[Mr. Wyndham]

Originally Posted by Hylton

I have studied their plan somewhat and it does not address enough in regards to brand re-organization (Holden, Opel, Vauxaul, Saab and the cost associated with those companies doing their own product design, development, branding, marketing and managing), production capacity (too many factories running at under capacity even in the best of times), union must give further concessions. There are still billions of cost savings to be made imo.

I never considered Holden, Opel, Vauxhall in the picture as they were European-only brands that do relatively well. On top of that, much of the designing, development, and engineering work is being done globally; look at the Camaro and Cruze -- that spreads costs over a WIDE table. Saab was addressed in the plan; they want to get rid of it...most likely by selling it off. Same with Saturn.

Anyways, in terms of capacity -- in 4 years' time, they will have reduced the number of dealers they support by 1750, or about 30%. In the same time-frame; they will reduce the number of plants by 9 from 48, or about 20%. For the very reason you brought up: overcapacity.

Without starting another thread...I don't know what more concessions the workers can be expected to give. According to GM's numbers (not the Unions) they can now hire new people to work for LESS than the foriegn people. These new hires will take the places of the 1000s of early retirement buyouts they recently went through.

Originally Posted by Hylton

We have to keep in mind that other foreign car manufacturers face the same market conditions yet are still able to make a profit. Why is that? A lot can be said about GM's pensioners/healthcare but that's nowhere near the only problem.

I agree; there's MANY factors that effect their profitability. But the biggest, by far, has to be the pensioner/healthcare issue. Nearly a million retirees draining pensions AND healthcare from GM? Toyota, etc don't even have 100,000 to deal with. BUT...that's gone in 2010.

Originally Posted by Hylton

I agree. That's why I want Bush to hand over the cash now with a stipulation that the next 3 months are spent negotiating a solution to this mess.

I know I come off a lot of times like there's nothing more to be done. I know that's not true. There is still a LOT that can be addressed. I guess I just don't want to lose sight of the progress that these "dinosaurs" have already made.