Finally! It took the President of the most powerful nation on earth, but the entrenched leader of GM, Rick Wagoner is gone! The only thing that is surprising about his departure is how long it took. GM has been a hodge-podge of problems for the last 8 years, at least. Despite much rhetoric from the GM management about how things have and are changing at GM, it is evident that the changes they are talking about - whatever they are - were neither profound enough or grounded on a firm reality check of the current situation.
Now Mr. Wagoner is a history, all eyes will be on GM. It seems evident, however, that the following moves will come about in short order, if the giant is to have any hope of (a) getting the bailout billions they are begging for and (b) survive.
(1) Drastically reduce the duplication in the model lineups. For instance, having essentially identical vehicles badged as Chevrolet's and GMCs is plain silly in the face of the current crisis.
(2) Reduce the dealership network.
(3) Reduce the number of brands. Pontiac lost its sporty image back when big hair was cool, and Buick, long on life support (but helped by vitamin Enclave) needs to go as the second luxury brand. Cadillac is enough.
(4) If you can't sell Hummer, develop it. Yeah, this is counter-intuitive, but Land Rover just celebrated 50 years of Hummer-beaters, and go-anywhere vehicles are still needed around the world. Go global with Hummer products and give Tata Motors a run for their money.
(5) Find out why people love certain models (like the successful Malibu) and hated others (Chevrolet Blazer, Pontiac Aztec). Develop. Repeat.
GM can turn around, with or without bankruptcy. But the question remains: does it have the internal willpower to do so?
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