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Week of 6.23.06
What Went Wrong at GMThis Week:
The Final Offer |
Timeline: GM's Journey |
Perspectives: GM Employees Speak Out |
What Went Wrong at GM |
Q&A: Is a Benefits Crisis Looming? |
The Ins and Outs of Buyouts
Joseph Szczesny, an automotive editor and authority on General Motors (GM) product lines, spoke to NOW about the problems the company is facing. He says the plan to offer hourly workers of GM and auto supplier Delphi a buyout package does not necessarily spell doom for the automaker."I think General Motors has a very great potential to still be a great company ... but somehow they haven't been able to reorganize themselves into a fashion where they take advantage of the talent," Szczesny said. Szczesny adds that the company focused too much on domestic competition instead of threats from overseas companies, such as Toyota, which led them astray. "[In the 1990s] Ford got ahead a little bit when it came out with SUVs ... and General Motors spent another five or six years trying to catch up with them, rather than focusing on some of their own technology, such as hydro's [hydrogen cars] and electric vehicles," he says. Szczesny believes that, in the future, management will need to become more attentive to foreign competition and other factors that could impact sales, such as high gas prices. "You could have just watched the turmoil in the Middle East unfold over the last two decades and you could have known that someday there was going to be a breaking point," he said. |
Interview: David Sirota
Electric Car Dreams
PBS Special Report: Health Care Reform
Water World
Nurses Needed
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