Writing in the New York Times today, Micheline Maynard reminded me that everything GM is promising to do now–reinvent itself, forge a new relationship with the UAW, improve customer care, develop more fuel-efficient cars–it tried to do with Saturn. Saturn met with some early success. Many people who would never buy another GM car bought a Saturn. It was essentially… More →

My people have suggestions for Detroit. These suggestions tend to center around replacing senior managment and cutting brands and dealers. Dealers–these companies do have too many dealers. But this hurts the dealers more than it hurts the companies. In the short term at least GM, Ford, and Chrysler would not save much from cutting dealers. Brands–how many brands of jeans… More →

GM, Ford, and Chrysler have been begging for loans from the federal government in order to avoid declaring bankruptcy. But the government has been reluctant to grant them these loans without a viable restructuring plan. So far, it’s hard for anyone to see how these companies can avoid bankruptcy and (in Chrysler’s case) even liquidation even with the loans. Many… More →

Automotive News reports this morning that General Motors is “postponing nearly all of its product development spending in 2009 and 2010” to avoid running out of cash next year. Among many depressing stories to come out of Detroit lately, this is the most depressing yet. I remember the last time they took such a drastic step, in the early 1990s.… More →

For a couple of years now I’ve contributed car reviews to The Truth About Cars. But I’ve never penned one of that site’s signature “General Motors Death Watch” or “Ford Death Watch” pieces, partly because I felt (or at least hoped) that the domestic manufacturers would muddle through without declaring bankruptcy…somehow. This now appears unlikely. General Motors and Ford were already struggling… More →

A few months ago I provided my initial impressions of the Hyundai Genesis. I concluded that the specs were impressively competitive, but that the car didn’t bring anything new to the game aside from a low price. Last week I finally found the time to take a Genesis for a test drive, and found that the large sedan drives very… More →

Back when SUVs were first becoming hot, Isuzu had a winner in the Trooper. But other manufacturers caught on, and at this point the conventional SUV segment is well pasts its peak. Isuzu’s sales peaked at 103,937 back in 1999, and totaled only 7,098 last year. Few people were probably aware they were still here. Well, as of January 31,… More →

Maybe next year, but more likely the year after that, I believe Volkswagen will acquire Chrysler from private equity firm Cerberus. The pieces fell into place during NAIAS. Over the past few months it has become clearer and clearer that Cerberus is in over its head. And private investors aren’t in for the long term regardless. So they’ll do their… More →