Mickey Kaus on GM:
Lutz can't possibly be enough of a moron to believe that the Prius and its "halo effect" are a primary reason for Toyota's ascendancy. Toyota has been ascendant for at least three decades, and GM declining, for a simple reason: Toyota built cars that worked ("bulletproof," as they say) at a time when GM built cars that didn't work. That's what was "drawing people to Toyota lots" a generation before the Prius was conceived. Even today, when GM suffers "under the perception that they [are] saddled with cars of inferior quality," you only have to look at the Consumer Reports reliability ratings to see that the reason GM is saddled with this perception is that the perception is accurate.
Yep. GM (and Chrysler, and Ford) didn't lose out to Toyota (and Honda) because of any enviromental "halo effect"--they lost because Toyota and Honda make better cars.
What a concept.
UPDATE: The alleged Detroit-destroying Prius isn't exactly roaring out of the showroom. Sales are down nearly 50% this year.
some of the best cars GM ever sold were the Geo Prism. . . a Japanese domestic market Toyota Corolla.. . but it made less money than the American Market Corolla due to it being built in a UAW plant in California, and it having to deal with GM's bloated corp.
ReplyDeleteGM had more White Collar staff than Toyota had Employees and Toyota was selling almost as many cars.