GM "Proud" Commercial

[scootr2d]

Perhaps the lyrics to the commercial should be re-written to read: Oh yeah, Like a Crock.

:thumbsup:

The Ford / overall automotive industry story and the GM Story are not even close to being the same Scenario's,

GM is outright fudging the truth here. Perhaps they didn't cross fully over the line , but they are surely tiptoeing along the edge with this commercial thinking the general public is going buy it.

OH YEAH ....LIKE A CROCK

i like it.

 

[Dmace]

That wasn't TARP money...that was money targeted at the industry as a whole and not for an individual company.

So what other companies in the industry got this money...?

With the just announced 2.1 billion first quarter profit, I expect Ford will continue to take the high road and do what is best for the taxpayers, customers, and the industry in general.

Too bad the majority of that profit was in China... :laughing:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/201081-ford-still-financially-troubled-despite-q1-earnings

 

[mustangsallysdad]

So what other companies in the industry got this money...?

Too bad the majority of that profit was in China... :laughing:
Ford Still Financially Troubled Despite Q1 Earnings -- Seeking Alpha

Ancillary automotive suppliers and vendors (auto industry contractors) who provide stampings, electronics, brake pads, audio, etc. What part of "Industry as a whole" do you need explained?

 

[Jim in ICT]

I've owned G.M. products almost exclusively since '73 and I think I've bought my last. With the Gvmt. bailout and union ownership, I now think their vehicles now won't be worth owning. The new designs will be so "green" and poorly made that no one will want one. Congrats to Ford for trimming back years ago and building only the number of vehicles needed and not building to their capacity and then scrambling to find buyers for them.

 

[2manyrocks]

Wonder what this ad campaign cost and who thought it was a good idea and why?

Personally, I like truth in advertising. YouTube - Isuzu Impulse Ad

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I actually bought 2 new chevy's in 2008 to help them out. It's not the bailout that upsets me, it's the govt administration taking control of Govt Motors after the bailout was accepted and forcing the sale to the union. This was pure and simple payback to the union for the election. And now this attempt to try to fool the general public that the bailout worked, where the govt is still controlling the company with a 60% ownership.
they haven't made enough money yet to pay it back. I will never buy another GM product. I'm sorry I bought the car I did instead of a honda. The quality is not the same. When the govt bailed out chrysler years ago, it was just a loan to help them thru a tough time, and it eventually got repaid. There was no (as I recall, I'm sure I will get corrected if I'm wrong) govt stepping in after chrysler accepted the money and forcing them in business decisions. The govt did the same with the bank bailouts, loan them money, then change the rules after they got the money. I am just disgusted with the politics going on nowdays. It's bad for the country. How can they feel good with the so called "Health care reform" that got crammed thru with most of the american people opposed to it. This is not how our founding fathers intended it to be. Just my 2 cents, keep the change.

 

[two_bit_score]

Has everyone seen the GM commercial that features Ed Whittaker boasting that GM has repaid it's Federal loan with interest, 5 years ahead of schedule...amazing what a tourniquet can do for a profusely bleeding wound...here's hoping they don't loosen it too soon and end up in the same situation...of course, the Fed still owns controlling interest in GM, so who would we have to blame if it happens again? Ourselves, I guess, since we (tax payers) collectively still own them. Also, as a matter of personal opinion, and as a Ford stock holder, I would like to see Ford drop the Mercury line of products...they've already ceased marketing them for the most part and according to the quarterly report, the market share is such that it doesn't seem feasible to continue to produce them. Of course, I'm not a "Blue Oval" bean counter, so I don't know if or when that will happen. By the way, I saw the GM commercial on HLN (big Robin Meade fan) a full 4 hours ahead of the Fed announcement confirming the pay back.

What do you mean paying it back??


They haven't paid anything back. They just took more money from TARP funds and gave back some of what they took at first. That's not paying back, with interest. That's just reducing the amount you borrowed. Whih is not really true either.

>>Previously unreleased documents supplied to The Washington Times reveal that GM specifically used funds it received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to pay off the government loan. According to Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for TARP, $4.7 billion of $6.7 billion - 70 percent - of what GM paid back came from TARP money the company received. "The one thing a lot of people overlook with this is where they got the money to pay the loan," Mr. Barofsky told Fox News' Neil Cavuto on Wednesday. "It isn't from earnings." The numbers are based on a quarterly report Mr. Barofsky's office provided to Congress last week.<<

 

[two_bit_score]

Problem with the ad is that there are "LOTS" of people that will take this at face value and think, hey this is great so the NEXT time we have to bail them out it will be even less fuss and concern.

The wall street mess and Auto mess is FAR from cleaned up and "we" the tax payers are going to paying this bill until we die....

Roy

Exactly!

Too many people will actually believe the ad!

In the six months following its emergence from bankruptcy in 2009, GM posted a net loss of $4.3 billion.


From the Wall Street Journal Paul Ingrassia:
[GM's] early loan repayment represents a little more than 10% of the money it got from both governments. Understanding why means peering under the hood of last year's government-sponsored bailout and bankruptcy.

A year ago at this time President Barack Obama's automotive task force decided against letting the company be liquidated, but it wrestled with the issue of how to usher GM through bankruptcy quickly and give it the best chance for survival.

