See the USA, in your Toyota?

As an old guy who has been a General Motors zealot forever, I’m naturally dismayed at the current state of the US auto industry. My first real job was in the retail auto business, at a now-defunct Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Cadillac dealership in Northwest Kansas. I worked there (twice); I also worked for a Pontiac-Cadillac dealer. Even when I wasn’t working in dealerships, I spent a number of years installing and tweaking the computer systems that kept the dealers abreast of their operations.

I’ve travelled thousands of miles, and visited 29 of the 50 states installing automotive computer systems. The retail auto dealer fraternity is hard-working, fun-loving, and I have great memories of my associations.

I’ve stuck with GM through thick and thin; sometimes, working at a GM retail outlet drove my loyalty; other times, it was my natural stubbornness that motivated me. I’ve had three Chevy Vegas, for heaven’s sake; and not as demos, either. Paid for out of my ass pocket, with some help from GMAC. After MLB and I traded our 1986 Chevy Cavalier for a 1994 Saturn, we were Chevyless for the first time in many years. The Saturn, though, let the GM love affair continue. We’ve owned 4 Saturns, the most recent one bought in May of this year. Despite my differences with the local Saturn dealer, the cars are very good.

The spectacle of GM’s and the rest of the Big Three’s management going to Congress and grovelling for money, a lot of money, to stay in business has forced me to consider a Big Three-less future. And it’s time for that to happen. The only salvation for America’s automakers will come via bankruptcy. Period. The originally requested $25B handout has grown to $34B in a week or ten day period. As they blow through $6B per month, this isn’t going to last. If they get the money, they’ll be back, hat in hand yet again, to grovel for more. And sooner or later, they won’t be in business, irrespective of any cash infusions.

None of these possible outcomes is pleasant; it seems to me that lumps should be taken now; let the Big Three declare bankruptcy, restructure, and try to reorganize to compete.

I’ll miss Chevy and Ford as I know them. I’ve survived the loss of friends, parents, and loved ones; I can survive the loss of GM. And so can the country.

-k-