When I was born in 1955, General Motors was a hugely successful car maker. So much so that that just two years prior, GM's president Charlie Wilson, who was Eisenhower’s nominee for defense secretary, make this famous statement when a senator asked him if he felt he could make a decision even if it were adverse to the interests of GM:
"I cannot conceive of one because for years I thought that what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa."
But in the following decades, competitors from Japan, Europe and elsewhere took aim at the US auto market and introduced cars that were higher quality, lower cost, more stylish, more fuel efficient and higher performance. Did I leave anything out?
Well, GM did a good job building big honking trucks and SUVs for gas-guzzling Americans. But those days are over, too.
Meanwhile, it seems that GM's executives kept rearranging the deck chairs as the Titanic started taking on water. Well, the ship has finally sunk as GM declared bankruptcy today to get out from under $172 billion in debt [1], more than double its assets.
More than five decades later, it appears that Wilson was right, because now U.S. taxpayers will own 60% of GM going forward. As GM goes, so goes our investment.
For the past several years I've been hearing how "legacy" costs have made GM's cars uncompetitive. Well, now those costs are gone and GM has a fresh start. Or does it?
Aren't GM's problems deeper than just cars that cost too much to build? What about designing and building cars that more people actually want to buy and drive? What about revamping the dealer network so dealers provide a great buying and service experience?
Or, as has been suggested by John Todor, Axle Schultze and others in Who Will Miss Car Dealers? Not Customers! [2], why not use social media as a catalyst for customer-driven change?
What do you think GM should do with its second lease on life? Please respond with your ideas, and I'll find someone at GM willing to listen.
I'm sure the coming months will be difficult for GM and all its partners and suppliers. They'll need all the help they can get. Now that we Americans are owners, it's the least we can do.