4LT GS RoadsterEverything was actually already set: German Chancellor Angela Merkel was supposed to be ready to announce Opel's sale to its partner of choice, Magna, on the grand stage of the Frankfurt Motor Show.
But Frankfurt now has to manage without this great sensation, since General Motors, still Opel's parent company, wants to hold onto the automaker, if possible. The "new General Motors" had hardly retreated from the abyss before the old arrogance returned: A portion of the GM management in Detroit is demanding that Opel/Vauxhall not be sold so that the company can remain a true global player.
At the same time, GM has long shown that it no longer knows what to do with Opel. The venerable brand has long been be at risk of being ground up between low-priced Chevrolet and its Saab- and Cadillac-style premium fantasies that have been both useless and unsuccessful to the same degree.
Like most of the U.S. auto industry, the people at GM apparently aren't ready to ask themselves some basic questions: How can it be that the Detroit 3's products can't find a respectable market outside the United States?
Everywhere in the world, vehicles "made in USA" are considered to have poor quality, be technologically backwards and conceptually all wrong. Although GM's quality is now better than its reputation, the fact that even South Korea builds better cars should lead to a change in its thinking.
Instead, GM bought Daewoo. "We are really good at buying brands, sucking them dry, and letting them fall," a GM executive told me years ago with disarming openness.
At first glance, it absolutely makes sense for the new GM to keep Opel so that it can market the vehicles it develops worldwide: That's because there are fewer and fewer customers for cars built in the United States, even in the domestic market.
Still, that is the wrong path. Salvation cannot come from outside. GM has to reform itself under its own power. The United States has to become a country where cars are built for the whole world, not just for a dwindling rural population in the Midwest.
Former President George Bush is supposed to have said that it didn't matter to him whether his country made computer chips or potato chips, just so it had something to sell to the world. What does the United States have to offer the world? Cars aren't part of that any more. There are no longer any at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
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But Frankfurt now has to manage without this great sensation, since General Motors, still Opel's parent company, wants to hold onto the automaker, if possible. The "new General Motors" had hardly retreated from the abyss before the old arrogance returned: A portion of the GM management in Detroit is demanding that Opel/Vauxhall not be sold so that the company can remain a true global player.
At the same time, GM has long shown that it no longer knows what to do with Opel. The venerable brand has long been be at risk of being ground up between low-priced Chevrolet and its Saab- and Cadillac-style premium fantasies that have been both useless and unsuccessful to the same degree.
Like most of the U.S. auto industry, the people at GM apparently aren't ready to ask themselves some basic questions: How can it be that the Detroit 3's products can't find a respectable market outside the United States?
Everywhere in the world, vehicles "made in USA" are considered to have poor quality, be technologically backwards and conceptually all wrong. Although GM's quality is now better than its reputation, the fact that even South Korea builds better cars should lead to a change in its thinking.
Instead, GM bought Daewoo. "We are really good at buying brands, sucking them dry, and letting them fall," a GM executive told me years ago with disarming openness.
At first glance, it absolutely makes sense for the new GM to keep Opel so that it can market the vehicles it develops worldwide: That's because there are fewer and fewer customers for cars built in the United States, even in the domestic market.
Still, that is the wrong path. Salvation cannot come from outside. GM has to reform itself under its own power. The United States has to become a country where cars are built for the whole world, not just for a dwindling rural population in the Midwest.
Former President George Bush is supposed to have said that it didn't matter to him whether his country made computer chips or potato chips, just so it had something to sell to the world. What does the United States have to offer the world? Cars aren't part of that any more. There are no longer any at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Article
adA lot of good peoples live hang in the balance of the big 3.It will be a sad day when Japan rules the U.S. car market,they almost do now!WE bomb their country so now we kiss their azz!Buy a jap car-profits go to japan,soon we will have China made tires!put them on your vette-they are better i was told!For good or ill I'm an American and I'll get off my soap box now!
