If I'm not mistaken... bailout money = government's ability to restructure GM's employees.

I think that was a clause in the agreement.

 

You are not mistaken.

 

He's obviously not directly responsible for all the good things that have come out of GM nor is he directly responsible all the bad things either. GM made some ill conceived decisions for sure with him at the lead, like continuing to build more trucks and neglecting their passenger car offerings for too long. But when the money was rolling in selling SUVs, its sort of hard to convince shareholders that you have to shift to building fuel efficient cars. GM's biggest mistake is being too big and fat to change directions quickly. For that Wagoner and crew deserves the blame.

But Sure, hindsight is 20/20. Wagoner and Lutz had spearheaded some good efforts towards the end of their tenure, Cadillac's turn around, the new Camaro, the ZR1, the new and improved sedans like the Malibu, improving fit/finish and quality standards, using good global platforms on more US cars, like the Pontiac G8 or the Sky/Solistice, the Hybrid and Hydrogen fuel cell technology, big production in China and India, and probably most significantly, the potentially revolutionary Volt.

Sure, GM's CEO can't take ALL the credit for all the above, but he was at the helm during all of it. Don't get me wrong, its all a little too late...and I don't feel sorry for the guy...I'm sure he got a good severance package. GM's biggest obstacle has been convincing the public that their products are as good as anyone's, plus the worsening economy. And that's what's sinking them now, not their products, and not his lack of leadership skills.

For me, firing Wagoner was like firing Dungy. Probably a good idea (if you have someone better lined up) But Dungy did many good things too, as well as bad things. And we shouldn't discount Wagoner's legacy at GM.

 

^ building a $120,000 super car in limited numbers isnt helping to turn a profit. They piddled away R&D on a number of scrapped and failed projects. I say good riddance, the CEOs of these companies are not directly involved with the success of the company, but they sure as hell are involved with the demise.

 

Building a $100,000 corvette does indeed do much to help a companies image as well as generate TONs of free press and publicity. And free publicity saves money. Car companies build "corvettes" to sell "Cobalts."
The Viper was instrumental to turning around Chrysler's image in the 90's. The demise of the 300Z did much to hurt Nissan's image in the 90's as well.
You need flagship halo cars. It helps to generate buzz and bring positive attention to the brand.

 

I understand it needs to be done, but seriously what kind of free capitalistic economy are we living in if the president can say who gets fired and hired... sounds more like communism to me..

 

which the z06 wasnt? i understand flagship cars and all, but in the current economy corvettes arent selling enough cobalts apparently.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/03/b...-year-edition/

everyone is doing bad (cept those bastard koreans) but in terms of sheer volume i think GM is doing the worst (across all the companies)

 

Sorry FF but I vehemently disagree. I was calling for Wagoner's termination four years ago. If I saw the writing on the wall a CEO should have certainly seen it and a good CEO would have made the necessary changes to correct the problems.

Ford was smart enough to dump Bill Ford after five years and put Mulally in place and now Ford has positive direction. But GM? They kept trucking on down the same ol' path, which is what they have always been known to do. If it wasn't for their diehards they be out of business by now and the diehards are dying off.

 

When a company asks the government for 30 billion dollars even a capitalist conservative like me believes the government has every right to lay some parameters, particularly when it comes to firing a loser like Wagoner who has been tanking GM for nine years.

 

sounds more like you didnt read about the stipulations agreed upon by GM when they took our "free" money?