What should the new GM look like?
Posted by Matt Kelly | Filed under Uncategorized
Let’s face it.
All the statements of possibility, the government intervention, the announcement of dealerships closing and lately a possible buyer for Saturn means only one thing.
General Motors is already bankrupt. The dissolution has begun.
What we’re seeing in the media is just a “softening of the blow,” while behind the scenes the government is stepping in, once again, to try to set the stage for yet another company, too big to fail, succeed.
Reductions in force of twenty five percent are rumored inside the walls of the Ren Cen. Brands are being jettisoned. Labor contracts are being renegotiated. All so the General can spin off the “bad assets” to the Fed while the “good assets” become a new, profitable engine of capitalism in a beleaguered economy.
As Glinda said in the Wizard of Oz, “are you a good witch or a bad witch?” Are you a good asset or a bad asset?
It’s bankruptcy, just kinder and gentler.
But will it work?
It all depends on what the new GM will look like. Inside and out.
Inside GM, many see the fundamental culture of the company as its chief bad asset which must change if it is to succeed, believing the automaker’s current brain trust is stifled by outmoded bureaucracies that negatively impact crucial product to market lead times and the company’s ability to be profitable. As one former employee offered, If a mind is a terrible thing to waste, then at GM, its criminal.
If this bad asset mind-set can be spun off, then the new GM can address what perhaps will be the most critical element of its success: design.
Plainly put, the new GM needs to build cars more Americans want to buy. We’re growing inured by the same old tear-drop design and becoming restless. Every year at every auto show, we’re shown what is possible, yet the possible never seems to arrive. It’s this impatience the new GM must also address.
Case in point: when we see GM’s visionary Volt concept executed in a Malibu-style production vehicle, it’s once assured success becomes less certain, not soley due to the current economic downturn, but also due to a more crowded marketplace. By the time the GM fully deploys its E-REV technology, other foreign and domestic brands offering models with similar science but differing design and style ques and price points will be crowding dealer lots vying for consumer dollars. Will GM’s design be enough to hold buyers eyes and translate to sales?
Granted-other federal and state bureaucracies are also at play, but this 3-4 yr concept to product development cycle in today’s age is like driving in the slow lane on the information super highway. Or the breakdown lane. Which is where the current GM finds itself now.
My hope is that after the Obama administration brings its triple AAA roadside assistance and works its eternal wizardry, the new GM entering the autobahn will be, inside and out, a company I won’t recognize.
For GM, one thing is for sure.
They’re not in Kansas anymore.
Tags: E-REV, GM, Malibu, Ren_Cen, Saturn, Volt