The old GM was being crushed under a mountain of debt, much of it incurred so the company could pay pensions to its retirees. So the new GM, the task force decided, would be restructured with a pristine balance sheet.

It was both a financial and a political decision. Financially, saddling the new GM with lots of debt might doom the company to Failure 2.0. If the new GM collapsed after the government pumped in tens of billions of dollars, the political fallout for the Obama administration would be enormous. (Being tarred with bailout was bad enough.)

So the U.S. and Canadian governments decided, more or less arbitrarily, to classify some $6.7 billion of its aid as debt and a ballpark estimate of $52 billion in equity. That $52 billion represents nearly 90% of the government money given to General Motors. None of that has been repaid."

 

[Bird]

Personally, I like truth in advertising. YouTube - Isuzu Impulse Ad

Yep, we had an Isuzu I-Mark diesel sedan when they came out with the Impulse. My wife wanted an Impulse and in their early days, the dealer wanted $5k above sticker price; couldn't get them fast enough. But my favorite Joe Isuzu ad was when he was talking about one of their vehicles and said it would do 300 mph and they scrolled across the screen "Downhill in a hurricane."

 

[Jim in ICT]

To add insult to all of this, the ex-CEO that was forced to leave G.M. is back working for them as a consultant. Something like 20 hrs./week @ $60k.-disgusting.
What really offends me is the Senate hearings with Goldman Sachs. The crooked & incompetent ***** questioning G/S for selling bad mortages (to other investment firms) that were made largely due to government programs putting people in homes they can't afford. What ever happened to saving for a downpayment and having equity in a home that you could afford?

 

[two_bit_score]

Whitacre should be chaged with securities fraud due to his commercials and articles claiming the money was paid back in full.

This has solidified my intent not to buy another GM product. The only new vehicles I've bought in thelast 30 years have been GM. But because of the misleading nature of Whitacres articles and commercials I don't feel I could believe anything said by GM.

Whitacre is spending GM money (taxpayer money) to lie to the public about the repayment of the gov't loans to entice the public to buy GM products, invest in GM stock and back additional gov't bailouts of GM. He should be charged with fraud.

 

[GaryS]

Amazing show about what is wrong with GM.

from the show description:

A car plant in Fremont California that might have saved the U.S. car industry. In 1984, General Motors and Toyota opened NUMMI as a joint venture. Toyota showed GM the secrets of its production system: how it made cars of much higher quality and much lower cost than GM achieved. Frank Langfitt explains why GM didn't learn the lessons until it was too late.

I've listened to it twice. It's amazing.

 

[N80]

Things might be looking up for GM. The other day I saw a new GM pickup and BOTH daytime running lights were working. Haven't seen that in a while.

 

[Gizmo2]

I have had many, many new and used GM vehicles and I can say without reservation, I do not own one now and I will never own another, as long as I am paying GM's payroll and then buying a vehicle at full price. It's like paying for the vehicle twice.

 

[Gizmo2]

Things might be looking up for GM. The other day I saw a new GM pickup and BOTH daytime running lights were working. Haven't seen that in a while.

You did not!

 

[N80]

You did not!

You're right, I didn't. :laughing:

Seriosuly, that was just a poke at GM. I've never owned one. I've owned one Ford and its fine. Got friends that love GMs that seem to be just as good or bad as my Ford.

If I were buying today I'm not sure what I'd do. Not a Dodge. I'd have concerns about what kind of corners they may be cutting at GM to make ends meet.

 

[RollingsFarms]

if i were buying a truck today i'm not sure what i would do either. deffinatley not a Dodge, although i would love to have the Cummins. 99$ sure i wouldn't buy another GM truck as i have a bad taste in my mouth from all of this. on the other hand the guy that sold me my truck and my mom her car is a very good friend of mine, and i would love to give him my business just for the sake of doing so. however i think it would eat me up inside knowing i supported a company of business practices i don't agree with. i would most likely be coming home in a new F-150/250 but would have to drive aways as the closest Ford dealers are less then desirable to deal with.

 

[mustangsallysdad]

Things might be looking up for GM. The other day I saw a new GM pickup and BOTH daytime running lights were working. Haven't seen that in a while.

Thats a funny observation...my wife and I play a "one eyed Chevy" game when traveling...that's how prevalent they've become...sort of like the "slug bug" or "beetle bug" game of yore which involved Volkswagons. It's really seems that the majority of GM pickups (vast majority) have malfunctioning daytime running lights.

 

[mjarrels]

Saw a new GM car the other day with one light bright and the other light dim. Would'nt touch one with a ten foot pole.

mark

 

[N80]

It's really seems that the majority of GM pickups (vast majority) have malfunctioning daytime running lights.

I'm honestly not down on GM products and currently don't have any brand I'm loyal to or even like particularly but I noticed the GM light thing a few years ago and its no different now. Its a minor thing but when it is so prevelent and so enduring it really gets my curiosity going about 1) how on earth could this happen 2) why don't they do something about it and 3) what other similar issues might be lurking there.

Mostly I'd just like to know the story behind how it happened. How do you mess up a light?