CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

[Clem Z.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

I saw "captured fleet" Camaro today, VIN number 215. Now this news and so I wonder how rare that car will become!

Tom

i don't think that a 425 HP camaro is in the obama plans for the US auto fleet so get one while the getting is good if you want one

[Patrick H.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

I saw "captured fleet" Camaro today, VIN number 215. Now this news and so I wonder how rare that car will become!

Tom

Yeah, my 13 yo son saw it too, and thought it looked cool.
I told him that we will have to see what price 3-4yo 6 cyl Camaros are going for in a few years.

Patrick

[Dale T.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

I just has to weigh in on this one. Rick was a fair guy who built what American auto buyers wanted... big gas guzzling SUVs and pick ups (Toyota and Honda did the same!). If Rick is guilty of any thing, he is guilty of following Milton Friedman's (Nobel prize winner in economics) advice that the only responsibility of a corporate executive is to provide value to the share holders.
I'm not a big Rick Wagoner fan but we shouldn't overlook his accomplishments - Buick is now the leader in global vehicle dependability based on the 2009 J.D Powers ratings. Cadillac is also in the top 10. The UAW has taken significant contract reductions negotiated under Wagoner's tenure. Sure, they don't take affect until next year but GM is a pretty big ship to turn around quickly.
GM has a sizable stable of high-mileage cars which the fickle American buyer choses to ignore - maybe because in the 70s and 80s, long before Wagoner was in GM leadership, the buyer bought a shoddy GM product, but that is not the case now.
Lastly, and I'm sure it is the one thing we can all agree on, none of us want our government telling our corporations who should be running them. GM may be down now, but they have never been mismanaged as much as our government

[Clem Z.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

GM did not treat their customers right either. my son had 2 new GM vans,97 and a 03 with the 3.4 V-6 that he had to pay to have the head and intake gaskets replaced. GM knew of the problem but they knew it would not happen till the 36 month.36,000 mile warranty was up. they should have recalled these engines and fixed them. my 3.8 impala had the gaskets replace last year but i had the GM extended warranty. the problem is that this year again i lost coolant on our 4000 mile trip down south but my GM extended is still in effect so back to the dealership. this is the first time i have kept a car this long so i never had the problem before. i do not know who made the decision not to call back these cars but i would guess rick was in on the decision. after 10/12 new GM cars my son is looking at honda vans

[Duke W.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

If Rick is guilty of any thing, he is guilty of following Milton Friedman's (Nobel prize winner in economics) advice that the only responsibility of a corporate executive is to provide value to the share holders.

So how do you square your statement with the fact that GM has lost 95 percent of its share value since Wagoner has been CEO?

Duke

[Dale S.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

I dont have an axe to grind either way, but if you think GM is in trouble now, let the government run it. My deflated .02, now .01 Dale

[Dennis O.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

I was always a GM guy back in the day. My dad bought new Oldsmobiles every two years in the fifties and sixties (he was a traveling salesman). I bought my first new Corvette in June of 1967. After that it was all negative. The '73 Riviera, the '78 Luv, and the '80 Monza were a downhill spiral. I realized then that they were building junk. Michael Meyers and "Roger and Me" was right on. I hope the overpaid MxxxxxFxxxxx" rots in hell. It always amazed me that a lot of guys I knew were gung-ho GM through the '90's ("I'm gonna get me one of those S-10's!") The writing on the wall was there for years.

[Mike M.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

Since nobody from the outside would take this job, who will the next sacrificial lamb be?
Or, will Obama place someone in that position to help us on our merry way to Socialism?
HaRND

[Zale P.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

I put 300,000 miles on my 99 Toyota Landcruiser with no problems, but did regular maintenance... I can only imagine what would have gone wrong with a Chevrolet.......

I will buy what I know and trust.........

[Jack C.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

What type of Golden Parachute do you think Rick will walk away with?

[Edward M.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

Maybe it is time for GM (and the other auto manufacturers) to get rid of the "finance" types that have been running the show for some time. Seems to me that the auto manufacturers were doing better when "engineering" types were running the business.

It is time for a change.

[Bill M.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

GM did not treat their customers right. After 10/12 new GM cars my son is looking at honda vans

The new guy may succeed if he sees this problem as his top priority.

[Steven B.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

Aside from those running the company, some of the problem may be design. I think I saw a picture recently maybe on here, of 20+ silver cars, all different manufacturers, makes, models. All in the midsize range. You couldn't tell them apart. They all looked the same. So you bought foreign because, even though it looked like an American car, it was perceived to be better. All those over the age of 40 on this site remember when there were distinct differences not just between car companies, but between models. Fins, tail lights, chrome, etc. Maybe not the way cars are built today, but someone has to step out of the mold and make something that is distinctive. When I see a Mercedes and can't tell from a distance if it's a Honda, or when a Chrysler 300 looks from the front like a Bentley, the industry has gone completely vanilla. Boring, ugly, sameness. People are bored with cars so they chose based on one that has heated seats vs one that doesn't. No more station wagons, no more chrome, no more bumpers, ornaments, trunk spears, emblems on trunks and hoods. Put a little design and flair into a car, keep the same engine and see if you can stand out. I know crash standards and safety features got rid of the bumpers, etc, but there must be some designers out there. They had enough different designs 50 years ago to satisfy the buying public, is it too much to ask for some difference among all the sameness?

[Scott S.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

He took public money conditional on producing a viable business plan, if he can't do that he should be gone.

[Jack C.]

Re: CEO Rick Wagoner asked to Resign by the Anointed One

Welcome to the new GM "Government Motors"