Well, why don't I beat the dead horse one more time, eh?
The fault is not really at GM; they have made bad decisions, sure, but the root cause of all of these problems lies with _ AHEM, AHEM - the federal government. Are you surprised? If you are, it is because you don't know history and you haven't learned it yet.
GM did pretty well charging hard right into the 1960's, as history would lead us to believe. The simple math equation that led to good sales? All they did was BUILD CARS THAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANTED TO BUY!! For the economy customers, you could get a little Chevy or a Buick Special with a small, efficient engine. For the family guy there was the station wagon or numerous 4 door sedans. There were pickups in every size and power range. Standard or Automatic? You choose; not just what we have to give you but what do you want? Big block? Okay...
Now enter the lovely (and don't forget super, super smart) federal government. Now we have safety laws and the cars have to be changed to fit those regulations. So, they start to get ugly. Then you have environmental regulations, now they are ugly and slow and inefficient. Then there are fuel mileage laws to fix the flaw with the environmental laws, and on and on. Thanks to all these regs, the government forced the auto industry to build cars that the public didn't want. Just when the auto industry figured out how to beat the game (remember the
Grand National, G-body lovers?) new and improved government regs came to save the day and kill the good stuff.
Here's a trick that most liberal wackos don't know about. Those horrible, environmentally unfriendly cars from the 60's? Another lie. Out in the land of American communism (known as the people's republic of California) they have horribly strict laws. It's because they care about the air, right? WRONG. If they cared about clean air then they would care about only what comes out of the tail pipe. Why the visual inspection? The government gets more money from state inspection fees, that's why. My 65 Buick Special gave cleaner numbers at the tail pipe than many newer cars who were within their government standards. The secret? Good compression and a recent tune-up. No catalytic converter (government mandate), no EGR (more government) and no fuel injection.
Let the blame rests where it is deserved; THANKS GOVERNMENT!! you jerks....
The Japanese government actually subsidized its entire auto industry until the 80's so that they could gain market share. Does that sound fair?
Stupid government, helping us again...
Good bye Pontiac. You will be missed. You HAVE been missed since the early 90's anyway!!
