As most American’s and the world for that matter know, the automotive industry here in America is not doing so well. GM, Ford, and Chrysler are all pleading with the federal government to afford them $25 billion in tax payer monies from the $700 billion dollar bailout, to help them through their hard financial times.

Really I do empathize with them, companies now are looking at hard time whether its services and goods that are consumer driven, or if your consumers are governments like it is with my company, we are all feeling the pinch. But most companies don’t have the luxary to look to someone like the US government for assistance to help coderize the bleeding that is occurring within their business. Business sure up their practices by looking inward for things like MUDA (Japanese for waste) improvements, process, documentation, training or they look at reductions such as travel, operating costs, and the dreaded head count. Surely there are a variety of ways, more than are even listed here, for a business to look at improving itself to be able to weather through these hard times.

But when we look at companies like the big three, take GM for instance, they are a multi-national conglomerant with many different brands. For instance GM’s active brands include:

  • Buick
  • Cadillac
  • Chevrolet
  • Daewoo
  • GMC
  • Holden
  • Hummer
  • Opel
  • Pontiac
  • Saab
  • Saturn
  • Vauxhall

If I was in a position to look at ways to limit my exposure, here are a list of things that I would start to do. First off, the Hummer brand to consumers needs to end immediately. Given the cost and ecological footprint, its just not a brand that should weather through these economic times. All consumer locations should be closed and another brand, such as GMC should take over the servicing of existing Hummers that are out there.

Second, I would look for ways to synergize my line of vehicles. SUV’s in all the lines should be looked at and reduced. Start eliminating diversity and consolidate into a core line of products that can be retooled and made better. If you look at the GMC line for instance, there are 4 SUV’s that are currently active–and that’s just one GM company. Buick and Saturn both also have SUV’s. These aren’t selling, so if they aren’t hybrid or have a positive value in the marketplace, stop making them and stop selling them immediately. There are a lot of high cost lines within GM:

  • Cadillac
  • Saab
  • Buick

Get rid of one of the brands and consolidate. Or reduce the overall line to focus in on core values.

Also if I was CEO of GM, instead of asking Congress for a crapload of cash, I’d go to them with a proposal to help stimulate the economy, that is provide economical, fuel efficient vehicles and have the government subsedize them to the consumers. I.e. make a car that costs less than 10k, will last at least 5 years, and has a MPG higher than 50. Ask Congress for monies to develop this type of vehicle, retool, and backend into some sort of tax credit for folks who purchase these types of vehicles. This is the car of the future, where you get a lot but less emphasis is put on the fashion trendy aspects of what we’ve come to expect of a vehicle.