A quote from Andrew Ross Sorkin in today’s New York Times reads:
“To make a combined General Motors-Chrysler work – let alone flourish – the company would need to do everything that is impolitic. It would have to virtually break the U.A W., cut salaries and benefits, and lay off a lot of people, fast. Oh: and it would also have to make cars that people actually want to buy.”
The executive offices of all the Big 3 are filled with smarter men and women than me. MBAs up the wazoo, but not one these senior officers is a visionary. Yeah, they may show up at the Detroit Car Show with a newly designed fanny warmer or car that parks itself, but they missed the boat when it came to cars people wanted to buy – or would want to buy down the road. Quarterly losses and market share shrinkage have been mounting for years. If you ask me, the only Big 3 property doing anything is Chevrolet. GM should plumb that group for ideas.
Were I the U.S. government, I’d wait until I heard some serious leadership coming from one of those offices in Detroit, backed by a real strategy, before I put them on the dole. Peace!