GM cant figure out Australia so pulls out. GM cant figure out Europe so pulls out. GM cant figure out India so pulls out. GM cant figure out Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Hummer and Saturn so pulls out. Why did we save this useless pile of stink.
:roll:
GM sold Hummer 8 years ago, because it wasn't doing well.
GM ended Saturn 8 years ago, because it wasn't doing well. Its no-negotiation gimmick lost its charm long before then.
It also ended Pontiac and Olds... yeah... in 2009, because they weren't selling.
I.e. GM did what it should have done, and would have been very difficult to do in other circumstances: Dump underperforming brands and assets.
India is a tough market. Opel has been losing money since 1999. They probably should have sold it in 2009, but probably couldn't find a buyer.
Despite some of those drags, GM rebounded after its bankruptcy, and has been profitable for years. Its stock price isn't all that awful, it is way above its 2012 low.
As to why did the US bail it out? If GM didn't get a government bailout, the entire North American auto industry would have been destroyed, along with perhaps 1 million jobs. GM would have gone bankrupt and been completely incapable of paying its vendors, which would have driven most of them out of business. Ford, which was healthier at the time, uses many of the same suppliers; so Ford would have capsized as well.
As it stands, GM still employs around 100,000 employees. Feel free to tell those workers that their jobs are superfluous and didn't deserve to be saved.
The bailout has obviously kept GM alive for nearly a decade, and is likely to keep it going much longer than that. If we get a more graceful exit in 2039, that's definitely worth the bailout.
