Oracle of Delphi

By SHARON TERLEP and NEAL E. BOUDETTE The Wall Street Journal A few months ago, General Motors flooded the prime-time airwaves with commercials introducing the G8, a big, powerful sedan that is supposed to re-energize GM’s Pontiac brand. But the ad blitz hasn’t had much effect. In August, GM’s 2,712 U.S. Pontiac dealers sold only 1,915 G8s — not even one per dealer. GM has problems on many fronts, including high gasoline prices, falling truck sales and billions in losses. The G8 illustrates one problem that’s often overlooked: The automaker’s lineup contains many vehicles that deliver barely any bang for the buck. Consider the Saab 9-5 sedan. GM promotes its Swedish brand’s smaller 9-3 sedan, but the midsize 9-5 gets little exposure and as a result draws little interest from shoppers — or even dealers. Mark LaNeve, GM’s top marketing executive in North America, said the additional costs of offering slower-selling models are "really very incremental" because most share parts with higher-volume models. The G8, for instance, is a version of a car that has been a strong seller for GM’s arm in Australia. Yet auto analysts say slow sellers are a bigger drag on profit than GM acknowledges. Ron Harbour, a partner at the automotive consulting firm Oliver Wyman, said each model, even if only a variation of another vehicle, requires some engineering effort. Producing models in small numbers lowers manufacturing efficiency. Every vehicle needs its own documentation, manuals and brochures. Dealers have to be trained to service each model and have to spend money to keep them in stock. And each vehicle needs a certain amount of advertising and promotion. "For every model, you’ve got some investment costs, and if you don’t sell enough of them, you might not be able to cover the capital costs," Harbour said. GM recently said it hopes to cut $10 billion in costs over the next 18 months. Frederick "Fritz" Henderson, GM’s president and chief operating officer, has ruled out closing or selling any of GM’s eight brands besides Hummer, which GM has put up for sale. But he hasn’t ruled out getting rid of some of its slow-selling models. Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler have made simplifying their model lineups a central part of their turnaround plans. Ford has sold its Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin lines. People familiar with the matter have said Ford also intends to sell its Volvo division, although the company denies that Volvo is for sale. Volvo offers eight models, all slow sellers. Chrysler dropped four slow sellers last year and has said it plans to eliminate a third or more of its remaining models. Link: http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/905984.html

Virgina

Enjoyed the pics, thanks for posting them.

Good for you, it's a wise man that does.

Hmmm, let's see. She eloped to get married, and then just 8 months later had her son. I wonder if the Republican Religious Right knows that! :rotflmao:

The market will be in turmoil Monday, with this and that the Bank of America is going buy Merrill Lynch.

I give to five charities per anum, and I give big bucks too. 1. American Diabetes Association (Diabetes runs in my family) 2. Delaware Humane Association (Delaware’s only non-profit, lifelong care animal shelter and adoption center) 3. A Catholic grade school in Delaware that is for Catholic children of Italian decent. 4. My Catholic High School in Texas. 5. My Catholic Grade School in Texas.

Ronald Wilson Reagan - 40th President of the United States (1981–1989). His polices brought an end to the Cold War, which allowed for German Reunification on October 3, 1990, when the five re-established states of the German Democratic Republic (DDR / East Germany) joined the Federal Republic of Germany (BRD / West Germany), and Berlin was united into a single city-state. The start of the latter reunification process is commonly referred to as die Wende (The Turning Point). For this alone, he is my favorite President and always will be.

Mantequilla

Then don't participate in the Political threads, they are clearly marked as such.

Funny, there was no such thing as ADD children when I was growing up. This drugging of our children is just the outgrowth of parents, unable or unwilling to deal with their own children. So they drug them. What a bunch of Malarkey!

I think you are the Ross Perot of C&G!

I think your losing your grasp on reality blu.

Two Eskimos and a Polar bear do not constitute an electorate.

I think the Political talk will die down, after the election. Then we can all go back to watching GM switch from RWD to FWD again.

Pan-Germanism! Oops, sorry wrong country!

Actually, The Long Count Calendar of the Ancient Mayans ends on Dec 21 2012.

Are you Dislexic? Just wondering.

+1 Yes We Can!

:rotflmao:

+1

Recidivism rates for Drug offenders that have had treatment are horrendous. Forced Treatment Results in Higher Recidivism than NO Treatment and Adolescent Use INCREASES Following Treatment. See article: http://www.peele.net/lib/court.html

Interceptor

I could never support this. What happens when you're driving down the road high, and you take out a family of four, because you're too stoned to know the red light means stop? I want them to have that extra fear and stigma! You kill someone in my family because you're high, let me say this, no court will save you from me, because as I see it, you kill my wife and daughter, I have nothing to live for anyway, so I will take you out. Nothing on this Earth will save you from my wrath.

Tell me what that one political issue is that is near and dear to your heart. The one that would get you involved enough to support a candidate on that issue alone. Remember just pick your main one. For me it's Illegal Immigration. Shut down the Southern border of the USA, and I don't care if you have to put a Berlin style wall up manned with soldiers, with orders to Shoot to Kill. Come in the legal way, no problem! Sneak across the border, well then you take your chances with the wall and the guns.