<VV> OT GM woes (longish rant)

[Padgett]

>Profit??? Uh, just in case you haven't noticed, GM and Ford are drowning in
>a river of red ink.  GM is considering bankruptcy and Ford just brought in  a
>turnaround specialist who's taking Bill Ford's job.  Both have "junk"  bond
>status now.  ("Blue chip" when we were young)  They're not making  ANY 
>profit.

When I was going to GMI, GM was worried about having too large a market 
share. Took a decade of the 55 mph speed limit for Oriental cars to go from 
novelty to dominance.

Recently my wife needed a new car and since the Smart is not being imported 
was looking elsewhere. With the GM "everyone gets an employee discount" 
(not really but sounds good) we went looking. One thing she wanted was 
really good gas milage and mentioned the 31/38 of a Scion. (are higher MPG 
cars but the cost differential and potential maintenance down the road 
costs for hybrids eat up the difference quickly).

Went to http://www.fueleconomy.gov/ and found something called a Pontiac 
Wave with 26/34. Quickly found out it is not sold in the US. Turned out the 
Chevrolet Aveo (same/same) is but almost all were strippers. Are made by 
Daewoo anyway. Offputting was the timing belt rather than chain. Even worse 
only one equipped the way we wanted had been receiving fresh air and 
sunshine in South Florida for eight months. Was a 2005 obviously.

Since she had mentioned the Scion we had a look at an XA. Same HP but VVT 
(chain driven) allowed 10.5:1 cr on 87 PON and significantly higher MPG. 
Almost all the toys standard. Quick look at used values showed the average 
2004 Scion selling for almost 50% more than a 2004 Aveo. Reliability 
considered considerably higher. Meanwhile a 2006 Scion was less than a 
grand more than the 2005 Aveo even with the discount. What is wrong with 
this picture ?

Fact is that GM is remarkably ill-poised for $3/gallon gasoline and the 
death of the SUV market, something that should have been obvious for over a 
year.

Overseas, Vauxhall and Opel have many sub-2 liter vehicles that are quite 
interesting and designed for $6/gallon gas but they are not mentioned here. 
Instead if you click on the "advanced concepts" from the engine page on 
http://www.gm.com/automotive/gmpowertrain/ you get a V-16 13.7 liter 1000 
hp engine. In fact of all the cars on the "fuel economy" page, *none* get 
over 30 mpg city. (Vibe is better than the Aveo). Have mentioned before 
what it takes to get Really Good MPG.

So why is GM in trouble ? Certainly the wages paid are part of it but it 
might help to have a competitive and agile vehicle lineup.

Padgett