Saving the Big Three

In order to save the US auto industry we need to do three things.

• We need to streamline product lines and how we sell them.
• We need to shift from petroleum fuels to electric power.
• We need to streamline our labor costs by downsizing, demanding the government provide Universal Health Care, and relinquish control and collection of pension funds by demanding the federal government privatize social security and allow pension funds to be rolled into the new system.

For example, I think GM should streamline its product line to help save its self from impending doom. Currently it has 12 automobile product lines. They are:

1. Buick
2. Cadillac
3. Chevrolet
4. Daewoo
5. GMC
6. Holden
7. HUMMER
8. Opel
9. Pontiac
10. Saab
11. Saturn
12. Vauxhall
    

I recommend that GM go down to three product lines:

1. Truck /Commercial: GMC and HUMMER merge to be HUMMER. The HUMMER line would sell the Van, SUV, full and light size Pick-up Truck, and Commercial / Military Trucks. Prices ranging from $15k-?.
2. Luxury/Performance: Buick, Saab, Cadillac, and Corvette merge to be Cadillac. The Cadillac line would sell the luxury sedan, coup, roadster, and Corvette. It would also run the motor sports division. Prices ranging from $30k-?.
3. Economy / Family: Vauxhall, Opel, Pontiac, Holden, Saturn, Daewoo, and Chevrolet merge to be VOCH (Vauxhall, Opel, Chevrolet, Holden - pronounced Vock - because these were once individual companies). The new logo could be a crest with a lion (Holden) and griffin (Vauxhall) on either side of a stone (Opel). The stone's quadrants would be the Swedish bowtie of Chevrolet, a sky of stars for Daewoo, the planet Saturn, and a Native Indian Headdress for Pontiac. The crest would bring an element of class and history to the line. The VOCH line would sell the family sedan, hatchback, wagon, crossover, and minivan. Prices ranging from $15k-$30k.

All three lines would only sell electric vehicles with all wheel drive, OnStar /LoJack /GPS and XM /IPOD type features as standard. They would also limit each line to no more than five models, five colors and three interior colors. Also, financing for zero down, will be no greater than 1% for 5 years (no matter the credit of the buyer) , with a lifetime bumper-bumper warranty. All sticker prices will be mandatory with no option to haggle.

This will attract and get more people into GM autos and allow GM to offer less options, making production faster and cheaper.

GM also has various electronics, parts, financing, and other divisions. GM should spin off these subsidiaries and focus on auto making alone. I would also suggest that GM build factories in every nation it wishes to sell in and have those factories be a start to finish assembly plant (not necessarily a manufacturing plant) that provide all union jobs, employs no one under the age of 18, and is built on a redeveloped brownfield and is as environmentally friendly as possible following the waste hierarchy (reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover).

Shipping partial or completely assembled autos wastes cargo space and can be costly in tariffs and taxes. If smaller parts were shipped to assembly plants from all over the world to each nation's assembly plants, less political pressure, corruption, tariffs, and taxes would be applied because of the jobs the assembly plant would create.

Each dealer would be required to sell all three product lines, thus requiring some dealers to merge with other local dealers. There is no reason there should be 4000 dealers nation wide, yet GM sells almost as many cars and trucks as Toyota, which has 1200 dealers. GM could cut down to 2000 dealers.

I believe the same concepts could be applied to Chrysler and Ford as well. This would allow the US auto industry to survive and again be profitable. Finally, the big three can wave its heavy hand goodbye to the confines of the oil industry. With it's new found might, it could force the federal government to tackle universal health care and take over it's pension funds by rolling it into a privatized social security system.

To summarize:
Streamline the automaker's production line and sales process.
Create Universal Health Care and a privatized Social Security System in which pension funds can be rolled into.
End a vehicle's dependency of petroleum by making it electric and affordable.