GM likely to retake No. 1 sales spot from Toyota

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By TOM KRISHER and SHARON SILKE CARTY

DETROIT (AP) - General Motors is almost certain to claim the title of world's biggest automaker this year, retaking the top spot from Toyota, which has been hurt by production problems since the Japanese earthquake and still can't escape the shadow of major safety recalls.

The No. 1 title, a morale booster for the winner's employees and managers, would cap GM's remarkable comeback from bankruptcy.

GM's sales are up, mainly in China and the U.S, the world's top two markets. Its cars are better than in the past, especially small ones.

But even though GM came within 30,000 sales of Toyota last year and began strong in 2011, any sales victory this year has more to do with Toyota's problems.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110422/D9MOVVM01.html

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In this Nov. 1, 2009 file photo, a 2010 Chevrolet Traverse, left, sits next to a 2010 Equinox at a Chevrolet dealership in Englewood, Colo. General Motors will retake the title of world's largest car company this year. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

[pipoman]

1. here...

and still can't escape intentional media and competition's slur reporting in attempt to destroy them...

[Kurmudgeon]

4. It's no slur that they had to recall the pedal assemblies on those vehicles.

Ask the families of the victims if they think it's all just shoddy reporting...
Toyota is just another large corporation, as prone to error and using their money to influence things in their favor as much as any other.
Open your eyes. If not for that video of Officer Saylor and his family losing their lives, it would have been all swept under the rug.

[pipoman]

7. Actually

they didn't have to replace anything. They chose to in attempt to stave off unfounded criticism. Open your eyes..not a single one of the tens of thousands of investigators, engineers, technicians, or adjusters who all had much to gain from duplicating these false claims succeeded. This whole boondoggle was Audi II. It was triggered by Toyota's overwhelming whooping given to the mediocre 3 in the cash for clunkers program.

[Kurmudgeon]

11. And Toyota paid a 16.4 million dollar fine just for the fun of it.

Open YOUR eyes.
http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view/20100519-270903/Toyota-pays-164-million-dollar-fine-over-gas-pedal-defects

[pipoman]

15. Funny how nearly every make, and almost every model

has reports of ua yet the only make targeted was Toyota.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/03/nhtsa-data-dive-3-117-models-ranked-by-rate-of-ua-incidents/

There is a phenomenon of drivers stepping on the gas and later completely believing they were stepping on the brake. This phenomenon was well documented back in the 1980s Audi incident. I am still waiting for the crucifixion of Ford since their products represent 7 of the top 20 models with reports of ua. Frankly, just the name 'unintended acceleration' implies driver error over mechanical defect...

And about the thousands of professionals who attempted to duplicate, all failed? How is that?

[Kurmudgeon]

34. At the time, the Toyota incidents were the most common and most deadly.

As for "professionals", maybe you should first ask who was paying them for their professional opinion.

[pipoman]

36. Virtually every insurance company with a claim, ntsb engineers,

competitive makers, news media, consumer advocacy groups, private automotive testers, all who had much to benefit from duplication and isolation of a mechanical defect. Yet all failed. To pretend that the only interested parties were working for Toyota is simply naive..there were/are many who have much to gain by locating a defect and duplicating non-driver error unintended acceleration.

Oh, and 7 models out of the top 20 for reports of UA isn't even mentioned? No news stories, no investigations, nothing. No, I believe that this is a tempest in a teapot and an attempt to break the overwhelming competitive lead Toyota had/has over other makers. I'm more curious who funded the media hype and the claims.

[DainBramaged]

38. You should wish that GM, Ford, and Chrysler were successful

but alas, it isn't worth a non-Union man's time......even if it means a million stable jobs across an industry.........why should you care a whit......

[pipoman]

39. I do

I just don't believe they should win through cheating, lying and industrial espionage

[Kurmudgeon]

40. Chrysler was successfull until the devastation of the Benz take over.

A large foreign national corporation comes in and raids a US corporation in a take over, then leaves.
Yet Daimler/Mercedes Benz gets a free pass in the media.
I would buy a Toyota before a Benz if that gives you any idea of my disgust with that whole situation.
However, I still plan to buy a new Chrysler product here soon, mainly on the good service I've gotten from every one I've ever bought.
If someone feels inspired to run their yip, save your time. I heard similar stories back when I bought my 2000 Dodge and 96 Plymouth, both ran well and in fact, I still have them. Actual experience means more to me than any internet hogwash against domestic products and engineering.

[Omaha Steve]

19. Did you miss in LBN the legal team suing Toyota found a paper trail a few months ago?

Toyota is presumed innocent until proven guilty. So I'm just waiting as the case winds through the courts to decide. No prejudice on my part.

[Kurmudgeon]

35. I did, it will be interesting to see how that falls out, it not hushed up. n/m

[onehandle]

2. A toast to 'Government Motors.' nt

[murielm99]

5. And just look at Ford.

They did well, and did not need to be bailed out.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

6. +1

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

8. Ford secured lines of credit before the fiascos...

... so didn't need to put in for government help. IIRC it was 9 months to a year before GM was forced into reorganization. Before the credit crunch/derivatives fiasco tightened up lines of credit for others. In otherwords, Ford mortgaged it's future.

