FierNO.

In 1995, after years of Toyota ownership, my father thought he'd give GM a chance. Bought an Olds 88. Two years later, he lost his shirt on it in a trade in and that was the happiest day of his life. He got a simple Honda Odyssey that was dead-reliable for 10 years, a car he never questioned would take care of him. Screw GM. No apology can make up for what they've done.

In the early years of GM's existence, they spent a LOT of money buying trolley and light rail systems...and shutting them down. This obviously forced people to buy cars and encouraged urban sprawl, drive thrus, pollution, suburbia, etc. FUCK THEM IN THEIR STUPID ASSES.

Let' em go bankrupt.

Yeh, I agree.

They should die if only for what they did to the EV1. No foresight. They would have been in the catbird seat, instead Toyota with its Prius.

GM can and does make some great vehicles, they just need to make some changes in the way they do business. I have a Chevy S10 truck that is nearly 10 years old, and it has never given me a seconds problem, and still runs like it was brand new.

I'm not saying GM is perfect, but the stock opinion people have these days that all GM vehicles are garbage is just simply not true.

Actually, I'm now MORE PISSED OFF AT THEM for admitting their screwups. They just acknowledged that tens of millions of Americans are driving sub-par vehicles? That's not going to be good for business.

You don't denigrate your old product in order to sell your new product.

I'll let them know when it's time for me to buy my next car.

@pigbearpug:

Exactly. Apparently, Los Angeles had a very good trolley system back then. But GM shut that down quickly.

[en.wikipedia.org]

Ummm no they fail. I hope those SUVs have fold out beds, cause thats where alot of them are gonna be sleeping once they go belly up. No sympathy here for the terrible practices of these asshats. Im still waiting on my flying cars. WHERE THE F*CK ARE THEY GM?

What incentive will there be for companies to make wise choices if they can run their businesses into the ground, say, "Oops, sorry!" and get a bail-out from the public?

I've never spent a dime on GM because they make inferior products. But now I am "forced" to give them money because they suck so bad? Doesn't make much sense. I want to buy American made cars, I really do. But I am primarily interested in quality, which cannot be found on GM cars.

Sure, you are forgiven. Now....what are you going to do about it? A bailout will cover you for 6 months or so. What products are you releasing in the next 2-3 months that will perk my interest? None? Ok...so you will need another bailout in 6 months, then another...right? In the meantime what are you going to be producing? The same cars that "disappoint" us, and are piling up on lots?

I say the government buys out the auto manufacturers, consolidates them into one brand, picking 1-2 of each category of the best vehicles, then converts the rest of the factories into manufacturing things that benefits our nation...fiber optic cable, network routers, surveillance drones for our borders, roadwork vehicles, cheap medical machines, etc.

That's a faux pas for sure. "Sorry, the stuff we made that you bought was crap. Buy our new stuff, please." Not a good way to keep customers loyal.

@The Name's Ash78, Housewares: I have the sinking feeling that the intention of this apology was as much. I think they want the government to take them over. It would give the stock a nice spike for all those incompetent board members to soften the blow to their holdings that this past year has seen. (or, if you're into conspiracy theories, to give the government a larger vested interest in another major industry to help secure a growing fascist coup. It's not my personal belief of the situation, but it's something I've been hearing a lot of recently.)

This is America, where you're an asshole until you say you screwed up, appologize, and go into rehab.

Let them go bankrupt and hopefully a quality oriented manufacturer will take over the planets (Toyota?). That will keep a majority of the auto workers employed.

@FrankenPC: Er...plants. I'm already screwing up.

Dear GM,

My family and I are both proud owners of Saturn vehicles. My 1994 SL2 w/ 167,000 mi still runs as decently as can be expected for a going on 15 year old car. Saturn was to be a hallmark, an alternative, a new beginning even, for GM's brands. The no-haggle pricing and slightly off-beat models were intriguing to every car buyer who hates car shopping.

