With U.S. gas prices forecast to hit $4/gallon, General Motors is now trying to figure out whether the Hummer division should be killed off, sold off or transformed into something a little less – well, less stupid.
Oh there’ll still be holdouts, the clowns who’ll think they’ll make their mark by continuing to drive the big box, but their numbers will dwindle about as fast as Edsel buyers in the 60’s. And what sort of resale price do you think they’ll fetch when these jokers finally decide to unload them?
The once Big Three are providing an invaluable object lesson in what happens when industry, business or even individuals don’t approach climate change proactively. Thousands of people lose their jobs, plants close and asset values plummet – at least that’s the climate change template for automotive manufacturers.
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler ought to have understood what happens when a company falls behind changing market conditions. It’s how they capitulated to competition from foreign passenger car makers. They thought they could remain viable and profitable by concentrating instead on the pickup truck and SUV markets and, like Easter Islanders, they held fast to their self-defeating policies until it was too late.
It’s sad really. It didn’t have to be this way. It should never have been allowed to get to this point. It’s like running into a brick wall – a wall that you’ve been watching draw ever nearer for miles yet wouldn’t take your foot off the gas.
Lumbering behemoths often fall prey to the small, quick and agile. That’s the reality that confronts the Big Three today. Suddenly they have to learn to dance.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080607.RCOVER07/TPStory/TPBusiness/America/
The Mound of Sound 