Damn
General Motors reported a first-quarter loss of $1.1 billion as sales slumped in North America and profits fell in China.
GM's revenues in North America dropped by nearly 13% to $25.38 billion, from $29.1 billion during the quarter.
The company's first-quarter loss of $1.1 billion compares with a profit of $1.21 billion in the year-ago period. The results included charges totaling $265 million related to costs of a restructuring in Europe and a buyout program offered recently to white-collar employees, among other things. Worldwide revenue declined 4.3% to $45.77 billion from $47.83 billion.
GM said its worldwide automotive operations suffered a $4.7 billion cash outflow in the quarter, including a $3 billion outflow from regular operations and another $1.7 billion spent to cut jobs in Europe and make payments to Italian automaker Fiat as part of an agreement to dissolve an unsuccessful alliance.
Overall, GM's cash outflow for the quarter totaled $3.5 billion, including a $500 million dividend to the parent from profitable finance unit General Motors Acceptance Corp.
North America, GM's flagship region, accounted for almost all of the losses GM's automotive operations took during the quarter. GM's automotive operations reported a loss of $1.3 billion, compared with earnings of $561 million a year ago.
In Europe, GM posted a loss of $103 million, an improvement from a loss of $116 million the year earlier. In Latin America, Africa and the Mideast, however, GM's earnings rose to $46 million from $1 million thanks to record sales volume during the quarter.
The company's GMAC financing arm earned $728 million in the quarter, down from $764 million a year ago.
GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said in a statement: "We have well thought-out plans to address GMNA's poor performance, starting with aggressive product introductions this year, value-focused marketing initiatives, and further reductions in our cost structure, where the greatest need is to address the challenging health-care cost situation."
"While we were encouraged by improved sales in March, we significantly reduced production volumes during the first quarter to balance inventories," Wagoner said. "These adjustments reduced dealer inventory levels by nearly 100,000 units from the year-ago period, but they also adversely affected our North American financial results.
"We clearly have the need to do a much better job on both the revenue and cost side of our business," Wagoner added.
>>>For Sale? Clicky!<<<
-----The orginal Mr.Goodwrench on the JBO since 11/99-----
Well they've been saying that for weeks. Its amazing how big thsoe numbers are though.
they better hope these new cars they are coming out with sell well!!!
gm is in big trouble, sorry to say
<img src="http://www.j-body.org/registry/mullett/personal_pic.jpg">
i work for a major supplier for GM...their saying if GM doesn't change quick...say bye bye to GM
They did act like @ hole. In quebec, we only have like 4 Cobalt SS. How do you expect someont to buy them if they can't drive them? I would have took one but they don't want to ship any to quebec so it's plain stupid.
Btw, they can say everything they want, Gm has so many corporation that he has to loose alot before going down. If you take a real look at the engine world, 75% of the engine are from Gm corporation. Almost every engine from the Canadian army is from Gm, all the tranny and every thing else. They just did the worst move by removing the best selling car in Canada( the cavy and the sunfire).
Gilles
2.3 Ho
The cobalt is a disaster anyway... there are like 2 in town where I live and I don't know anyone that is a fan. Overpriced and ugly.
~ 98 Cavalier
i believe that heathcare is a problem for them, i don doubt that. but they need to wake the heck up and realize that heathcare is NOT why they are going broke. it's poor product!!!!
they will go bye bye, because they can't admit to the real problem. they build better product, price it realisticaly and gain trust. only then will they survive. GM as a whole would not disapear though. they would just be bought out. and they're numbers are catching up to Nissans debt numbers it seems every day. and remember what happened when Nissan went into a deep tail spin.....they were bought out.
Well as far as GM going under I doubt it.. all thou. It is a classic GM problem thou.. They intorduce a new car( turck what ever), and it shows up, kinda on the ugly side and overpriced. Then the people who are interested in buying one can't becasue there are none to be had.. Now I live in Canada Soo it might be a bigger problem here than in the States.. Plus There are a Lot of NICE cars coming out on the market right now. Soo Gm is going to have to work a little harder. This is not the 80's/90's anymore. Where they could get away with building $hitty cars, and poeple would buy them casue there A GM.. Those days are over..
What's wronge with stock..?
gm is losing lots of $ I can tell you that they are a lot of problems they are not making for one more fuel efficient cars or Hybrid cars..
sooner or later no one will own a gas car just Hybrid cars b.c we will have no more gas
GM is a great company but thats whats happens when you have almost the other big car manufacturers except about 2 or 3 that are not overseas....but thats the way it goes its to expensive over here to pay workers less for doing the same thing in India or phillipines
Any company that thinks "Hey, gas is going up. How about we increase the size of our engines and go totally with SUV's and Trucks." is a good idea is in trouble. Pontiac has been relegated to the new GEO by having half of its production line shipped to Toyota.
Saturn is going more and more with Honda. Chevy and GMC make the same damn cars. Its hard to believe they loss so much of the mark. 2005 GM is expected to loss 24% of its market.
