GM would rather be strong No. 2 than weaker No. 1

[wanderlustindia]

"General Motors Corp vice chairman and product chief Bob Lutz said on Wednesday he would rather see a strong GM even if it were No. 2 in worldwide sales than a less profitable No. 1 automaker."

For more on the story, follow the link below:

DetailedStory

Mods, I could not decide if this was the right section to post. If required, you may want to move it to the right section.

[abhibh]

Even GM india says something like this "We are not number 2 we are just 1 step behind number 1"

[wanderlustindia]

To be fair to GM, they have tried to put their act together in India lately. They have come up with the Optra Magnum which is a peach of car when it comes to performance parameters. With the launch of the Captiva, they seem to be on the right track in entering the SUV market in India. Good luck, GM!

Though only time will tell, if all that they have been doing in the past couple of years is worth it.

[theMAG]

Its nice to see GM is not a bitter loser.

[tanmay_ambre]

Magnum - thumbs up

Spark - thumbs up

Aveo - thumbs up

Captiva (for pricing. They should have thought about it. price range close to vitara, it would have stunned the market. Also FE not so good)

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by theMAG

Its nice to see GM is not a bitter loser.

At the first glance reading through the headline, I wondered if it was a case of 'sour grapes'. But the content makes a lot of sense. I agree with you, theMAG.

[hondadude]

Originally Posted by wanderlustindia

"General Motors Corp vice chairman and product chief Bob Lutz said on Wednesday he would rather see a strong GM even if it were No. 2 in worldwide sales than a less profitable No. 1 automaker."

For more on the story, follow the link below:

DetailedStory

Interesting comments on Tata Nano at the end of the article.

Lutz also said the U.S. market and GM are doing better than they were five years ago and that it may be possible for GM to compete with India's Tata Motors Ltd's planned $2,500 Nano car through vehicles it builds now in a venture in China.

The Wuling venture does not build passenger cars, but does produce minivans and pickups roughly in the same price range as the Tata vehicle, Lutz said.

"Everyone is behaving like this had never been done before, and in China there are several producers like Wuling that sell cars at $2,500 all day long," Lutz said.

[BUSA]

Well good attitude by GM, but they still are no.1 AFAIK. Toyota is right behind them on number 2 and sooner or later Toyota is going to be no. 1, no stopping Toyota from being number 1.

Infact Toyota was planning to buy Suzuki to become number 1, but Suzuki was not selling or something.

[ram_hyundai]

what all GM guys do it wont give results unless they increase their production capacity.i have heard lot of people say -i had spark in mind but because of waiting period i am opting for alto or wagonn r.so better increase their production capacity.
ram

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by tanmay_ambre

Magnum - thumbs up

Spark - thumbs up

Aveo - thumbs up

Aveo-UVA too was a nice hatch, sadly not so impressive sales figures for all their Cars.
GM India is not aggresive in pushing thier Cars in India.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by hondadude

Interesting comments on Tata Nano at the end of the article.

Lutz also said the U.S. market and GM are doing better than they were five years ago and that it may be possible for GM to compete with India's Tata Motors Ltd's planned $2,500 Nano car through vehicles it builds now in a venture in China.

The Wuling venture does not build passenger cars, but does produce minivans and pickups roughly in the same price range as the Tata vehicle, Lutz said.

"Everyone is behaving like this had never been done before, and in China there are several producers like Wuling that sell cars at $2,500 all day long," Lutz said.

Hmmm... I was wondering how come no one seems to have noticed it as yet. Although Lutz make it sound that he is a sporting looser when it comes to the pole position it is actually not so. He is only being defensive. And when it suits him even an iota he is not averse to falling back to their old ways. This comes out in his closing comments in the above lines very well.

Lutz obviously is chagrined at all the media glare and rah rah reviews that Tatas seemed to have garnered off late. So he decided to do what we call "bitching". And true to that look at the logic he has thrown. Some chinese company Wuling makes some pickups at $2500 so that makes them capable of developing a passenger car in the same price range! I am amazed. That too when it comes from the top man of the world's one of the biggest auto makers.

Mr. Lutz, of all people, at least you should be aware that to make a small 1 or 0.5 ton pickup truck it does not take much. However making a passenger car that meets all the norms and parameters of minimum safety, emission, performance, style, comfort etc is an altogether different kettle of fish. And if it had been so easy to do how is it that you never thought of exploiting this capability earlier and make a mark in the world?

Mr Lutz you are a sore looser. You lost to the Japanese car maker and then you realized that the chinese with their copy-cat antics are also threatening to overhaul you. Koreans anyhow are proving a pain in the last 5-10 years for you. And now when a car maker from an unknown country (in the world of car making, i.e.) is threatening to take the game to an altogether different sphere you are simply loosing your sleep. Please see how the all-vanquishing Japanese maker Honda's India CEO has reacted to the car. Listen to Mr. Takedagawa speak and you will know why the Japanese are so good at what they do. More importantly if you follow what Honda does next from hereon you may get a picture of what the Japanese probably did to uproot detroit.

Learn Mr Lutz, learn... That is the only way to grow.

[highwayblaze]

I look at this topic as "Ahh...one of those topics that I can open a can of 'whoop-a**' for the american car makers".

GM sells a LOT OF CARS worldwide annually and still they're in loss or lately barely making some profits. Clearly they've been screwing up big time. Fortunately thenew Malibu and Saturn Vue or also bringing in the Astra and Vectra under the saturn badge in to the US GM's getting a wee bit better. I could just go on and on but i think i've expressed my views in several other similar topics and refraining my self from saying more

[ananthkamath]

Originally Posted by wanderlustindia

"General Motors Corp vice chairman and product chief Bob Lutz said on Wednesday he would rather see a strong GM even if it were No. 2 in worldwide sales than a less profitable No. 1 automaker."

What the hell is he talking about......Toyota makes more money per car than GM ever did.

[hondadude]

Originally Posted by Zappo

Hmmm... I was wondering how come no one seems to have noticed it as yet. Although Lutz make it sound that he is a sporting looser when it comes to the pole position it is actually not so. He is only being defensive. And when it suits him even an iota he is not averse to falling back to their old ways. This comes out in his closing comments in the above lines very well.

I agree. I think deep down in their hearts leading automakers of the world now that with Nano, Tata has the potential to become number 1 (or at least in top 3) automaker in terms of volumes.

He is now able to defend himself about being no 2 but imagine how would he (or any other GM CEO) would defend the following pecking order

1. Toyota
2. Tata
3. GM

[Steeroid]

I dont think GM had much of choice between the two options, did they?

They've had a few years to rehearse their lines for this moment, so I'm sure the rest of the text would look like it makes sense.