by Thomas Purcell

Created on: September 19, 2009   Last Updated: September 24, 2009

I was reading the other day about what cars are still selling for GM. Turns out it's Cadillacs, big GMC trucks, the new Camaros, and ultra high performance and specialty Corvettes. In some models, they are getting over sticker for these cars.

Now, to hear the Administration tell it, you would think these were the cars that put GM out of business. They are going to emphasize the manufacture of 'green' cars and econoboxes in the new GM lineup. They are going to try and compete with the Japanese and Koreans in making cheap cars still using the thirty dollar an hour labor here in the US.

Five bucks says another bankruptcy or at least another bailout of some sort will be imminent with THAT business model.

People buy American cars because they want cars with power, luxury and style - not MPG. At least profitable ones at any rate. GM has always stood for that- and for years took heat for it. But that's what brings in the dollars. Was GM mismanaged? Yup! But not because they made big powerful autos - it was because they took forever to bring them to market and didn't manage their finances to prepare for bad times.

In 1915, the US economy changed dramatically, and in that year GM was hurt bad by the introduction of lots of cheap autos made by competitors. People said back then "GM is finished", and "you can't build a company with Cadillacs". Of course back then, GM took a different approach - they defended their products and although almost failed, they published an ad defending their business practices.

Today, that ad is considered one of the greatest ads EVER run by any company in the advertising industry - even though it only ran once. People flooded their showrooms to see what GM was selling. Here is a copy text of that ad:

The
PENALTY OF
LEADERSHIP

In every field of human endeavor, he that is first must perpetually live
in the white light of publicity. Whether the leadership be vested
in a man or in a manufactured product, emulation and envy are ever at
work. In art, in literature, in music, in industry, the reward and the
punishment are always the same. The reward is widespread recog-
nition; the punishment, fierce denial and detraction. When a man's
work becomes a standard for the whole world, it also becomes a target
for the shafts of the envious few. If his work be merely mediocre, he
will be left severely alone - if he achieve a masterpiece, it will set a million
tongues a-wagging. Jealousy does not protrude its forked tongue at
the artist who produces a

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