Question: What is the future of the American automobile industry?
Taylor: Well, in our business, probably like a lot of businesses, survival is only guaranteed by a great product and, you know, great customer service satisfaction. So, doesn’t matter if you’re bringing those cars from Japan, from Europe or… or being an import manufacturer and building them here, it still boils down to that and boils down to… [we’re in art business], the action is in the dealership and… and then the amount of satisfaction that they have as they own that product, so in our case, of course cars. And there’s a whole long complicated list, in our case, many, many, many years of legacies of a 100 years of General Motors that’s build up pretty substantial cost legacy that its taken, in our case, a lot of years to work off and to solve and get taken care of, so that we’re back in a competitive position so that’s where in the process of doing right now [IB] of billions and billions of dollars each year that [IB] is improving and getting us back into a competitive position. All the other things that are going on in the industry and related to these overall volumes, for instance, now running at kind of 13 million unit industry is on top of that challenge of course and is affecting all manufacturers, including the imports right now and then of course, the [IB] market is all imploding and is also providing a huge challenge, no matter what manufacturer you are, so we got both things all going on us, as many people call it a perfect storm right now.
Discuss
Larry Burgess on December 5, 2008, 8:46 PM
Leadership is supposed to foresee where we are headed or optimally tell us how to get where we want to go. Mr. Price’s comments only tell us where we are at. This is a clear indication of why the US Auto Industry has failed.
* Where is world-class leading technology and product design?
* How has marketing improved the relationship with US customers?
* When were labor relations going to be improved to assure long term viability of building products in America?
These were the challenges. It may now be too late to re-establish the US Auto Industry. We will have to wait and see.
Peter Balbus on March 6, 2009, 8:28 PM
Couldn’t agree with you more, Larry. There is a reason that GM and Cadillac senior management were/are still paid the kinds of princely salaries and benefits they receive – because they were supposed to be a little smarter, more fore- and insightful than the average Joe, and possessed rare leadership skills to guide the businesses to success. Losers blame the global economy; winners drive and shape the global economy. The US auto industry isn’t dead – it just cries out for new companies and new (effective) leadership.
Michael Smith on March 24, 2009, 8:40 PM
I would love to rant about the mistakes of GM, but I will let you watch this explanation instead. Big Think meet Doug Korthof . Nice suit Doug ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJXRRKIS9TE
petty deh on May 14, 2009, 1:52 AM
I believe that the industry should have to be more cautious. Businesses today fall when it is supposed to be fall. But the automobile industry {bully dog} is an exception. They shouldn’t let it happen.
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