Loyalty Does Not Count

I have always been a fan of General Motors products. My first automobile was a 1934 Chevrolet coupe with a rumble seat which cost $35 on the used can market. Since then I have had a caravan of Chevies with a few exceptions when I experimented with other models briefly, only to come back to GM. Currently I drive an Impala which has plenty of power and gives me 31 miles to the gallon

That said, I offer GM officials an explanation of why they are in such duress today. Years ago this country opened it's market to foreign competition and set the stage for a downturn in domestic products. GM failed to pick up on this threat and has continued to manufacture cars of a high quality and high costs.  They depended on owner loyalty to sustain them, but this has not happened. More customers switched to cheaper models as GM continued to expand into a declining market. The GM infrastructure today is a swollen giant with an army of dependent suppliers and workers who now face disaster as markets decline. A bailout will not save GM at current operations. If GM elects to continue the production of high quality cars then they must adjust to the realities of their direction, and reduce the number of higher priced cars back to the smaller market now available. This means a cutback in all manufacturing and a reduction in size of the entire operation. Chapter 11 allows this to happen without the burden of a taxpayer bailout.

A market still exists for expensive cars, but not at the rate at which GM has continued to operate. I understand that the mindset at GM resists the idea of a cutback, but old ideas will not prevail today. The US workers also must understand that their jobs and higher standards of living must adapt to a new market and the realities of foreign competition.

Owner loyalty to GM will not survive in today's market.