You're now the CEO of GM. What will you do?

[donbuggy]

Just like being promoted to captain just before the Titanic hit the iceberg, you're now the CEO of GM. What will you do to bring the company back to profitability? Will you be like Lee Iacocca (who saved Chrysler) or will you be more like Homer Simpson (who ruined the fictional Powell Motors)?

Will you:

1. Reduce your salary to $1 (just what Lee Iacocca did when he brought Chrysler back from the brink) before taking on the unions?

2. Implement a Pilipino style of management (by hiring your relatives, cronies, drinking buddies and putting them in top positions)?

3. Introduce a Hummer based on a front wheel drive minivan platform?

4. Reduce the Corvette or Camaro to Miata size? (Ford once made the smaller Mustang II based on the Pinto).

Other suggestions?

[tidus1203]

I will put the company under Chapter 11 under the supervision of the courts. I will take $1 salary but instead be allowed to accumulate a lot of GM stock options at the current price (around $3). So all union worker contracts will be re-negotiated with the supervision of the bankruptcy courts. If the union workers can't be agreed on a plan that I think will serve the company's cost structure better then they will be laid off and paid their corresponding separation pay. Product stable will be focused on fuel efficiency and alternative energy. I will sell some brands like Hummer, Opel and Pontiac as there are a lot of redundancies. I will make the company a lot smaller by closing factories and just focus on making the fuel efficient cars and directly compete with the Asian makers.

[donbuggy]

^ But what about the negative effect on public relations of declaring chapter 11? Won't it cause sales to plummet?

[redorange]

Will you:

1. Reduce your salary to $1 (just what Lee Iacocca did when he brought Chrysler back from the brink) before taking on the unions?
Not $1 but maybe about $500,000 per year w/o any bonuses unlike the millions that they are making now.

2. Implement a Pilipino style of management (by hiring your relatives, cronies, drinking buddies and putting them in top positions)?
Only one relative a cousin who has a financial background and has run several companies. He would be my righ hand man and on the job.

3. Introduce a Hummer based on a front wheel drive minivan platform?
FWD Hummer defeats the purpose of the platform. I would remove the Hummer brand and Chevy Trucks. All trucks/SUV's will be made by GMC and they will develop a vehicle that will be a direct competitor to the Jeep Wrangler as a niche vehicle. Saturn will be the entry level brand similar to Scion for Toyota and develop quality cars that young people starting up can afford. Once they outgrow those cars they will move up to Chevy. Chevy and Pontiac will be one and known only as Chevy. They will make cars to compete with Toyota. Buick and Cadillac will be one and make cars to compete with Lexus and known only as Cadillac. I will sell Saab, Opel, and other foreign brand with the exception of the ones in Australia. The product line will be streamlined and will not have three cars based on the same platform sold under different brand names. All other brands not mentioned will be shelved or sold. 75% of products sold in Europe, Asia, and the US will all be the same. This way you don't have customers in the US wishing they could have the cars sold in Europe which is happening more often than not right now with GM.

4. Reduce the Corvette or Camaro to Miata size? (Ford once made the smaller Mustang II based on the Pinto).
The Corvette and Camaro will stay and will remain the size they are now. The Pinto based Mustang was the worst thing Ford made so I will not follow that path. The Corvette will remain an affordable supercar and the Camaro will be a niche model for Chevy. The main product line will be quality cars that do what they are meant to do.FWD will be a thing of the past for Chevy and Cadillac, only RWD cars will be made to better compete with the Germans and Japanese.

5. I will hire designers who have a feel for what the market wants and make cars based on what is needed. Quality control will be improved and dealership service will be a priority once a car has been sold. Any dealers who receive too many complaints will be dropped from the network if an improvement is not made within a year.

6. Executive level employees will be cut and the staff that remains will perform the work. Pay raises will be based on performance from the janitor up with the exception of the CEO who will not receive any raises. Production line employees will have stock incentives so that they will have more on the line with every car that they build. If they make bad cars that don't sell and stock prices go down they will feel it in their pockets. Train managers that will better understand the rank and file employees and their needs so that union intervention is kept to a minimum. I have found that good management and employee communication with both parties willing to compromise can normally lessen the need for a union. I have also seen what happens when management is unwilling to listen and compromise and the strength that a union gains from the rank and file employees by those actions.

7. The most important thing is employees know that if things don't change we will all be out of a job.

[tidus1203]

We have to go back to the root of the cash flow problem and that is the overflated union labor contracts and legacy costs. Only a Chapter 11 can give the company the opportunity to renegotiate the contract ASAP. As for brand damage, GM is already damage not a lot of damage can be done to it already.

[uls]

they are considering the B word

hehe

WSJ
Nov. 22, 2008

DETROIT -- Members of General Motors Corp.'s board of directors are willing to consider "all options" for the ailing auto maker, including an eventual filing for bankruptcy protection, a stance that puts them in rare disagreement with Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, people familiar with the matter said.

