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My first hand experience with GM began in April 1969 when I went to work in the auto repair industry at age 18, 41 years ago.
Perforated rust holes in 6 month old cars. Panel alignment that was atrocious. We had to fix the mistakes in assembly and quality control was unknown.
I worked at a Chevy dealership when they first came out with the Vega. 40 engine replacements per month. GM corporate statement was it was due to owners changing their antifreeze to a blend that caused the cylinder walls to sink in the engine block.
In a 2 month old car.
Then there was the Chevette with the collapsible front end with the front wheel camber changing from day to day.
I could go on and on for pages of first hand experience of a corporate attitude that left the customer holding the bag for repairs and in some cases no repair solution regardless of the effort.
Now the new GM, which was raised from the dead by a govt that felt like corporate bondholders were peons who should not be paid their interest, and even should not recover their principle.
I guess by now you can conclude I have very serious reservations about anything GM builds. Had they adopted a customer friendly attitude they could have done much to compete with the Japanese import flood in the 70s. Had they looked at the competition they might have stood a chance.
Had the unions looked into the future and worked with management, instead of a relationship based on mutual hatred, or at least extreme animosity. They might have survived.
Instead, like today's political situation they were hard headed and uncompromising, and the results were predictable.
Very predictable, repeated through history by the shortsightedness of men.
Today their legacy costs have been reduced. They can compete with the Japanese importers, who have evolved into something resembling the American corporate giants of the post WW2 era. The king Toyota recently suffered a very GM like downfall with issues related to demanding suppliers build cheap at any cost.
Now here comes the Koreans, whose vehicles were almost a joke when they first arrived on our shores. They are coming on strong, but will soon be followed by the Indians and Chinese, and many other countries that have much lower average costs of living.
It will be interesting to say the least to actually see what happens in the next decade.
The Volt was GMs life preserver to convince govt they were worth saving. We will never know what would have happened if they had not been bailed out of their own stupidity and arrogance.
$41,000 buys about 16000 gallons of fuel, give or take. In a new Prius that should get you say 7000 gallons of fuel and a new Prius, good for 350,000 miles of driving, before the Volt owner has bought a drop of gas.
If you want to make a statement about eliminating the consumption of foreign, or domestic, oil then you should consider everything you consume that requires oil as a raw material.
Never owned a SUV or a car that was not fairly fuel efficient, with maybe 3 exceptions in 40 years. Got 32 MPG when I was 17 when Lyndon Johnson was president. Of course the car would be considered an absolute death trap today.
It really is a shame to see us, the citizens of the US allowing our gluttony for energy, to destroy our country, that my family has invested their blood in for close to 3 centuries.
It is especially disturbing to see, the same attitudes and arrogance, so clearly demonstrated by GM 50 years ago, prevalent today in the way they withhold information that would allow people to make rational decisions about the viability of their "savior" vehicle.
I have seen the hype for to long to be deluded into blind faith in their ability to adopt a consumer oriented business philosophy.
First hand.
"Deluded people gave in".
All that requires is deluded people, and there seems to be a plethora of volunteers.
As for me, I can wait a couple of years to see how this all unfolds, and in the meantime pursue my personal agenda which is to change the way power is transferred from the fuel tank to the wheels, and how it is recovered.
regards
Mech
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