“Mr. Henderson, I have been a loyal GM owner until June 1, 2009. I will no longer purchase a GM car because owners of the 566 million shares of GM stock and the holders of 27B of bonds have been completely written off by you, the CEO and the US Government - e.g. President Obama.
Why would ANYONE invest in the new company? You just zeroed out the existing investors.
Because of this, I will not buy a new Cadillac CTS this year, but I will buy either a Lincoln or luxury transplant car but here in the USA. -JE”
We recognize our actions have a significant impact on many constituents, including stockholders, bondholders, employees, dealers, retirees and others. Bondholders will receive ownership in the new GM. We are committed to turning around the company to the benefit of all stakeholders in General Motors, and we plan to do that as quickly as possible.
Taking it on the chin, in public, is not something big corporations usually do. But GM is showing that they are serious about patching things up with the customers, and the new majority owners, the U.S. taxpayer.
1 comment:
I wonder how many people feel like this. As with all car makers GM has had a number of loyal buyers who for whatever reason have stuck with them over the years. (I remember a co-worker, when I lived near Detroit in the 1980s, who had bought nothing but Chrysler products since the 1950s. He was about to buy another and I asked him about it and he said "I bought Chrysler products when they were junk, and I knew they were junk. Now that they are decent I'm going to stick with them.")
Perhaps GM will lose some of their loyal customers due to the bankruptcy. But for GM to survive in the long run they need to be able to appeal to more than just their blindly loyal base -- they need to complete on equal terms with the best of the breed.
And after 30 years of talking about quality ("THIS TIME we are REALLY serious about quality -- NO REALLY, it's not like it was with the Chevette, or the Citation, or the Cimmarron, or the Baretta, or the Aurora, or the '00 Impala -- NO unlike all those other times THIS TIME when we saw we've fixed the quality problems we REALLY MEAN IT...PROMISE .. but not a serious promise, like agreeing to fix your cars after the warranty expires or anything) GM needs a complete management transplant if they are to be successful.
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