Blame Canada? No, blame the naysayers.

The New York Times reports that General Motors vice chairman Bob Lutz doesn't think the automaker gets a fair shake these days from the media and financial number-crunchers on Wall Street.

The article ("G.M. Vice Chairman Rebuffs Critics of Turnaround", 4/13/06), written by Jeremy W. Peters, quotes Mr. Lutz as saying "The so-called experts are somewhat blind to what is actually happening in the marketplace...At some point if you listen to that stuff, and you let it guide your actions, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. So, we're not going to listen to the naysayers. I'm convinced that they're wrong."

The article portrayed Mr. Lutz as mad as hell and that he didn't want to take it anymore. He even went on to say that "It's time to strike back" - supposedly at all the naysayers.

To accuse Wall Street of not giving the company a break seems a bit odd. The aforementioned NYT article said that "G.M. lost $10.6 billion in 2005, when its market share was the lowest since the mid-1930's." Perhaps Mr. Lutz could "strike back" with more realistically priced GM products - instead of the incentive nonsense or "employee pricing" folly that resulted in a lot of sales last fall but very little profit. Numbers talk, excuse makers walk.

From a product point of view, which the article didn't touch upon, most recent GM models have been about average in Consumer Reports' tests (our vehicle Ratings are accessible by ConsumerReports.org subscribers). We've been impressed with Cadillac CTS and STS, but the rest of the GM's products rely too much on old technology and unimaginative designs.

In the early 1990s, Hyundai's financial status was shaky, its products were uncompetitive and its reliability Ratings were among the worst in Consumer Reports' surveys. However, Hyundai didn't blame the media or Wall Street; it got busy making better products and improving reliability. For example, in a recent Consumer Reports' test, we found that the Hyundai Sonata is competitive with perennial favorites such as the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.

GM needs to stop holding the media and financial wizards responsible for the position it's in and the rate in which the company is trying to dig itself out.

--Mike Quincy