Your desecration of the brand is disgusting. You have mismanaged and held back Saturn for too many years; it is now a shell of its former self, even more so than you. My next car was to be an Aura. Unless Saturn is taken over by another company, or you get your grubby, incompetent hands out of its business, that will not happen. I will gladly purchase a foreign vehicle, so long as they manufacture in the States.

You've had your chance.

I prefer this one:

"..our designs became lackluster."

Haha. This is a serious understatement. I mean, they sell the same car/truck/SUV under multiple brands. Within the past 5+ years, they've introduced new models that were either SUV's or crossovers. But even those models weren't "new". They were just hacked versions of their existing vehicle platforms.

I will forgive them if they fix every problem with my 2004 Saturn Ion. I've had about a dozen seperate non-maintenance issues with it. Unfortunately I never got to three instances of the same issue to qualify for the lemon law.

@dangermike:

Stock wouldn't spike - any sort of government takeover would essentially wipe out equity holders.

@LatherRinseRepeat:

I've never understood this. They take either a crappy ford and rebadge it as a lincoln or mercury, or a crappy daewoo and rebadge it as a chevy then as a pontiac...I mean...why do we need 3-4 versions of the same car? And on top of that, why does each company need 10 versions of an SUV, 5 versions of a small car, 8 versions of a midsize, 5 versions of a pickup, 6 versions of a minivan...etc.

Just pick 1-2 of each vehicle, and devote your resources to making them the best in their class.

if they can die a thousand horrible deaths and still hang around, i'll forgive them.

they have made 2 quality cars in the last 35 years, the current generation corvette and i really like the CTS. that said, i cannot believe we survived for over 30 years after the first fuel crisis without one G@#damn thing being done by anyone to prevent another one. now, here we are, with our wangs in our hands and products that wouldn't have been up to industry standards 10 years ago. german design and the japanese approach to an economical family car have been kicking our asses for decades and the best you assholes can do is say "sorry, can we have $25 billion?"

BEND OVER DETROIT, you've had this coming for a long, long time.

Let it fail. The workers can be re-hired later by whichever company takes its place.

@sir_eccles: How'd they know I drive a kick-ass Subaru? Now that's just creepy.

@K J: Yes, because the United States could really use an extra 3 million unemployed people right now.

I don't think most sane people disagree that there needs to be some massive change in how the 'big three' operate...but a blanket dismissive like "Let' em go bankrupt" hardly seems to be helpful.

I would forgive them, but its Wednesday and I only forgive people on Fridays.

Also, they need to stop selling Hummers to consumers with road rage, or consumers period.

@NeonNoodle: The Pontiac Aztec actually had a GM accessory that converted the rear hatch into a tent, and had fitted sleeping bags for the cargo area. Plus, the center storage bin between the two front seats was removable and insulated, so you could use it as a cooler. Too bad they're not making them anymore, it seems like a pretty good car to live out of. ...sigh, I still want one :(

Too little too late. It's so nice that they realize (and probably have realized for quite some time) that their products are inferior. I feel bad for the folks who have bought GM vehicles lately, because your product sucks, straight from the horse's mouth. Maybe we should bail out the people who bought BM autos in the first place. But GM... let 'em go down. They've had chance after chance to fix themselves, and they did nothing. What's there to make us think they'll finally change now?

@nataku83: I mean Aztek, sorry

@Saboth: I don't want to come down hard on your idea, but what you don't realize (and most other people don't realize) is that the actual manufacturing operation is a small piece of the business. Take a look at Apple for a comparison. "Designed by Apple in California" is engraved on their products, but the manufacturing is done by contract offshore. Yet Apple employs thousands and thousands of people in the United States. Same deal here: the majority of the jobs and involved money aren't linked directly to the manufacturing operations.

Therefore consolidating a few key marques does nothing wit the overhead. In fact, that would accellerate the problem that the loans (note: not bailout) are trying to avoid: laying off millions of people related to the industry. Remember, a plant only employs a few thousand. We're talking millions. (On that note, unemployment benefits for 5 million people versus loans that will be repaid isn't cheap, either.)