Team Tach Out
Http://www.team-tachout.com/
Falmouth,VA
I have been saying it for the last Four or Five years. GM has put too much R&D and money into SUV's. I always knew if another big gas hike were to hit they would be in big trouble. I like the Cobalt but cars like the Aveo are just plain crap. If I only have $10K to spend on a new car I am going to buy a Hyundai or Kia. At least you get a 10 year warranty and those cars are better looking and better built. I bet at least half the people who buy Aveo's think they are buying an American car. Another problem with GM and other Domestic's is that you cannot get a 5 or 6spd. in just about anything bigger than a Ion, Cobalt or Sunfire. GM needs to get there act together and they are running out of time.
New Yeller
Rice is nice,but where's the BEEF!
02lssport.jpg
yeah... i don't know what will happen with gm... personaly i've been a die hard 100% gm and nothing but guy all my life... but now? you can bet your ass my next car's not gona be gm!... so many crapy things about their products... none of their products excite me anymore... i find the dodge and ford truck looks beefyer and feels cooler, like what the hell? i dunno... but i say there is definately something wrong when a 100% pure gm guy turns his back on gm. but it's gona take a lot more then hard work to fix it now.. they've ruined their name by building crap... even if they start building good @!#$... ppl will still think it's crap and wont buy it... it's a tough situation
www.gasted.com
New Yeller wrote:I have been saying it for the last Four or Five years. GM has put too much R&D and money into SUV's..
Thats so true. Whats sad is not matter how much money they pour into them, the import ones are 10X nicer and available for the same price
Id much rather have a Nissan Pathfinder than any SUV GM makes, and that includes a Hummer or an Escalade
Gas prices are what happend to GM. People are investing in smaller cars again. GM has a huge SUV selling platform. Who wants to buy a car that gets less than 20 miles to a gallon city and have to pay 50 bucks to put gas in it ever 2 weeks or less.
Check Out My Domain Page!!!
Reasearch has shown that most people don't think about gas prices when buying a car. A lot of people think about safety. I think GM did right researching into SUVs and trucks. And as far as overpriced, no way. When i was looking for a new car my cavalier cost 10700 out the door. Everywhere else was atleast 1200 without taxes. Honda's are like 16000. GM makes very affordable cars as compared with it's competators. The reason their not selling is because everyone is thinking this company is going down. If Ford droped Mercury a lot of people wouldn't go to ford because they would think the company is folded. If people did do some research they would see that GM's are not bad cars. Sure their no Toyota but look at the price difference.
argue all you want about their health care and everything bringing GM down but you could look at it this way too.... how many of the executives that make millions per year are getting a pay-cut to help budget? none.
nah... they will just lay more people off and close more plants.
We could... PUSH it across the finish line...
>> nah... they will just lay more people off and close more plants.
That is what they need to do, so what is the problem? And yes, the CEOs should have their pay and compensation slashed (which is the JOB of the Board of Directors).
From the person above:
"GM makes very affordable cars as compared with it's competators. The reason their not selling is because everyone is thinking this company is going down. If Ford droped Mercury a lot of people wouldn't go to ford because they would think the company is folded. If people did do some research they would see that GM's are not bad car"
-- I think you need to either 1) go take some college level classes on business or 2) do your research before making that statement. GMs current financial situation has nothing to do with why their cars are not selling. GM makes cars that have historically had reliability issues -- couple that w/ design and styling that lags behind competitors and you have a recipe for disaster. I do do "research" as you state and Toyota and Honda will trump GM every time. Even in the luxury market, Cadillac is destroyed by Lexus when looking at build quality and reliability issues.
The real interesting story with GM is how the union is going to respond -- no doubt about it paying 5.2 billion in healthcare expense per year is damaging this company.
~ 98 Cavalier
^^^^ RIght! Who in there right mind would choose an old looking Cadillac over a Lexus
Serves 'em right for selling piece o' crap cars that their own service departments can't fix and treating the customer (5 time new GM buyer over 15 years) with the piece o' crap car like a piece o' crap. I'll never buy a GM vehicle again, new or used, nor will anyone in my family. That's why GM is going the way of the dodo, carrier pigeon, etc., and I for one say good f******g bye
Ha ha ha, Mustang rules!
Quote:
GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said in a statement: "We have well thought-out plans to address GMNA's poor performance, starting with aggressive product introductions this year, value-focused marketing initiatives, and further reductions in our cost structure, where the greatest need is to address the challenging health-care cost situation."
How about this, why not buy a nice affordable, reliable car that people will want to buy, instead of pushing cheap incentives on your current cars? After owning a Cavalier, I truly believe that GM builds good incentives, not good automobiles.
I don't want to see GM go out of business.. That would put a lot of people out of work and hurt the US economy even more. Even if you don't like GM vehicles, I really don't think people should be so eager to see them go down...
Dark blue 2002 Z24, 2.4 Ltr.
the problem is gm has too many plants and produces too many cars to make money off them. also healthcare is a big issue. they said toyota is trying to build more us plants and they will face the same problems gm is facing right now. According to time magizine.. Toyota doesnt have to pay there retirees healthcare because the japaneese government pays it for them. Also toyota quaility will go down too due to less training and less money. im not worried about gm going out of business, and if they do.. there cars will be cheaper then ill buy me a driveway full of cavys and sunfires!
here comes the boost!
