Hat in hand GM and Chrysler are begging for billions and billions on top of those billions. I know that for the sake of tens of thousands of workers, people who work for those two companies and their corollary suppliers, we are supposed to support the bailout, but I am not sanguine about it either Chrysler or GM turning around.
Here's why.
Brands are like people. We hang out with ones we like. Ones that are honest, smart, clever, fun, trustworthy. It's that simple.
I don't see GM or Chrysler in deed or in word making themselves likeable. In other words, they will remain brands that people don't want to associate with. These two companies will continue to gobble up our billions. And continue to produce substandard merchandise and sell it with substandard marketing.
3 comments:
for once i think you are being too easy on the auto industry. if for one second I decided not to keep up- not to learn a new software, or to just decide that i would ignore what is happening in the world, where would i be? probably out of a job. It's the same thing with the auto industry-why should we bailout companies that have gone the way of the dinosaur? It doesn't make sense. Let's invest in american car companies with vision- they are out there. www.getkurrent.com
Bun - I'd love to know about these American car companies with vision you speak of.
geo, sorry, you're off-based with some of your comments - GM and Chrysler, as well as Ford, have come a LONG way in the past few years on their products and I would say that almost all of them are competitive with their competition. The problem they're having is changing twenty years of bad PR, bad cars and people refusing to give them a chance. They'll get there but its going to take time, money and restructuring.
If you believe that only these companies are struggling, you need to open your eyes - companies all over Europe and Japan are asking for loans/bailouts from their governments too.
it's not about quality anymore.
These companies are hated. They've lost, by their own admission, two generations of buyers.
It's the way they do business. Shopping for a car is a worse experience than getting a root canal. And car-salesmen are liked even less than ad people.
Apple is a loved company. Their products are not necessarily better than those made by others. But their business tone and manner has made them a winning proposition.
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