[Honeycombe8]

13. Hasn't GM paid us back, with interest? It was a good investment? nt

[nyy1998]

17. The govt still owns some shares of GM, and they're trying to unload those stocks ASAP but

GM shares have dropped so the govt might lose money on those shares.

[onehandle]

18. I wasn't criticizing. I think the GM recovery with help from the government was a good thing. nt

[hlthe2b]

3. I'd like to have a volt if I could afford it...

Maybe by the time I can, the prices might have come down some. :toast: to our union compatriots at GM.

[Honeycombe8]

14. Too late! They're sold out, and aren't even taking orders anymore.

It was a successful rollout, I guess. They sold the 10,000 they made, and they got so many orders, that they're backed up and quit taking them. I checked it out, when looking for a new car this year.

Same thing with the Nissan Leaf.

Toyota's coming out with a plug-in Prius in 2012, unless the Tsunami interferes with that. That looks interesting.

Lots of interesting new cars coming out. It's a very exciting time!

[Omaha Steve]

20. The Volt was only sold in a few large market cities

The is why dealers not in those cities can order one. You can still go to a dealer in one of those cities to a Volt.

[Honeycombe8]

21. They were sold here in my city. But no, you could order the Volt online.....

no matter where you lived. The only deal is...you'd have to go to the nearest city to a dealer to pick it up.

I looked online. I didn't go to a dealer. There was a notice that they sold all the Volts, and that they were no longer taking orders, because they had as many orders for Volts as they could fulfill for the time being.

That applied to the entire U.S.

The Volt is not being made is substantial numbers. They didn't want to end up with a bunch of Volts sitting on lots, I guess. Same thing w/the Leaf. It was hard to know how many would be sold, so they erred on teh side of caution.

I guess they can be ordered next year, though.

[Omaha Steve]

32. Thank you for bringing me up to date

As long as it stays sold out, the production cost and list price will fall.

[OHdem10]

9. The Bailout worked and many many many people did not lose

jobs. GM is adding jobs in Ohio, we need them.

[tishaLA]

10. Damned socialist cars!

How dare they save those American jobs with a failing automaker?

[DCBob]

12. So many criticized the Obama admin for bailing out GM..

idiots.

[onenote]

16. including a number of folks here as I recall

[Honeycombe8]

22. Not me. In a way, I thought GM should suffer its own consequences...

that it caused by failing to respond to customers' needs. But for practicality, I thought the bailout was necessary in order to save tens of thousands of jobs, and help the country keep at least SOME manufacturing. I hoped that GM would learn its lesson & make changes. It has made a lot of improvements, it seems. And the country has been paid back most of the $, with interest. So I think it was a good move.

Chrysler should've been allowed to fail, though, I think. Didn't we bail out Chrysler, too? I mean, this is not Chrysler's first time at the trough, asking for $$$ because it can't run its company properly. I thought it should go down because I didn't think it would likely learn lessons, make changes, or be solid in the future.

And Ford...Ford didn't need to ask for $$$, although it hit hard times, too. Ford has really turned itself around & is building some really nice cars that have good reliability records. Kudos to Ford.

[WatsonT]

24. Safety recalls, a typhoon and earthquake are responsible

unlikely Obama caused any of that.

And if he did that would make him a kind of Bond-level villain.

[DCBob]

25. GM has been in rapid recovery mode before all of those things happened.

They might not be number one now but they would probably be a close second which is amazing given the mess they were in just a couple of years ago.

[WatsonT]

26. Yeah massive amounts of money can do that

I just wonder if it will last or if we'll be bailing them out again in a few years.

[DCBob]

27. That was the point.. to loan them "massive" amounts of money so they could keep the doors open...

and work out their problems. That worked and they have repaid much of that money and are now profitable. I doubt they will need any further bailing.

You sound disappointed they are succeeding. Why??

[WatsonT]

28. Because . . .

A) I don't think they really changed much. So the structural problems leading to the need for assistance are still there and B) this move is largely due to forces that have nothing to do with long term success.

If we could guarantee our competitors will be flattened by nature/the hand of god every time they start to get an edge on us that'd be one thing. But this is a fluke. I'm happy they're doing better but I really don't see it as necessarily a lasting trend.

[DCBob]

29. Thats your opinion.. I believe most analysts now think GM is positioned very well for the future,

they have China in their pocket... that may be all they need.

[WatsonT]

30. Assuming China decides not to use it's massive infrastructure

growing wealth and cheap labor to start their own car companies.

They'll always relegate themselves to producing cheap crap right? That's what Japan did in the 50s and 60s and they . . . . oh.

[tammywammy]

33. China already has their own automakers. n/t

[WatsonT]

23. All it took was the worst disaster to hit Japan since WWII

[JNelson6563]

31. Awesome!

Let's keep it going! Buy American! Buy union made! There's more to supporting labor than showing up at protests and posting on the internet.

Julie

[DainBramaged]

37. I find the hatred for an A-M-E-R-I-C-A-N car maker noteworthy

A while back I would be appalled, but no more. Those who hate GM hate Unions and those that hate Unions aren't for the working man anyway. You profess love or Obama, but you buy japanese. You profess love of the environment, but you shop at WalMart.

May all of your japanese and korean iron turn to shit. When they Unionize here and allow us to build there, maybe my opinion will change, but I don't think before I die they will give us the same playing field we have given them.