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Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Some of GM's Roots

William Crapo Durant had the right idea when he put together a conglomerate of different car companies, making General Motors in 1910. Though he really didn't have the business mind, he started a new way of selling cars.

In the late nineteens or early nineteen-twenty's Alfred Sloan took over. In effect, this would change General Motors for good. Sloan had the idea to sell cars from the low end all the way to the affluent.

Chevy would be everyman's car. Once this "everyman" stepped up, he could buy a Pontiac. From there a Buick, an Oldsmobile, and finally the Flagship Cadillac.

This business model was an excellent one. It worked for the times and for sixty years. But the end of this business model being useful ended with the onslaught of foreign makes in nineteen-eighty.

(Continued At A Later Date)

posted by getalifeagain | 1:50 PM

3 Comments:

Blogger rhapsody said...

Welcome!

Excellent posting!!!

Just what they need- some positive input from their best customer...

:)

2:16 PM  
Blogger Michael William Scott said...

Not so sure that "positive" is the way it's going to end up. They've just laid off thirty thousand workers in order to inventory under control.
Next will come the heartfelt pleas (or "PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE") from the CEO for North Americans to 'pull together, buy a Chev, etc, to keep your neighbour working'.
Well, sorry guys, (this is the UAW I'm talking to now), you blew it! You had a chance to build decent cars for a decent wage. But you decided you wanted/needed 35 bucks an hour for doing what your Japanese counterparts were doing for 5, or maybe even 10. The big difference is, THEY built cars that lasted, and ran, and lasted, and ran some more.
My Camry is about to turn a quarter of a million clicks...and I think I've put new brakes in it ONCE...and one new set of plugs. That's about it. Try THAT, Chevy.
It's not just the auto industry. It's time for the wakeup call. Everywhere. The Germans, with their six weeks vacations (minimum), the French with their unbelievable pensions and the Americans with BOTH, plus crazy wages, are in for an eye opener.
Remember the song, the movie, the DVD, et al, "The Russians Are Coming"? Well, forget it. It's now the Asians. Learn Chinese now and learn to love noodles and rice. Not only is it what our competitors have been eating while we've been downing steaks......it's all we'll be able to afford as the 'tide rolls in'.

3:14 PM  
Blogger getalifeagain said...

Well el presidente you put down many ideas, and I cannot say I disagree with you on some. But I think it is in order to give credit where it is due.

The Cadillac division is doing quite well. It has innovative products, with higher quality than it has had, and all within a reasonable price (when you consider the class of vehicles they are in).

The new Chevy Impala got high grades from a N.Y. Tri-State paper. The new HHR is a hit as is the Solstice. And although everyone considers gas prices at an all time high, the new lineup of large SUV's from Chevy, GM, and Cadillac are outstanding.

So it's not all one way or the other.

4:13 PM  

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