 to pick their strike target. That might help accelerate the issue. If they stick it GM, then there's going to be a parts shortage to deal with!
- BTW, I think Ford might be heading there too, just slower.
 
I'll also add that I'd be curious in the mix of vehicles they are selling. Are higher gas prices leading people to look at sedans? GM's bread and butter, over the past few years, have been SUV's and trucks. Both comparatively higher margin to cars. They lost the car battle years ago.

When they start idling the production lines, then you know they are in trouble.
 
Government won’t let them go bankrupt even if they should. They gas part makes it very interesting though. I think they will crush 80% of America with 4 dollar gas. I think people will leave jobs if it’s a far drive. I think truck sales will drop of a cliff. I think you will be no chance of seeing a Republican president in a very long time again. I think cars will last a lot longer because of less driving. If you drive less maybe you won't care about having a new car.
 
Quote from brokerboy:

Government won’t let them go bankrupt even if they should. They gas part makes it very interesting though. I think they will crush 80% of America with 4 dollar gas. I think people will leave jobs if it’s a far drive. I think truck sales will drop of a cliff. I think you will be no chance of seeing a Republican president in a very long time again. I think cars will last a lot longer because of less driving. If you drive less maybe you won't care about having a new car.
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We'll go back to a "In every pot a chicken" president.
 
It will be a sad day if that happens. They have the best products in the world in my opinion. Every GM product I've owned I was able to drive over 300,000 miles and still sell it in good condition. They are betting on fuel cell vehicles, they have the technical expertise and are doing most of the research in house rather than farming it out for help like other manufacturers are.
 
Quote from MRWSM:

They have the best products in the world in my opinion.
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The most respected US analysts agreed long ago that the US manufacturers have no way to match the intial quality of their foreign competitors. Trying to match Toyota/VW/Honda/Mitsubishi etc etc in initial quality is not the way for the US manufacturers to compete.

In a word, it is unlikely that the big 3 US manufacturers will ever have 'the best products in the world'. I'm not saying that the companies aren't viable, just that it's not correct to say that they have 'the best products in the world'. They clearly don't.
 
The conversation is dumb. Why are fuel cells not viable? You telling me we can put people on the moon but we can’t figure out good alternatives please. I am sure they can make cars run on piss if they wanted. Oil companies have engine patents they bought over the last 50 years. Some of the engines run over 100 miles a gallon. It’s all based on capitalism. What would Exxon sell if we no longer needed gas? Do you think Exxon and the other oil companies contribute to government campaigns for good reasons? Why do you think they contribute or why does any big corporation contribute? The system is based on bullshit. Now if I was a car company I would make gas companies some how complicate me for building gas cars. Fuck think about it that’s why Bill Gates is the riches man in the world. He said you build the computers because without me they can’t run it.
 
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