The List: Globalized Motors

[jams]

Interesting piece I came across about NEW plants GM is building:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/c...?story_id=4789

[CountrySquire]

Exaclty why Obama got rid of the turd Wagoner. He was all about global expansion which is maybe about 1.5 million vehicle sales/ year all the while putting 100Ks out of work here and thusly giving up many more millions in vehicle sales when domestically people can no longer afford a new car or would prefer to buy an Asian make. You ever drive by the parking lots at the Tech Centers' in Warren or Auburn Hills and notice the quantity of Japanese makes in the parking lots? It's all the Temp workers these morons like Wagoner love, mostly from Asia, who remain loyal to thier Asian brands while collecting a us automaker paycheck.

[BOBBYCOTTEN]

It will serve them right when they are laid off.

[CountrySquire]

YYYepppp!!

[Maxine1958]

But those temp workers driving Asian imports are not the ones loosing their jobs. Those are the 'off shore' contingents working for a fraction of the cost of the mostly tech people who were either 'let go' or took buyouts.

At the plants, you won't see more than a few offbrand cars in the lots. Those people are loyal to what they assemble.

And the profits go where?

[detmsp]

Exaclty why Obama got rid of the turd Wagoner. He was all about global expansion which is maybe about 1.5 million vehicle sales/ year all the while putting 100Ks out of work here and thusly giving up many more millions in vehicle sales when domestically people can no longer afford a new car or would prefer to buy an Asian make. You ever drive by the parking lots at the Tech Centers' in Warren or Auburn Hills and notice the quantity of Japanese makes in the parking lots? It's all the Temp workers these morons like Wagoner love, mostly from Asia, who remain loyal to thier Asian brands while collecting a us automaker paycheck.

are you kidding me? you do realize that GM sells more vehicles outside the US than in the US, don't you? you do realize that GM [[before the financial collapse) was profitable outside the US and that those profits were used to subsidize the US market operations which were bleeding money like crazy, don't you? you do realize that some countries have laws preventing a certain % of the profits from leaving the country [[ie Brazil, China) so GM has no better option than to reinvest in those countries, don't you?

i'm guessing you didn't realize all that. global expansion is a good thing for GM and is the only reason they didn't go out of business years ago.

[reddog289]

I myself have wondered why GM sells many different Buicks in China and not here. But I have heard that if you want to sell stuff in China you have to build it in China.

[Bigb23]

don't you? don't you? don't you? don't you?

And I also realize that the Auto industry can' t survive without a core of buyers.

[CountrySquire]

are you kidding me? you do realize that GM sells more vehicles outside the US than in the US, don't you? you do realize that GM [[before the financial collapse) was profitable outside the US and that those profits were used to subsidize the US market operations which were bleeding money like crazy, don't you? you do realize that some countries have laws preventing a certain % of the profits from leaving the country [[ie Brazil, China) so GM has no better option than to reinvest in those countries, don't you?

i'm guessing you didn't realize all that. global expansion is a good thing for GM and is the only reason they didn't go out of business years ago.

The numbers of the posted article do not support your statement. The total of the vehicles sold in Asia / Russia/ SA is less then 2 million per year, I believe the total number of vehicles GM sold here in 2008 was about 9 million vehicles.

[Scottr]

The numbers of the posted article do not support your statement. The total of the vehicles sold in Asia / Russia/ SA is less then 2 million per year, I believe the total number of vehicles GM sold here in 2008 was about 9 million vehicles.

Sources are always a great thing to have before you start spouting 'numbers'.

The facts:
GM sold 8.35 million vehicles GLOBALLY, with 5.37 million outside the US. And the rest of the world is a growing market, while the US is, at this point, a shrinking one.

[detmsp]

thanks for backing me up with those stats scottr.

Bigb23, you're taking a far too simplified view of things. Your argument might hold water if GM's sales in the US were low because of a lack of manufacturing capacity. But that's obviously not true. GM's sales have been low because not enough people want to buy their cars. In the last year, GM has gotten a bit better at managing inventory, but before GM was constantly sitting on over a million unsold vehicles and dumping vehicles they couldn't sell to rental fleets at a loss. There's no way that by building even more vehicles that they would have sold both the vehicles they already had sitting on lots and were shipping off to rental fleets AND the new extra vehicles being built.

your idea of building more and more cars for the US is like trying to smother a fire with gasoline soaked kindling.

[CountrySquire]

While you may be correct in stating those numbers, a large percentage of that 5.3 million vehicle sales are established markets in Europe. I remain unconvinced that Wagoner taking his eye off the ball to focus on pumping up demand in Asia for small profit margin vehicles was a smart use of the company's strained resources.

"In the Asia Pacific region, GM sales of 1.43 million vehicles topped 1 million vehicles for the third consecutive year, and GM China saw more than 18 percent sales growth compared with 2006. The company had regional Q4 sales of 382,000 vehicles, up nearly 17 percent, exceeding the industry average growth rate. GM was the top-selling global automaker in China in 2007, with 1.03 million vehicles sold - becoming the first global automaker to exceed 1 million vehicle sales. Sales in India also set records with an annual volume growth of 74 percent, driven by the recent launch of the Chevrolet Spark and strong performances by the Chevrolet Tavera, Aveo and Optra. "

Autoblog.com

[EastsideAl]

the US is, at this point, a shrinking one.

Ummmm, perhaps this has something to do with the loss of our manufacturing base and its jobs, and the resulting stagnation or decline in wages for the great majority of Americans. If everyone is a low wage service worker or marginally employed, and all the actual manufacturing is being done overseas, then who the hell around here is supposed to be able to afford their damn cars?

[CountrySquire]

Too true, the globalization pundits always thought a company could make a fortune selling Aveos to Indians and Chinese who make $30 per month, and screw the americans who expect a living wage. DUMB!!