Be American, Buy American

After my skin stopped crawling from GM’s annoucnemt to cut 25,000 jobs and close aging factories in their effort to boost their stock price and calm shareholders, I planned to dive into the economics of GM. But lacking an MBA from Wharton or Kellogg, I figured even 2-point something GPA Yale grads like Bush or Kerry could best me.

As a Republican of the conservative flavor, or more accurately, as a conservative first who happens to vote Republican, some might assume I would blame unions for GM’s troubles. Think again.

The UAW is not to blame for GM losing market share at a dizzying rate. The union boys and girls at the Janesville plant did not design and deliver to dealers stale product lines like Grand Prix, Impala, Malibu and Monte Carlo. And it was management’s ad agencies that killed sales of Camaro when they repositioned the classic; from forever-cool Steve McQueen’s muscle car to a divorced suburban housewife’s ride.

Frankly, I am surprised the corporate weenies have not brought back the Chevette or the Opel. Add a racing stripe to the Opel and GM will mis-market it as a competitor to the redesigned Mazda Miata. Slap fiberglass fender flares over the sheet metal of a Chevette and GM will mis-market it as an alternative to Audi or Volvo.

This is not funny stuff. Management has failed to forecast the market while Ford and Chrysler has kept Americans buying American; the new Mustang and the 300c are dynamic cars with appealing sticker prices. And GM? GM rolled out the Cobalt and then cheapened the Corvette badge by putting the cars nose-to-nose in a pumped-up ad campaign.

No, this is not funny stuff. Real families get hurt when GM CEO Rick Wagoner trips. The Board of Directors should fire Wagoner. Why should my family and friends be the only ones to pay for the poor sales of the Buick Lacrosse?

Give the job to Bob Lutz. The guy flies his own jet and designed the Dodge Viper. Maybe then, consumers will return to GM. Maybe then, we will see style and design return to GM.

Imagine, a new Fiero GT, a Grand National, a Camaro, an El Camino, a Nomad, a Chevelle, or even a redesigned ’57 Belair.

It is not the union’s fault we haven’t seen these cars.