There’s a lot of hand-wringing over how much Washington will interfere in the day-to-day affairs of General Motors now that it’s in bankruptcy and the government is supplying all the money.
President Obama has responded by promising that his administration will be a hands-off investor and sell its 60% stake in the automaker as quickly as possible.
But what exactly are we worried about?
Obama and his team of auto industry advisors led by financier Ron Bloom can’t be more incompetent than all those GM executives who wrecked the company — and remain in charge.
Indeed, that seems to be the weak link in the president’s entire plan.
Obama is using the automaker’s bankruptcy to make all the changes GM’s management resisted for years — focus on fewer brands, prune the overgrown dealer network, lower the company’s debt and deal with its uncompetitive labor costs.
Sure, Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz are gone. But I haven’t heard any plan to get rid of all the other top managers who are just as responsible for GM’s lousy cars and trucks.
Why should we have any confidence in their ability to create the new models it needs to stop losing market share, regain consumer confidence and truly compete with the likes of Toyota and Honda. Or even Hyundai.
Turning a spiffy new GM over to these guys is like turning the keys to a Corvette over to a teenager. It’s going to be wrapped around a tree in no time.
Until new leadership is found, I wouldn’t invest a dime in the new GM no matter how badly the president wants to get the government out of the car business.
Loading ...
Add New Comment