Obama is making a big deal at the Dem convention of how he saved GM.
But did he? They lost a pile of money on the silly Volt among other things.
Paul Lamar
As Market Takes Off, GM's Share Hits A 90-Year Low
The last time General Motors U.S. market share was at this level, Warren G.
Harding
was in the White House, George Sisler was the American League¹s most valuable
player,
and Judy Garland was in diapers.
But GM says it isn¹t worried. Its 2012 dip to 17.5 percent is due to a lag in
new
products, and the company¹s decision to pull back on incentives, the
company¹s vice
chairman, Steve Girsky, said at a conference on the eve of the New York
International
Auto Show last week.
³No one¹s panicking,² he said, according to Bloomberg.³No one¹s rushing,
Gee, we got
to throw a pile of money at the market.¹ That¹s not the way we run the
business these
days.²
However, GM is missing out on a flare in auto sales that is prompting
economists and
carmakers alike to raise their 2012 forecasts. Many believe that the market
will wind
up around 14 million, which would be an increase of more than a million
vehicles from
2011.
It¹s also a reverse for GM, which picked up market share in 2011 for the
first time
in years. (See the chart at the end of this story.)
The surprise at GM is how much its U.S. share has fallen in so short of a
time,
especially since the carmaker recaptured the crown as the world¹s
best-selling auto
company last year.
GM ended 2011 with 19.6 percent of the American car market. Analysts surveyed
by
Bloomberg expected it to hang on to at least 19 percent this year, even with
stiff
competition from a stronger Chrysler, resurgent Japanese automakers, and a
push from
Hyundai and Volkswagen.
Instead, GM¹s market share fell by 2.1 percentage points in the first three
months of
2012, to a level the company hasn¹t seen since 1922, even though its sales
for the
year are up slightly.
Back in the early 1920s, GM was the second-best selling company in the
American
market behind Ford, which it eventually passed during the Great Depression to
take
the lead as the country¹s, and eventually the world¹s largest carmaker.
GM¹s 2012 share is even more striking considering that 10 years ago, GM was
aiming to
return to 30 percent of the American market.
It¹s also something of a surprise, given that GM got the chance during its
federally
sponsored bankruptcy to shed debt, rid itself of under performing brands, and
concentrate just on the vehicles it thought could sell best. Indeed, GM has
introduced new small cars, including the Chevrolet Cruze and Sonic, and is
pushing to
make Buick more contemporary with cars like the Verano, just going on sale.
However, GM also is competing in a market where every company is trying to
make at
effort at a rebound, or to hang onto their market share gains.
2007: 23%
2008: 22%
2009: 20%
2010: 18%
2011: 19.6%
2012: 17.5% (year to date)
Paul,
Intro to the "Altman-Z" score, and GM's is not good....
http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2012/08/is-gm-headed-back-to-bankrup
tcy.html
"That value indicates a very financially distressed company, where an
Altman Z-score for a manufacturing company like GM would have to be
above 2.67 to be considered healthy, and between 1.81 and 2.67 to be
considered to be at neutral risk for declaring bankruptcy in the future.
Any score below 1.81 indicates that a company is in the danger zone for
going through bankruptcy proceedings in the future."
Their current score? ( Hit the Calc button @ the link ) .66.....
Anthony
No communist car company was ever worth a damn :)
Just ask the Trabant owners in the former East Germany.
They eventually suffer from those-that-own-everything-own-nothing syndrome.
The union workers now own GM. "I am a company owner!!! I don't need to work.
Anyway I
cannot get laid off."
I guess I'll never get a chance to drive a Volt up the Grape Vine and prove to
Csaba
that it won't make it :)
Paul Lamar
Obama's pumping of money into GM wasn't to save the auto industry, it was to
save the auto worker's union. Guess who's votes were bought with our tax
dollars and our great-grand children's tax dollars. Typical communist ploy.
If allowed to go into bankruptcy GM would not have to have honored those
inflated union contracts that were killing GM in the first place! Boo-Hoo!
Jonathan
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