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GM: Where's Steve Jobs when you need him?

Posted Nov 18 2008, 09:05 AM by Minyanville
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General Motors looks worse than Rocky after his bout with Clubber Lang. The whole company looks sadly beaten down, a dying animal flailing hopelessly around. "Please sir, can I have a bailout?" While politicians and economists argue about life support, the future seems pretty clear: GM is DOA.

The implosion of GM would be a terrible thing for thousands of workers and their families. Lost health insurance, lost retirement benefits, lost seniority. One giant after another has fallen in the last year -- and the shockwaves just keep multiplying.

The collapse of GM would be a terrible thing for the American soul. It’d be like losing the Statue of Liberty. Or baseball. Or Delaware. We’d feel like something was missing: An amputee reaching for a phantom limb.

But if we let ourselves forfeit our fascination with cars, the fault will be ours alone. In the next decade, America will need to reinvent its automobile industry the way it’s reinvented the tech sector. GM could stand to benefit from learning how to do this from another GM: That is, Generation Me.

Arguing for a need for automotive innovation, Flat-Worlder Thomas Friedman suggests in the New York Times that “somebody ought to call Steve Jobs…and ask him if he’d like to do a national service and run a car company for a year. I’d bet it wouldn’t take him much longer than that to come up with the GM iCar.”

Friedman is right to evoke Jobs. Apple succeeded because it appealed to the tastes of the “next” generation. Think about it: How many kids owned iPods before their parents? How many kids used e-mail first? I got my first text message from my Dad about a month ago. He asked, “How are you?” And I knew life would never be quite the same again.

Companies look to kids not just because they’re the next wave of consumers, but because they establish what’s hot today. As those tastes change, big companies will need to be nimbler, smarter - more like tech start-ups, if they want to remain viable.

After all, tech businesses never enjoyed the luxury of laziness. The moment your new toy feels stale, you’re out. Remember CompuServe? Or Wang computer? Or XyWrite?

Dead. Dead. Dead.

Nevertheless, Friedman himself may have missed his own point. American car manufacturers need to start thinking like the next Steve Jobs. They need to find the next design, the next way to fuel-efficiency, the next way to excite. We can only hope that there, standing in the shadows of General Motors, looms the next great innovator.

So I challenge car companies to think big. Why stop at hybrid cars? Make ones that float. Make a Mustang that literally transforms into a real mustang, so when traffic gets bad, you can hit a button and gallop softly away into the sunset. Let’s all agree that 2010 is the year when all cars, regardless of size, shape or color, can finally move sideways.

Top Stocks blogging partner Todd Harrison is founder & CEO of Minyanville.com. This post was written by Minyanville Contributor Cory Bortnicker.

Related reading:

GM Declares Itself Essential to World As We Know It

Toyota: Most Overrated Company on Earth?

No Life Support for GM

Comments

 

Those who are most opposed to the bailout dont live in the cold north, they think it is not thier problem. The city of detroit will riot, it will burn. There will be masses of people heading to warmer climates. see you soon...yall

THERE SEEMS TO BE ALOT OF PEOPLE OUT THERE  THAT WANT GM AND ALL THEIR EMPLOYEES TO FAIL, I WONDER IF YOU REALIZE THAT A LOT OF SMALL  TOWNS WERE BUILT AROUND THESE PLANTS AND HAVE CREATED OTHER JOBS THAT SUPPORT THEIR INDUSTRY. THOSE TOWNS WILL FAIL ALSO, LEAVING THE JOBLESS RATES STAGGERING

According to the senate hearings  the  UAW has in the last contract, addressed the employee and retirement costs the new wage for new hires is $14.25 per hr.

they have taken measures to take over health care costs of retiree's and benifits

so by the end of their contract GM Chrysler and Ford, will have a VEBA responsible

for this cost. This will address lowering their overall costs and make them profitable employers in 2010 right now they need a bridge I say Give them the bridge they are not the ones at fault for the economic break down the Banks gave loans to irresponsible people that file bankruptcy!!!

IMO, at this time there 3 sectors of our economy that need bailed out.  The

financial sector, the auto industry, and maybe most important of all the average

ameican people(middle class,) ie taxpayers.  

Here's my proposal.  The government becomes what it already is, a central bank.

We open a line of credit for two three sectors of the economy, the financial institutions and the auto industry,  that can be drawn on at a maximun draw per month spread over a 4 years period of time.  This is strickly a collateralized loan and can be paid back at any point over the next 10 years, without penalty I might add for early repayment.

The third sector, the American people, will receieve a check each month based

on the same criteria that the initial stimulus package was based on.  Their loans

will be repaid in the form or taxes as they and the economy gets back on its feet.

IMO, if we throw large chunks of money all at once at the problem in will be

like throwing good money after bad.

