GM fires the LA Times

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I think that GM should have taken a hint from them, instead of "I'm taking my ball and going home."

I am one of those people that wants an unbiased view of products. If it's great, tell me, if it's a POS, tell me, forget the advertisers.

If I were GM, I would have read the article, then read other reviews of their product. Find out what people don't like about the car and change it. Use the negative and turn it into a positive, by using that input to make the car better. That's what Nissan is doing, and that's why they are whoopin' the proverbial butt cheeks of just about everybody in the market. They finally turned a profit, and a big one I might add, since they have started their rebuilding of everything they make. If you walk on a Nissan lot, there is not a single car there now that was there 5 years ago. They have changed the entire line. Ford can't say that. Chevy can't say that. Dodge can't say that (but they're getting awful close and look how much profit they're turning). Heck, even Honda and Toyota can't say that right now but they probably can next year.

The bottom line is GM is in a lot of trouble, and they are failing to realize that not only are their old vehicles stuff that people don't want anymore (hence the employee discount available to everybody), but also their new lines are not what people want. So GM's pulling of advertising is a "I'm gonna go in my corner and not play with you anymore", where it could have been a "OK, let's hear what the public wants us to build since all our infinite wisdom is leading us down the toilet."

LOL Very good!

[fastTa]

GM needs some changes in their upper management and they need them quickly. Speaking on behalf of Texas, GM's SUV sales are still pretty strong despite the recent gas prices and overall decline in SUV sales period...however. It does appear that GM just is not proactively turning real customer feedback into crtical thinking and revisions of their products. I don't understand this displaced philosophy. We all know that ignoring the customer is just genocide for one of the Big 3.

Recently I have felt like their is more to the story....alot more. It is just beyond me that GM could be this nieve. Maybe a merger or buy out in the near future??

[Jay 02 TA ws6]

GM needs some changes in their upper management and they need them quickly. Speaking on behalf of Texas, GM's SUV sales are still pretty strong despite the recent gas prices and overall decline in SUV sales period...however. It does appear that GM just is not proactively turning real customer feedback into crtical thinking and revisions of their products. I don't understand this displaced philosophy. We all know that ignoring the customer is just genocide for one of the Big 3.

Recently I have felt like their is more to the story....alot more. It is just beyond me that GM could be this nieve. Maybe a merger or buy out in the near future??

Genocide???? Don't you mean suicide? I sure hope the LA Times article had nothing to do with a mass murder of a particular ethnic or racial group!!!!

[Jay 02 TA ws6]

If I were GM, I would have read the article, then read other reviews of their product. Find out what people don't like about the car and change it. Use the negative and turn it into a positive, by using that input to make the car better.

HUAH!!!!!!!!

Very, very well put... too bad GM refuses to believe they need to change and improve to stay competitive. The sooner they realize "what got you here is not the same stuff that will get you there" the better off they will be.

They look like a bunch of incompetent baby primmadonnas who are jealous that the neighbors' kid has a bigger sandbox.

[fastTa]

Genocide???? Don't you mean suicide? I sure hope the LA Times article had nothing to do with a mass murder of a particular ethnic or racial group!!!!

Bad attempt at subtle humor I guess. I was going off Trace Z's recent thread talking about people treating their vehicles like humans and talking to them.

Get with the program J!

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

I've got to "sort of agree" with the paper. Heck, I swore to never buy anything but GM. However, needing a new minivan has convinced me to do ottherwise. When comparing the new(?) Montana SV6 to a Honda Odyssey, I was amazed at how far apart these two vehicles were. While GM was hoping I would get excited about a "buzzy" new 200 hp 3.5L V6 in the Montana, Honda was quietly adding cylinder deactivation to their VTEC 255 hp Odyssey motor. The technology of these things is so far apart. GM can't keep up...there trying but at their fans expense. Why should I have to settle for a vehicle that ranks (at best) fifth in the line of minivans, behind Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan, and Chrysler?

[Jeff_in_Atl]

The company I work for recently had a re-org. We usually have one about every 3-4 years so after 22 years I don't even pay any attention to them. Well this one was a major shake up. Middle management is expensive so in an effort to make the company more profitable they decided to take my supervisor and reassign them to do something else. The management however never bothered to look into what that supervisor did before reassigning them. That left our department without someone to manage the work flow and they had not even thought of a system to handle it. The asked me to be a sort of group leader. I was just thrown in the fire and tried to manage as best as I could until I could get the management to understand the work flow. They ended up assigning someone higher up to manage the work flow. I've had to train them on how to do it too. It's been a nightmare. Anyway to sum it up the management was too arrogant to listen to anyone "below" them before they made a change. I told them that too. (Like it's not like me to tell it the way it is. LOL) I actually got an apology from them too.

I see GM doing the same thing. They are too arrogant to listen to anyone about the product line.

[TODD 2000 V6 CAMARO]

That sounds about right. I think GM is still resting on it's laurels from way back when when they were still really competitive. It is like the story someone posted on here about how when GM originally built the plant to build the Grand-Am's, that their marketing people told them that the capacity of the plant was going to far exceed demand for the one product line and that they should tool the plant for more than one line. GM upper management arrogantly thought that just because the GM name was on the product that they could sell enough to warrant the production capacity. They were wrong, and ended up having to re-tool the entire plant to produce a second line, resulting in millions of dollars more than they would have had to spend otherwise. I think that sort of thinking is still rampant in the management of GM. "It's always worked before....we are, after all, General Motors! People are going to buy whatever crap we throw at them." It's a sad state of things. They are getting left behind while Ford and Chrysler and not to mention all the foreign makes are continually evolving and putting out exciting and innovative products. I have no idea what my next car will be, other than a used SS.

[MN6WS6]

If GM ever woke up long enough to bring the Holden Caprice over here, I'd be all over it. But they'll probably screw it up like the did the GTO. Bring over the same old car, slap a Gran Prix front end on it, jack the price up 10 g's, then promote it with burnouts and tell you "if you do burnouts you void your warranty." That's ok though. In another 5 years, I'll be buying a 2005 300C. Because that's about how long it will take me to get one if I ordered it today!

[casey02ws6]

So I wonder how many other publications GM can fire? Based on all of the reviews I have read GM would have to fire every publication out there! There was a line in an article I pointed out before and I think it is perfect - it said "It is evident GM is not even trying to be competitive in the minivan market". How is it that GM cahnnot make a competitive car in any segment but the Corvette and the Suburban. Speaking of the Suburban has GM done anything to the Suburban since the new model came out in 2002? My wife has an 02 and you cannot tell the difference between it and a 2005. At this point the only thing GM trucks have is brand loyalty and superior drivetrains (arguable vs Dodge)- Ford has a better interior, Dodge has better exterior styling. Come on GM!