GM may not be the biggest automaker a year from now. |
I don't think the SUV will be a huge success. It'll be arriving in a very glutted market. While the midsize segment is not glamorous, that's a good place for Saturn to be. |
My sense is what they'll do is rework the distribution of work. They've got a temporary problem until the sports utility vehicle (SUV) comes on board. |
That's part of the carrot you put out with communities as you're closing a plant. |
The underlying demand is there for the Asians, in the attractiveness of their vehicles and vehicles in segments they've not been in or were under-represented. |
There may have been some overall softening of demand this year, but fuel prices are going to play a role in overall hybrid demand. We're starting to come to the realization that the fuel-price spike that we thought was seasonal is now becoming less so. |
There was payback from the employee-discount programs at the U.S. Big Three, and a little bit of truck punishment. |
Toyota obviously has staked a lot of its prestige on this technology, so if there is a developing negative backlash in the U.S., they are going to work very hard to reverse that. |
Using the liberal definition of what you include in worldwide sales, GM may not be the biggest automaker a year from now. |
We're at a tipping point. We're getting to the point where there's some question whether this is seasonal or long term. |