Comments on: GM on ‘brink’ of bankruptcy

By: Duck

Duck — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 01:24:45 +0000

Will Holden still exist if General Motors goes?

By: mark

mark — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:11:29 +0000

if they shut down then it is good news 4 ford n chryler, less competition!!! if 1 dies it will help the others. of the 3 ford has the best prospects and i am not a ford man, i bass that on current range etc.

By: Falkman

Falkman — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 06:00:51 +0000

I think what a lot of people forget is that GM has been/was the benchmark for many many years. When you lose such a major piece of the automotive puzzle it lowers the amount of competition and consumers suffer.
In this case, most importantly, it’s the workers who suffer. Hundres of thousands of them in the USA alone.
Can’t believe that anybody would have happy to see a company who has had such a major influence on the automotive world for the best part of 100 years fall by the wayside.

By: Old CarAdvice Reader

Old CarAdvice Reader — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:40:36 +0000

No!!! Please no!!! Don’t go GM!!!

I myself am not a fan of General Motors, but it would be very sad if they shut down. So many people world-wide without jobs. I would also miss the competition GM has with Ford & Chrysler.

By: Horse

Horse — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:03:44 +0000

I hope Holden becomes a australian owned company.

By: topdog

topdog — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:17:36 +0000

Well all i can say if you think youring going to go bankrut then just do it and stop wasting all those billions from the tax payers that money can be better used, And yes there will be lots workers out of work but its only for short time till every thing picks up again and were still going to need same if not more cars so the remaining car makers will end up taking all the sales left behind from gm and thay all will employ heaps more workers so it will all work out in the end

By: Stumpy

Stumpy — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:14:48 +0000

GM may survive is to go into chapter 11, it will allow them to restructure and wipe their hands of many debts and agreements they are currently getting pounded with.

The workers will get screwed over but the company may survive.

By: Yianni

Yianni — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:48:56 +0000

All these loans have simply been band aids to a huge problem.

GM has only itself to blame with so many brands/vehicles worldwide. The bigger you get, the harder you fall.

To top it off they haven’t exactly built the best and most reliable cars over the years which doesn’t exactly help their image right now. IMO They’ve built the cars which they thought people would want and not built what people actually need.

Other manufacturers knew that small and fuel efficient cars would be the future and the US makers totally ignored the signs and are now paying the price world wide.

As they say, you dig your own grave.

It amazes me that Chrysler didn’t have any small cars and will be resorting to rebadging FIAT’s in the USA soon after FIAT bought out a part of Chrysler. What was Chrysler doing all these years? Sleeping?

I just hope brands like Holden/Opel/Saab can make it and be sold to someone else if GM does go down. The rest of GM’s local brands are rubbish anyway.

Cheers

By: Frontman

Frontman — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:46:38 +0000

There are two bad sides to this and one brighter side.
First if / when GM close their doors the compnents industry in the US will crumble. THis will intern make it difficult for ALL the other manufacturers in the States. Toyota are already considering mothballing their external factories and running purely out of Japan till the “Crisis” is over, this would just be the catalyst.

Secondly. although the greed of the UAW is a large portion of the problem I do feel for all those who would lose their jobs at this time.

The good side though is this time last year so many peopl on this site and others were vocally bragging at how Ford would be the first to go from here and the US, some of us blue bloods got howled down severly for saying anything contrary to that. Well guess what, “I TOLD YOU SO” :p

By: The Salesman

The Salesman — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:35:44 +0000

Please put them out of their misery. If GM was a lame horse they would have been shot by now.

By: RoFlmaTiC

RoFlmaTiC — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:13:07 +0000

A thing I thought of with the whole keeping companies running to ensure unemployment doesn’t hit the fan…

At least the people who get unemployment benefits are going to be spending most of it, which will stimulate the economy far more than paying employees and execs money and letting the company lose money in other ways.

I think this should be a big consideration when you talk about the increase in unemployment following a bankruptcy of a big organisation like GM.

By: lazybones

lazybones — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:10:51 +0000

GM’s assets would be sold off to the highest bidder. My guess is Mr Rudd would try and assist in finding a buyer. Buy that I mean throwing $$ at it to make it more appealing. Most likely candidate for my money is Hyundai.

Worst case is Holden would be forced to cease operations a bit like Saab until a buyer was found.

By: RoFlmaTiC

RoFlmaTiC — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:09:32 +0000

I think the conditions of the loan mean that the Govt gets first dibs on any money GM can get from selling off assets Horse.

The US government surely can’t let this dead company exist any longer? The asset / liability deficit has ballooned out by another 26 billion to be at -86 billion US dollars. On paper, every single GM share is worth negative $141!

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:08:57 +0000

To be expected. The taxpayer’s money was an absolute waste, that could have been spent elsewhere and actually make a HUUUGEEE difference. All it did was prolong it. GM’s death is inevitable. The US govt was very irresponsible in wasting so much money towards it.

By: Limited Slip

Limited Slip — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:03:43 +0000

Horse…..hopefully no-one would buy a Holden. WHo would want to buy a car from a company that doesnt exist?

By: Limited Slip

Limited Slip — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:02:02 +0000

Well goodbye GM……

By: Horse

Horse — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:00:54 +0000

If GM does go broke
What happens to the billions that the american government has already given them ?

Also I wonder who would buy Holden