To tell you the truth I am very disappointed about GM. Let me explain you why.
In 2009 GM was in a very critical situation and needed help from US Government. They got it...dozens of billions of dollars, Governmental help.
Then, they decided last summer to sell Opel/Vauxhall, a very important brand in Europe. They started negotiation with Magna (a Canadian car parts company) and Sversbank (a Russian state bank). In these negotiations were involved also the German authorities. Suddenly the GM officials changed their mind and cut all negotiations involving Opel.
GM is also the owner of Swedish auto manufacturer SAAB. They wanted to sell it too, so the negotiations started with different bidders but only one of them was than selected - Koenigsegg (I know, pretty hard to pronounce it). Koenigsegg is a Swedish super-car manufacturer. After many talks, GM started to have more and more demands from Koenigsegg, so the Swedish bidder dropped the negotiations. A new bidder came along and wanted to buy SAAB. This bidder was also a super-car manufacturer, like Koenigsegg, but Dutch and with a dog's name: Spyker. GM considers that the new bidder was not good enough so they rejected the offer. However, Spyker, like a dog that did not want to give up his bone, made another bid. Again, GM rejected the offer and they conclude that nobody is good enough to buy SAAB, and as if a mad husband said that if he cannot have SAAB, nobody will have it...so they will kill it. Sad, isn't it?
Now, we find out that GM has not finish giving bad news to its employees from Europe. Today they announced that the Opel factory from Antwerp, Belgium is going to be close and more than 2.600 people will lose their job.
It is very interesting how GM does things. On the Buick carmaker website, they say that are going to launch a new model named Regal, a model based on Opel Insignia, a very successful model. Opel engineers developed Insignia and after their great job; GM taught they could give a great bonus to Opel...SHUTTING DOWN THE PLANT FROM ANTWERP!!!
Does anybody understand what is GM doing? What are the CEO's, Officers and Managers have in their heads?
GM lost $88 billion between 2005 and 2008 and now they have to sell everything. I wonder what will be the next step/shock that GM will make.
1 comment:
GM continues to take bad decisions. The arrogance is apalling. Sell Opel, don't sell open. Close plant, don't close plant, close plant. Sell Saab, don't sell Saab. Close Saab. Where is the corporate responsability of these executives in their ivory tower looking as far as the next quarter or the next bonus. Start doing some proper work and make durable decisions and durable cars as you should have already done for a decade!
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