by Robert Stadnik

Created on: February 25, 2009   Last Updated: March 08, 2009

There has been a lot of arguments regarding General Motors and how best to handle its precarious situation. Some have called for letting the company fall into bankruptcy; others have pushed for continuing to provide bailout funds as the automaker reorganizes itself. GM's current position is really no surprise to anyone who has watched the company over the years. Decades of declining sales, subpar quality, and ineffective management has led to the company's current predicament. Any solution other than bankruptcy will need to be drastic in order to save the company from demise.

The federal government has already loaned the automaker billions in taxpayer money. In order to ensure that the 'investment' is well worth it the government needs to dictate terms to the company as to how it should reorganize. General Motors cannot be trusted to do what's needed as it has ignored its problems for years and even now continues to make poor decisions. Just look at their brand reduction plan. They finally recognized that eight brands was simply too many to maintain, but the four brands they intend to keep are still too numerous.

Buick is one brand that is safe and GM plans to transfer the design philosophy of Saturn to Buick. Saturn's current, and apparently, last lineup of cars are simply rebadged Opel vehicles that are sold in Europe. This design language did nothing to improve Saturn's sales and instead the brand's vehicle sales actually dropped. So if the Opel design language didn't work for Saturn why the hell would GM think it will work for Buick? Buick has always been a luxury car brand for old people. Guess what? GM already has a brand like that, called Cadillac. And unlike Buick, Cadillac is attracting both young and old buyers alike.

GMC is another brand GM intends to keep. GMC is nothing more than Chevrolet trucks and SUVs with different name badges with the exception of the Acadia, which does have unique styling compared to the Chevrolet Transverse (but not by much). But otherwise GMC vehicles are already sold underneath the Chevrolet brand. Why continue to spend money on a brand that isn't unique to begin with? GM should only operate with two brands: Chevrolet and Cadillac. GM's market share cannot support four brands.

These examples illustrate what needs to be done at General Motors. CEO Rick Wagoner and the entire board of directors need to go as they have made decisions over the years that have resulted in continued declining market share. They are nothing more

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