Bankrupt - General Motors

After over a hundred years in business, General Motors was the worlds largest corporation producing some of the most iconic cars in history. However in the early 2000's, the company made some bad decisions and quickly brought the worlds most powerful company into turmoil, on the brink of shutting down, and eventually.. bankruptcy.

- Further Reading & Other Videos On General Motors -

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BrightSunFilms 2019

[yungtoolshed]

Congressman: “How much money will you need from us”

GM CEO: “ I dUnNo iT dEpeNdS”

[Spongebrain]

The fact that GM closed down, thousands of people lost their jobs, taxpayer money had to bail it out, all the while its CEO still walked away with millions is disgusting

[flatoutflatline]

Rip Holden, Saab, Pontiac, Hummer, Saturn, Daewoo, Oldsmobile, and surely more in the future

[derbyjr]

“The future of GM might be a bright one”

The year 2020: Well yes, but actually no

[blueroman]

Of course the CEO who almost ruined the whole company gets a 75000 dollar pension while thousands of workers get laid off without anything.

[MegaDerailer]

The Canadian government (Canadian tax payers) bailed out GMC during the 2008 recession. They thanked us by closing the Oshawa plant and moving production to Mexico.

[crixxxxxxxxx]

The GM corporate office building looks like every “evil corporation” building in every movie ever made.

[DuskAzura]

21 years old and the only time I’ve ever seen a Saturn dealership was in this video

[gunerz]

Dude was dodging those questions left and right lol

[SpookyDarling]

My dad worked for GM for 28 years. He was the head of his department at the facility in Oak Creek, WI. At the time they had a “30 and out” program where an employee could retire and receive pension after 30 years of working for the company. He was laid off right before Christmas, wherein they hired non-salaried, younger employees for cheaper while they restructured. It was a real shit Christmas, and it took my dad 9 months to find another job, I’m sure due in part to it being emotionally difficult to have this pulled out from underneath him. He did find a job at Rexnord and worked for them for another 10 or so years, but without that pension, and my little brother being special needs, my parents basically have nothing to fall back on because they were relying on that pension all while doing everything medically possible to ensure my brother’s wellness. Feels bad man.

[thatrandomtechperson]

CEO: We are in debt. Time to start selling things
**looks at private jet**

CEO: Nah, let's keep that.
**looks at Allison Transmission**

CEO: Yea, Lets sell that for a insane amount
**sells it for 5 billion dollars**

CEO: **sips coffee** *Ah yes, the company is still made of debt.*

[alkalaid]

RIP SAAB auto you will be remembered at least by top gear

[dugganracecraft]

Just to clarify: Ford wasn't on the brink of bankruptcy, they saw that Chrysler and GM were asking for bailouts and knew that if they were bailed out, Chrysler and GM would be in better shape than them because of the money being invested in those 2 companies. So, they took a LOAN which was paid back to the US Government.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

I visited the GM Renaissance Center in Detroit during a visit for the FRC robotics championship a few months ago. Noticed they had a Japanese consulate within the headquarters. Built to improve Japan's image with the US and decrease tensions between the Japanese government and automotive companies. Fascinating. GM shaped Flint and Detroit. While Detroit is trying to move forward (their downtown is really nice and the pizza is top notch), Flint is still dealing with a water crisis which is sad in a way. Without GM, Detroit wouldn't be anything. The automobile industry wouldn't be anything

[jasonthedemonscaxmer]

When your 10's of billions of dollars in debt, fly a private jet.

[NerdismOfficial]

Rick Wagner should get into politics, he’d fit perfectly

[connarcomstock]

I've seen a bunch of your vids, and this is the first one I can add some perspective on.

I grew up in the auto industry. Both my parents were business managers at Chev/Olds stores in Ontario, Canada. The decline in GM's profitability was felt by the people who worked for the company. I remember times, in the early 2000s, when I'd have conversations with them and they'd be worried about what was going on.

Something I want to point out is that most of the promotions you see, to this day, for any marque, are shoved down the dealer's throat, and usually cost *them* money. The OEM's already sold the car, to the dealer, generally. The issue GM had was that the market was pivoting from Cars ( Pontiac, Buick, Saab, Izuzu, Saturn, Cadillac at the time, Chev to an extent ) to SUVs and Crossovers.

One of the things I got in conversations with my famjam was that the GMC Trucks side of the dealership, and Chevy Trucks, were making all the bank, and the other brands were in a tailspin. None of GM's "car" marks, listed above, could really turn much of a profit on them, whereas their SUV Divisions, mostly GMC and Chevy, were being leaned on, way too much, to make bank.

They also mentioned that GM couldn't seem to figure out how to sell a quality product. Look at a 2005 Cavalier, and a 2005 Civic's interior, you'll get the point. People buying econo-boxes went to Toyota, or Honda, people buying vans went to Dodge/Plymouth (rip) for their Caravan, the Montana and Venture being a bit...shit. Oldsmobile and Cadillac had the recall disaster on their Northstar V8s that poisoned that well and forced them to retire the ( actually very good ) engine.

Pontiac, positioned to be the import fighter, couldn't actually build a car that held a candle to the Maxima, Accord, Civic, or Corolla. They actually went so far as to *partner* with Toyota to build the Matrix/Vibe. Buick couldn't...do anything, aside from attract pensioners, and Chevy's cars were mostly sold to fleets.

Something else just to make a point, is that the Grand Prix, Impala, Regal, and Intrigue were all *basically* the same car, in the same dealership, with the same sales reps, and same sales floor.

The insane result was ( I saw this with my own eyes ) a Cadillac STS ( in an "oops" configuration, green body with beige interior ) on the same floor as Sunfire. An Aztec beside an Escalade. It made *no* sense. Couple that with a very old-school training regime for their sales reps ( lots of pressure, typical "car salesman" crap ) that the Imports had stopped doing nearly a decade before, and things were a mess.

IN ADDITION TO THIS ( I know, long post, sorry )

They had *way* too many locations. In the city I'm from, of about 250k people, we had 5 ( yes, really ) GM stores. In the city nearby, they had 4 more ( it was 20 minutes away ). All the Dealerships were fighting each other, with crap product, while the imports raked in the dough.

[alc-d]

As a car enthusiast, this was a great episode to watch!

[KaiserMattTygore]

Corporations should never be "too big to fail"


Need some trust busters.

[danboles]

That CEO was so fidgety during the congress interview. He knew that GM needed the money to survive but couldn't stay in the US, and so was trying to put on a show to get as much money as possible to invest elsewhere. While although GM still has around 40 plants in the US, which is a lot mind you, it really makes you question the validity of GM.