GM apologizes to American car buyers and taxpayers

As the Detroit 3 automaker executives hold out their tin cups to Congress looking for a taxpayer bailout, with news reports suggesting $15 billion short-term aid package, General Motors has taken out an ad in the trade publication Automotive News apologizing for various mistakes it says it has committed in the past.

In it, they concede to letting quality fall below industry standards, building lackluster designs, supporting too many brands, and losing focus on their core market.

The company goes on to promise:

• To produce "automobiles you want to buy and are excited to own."
• To lead the reinvention of the automobile based on promising new technology
• To aid the reduction of America’s dependence on imported oil
• To protect the environment
• And to pay back the entire government loan, if granted.

Check out the whole letter to America for yourself (pdf).

Then let us know what you think in the comments below.

Also read:
Automakers head to Washington
Consumer Reports statement on emergency aid for U.S. automakers 

Resource: Consumer Reports Ratings, Reliability, and Owner Satisfaction.

Comments

[david]

I like to see a smaller more nimble higher interior quality of Corvette yet maintaining the power (hp and torque) at the current rate or even higher. :-)

[Cale]

Sounds like a step in the right direction.

[bob]

apology accepted, but were still not going to buy your automobiles! the big (now little) three need to stand on their own and fight it out like you should have been doing for the last 25 years. i believe the "CAR CZAR" should be the executives of HARLEY DAVIDSON, when honda tried to take over the american market, they regrouped and fought it out. they didn't come to congress crying for help. don't go away mad, just go away!!!!!

[John Roberts]

Unfortunately I am going to court January 14, 2009 with General Motors for the Texas Lemon Law. My Chevrolet Avalanche has been in the shop for the same problem 9 times since I bought it. My biggest complaint is that I could not get anyone above the dealer level to get involved until I actually filed the court case for the lemon law The general motors customer service told me that no one but the dealer could actually get involved with my problem. That was a lie! The regional gm person contacted me and did attempt to repair the problem after I filed my case. I am so sour on General Motors. I don't blame the local dealer but I can not see buying another Big 3 product anytime soon. I say let them collapse. And let all the union scum loose their jobs in the process!!!

[Davie]

So sad. Only with one foot in the grave do we get this lame mea culpa. Wagonner and his cronies need to leave if GM is to have a glimmer of a hope, but still he hangs on. And, will the UAW give up their one inch thick set of rules that tie the hands of the US auto companies? Will they have to pay copays like the rest of us when we go to the doctor? Don't bet on it.

[peter Gould]

general motors produced a promising electric car way back then. they killed it. they crushed it and shredded it so no examples would remain. was it the oil companies? who couldn't bear to see us weaning ourselves from their product?
gm could have led the fight to produce an environmentally positive electric car, and could have said the words big manufacturers and little consumers need to hear: that with a national health plan, employers would not have to pay for employees' health benefits, and we could truly compete with foreign manufacturers.
They made terrible decisions in both of these areas, and they address neither in their "apology."

[Henry Hriczko]

Business is business take your lumps. Real american people and businesses have taken theirs. No bail out for the bumbling executives. No bailout for the union workers who earn what they bargained for. Be real and cry elsewhere , you should have saved for rainy days.

[John J Gallagher]

As a owner of two US built American vehicles 1995 and 1994 with 250,000 miles driven combined,neither vehicle have had a major repair.I sold new GM cars in the 80's when a Buick Regal cost under $9,000 and the buyers were loyal to American made products. Yes, I support the U.S. and understand the economics behind buying American when I can.
It would be unbiased for Consumer Reports to announce the awards given this year to Buick by J.D. Powers for quality and service better than Lexus, thats right, better than Lexus. Foreign builders have service departments also to fix their mistakes too.
We build quality cars today,take a look Americans, your financial well being depends on it.
Today your young car buyer needs to learn to support their own countries products,they have'nt figured out the equation yet

It would be appropriate for your editors to give a unbiased and post both pro and con sides for comments.

[melville248]

In response to John J Gallagher. First let me say, I do hope the US Automakers survive. My motives are more selfish as I live in the metro Detroit area and understand how it would be even more devastated without the automakers.
But, I have to say I take offense to my loyalty being questioned about "buying American". Were has General Motors loyalty been? Those that are still naive to think that all American cars are made in America and all parts are made in American need a geography lesson.

[Brian H.]

I believe in buying American like most Americans, however is apparent that the Big 3 was blinded by their greed in their profit margins of certain vehicle groups, to add to this pride, the union, recognizing that the company found a temporary cash cow, cashed in their chips as well and added to the Big 3's woes. Now what you have is Companies struggling to change. wanting to change yet unwilling to change because of the prideful actions that took place int eh past. If they really want to change, they should have followed comapnies like Toyota, especially since they partnered with Toyota in California and Toyota showed them exactly how to do business and work with a union and produce quality vehicles that Americans want to buy. If they weren't soo prideful, then they may have been in a better situation and I for one feel that from the dust, a better product will emerge. Let them all fail, and as Americans we may get a better product out of it in the end. Someone else will always be there to pick up where others have left off. It is how business works.

[Frankie L]

I work for GM Canada in the service part of the business. I have been with the company since the 80's and saw quite a few questionable decisions, especially concerning small cars which we need badly where I live. Here, it's very much like California as European taste goes.

The corporation has changed tremendously in the last 5 years and is in no way close to what it was 15 or 20 years ago. I would hope that the White House would force the Corporation to get rid many of so-called executives who spend too much time in meaningless meetings telling themselves how bad things are instead of fixing the root cause. Fortunately, many incompetent executives are gone and replaced by much better talents. Ray Young, our new CFO is a proof of this.

Around me, I see many very capable individuals who really take the business at hearth. Gone are the happy go-alongs. I have been warning the corporation as far back as 1987 about the bad ratings we were getting from CR. It appears tat I was right and I really do hope that we do things right this time. The Malibu is a good sign of what's to come.

[drewdude]

The Big 3 have spent the last four decades building cars for baby boomers while ignoring almost everyone else. For a long time that was a very lucrative model to follow but now it's come to an end.

[levibluez]

The production of large trucks and SUV's should have halted when people could no longer afford the gas to drive them. Simple strategy. What a bunch of idiots.

[Elizabeth H. White]

GM ought to apologize to the stock and bond holders first. They are the ones that lost all of the money , including dividends. If anyone thinks that the US government can save the automobile industry , they are crazy. Giving companies money without having them change the way they manage, will do nothing.Harry Reid, Nancy Pelozi, and others are terrible managers. Who wants to see them having anything to do with managing automobile companies?

[David L.]

I had a 2002 Chevy Venture which always had water pump problems. It also had a main computer problem which caused it caused the engine to rev on the highway and almost stall. It had around 8000 mile on it. Finally the dealer found the problem after I had it in the shop for the 6th time.

My 1994 Z28 was a maintenance nightmare. My Chevy 1997 2500 truck had waterpump problems also. I went through two front wheel rotors by 50,000.

Sorry GM you need to step up your workmanship. My Ridgeline has 60,000 on it with just new brake pads on the rear rotors. My Civic also has had zero problems.

Step up to the plate and make something that the people want.