The biggest issue I have ever had with American cars (before quality recently became a core issue and GM actually started building great cars, albeit late in the game) is that they were generally built for the showroom and not the road.
GM ignored their competition’s reliability record (real or otherwise) and failed to respond to the demand for Honda Civics in the 1990’s. This is what killed them and their reputation.
They kept operating as if there wasn’t anything wrong, they were fine, Union protected jobs were the norm, they could outproduce everyone…
And then reality has set in, and ti’s a shame, because GM was just hitting it’s stride right as the economic crap set in.
It’s their own fault for being complacent for so many years, but they are building very good cars right now. Hopefully people will buy them.
Don’t worry you’re all good now. Some guy in GD equated Cash for Clunkers to the questionable financial incentives that drove the mortgage melt down of 2008.
Darn TV networks. They know that their shows anesthetize the viewer and prevent any meaningful conversation within families. Not to mention all the things that could be accomplished if people weren’t glued to the TV. Although they know that three hours of Senate Sub-Committee hearings would result in a better informed citizen, they continue to broadcast escapist comedies. Just because people like them better.
Then they advertise heavily to brainwash 'merkins that they want & need them.
How dare they make money! Look at the godless Communists, they know what’s good for people! If things go on this way, McDonalds will start selling red meat to go with their McSalads and our cholesterol will go through the roof.
How about American corporations are run for the benefit of their real masters? Not the stockholders, but the top executives. There is no way that their efforts are worth multiple millions of dollars every year: their failure to produce a vehicle as reliable as Honda or Toyota is the reason that I will not buy American products. Their products are fucking crap! I’ve owned them and I know they are crap. It has nothing to do with unions. Workers in Germany and Japan have unions and better compensation and job protection. The problem is that the companies are run for the benefit of the execs and to hell with everything else.
Yeah, exactly. Americans are sheep who do whatever GM tells them. That’s why NOBODY buys Hondas or Toyotas, because GM commercials told everyone how unpatriotic that would be.
FWIW, the Lake Orion (Michigan) Assembly plant is gearing up to start production on a compact or subcompact car, starting in the Fall of 2010.
I cannot find the article that I read, so here is something else. Plug in’s
Well, I think American car makers choose to present themselves as makers of big powerful SUVs and trucks. That’s why people who do want smaller cars tend to buy Toyota and Honda.
I know that, although to be precise, it’s a twin of the Matrix, both of which are built at the NUMMI plant in California. But that doesn’t explain why GM is canceling it, rather than just continuing to sell it as a Chevrolet.
Not my experience. They got good Consumer Report reviews. The '92s were a bit clunky, but my son-in-laws lasted for 200K miles with very little money put into it, and died only when it got flooded. My first one, a '93, died keeping my wife from being killed by a red light runner who hit the car right at the driver’s side door. The replacement, a '98, is still running at 137K miles and still requires very little maintenance.
I’d be interested in seeing real reliability records. If the Japanese tore apart a '92, I can see it, but Saturn improved pretty quickly, and my '93 was as close to a perfect car as I am ever likely to buy.
GM also starved the division by giving it no new product for a long time. The Saturn Way is a thing of the way past. Judging from our experience when getting a crossover for my daughter, Saturn went from being a bit more expensive for a superior experience to just being a bit more expensive.
