One GM Plant Closing in the US Means Very Little to the Company

[BumRushDaShow]

33. Personally

I had always wondered about all the transport costs (basically by ship) if you wanted to sell world-wide - which is why a decision was eventually made to actually build plants "locally" to serve that "local" market (in whatever country). It took awhile but the Japanese & German car companies finally started doing that here and we there.

However there is that case where they were getting to the point of idling or closing plants "local" to the U.S. making vehicles destined for the U.S. market, and then building the plants in countries that didn't have much if any minimum wage (and that local populace couldn't afford a car either), and then "importing" (but not considered "import" because the owners were U.S.-based) them back here.

And over the years, there seemed to be a chicken-egg thing going on with the sedan vs the SUV/crossover and GM was one of the biggest ones first chasing the SUV market because they felt it was "more profitable", regardless of whether people could afford them or not, and regardless of what the demand was for a "family sedan". So at that point, by dropping sedan (or even coupe) lines, they didn't give consumers any good choices for that size. And depending on how the gas prices were doing, you had consumers opting for the larger vehicles - but often because there really wasn't any other options from the American car makers (I ran into that problem). So once they limited supply of of those items, then they pointed and said - "See? Look! These crossovers/pickups/SUVs are what the consumer wants!!!!11111", which in turn further justified them dropping those smaller classes of cars because they had put themselves into a bubble universe.

And with the Wall Street head honchos repeating their mantras of demanding companies must have 10+% profits (vs the 1% - 5% profits being respectable in the past) and they had to produce large dividends for stockholders, they guilted companies into moves that ultimately screwed the consumer. I.e., the shareholders came first and the consumer second. So I really think the blame also lies in the business media that pushed these companies to this point...

Meanwhile the consumer, still wanting some type of sedan, left the American companies in droves and went to the "budget" and moderate-priced foreign companies - whether the various Japanese companies like Nissan or Mazda, Korean companies like Kia, or European companies like Suburu or VW or Saab, and by then, getting parts for these vehicles was not as onerous as in the past when they had to be imported, so that sealed it.

I remember when the Taurus was literally one of if not the top-selling sedan for years for Ford... But it was like they got "bored" with it and decided to dick with it, then drop it, until they finally realized what bubble-world can do to you, so they brought it back but now it's too late. They then sortof rejiggered and tried the Focus - which again shot up there as a top-seller, but then here came that chase for the profits and larger cars (and the soon-to-be resurrection of the Bronco - due in 2020 to add to their Escape/Explorer/Expedition).

One of those most amazing transformations that I have seen along that large vehicle line was the creation of the 4-door pickup truck! They were all 2 doors with a bench seat, then suddenly they were stretched so you had 2 full front doors and 2, half-size passenger doors... And now you have 4 full doors. And when you have a whole generation (millennials) who grew up in minvans, they refused to get any of those, so they have opted for the SUVs. Mission accomplished (except for those who have money to buy EVs)!