By providing a steady flow of capital to all sectors it will give each a chance to work

on a solution to their and the countrys economic problems   It might be a slow

process, but, IMO, would in the long run be a better solution than simply pouring

large sums of money in all at once.  

Those that can plan for the future with a steady source of revenue will surive

which is the way it should be.

After reading the article 6 Myths about Detroit ,Posted by World Competitive Auto

supplier the Big 3 should be rolling in the cash. It's the other Auto producers who

should be hurting. So why bail out poor mangement, it will only continue and thus

at best delay what will be. More than likely the end of the Big 3. (maybe little 3)

will survive.

Ford never bailed me out when my well maintained 87 mustangs engine blew with

70,000 miles on it. Or when my 1990 taurus went through 3 front ends in about 5 years while having under 60,000 miles on it. Of course spending time on the side of the road waiting for tow trucks allowed me to get to know my then infant children very well.(LOTS of quality time) So I hold my nose and buy a japanese

brand with over 100k on it. Guess what? sold it with 228k after spending maybe

300 dollars in repairs. Then bought an Accord with 90K plus....same story.

Sorry, YOU BLEW IT. You claim to be on par with HONDA and Toyotas quality.

Maybe you have made some drastic improvements. SO WHAT?

The same way Japanese manufacturers had to fight the "JAP CRAP" perception for dozens of years, now it's your turn to suffer the consequences of your

hubiris.

Wagoner said when he was begging for aid in front of Congress that in the coming year they had something like 8 to 12 new models coming out. GM only needs 3 models of sedans(a large one.medium size, and a small car). They only need one motor for the large and medium-the 3.8 v6 which they have had for years, and a decent 4 banger which they could purchase from Japan since they can not make a decent one themselves(this for the small car). As far as pickups go they only really make one and that is the 1500 series for the gentlemen driver. The rest of their pickups should be trashed including their real small pickup which is a fuel hog and to smalll to be functional. I would bet their 5.3 v8 gets better mileage than the offbeat 5 clyinder they are putting in the small pickup(that motor is not their design and they are buying it off someone else).  It really gets to me in this country that the people believe there is a different between a Buick and an Impala-they have the same drivetrain and for most parts are interchangeable(I really believe the looks are the only difference). The volt should have been out a long time ago. Another problem I have with the car companies is the attitude of the dealers, the fact the cars are getting so complex  that even the dealerships  can have a hard time fixing them, and the fact that the companies want to wipe out the whole industry of independent mechanics that so many of the poorer people rely on  to keep the second hand junk that they have to buy running. The objective of the auto companies is not about serving their customers;but about how much money they can rip off their customers(its greed big time). The next thing car companies want to protray their dealers as being on the same level as bankers,doctors ,and lawyers. Car dealers-new or used have always been crooks-its the nature of the business and the only way they have surviived(on second thought I guses bankers,doctors , and llawyers do belong right along side car dealers-they cannot rip the poor off enough). I am ready for a change in the way  we have to purchase and service our cars, the problem is that in our rural areas we only have the GM dealerships left and the day is coming when they will be gone because GM is to big to change its way and cut back to what it should be-a service for the masses instead of a service for the rich and the attitude of trying to build to many different cars trying to satisfy to many different tastes. Vets should be built on order only.  I am for no bailout, I say it is a time for change and it is going to hurt but hopefullly in the long run it will be better.

I have a real problem running up my tax debt to bail out the auto companies until the auto workers come down to planet earth and make a pay/benefits package in line with the rest of average americans.  All this money being given out will need to be repaid by all tax payers, not just the auto workers.  Fair is fair

  G' Daddy  (Posted 11.18.08 11:34 PM)

"4 years ago I made $300,000 as an exec.and spent every penny I made and thought it would never end. Today I make $45,000, I am debt free, own 2 Harley motorcycles a new Audi convertabe,, and a 4 year old Chevy truck.my house is all but paid for. I sleep very well and am at peace with my fellow man. I went through personal bankruptcy and it's time for the big three to wake up and accept responsibility for their actions"

CLASSIC! Someone runs up debt, does a bankruptcy and writes it all off (so other consumers get to eat it), then lectures about "accepting responsibility"...LMAO!

the reason that the big three do not build or sell efficient fuel cars or minivans is due to the political bs that is goes on between the government-gas companies and auto companies-as an example, if one of the big three designed a minivan that achieved 50 mpg-the gas companies would lobby and threatened the car companies-the government would lose tax money because the tax rate on a gallon of gas is based on consumption and not usage or the price-gas is around 2.00  per gallon but should be closer to 1.25 due to demand-we have low demand  which should promote lower prices but all concerned leave the price at 2.00 per gallon-we have oil tankers being staged for weeks waiting to unload but cannot because of the lack of strorage capacity

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