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General Motors

A STICKER SHOCKER: GM SLASHES PRICES

General Motors has taken the unusual step of quietly lowering sticker prices by up to $2,000 on some of its most popular SUVs after a sudden sales slip.
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It is very difficult to say that GM prices are too high. That all depends on whether or not you value what GM is offering.

GM has been publicly called (recently) a "finance company that just happens to sell automobiles." This is due to the fact that in their publicly released financial numbers for 2004, GMAC carried all the rest of the company into the black.

GM is running on probably the lowest margins per vehicle in the industry. SUV and truck sales are still running very high, but the crowded field of competitors is certainly cutting in to the overall sales. These new price cuts will likely improve those sales, though.

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I love American cars, but when it comes down to it, I can't afford one. With the reliability factor and gas mileage, I will spend a whole lot less on a little Toyota or Honda than I would on a GM or Ford vehicle. I hate feeling anti-American, but consumers drive the market, and until I get a lot more money or GM offers something that meets my needs costwise, I will have to stick with inexpensive foriegn cars.

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Personally, I dislike GM all across the board. Though many people who know me say they think it's because I'm such a huge Ford fan, it's really not the only reason I dislike them. I've had really bad experiences with my GM that I had once upon a time, and because of what I've seen other people I know go through with theirs.

I do agree that American made cars are a lot more expensive than imports. That's what makes foreign cars so much more welcoming into the United States. It is good to see that a company is starting to get the picture and lower their prices.

Motors General

I have to say that in the past, whenever GM has tried to put forth a car that was both inexpensive and dependable, they have not quite hit the mark. Remember the Ford Fiesta? Ford Pinto? And who made that Gremlin thing? OH, and the "Thing" itself?

There are some other GM cars that were real lemons, but I can't seem to bring them to mind (unmemorable, perhaps?).

On the other hand, in spite of planned obsolescense, there have been some very well-built, not so expensive cars from GM. But we don't hear much about those, because we're too busy gossiping about the bad ones.

In my opinion, of course.
Roz

General Motors

I have learned quite a bit about buying cars when I was looking a few years ago. First of all, most of the parent companies offer insentives to the dealerships to sell certain models of cars. If they hit the marks, $2,000 rebates (TO THE DEALERSHIP) per car are not unreasonable. Knowing if your car (the one you want to buy) has any offers to the dealerships from the parent company is EXTREMELY good and useful information when making your deal. These rebates from the parent company are quite usual and the dealership will not want to tell you about this "kickback", because you will want a part of it! I highly recommend consumer reports. That information can cost you about $20, but can save you literally thousands! To think that GM is really cutting their prices and taking a huge decrease in profits is probably not right. HOWEVER, the dealerships may not be getting as big of "kickback" from the parent company as they used to. Either way, it is GREAT advertisement and marketing on their part!

Offtopic but, Dealerships hated me as I actually told them that I was not going to pay for the promotional expenditures (was a $250 line item that was kind of hidden). They told me that I had to, that they charge all customers for this. So I told them that they could keep their dealership plate on my car for $250 as I was going to drive my car all around town in promotion of their store. I got the $250 and they got to keep their dealership tag on my car!

Vincenzo

Edited: Vincenzo on 23rd Feb, 2005 - 9:12am

General Motors

Um, Roz, GM and Ford are competitors. "Ford" is a very bad word where I work.

The Gremlin was AMC, as was the Jeep. Chrysler bought out AMC for the Jeep brand.

The "Thing" was Volkswagen.

However, GM did have some failures, but not many spectacular ones.

Right now, we have the Chevy Cavalier, the Chevy Aveo, and the Chevy Cobalt. We also have the wonderful Pontiac Vibe. All of these are in the very low end market. While the Aveo and Cobalt are very new, so continuing quality reports aren't available, that really isn't much of a worry anymore. Last year, I think we beat Honda in the JD Powers Initial Quality report. I know that we are nipping at Toyota's heels.

Our real strong point, though, is in our mid-size cars and our trucks. We now have the Malibu, the Impala, the Pontiac Grand Am and Grand Prix. The Grand Am can properly be classified as a low-end, mid-sized car.

Of course, we do have the high-end market. Starting with all the Cadillac brand. The XLR is taking off. I think it is going to rival the Corvette (also ours). We also have the Chevy SSR.

Finally, keep your eyes open this autumn for the Pontiac Solstice. I really have to figure out how to get one of these.

(BTW, if you want to know what these are - look them up! )

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GM TO CLOSE PLANTS, CUT 25,000 JOBS

General Motors Corp. plans to close plants and eliminate 25,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States by 2008 in an attempt to restore profitability at the world's largest automaker, its chairman said Tuesday as he fended off calls for his resignation.
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