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Government Motors is born!


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Well, it's official... GM has emerged from bankruptcy and is now officially a state-run company.

Welcome to China... ;)

Hopefully it will go better for GM than nationalisation did for British Leyland. But, the government only has 61% of GM...I expect they will work towards an IPO within a couple years to go independent again.

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And how many would be all up in arms if GM had been allowed to simply shut down due to their own incompetence and their lack of ability to compete?

Not me, that's for sure. That's exactly what I've been saying should have happened. You're a business that can't compete in the marketplace? You go under... and new, leaner, meaner, more competitive businesses spring up to fill the void. That's how capitalism is supposed to work...not by propping up failing, poorly run companies with taxpayer money... ;)

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And how many would be all up in arms if GM had been allowed to simply shut down due to their own incompetence and their lack of ability to compete?

Not me either... It would have been a sad goodbye but thats what happens when you run a business into the ground. It is NOT the job of the public to keep GM running. <-- notice the PERIOD.

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Well, it's official... GM has emerged from bankruptcy and is now officially a state-run company.

Welcome to China... ;)

I'm thinking more of England and their state- run British Motors Corporation that died many years ago from the crushing weight of beauracracy.

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I'm thinking more of England and their state- run British Motors Corporation that died many years ago from the crushing weight of beauracracy.

Woo hoo...British Leyland. Part of what killed them was their absymal build quality and poor reliability. GM has the quality and reliability again, I believe.

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You can't blame the Democrats for GM's mess. They were in trouble back when that "other president" was running the country into the ground.

Agreed...it's going to take years to clean up the disaster the Repubs left behind. ;)

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Well I can see a few good things that could come out of this

All the secret technology GM supposedly bought and squashed will become available, so we should have the cars that run on water and 100 mpg carburators. ;)

It will be interesting to see if they really leave the company alone to design real cars that will sell or if we see the hand of government creating committee / special interest designed abomonations.

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Well I can see a few good things that could come out of this

All the secret technology GM supposedly bought and squashed will become available, so we should have the cars that run on water and 100 mpg carburators. ;)

Please, no carburators..leave that technology in the 20th century. I'd love to see more diesels, but it seems only the Germans are committed to them in the NA market. Gas prices are low currently, so they aren't profitable here.

GM has several cars currently that appeal to me, 1st and foremost the CTS (thinking about buying one for my next daily driver), the new Camaro, and the G8 (sadly, Pontiac is doomed).

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Please, no carburators..leave that technology in the 20th century. I'd love to see more diesels, but it seems only the Germans are committed to them in the NA market. Gas prices are low currently, so they aren't profitable here.

GM has several cars currently that appeal to me, 1st and foremost the CTS (thinking about buying one for my next daily driver), the new Camaro, and the G8 (sadly, Pontiac is doomed).

Oh I know carbs are out of date but the legend makes the claims for a carburator design.

Unfortunately I think diesel falls into the same class as nuclear power, very practical but a bad word for the environmentalists. VW has a diesel that gets better mileage than the hybrids but I bet we won't be able to buy it in California, just like the older diesel VWs which have become sort of a grey market car in this state.

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Oh I know carbs are out of date but the legend makes the claims for a carburator design.

Unfortunately I think diesel falls into the same class as nuclear power, very practical but a bad word for the environmentalists. VW has a diesel that gets better mileage than the hybrids but I bet we won't be able to buy it in California, just like the older diesel VWs which have become sort of a grey market car in this state.

I thought the current Jetta diesel was a 50 state model.

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well, my 2 cents. (with the weak dollar, that is about .003 cents.) :rolleyes:

i do not really care what government motors designs, i want to see them fail. yes, fall off the face of the planet. the pieces of the defunct company could then be picked up by private, automotive minded business enterprise. they could then start designing and building cars meant for the public. the public would then respond by shelling out their hard earned bucks for what they like. if the public did not like it, get rid of it. do not just throw some more plastic on it, change the name and try and convince us it is a new car. ( good bye pontiac, the damage had already been done. )

currently, i think we should be supporting the only free market owned automotive company: FORD. i think alan mullaly called it right; leave that government money alone. there was too many strings attached. good on you alan.

harry, recently i saw that you bought a new mustang, nice. my mother just bought a new mercury and i recently picked up a new fusion SAP. i can tell you they are both excellent cars. design, fit and finish, feel of the materials, paint and overall performance are great. ( remember: have you driven a ford lately? :P )

as harry pointed out, if your company cannot compete, see ya.

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I've owned Ford, Chrysler (Jeep), Mercedes and BMW vehicles over the years. I have no problem supporting GM, they have a few models I like and will consider when I shop for my next cars. I would also consider another Ford, definitely a Mustang, having had 3 over the years. Though I also like the new Camaro and the Challenger. I'm looking forward to seeing how the next Grand Cherokee turns out for MY '11, I've been very happy w/ my '00.

I'm a fan of and support all of the Detroit 3, never been drawn to Honda or Toyota, always found their products to be too dull and mainstream.

Edited by Rob Hall
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Hopefully it will go better for GM than nationalisation did for British Leyland. But, the government only has 61% of GM...I expect they will work towards an IPO within a couple years to go independent again.

When they go "public" will they send me a check since technically I own part of GM now?

In the mean time, I want a silver company car to drive... make it a Vette!

John

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It's just sad to see what's become of the American Auto industry. Go back to the late '50's, early '60's and GM was on top of the world. No one could touch them as far as design and name recognition. Problem was, they thought they WERE too big to fail and sat on their hands while the Europeans and more recently the Asians were eating their lunch.

What did they do to respond? Build more soulless, pointless, poor quality cars. Now they'll pay the price.

I guess I'm an old gearhead at heart............I don't like how a lot of cars are engineered today. Must EVERYTHING be front wheel drive??

It has its place with small cars, but I absolutely hate the goofy proportions it gives to larger cars. Dashboard to front axle distances are all the same, windshield angles all the same, rooflines all the same-------everything same, same, same. :rolleyes:

I agree with fordsixty------they should have just failed and let someone else pick up the pieces.................about 20 years ago. :P

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harry, recently i saw that you bought a new mustang, nice. my mother just bought a new mercury and i recently picked up a new fusion SAP. i can tell you they are both excellent cars. design, fit and finish, feel of the materials, paint and overall performance are great. ( remember: have you driven a ford lately? :rolleyes: )

as harry pointed out, if your company cannot compete, see ya.

Believe it or not, one of the big reasons I did buy a Ford was exactly that: they didn't take bailout money. That counts for a lot with me.

My choice was between a Mustang and a Challenger. I have been a MOPAR guy all my life... and have never owned a Ford until now. But I decided that my money will go to support a company that's doing it the right way. I believe in capitalism and free markets... not in bailouts and charity programs for big business.

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I thought the current Jetta diesel was a 50 state model.

I don't know about the current one, but 4 or 5 years ago I had a friend who was trying to buy one but they were not available in California. To get one in California a used one had to be bought out of state. Supposedly people were actually buying them new out of state then letting someone else put 7500 miles on them. At that point they would transfer the title back to the actual owner who could then apply for a used car title in California. :blink:

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