Lastly, a "factory" is just a big building. The real money is the stuff inside, and machinery for building automobiles can't be used to build medical devices, etc.

@BrianDaBrain: GM not BM. Argh...

i thought this money had been previously set aside, only it was originally for funding their building more "green" vehicles? iirc, i don't think we'll be paying any MORE out of pocket.

I think the government forgot the point of BANKRUPTCY it is to restructure broken companies *cough*GM*cough* and make them profitable again. If we keep giving money to broken companies guess what? NOTHING GETS FIXED.

Did they apologize for killing the electric car?

Forgive them for greed and ignorance? no, help them, a reluctant yes only to help the employees

I hope GM's apology is accompanied by a check to cover the exhaustive maintenance their customers have had to pay for, just so they could drive around a GM car. Since I doubt there will be any checks forthcoming, I'd like to join the American people in a big, "Go fuck yourselves, GM."

For every tale of a GM/Ford/Chrysler purchase gone wrong...there are probably 5 times as many happy customers that we never hear about.

I own a 2005 Ford Focus that has always run flawlessly and has provided decent gas mileage.

I drive a Chevy Malibu for work...and ditto...it runs great and serves up some decent gas mileage.

I really would like for all of the people who are eager to see the 'big three' shut down and go belly up to explain what kind of country they see in the near term if they get their wish. Best estimates put the number of 'real non-executive' workers who would be out of a job at around 3 million people. (If you include all of the assorted businesses that would fail as a result of the above scenario.)

How bad will our economy get if we add three million unemployed people to the unemployment rosters?

I'm not in favor of just handing over money indefinitely to keep Detroit going...but I think it's a bit short sighted to refuse any sort of help and take gleeful joy in their suffering.

There are REAL people who will be affected if we standby and do nothing.

I'll forgive them if they change their ways, and actually make decent cars that get good mileage at a low price.

Either way, they don't deserve a bailout, and I'm not convinced at all that giving them one would do anything but throw good money after bad.

@balthisar:

yes, but my point would be....as is, we are paying them to manufacture and employ people making a product that no one wants, and no one is buying. I understand the factories will have to be completely retooled. And there will still be massive unemployment. However....what is the logic behind producing something that will just sit on ships, docks and lots indefinately, just to pay people to keep their jobs?

Their words mean nothing.

Of course, neither do their deeds, so screw 'em.

@Jeremiah1977:

So...you drive 2 cars that are about 2 years old, and have no problems? I should hope not. If American cars failed after 1-2 years, they would have gone bankrupt years ago. I guess try again when it is 10 years from now. Personally, I drive a 93 F150 that runs decently (although it seems to go through heater cores every 2 years), but then again...trucks are the only thing they got right.

@Saboth: To satisfy the dealer networks. They give Chevy the daewoo Aveo, but then pontiac wants a small car, so now we have the G3. Like I've said all along, GM needs to eliminate the dealership system, but there are too many protections in place to prevent this from happening...

@Garbanzo: no, its not even the public anymore! we had NO say in this, we're more socialistic now than ever before, hey why don't we just throw up the hammer n' sickle now while we're at it!

@Jeremiah1977: there would never be 3 million unemployed americans if gm, chrysler and ford were forced into bankruptcy. layoffs would be pretty heavy, but total shutdown would never happen. chrysler has already been thru this before, remember Iacocca? I don't have a clear opinion on what fate they should suffer, but it is not going to push us over a cliff as a country if they fail to secure bailout money.

@Jeremiah1977: I guarantee you that most employees will jump ship anyway, bailout or not, it's not like there's not another job out there, and machines do most the work on cars now anyway, whoopie...

I think that one of the few things they did right was slap their name on Toyotas. I drive a 1999 Chevy Prizm, which is a Toyota Corolla. My wife used to drive a 1988 Chevy Nova, which was . . . a Toyota Corolla, and was still drivable (though admittedly a bear to start in the winter) when she sold it in 2004. Both get/got slightly over 30 MPG reliably.