And now for the hard part.
Now, you may find this bizarre, but when I started thinking about General Motors this morning, the first thing I thought of was Benjamin Franklin. When the founding fathers had finished writing the document that became our Constitution, a woman came up to him. “So, what kind of government have you given us?” she said.
“A republic,” Franklin supposedly answered. “If you can keep it.” President Obama and we-the-people-the-taxpayers have given GM a new lease on life -- but it is up to the corporation to keep it.
That won’t be easy. General Motors comes out of the financial operating room into what is still the worst economy in many years. What’s more, it is surrounded by more competition than ever.
Odds are that even in a best-case scenario, the Big Three will be no more than half of an auto world that might be better described as the Medium-Sized Six, plus assorted short subjects.
Yet there are a few hopeful signs. Chevrolet has, against all odds, a genuine new hit, or semi-hit car with its Camaro. There are also signs that the company understands - really understands - that it cannot do business in the same old bloated arrogant way. They can no longer waste billions and tens of billions on bizarre diversification schemes, like buying companies that have no connection to what their core businesses are. I think Fritz Henderson gets it. I hope the executives who have survived the purges get it. And I know that Edward Whitacre, General Motors’ new chairman, must get it. He is a man who hasn’t spent a day in the car business, but who knows how to build and grow corporations. What General Motors needs to do is to keep the best of the old GM, the knowledge and engineering know-how, and the vision that has created some amazing cars. Then, it needs to completely remake the corporate culture. GM needs to be run by a team of brilliant, level-headed businessmen who are, at the same time, neurotic, frightened of the competition, and a little paranoid. They need, in other words, to be convinced that they have to struggle every minute to be better than the competition in every way. That won’t be easy. This was a culture that was supremely arrogant long past the time it had anything to be arrogant about. However, what I see makes me think GM has at last put in place the tools to succeed. Yes - government ownership is a potential problem. At some point any company has to dare greatly and take big risks, and government ownership may inhibit that. Washington should get out of GM as quickly as reasonably possible. Still, we can’t forget that if it hadn’t been for the government, General Motors today would not exist at all. Somehow, despite the obstacles, I think the new GM has a good shot at making it. For all of our sakes, I certainly hope it does.
So it is time again for another Comment, on the heels of another Jack Lessenberry commentary, about the GM bankruptcy.
Less than a year ago, Governor Granholm, Ron Gettelfinger and Michigan's Congressional Democrats were all saying that a GM bankruptcy was not an option. That a bankrupt carmaker could not sell cars, and could not succeed.
They got Rick Wagoner to say the same thing when the press questioned him. Even though Wagoner didn't believe it and he secretly directed GM lawyers to look at a bankruptcy option.
Then, last fall in the depths of the financial crisis, Senators John Corker and Richard Shelby made what a lot of insiders understood, plain to the American people; that a GM bankruptcy reorganization could be the thing -- perhaps the only thing -- that would give GM the tools needed to restructure itself in a way that it could return to profitability.
For that bit of wisdom, which has been proven essentially true, Senators Corker and Shelby were lambasted by Democrats and Detroiters as geographic bigots, and worse. The allegations that Corker and Shelby were trying to kill Detroit so that their states could take auto jobs were more or less commonplace, even among intelligent and educated Detroiters who knew or should have known better.
Of course the "bankruptcy" that GM got was unlike any other, some of which was made up as they went along, with the Democrats' benefactor, the UAW, forming a special protected class. Other creditors of GM got a haircut and more.
In the meantime, we have been treated to two spectacles so laughable that they make the pain of the GM fialure almost bearable.
One was the Democrats' own Barney Frank, treating the GM bankruptcy like it was a military base closing, and personally calling Fritz Henderson to demand that the company not close a parts warehous that happened to be in Frank's Congressional district.
And then, just a week ago, news that Chevrolet's brilliant new Camaro had new car buyers so excited taht they were paying dealer premiums to be able to get one. Americans, it seems (or at least a lot of Americans whose names aren't Nancy Pelosi, Henry Waxman or Ed Markey) actually want to pay their money and buy Camaros. The same might be said for Corvettes, and the Cadillac CTS. Those are good cars, built by GM engnineers doing what they do best.
But there again, Congress and Obama have sought to make that kind of operation unworkable; by mandating a ridiculous Corprate Average Fuel Economy standard that is slmost guaranteed to kill the new GM's chances of returning to profitability by making and selling the Camaros that people want to buy. Let no good deed go unpunished.
It's now General Motors Company. You'll recognize it as Government Motors Company.
Posted by: Anonymous | July 11, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Jack, I wonder why you forgot to mention how the, so called, 'new' GM, decided that one of its first great 'new ideas', should be to bring back Bob Lutz as their 'new' 72 year old marketing guy! How's that for 'fresh new' ideas?? How's that for a start? How's that for big risk taking!?
Here's a guy who still doesn't believe that global warming is real, that would like nothing better than to bring back the 'muscle cars' that he so loves and that were so profitable for GM and that fought tooth and nail against increasing CAFE standards. If this is the best example of GM's 'new' thinking and philosophy and this is the kind of 'talent' they are still going to be handsomely rewarding (instead of punishing), then their future is still in serious doubt and I think the taxpayers, once again, got taken for a ride. Mr. Lutz and other senior executives are laughing all the way to the bank (again), on our dime. Why not point that out, too, Jack? Couldn't they find somebody from outside GM and maybe UNDER 60, to do what they have handed Lutz to do? Besides, he's a design guy, not a marketing guru.
Posted by: George | July 17, 2009 at 12:48 PM
I don't think any of the companies that government bailout money get it. Just look at Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, etc. They are still going to hand out their largest paychecks, bonuses and retirement packages to their loyal old-guard executives. Nothing has changed! Nothing! Except that those at the bottom keep having to pay the price, so the greedy at the top can keep getting theirs.
Posted by: George | July 17, 2009 at 12:55 PM
Here's an example of how for-profit companies pay back Uncle Sam when they are given a helping hand to survive:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news/companies/goldman_sachs_tarp_ingratitude.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009071710
Posted by: George | July 17, 2009 at 02:29 PM
Has anyone seen this site for GM car and truck parts ? Will they still be open?
Posted by: Felix Chesterfield | July 20, 2009 at 02:56 PM