[niky]

i will consider the bankruptcy option as a way to unload excess union contracts.

Like redorange, I'd rationalize the product lineup.

I'd deep-six Buick, possibly Pontiac (the delineation between Pontiac and Chevrolet just isn't big enough)... tough choices, but possibly necessary. Sell Hummer, along with a technology sharing option to whoever want to buy it.

Saturn will be the entry-level brand, much like Scion. Chevrolet will be mostly compact and midsized cars. I'd deep-six the Aveo... that car really isn't doing GM's reputation any favors... it's not reliable, fuel efficient or even desirable. GMAC stays, Cadillac stays. Saab gets sold or becomes a Saturn-clone.

There's no problems with the platforms for GM's new compacts and midsizers... I'd spend money on making the interiors better, and rationalize the naming convention.

Actually, on the technical side, GM is going in the right direction... better diesels, better engines, better platforms... the question is whether they can stay alive long enough to use them.

[redshift]

1. Reduce brands, for example, why is Chevrolet competing with Vauxhall in Europe? GM really just needs Chevrolet/Vauxhall/Holden as its value segment brands, Cadillac for Luxury, and GMC for its commercial and military truck business.

If it cant eliminate the other brands:
1. Saturn as its "alternative" brand -- use this as the first-mover platform for alternative fuels, hydrogen engines and new powertrain technologies
2. Pontiac as its "track day" brand -- track-prepped Chevrolets (different from the SS versions)
3. Hummer as the "tough" brand -- go after Jeep rather than Land Rover

Leave Buick as more of a China brand and keeping all operations and design there. Sell Saab back to the Swedes.

4. Reduce dealers
5. Reorganize lineup & platforms, e.g., align the lineups from Opel/Vauxhall with Chevrolet in Asia.
6. When it gets more money, re-tool its plants for more fexibility
7. Continue with the VBA to reduce the burden of supporting the pensioners and retirees
8. Improve the quality of materials used in interiors, invest in acoustics, follow VWs refinement program for their cars
9. Improve spare parts supply chain for Asia (where most of the growth will most likely come from).

whew!

2010 Asia lineup (manufacturing: Korea/ASEAN)
Chevrolet Orlando (Compact 7-seat MPV) - Innova, Fuzion
Chevrolet Equinox (compact CUV) - RAV4, CR-V
Chevrolet Cruze (compact saloon) - Civic, Corolla, Lancer
Chevrolet Beat (sub-compact hatch) - Jazz, Yaris
Chevrolet Vectra (mid-sized saloon) - Accord, Camry

Special US imports: Tahoe, Silverado

[AG4]

First thing i'd do is eliminate some brands.
First I'd kill the Saturn brand and merge its models with Pontiac, next i'll kill off GMC, why do they even need this truck brand?
Hummer? i'd keep the small H3 and kill the H2... and probably add a compact H4.

Now what to do with the rest....

I'd deep-six Buick, possibly Pontiac (the delineation between Pontiac and Chevrolet just isn't big enough)...

You have to admit, the 2010 Buick LaCrosse looks interesting.

click thumbnail to enlarge:




Another interesting feature? New more powerful but more fuel efficient VVT Direct Injection engines, a 255hp 3.0 V6 and a 280hp 3.6 liter V6.
The mid-level CXL model is also available with an AWD option.

2010 Asia lineup (manufacturing: Korea/ASEAN)
Chevrolet Orlando (Compact 7-seat MPV) - Innova, Fuzion
Chevrolet Equinox (compact CUV) - RAV4, CR-V
Chevrolet Cruze (compact saloon) - Civic, Corolla, Lancer
Chevrolet Beat (sub-compact hatch) - Jazz, Yaris
Chevrolet Vectra (mid-sized saloon) - Accord, Camry

The Beat is a Hyundai i10/ Kia Picanto sized car, it is believed to be the replacement for the Spark.

A new Aveo is being developed, this will continue to be their sub-compact Yaris competitor.

PS: Here's the 2010 Chevrolet Equinox, the LWB cousin of the Captiva.

Its powered by new direct injection engines.
The base engine is a 182hp 2.4 liter inline-4, while the optional engine is a 255hp 3.0 liter V6.

[empy]

many good ideas have already been mentioned:

product mix rationalization
applying for bankruptcy protection and doing a full scale restructuring
i agree that the biggest problem is low-productivity, ridiculously high cost union labor. easier said than done to get out of those contracts though....

the time where GM can be everything to everyone in the world has passed. nonetheless, with all the hate heaped on their products they do have some real winners in that lineup. they just have to focus their R&D and marketing on the winners in each of the markets and disinvest in the rest. start with the investment/model that gets you the highest rate of return and work your way down until you run out of money. kill everything else.