The "New" GM Focuses on Customers, Cars, Culture
July 10, 2009
By Michelle Krebs
DETROIT -- The world was introduced to the "new" General Motors company Friday, one that is largely owned by U.S. taxpayers and will be focused on customers, cars and culture.
"Going forward, the new General Motors is fully committed to listening to customers, responding to consumer and market trends, and empowering the people closest to the customer to make the decisions," GM CEO Fritz Henderson said at a Friday morning press conference.
"Our goal is to build more of the cars, trucks and crossovers that customers want, and to get them to market faster than ever before," Henderson said.
The new GM will focus on four brands -- Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC. Environment and fuel-efficiency will be top priorities.
"Today marks a new beginning for General Motors, one that will allow every employee, including me, to get back to the business of designing, building and selling great cars and trucks and serving the needs of our customers," said Henderson.
Because the new GM moves forward with a less expensive cost structure, a cleaner balance sheet and a stronger liquidity position, it can focus "100 percent" on the revenue side of the business, he said.
Acknowledging that GM has a reputation for moving slowly, Henderson said the automaker's swift six-week run through bankruptcy demonstrates it can change.
"One thing we have learned from the last 100 days is that GM can move quickly and decisively," said Henderson. "Today, we take the intensity, decisiveness and speed of the past several months and transfer it from the triage of the bankruptcy process to the creation and operation of a new General Motors.
"Business as usual is over at GM," he added.
The debut of the "new" GM was made possible on Thursday when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber, overseeing GM's whirlwind Chapter 11 case that started June 1, approved the sale of good assets to the new GM, despite the filing of last-minute appeals to stop the sale. The judge wrote in his ruling that it was in the public's best interest to clear the way for the new GM.
The new GM will be 60.8 percent owned by the U.S. government, 17.5 percent owned by the United Auto Workers union's retiree health care fund and 11.7 percent owned by the governments of Canada and its Ontario province.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 5:14 AM under Featured , GM , News , Personalities | Comments (5) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
wow, it took the loss of so many jobs and a huge financial collapse for them to realize that they have to be totally focus on service and taking care of their customers. No wonder this country is going down the tubes, it is because of companies like GM, who do not care about their product or their customers and now since the goverment has bail them out, they are suddenlly worried and focus on customers, quality and reliability of their products. I dont think GM will survive with the inferior product they make in comparison to Hyundai, Honda or Toyota. I owned a Ford as my first car and I never bought American since 20 years ago. I always bought Honda or toyota and the difference in quality shows time and time again, as I continue to buy their products.
Posted by: zoom08 | July 10, 2009 at 10:18 PM
I agree with zoom08--It's remarkable that GM had to go through bankruptcy to learn to focus on customers.
Posted by: billddrummer | July 11, 2009 at 4:45 PM
I am reviewing this emergence back into the marketplace by General Motors absent gossamer wings. As an American just as many car buyers do who are of my maturity, I remember the 1964 Impala, a vehicle that could have run rings around any Japanese or Asian car today. That Impala was banged around in New York City but the body work never exceeded the cost of a dinner out today. Back then, GM was America's number one Forbes company on the list. As GM goes, so goes the nation we once said. Now that phraseology would be an oxymoron. The trouble is that the price point on the Impala, the family car, is too high. All of you are car enthusiasts and can cost out $21-22K for openers. I believe whatever you do mathematically, monthly and MSRP pricing will be higher than my Hyundai Sonata 2009. GM is stressing a a few alms of extra mileage just as oil prices are lowering. Lastly, who is left after all these firings to give consumers service with a smile and on a timely basis. Dealers were places that always many delays and waiting around even in the best of times. I really want to go back to the days of my 1964 Impala or two Caprices that you could not kill with a sledgehammer and a torch, a Pontiac Catalina 1965 that went forever. All in the Family said it best- "Those were the Days". Jay Adler
Posted by: jayadler1 | July 12, 2009 at 9:57 AM
General Motors number one problem is product perception; expressed perfectly by zoom08, above. As soon as the lead person in a peer group says American branded cars are good, folks will be back.
The Chevrolet Malibu is the closer competitor than the Impala to the Hyundai Sonata. a quick look at edmunds.com shows very little difference in price, mpg, or consumer rating between the two.
My dad's '64 impala 4dr Hardtop listed at around $3400 back then. It had a 145 hp V8, power steering, manual drum brakes, am radio, 2-speed automatic transmission. Our threshold of expectations has gone up with the prices over the years.
Ah, the good ol' days...remember valve jobs? Ring jobs? Rusted-thru floors?
Posted by: fulcrumb | July 12, 2009 at 11:18 AM
Yes, the "Big 3" were so self absorbed that they couldn't see the gorilla in the room. It was an organizational/cultural mental disease (one that proved fatal to Chrysler).
In my opinion the design/build quality of domestics is acceptable (at least in many cases). The problem is found in the dealerships that represent domestic brands. Acidic buying experiences and apethic service has forced me to find foreign brands that are built (and serviced) here in the U.S. Unfortunately I haven't seen any attention paid to this issue (other than chopping off the heads of some of the smaller dealerships).
The real challenge for the domestics will be in keeping their labor costs down, especially the white collars. Domestic car executives make several times what their foreign counterparts do (even true when Mercedes owned Chrysler). And I don't know how American workers can compete with 3rd world labor costs.
Posted by: mcmanus | July 16, 2009 at 11:40 AM