The Demise of General Motors: A Personal Perspective

General Motors, once the envy of the automotive world, now barely hangs by a thread in its effort to survive the current economic climate. Monday's bankruptcy filing by GM was inevitable. Last fall, my economics classes discussed in detail whether GM's best option was bankruptcy, not a government bailout. After $50 billion in corporate welfare, the company still landed in federal bankruptcy court anyway. The demise of GM, while predictable, was disheartening. As a young boy, my family was a GM family. My grandfather owned a 1967 Chevrolet pickup (which is still in the garage at my parents' house). My grandmother had a 1976 Pontiac Ventura. My parents over the years have had four Chevrolet cars, a Buick, two Oldsmobiles, and a Cadillac. My first vehicle as a teenager was an older Chevrolet pickup, followed by a 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, followed by a 1983 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. In the mid 1990s, I purchased my first foreign vehicle. I bought an Isuzu pickup. Believe it or not, I bought that vehicle brand new for less than $10,000 with a standard transmission. It didn't have many "extras," but over the course of the next few years I drove that little pickup about 130,000 miles and almost never had anything wrong with it. In fact, I didn't even have to replace the brake pads until I had over 100,000 miles on it. Given that experience, I was sold on Japanese quality. Nonetheless, I did venture one last time into domestic vehicle territory. I purchased a 1996 GMC Jimmy. It was a good vehicle that was fun to drive...that is, until the air conditioning went out at around 100,000 miles. Living in the Ozarks, air conditioning in the summertime is a must. The estimate to repair a modern a/c system, about eight years ago, was about $1,200. Well, needless to say, I began looking for other options. I settled on a brand new 2002 Toyota Tundra extended-cab pickup. It wasn't really what I set out to buy, but it turned out to be exactly what I wanted. Toyota had sought to capture domestic market share from both GM and Ford in the full-size truck market, and they were succeeding...big time. The Toyota Tundra was made tough, but it rode like a luxury vehicle. There was hardly any engine noise inside the cab, not something that was typical for a truck. I drove that Tundra for two years, then decided to upgrade to a quad-cab version in 2004. I bought a demo model with a DVD player and satellite radio. It was overall one of my favorite vehicles to own. I kept the second Tundra until just this year, when I traded it for a 2005 Nissan Pathfinder. After going back to a truck for the past seven years, it just seemed time for another SUV. Back in 2003, I had also bought a 1999 Toyota Camry, primarily for the gas mileage. There were times when driving the Tundra could cost an arm and most of a leg in fuel, especially when I commuted back-and-forth to the University of Arkansas for post-graduate and doctoral classes. I kept the Camry until 2007, when I found a 2003 Infiniti G35, a model from Nissan's luxury brand. It was as close to "love at first sight" as a car buyer can get I suppose. The G35 had a silver and black interior, leather seats, sunroof, and a premium Bose speaker system. I wasn't really planning to trade the Camry at that point, but the Infiniti was just too stunning to let slip through my fingers. Driving the Infiniti was the kicker...purring just like a kitten, handling almost any road surface with precision. My latest foray into imports has been a 2006 Acura TL. Acura, which is the luxury line for Honda, has long been known for quality and safety, plus the ability to maintain a solid trade-in value. I like the track record of the Acura, but still have a greater affinity for the G35 at this point. Whether that will change only time will tell. Bottom line, I can't see myself returning to domestic vehicles anytime soon. If the deals get even more lucrative, then maybe I'll consider another domestic. I do like GM's on-star system, which has undoubtedly saved lives in crashes, and the day for individuals who get locked out of their vehicles. But, for me at least, the foreign automakers have just become more adept at providing quality models with features that individuals want. One of the basic tenets of capitalism is that you can't dictate what consumers will get. Producers must make what consumers actually want to buy. The Obama Administration is ignoring that aspect of our economy. The administration wants GM to begin manufacturing smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. While a noble ideal, it is not necessarily one that will sell in the marketplace. I do understand what the administration wants to accomplish, but we must let the free market decide. The dictatorial approach to output doesn't work in North Korea or Cuba. It didn't work in the old Soviet Union or China. It didn't work in Eastern Europe. Nor should it be attempted here with the expectation of positive results.