What you're getting now with the stock where it is trading, there is a lot of news-event volatility, you get people betting on the next move... they're basically just trading on the momentum being generated by the news.
The numbers are much worse than I thought they would be, especially given how Ford beat the estimates earlier this week.
GM today is in worse shape than Nissan was when Carlos took over. It's just a much bigger company with a much bigger problem in a much worse situation.
GM's new products are just not getting the job done and the company is losing market share, ... It's really a combination of three things going on. There's lower sales mixed with falling prices and higher input costs.
GM needs much larger concessions than this to have a material impact. The kind of cuts that GM needs are cuts that the union would simply not agree to. And GM needs to face that at some point, just like Delphi is facing it now.
If you look at the trailing four quarters, as bad as those numbers were, they were unsustainable. Unless the company was sitting on its hands and did nothing, they couldn't remain that negative for very long.
If you look at the total compensation package, it's close to $125,000 to $130,000 per year. If you have UAW workers making $130,000 to assemble oil filters, it's very difficult to turn a profit.
It's too soon to say that (GM turned the corner). There are certainly potholes still out there to negotiate.
Is this another blow to management? I would say yes. But you can't say management was on very steady ground in the eyes of investors.
All of a sudden we are paying $3 at the pump and SUVs are falling out of fashion. Delphi feels that pinch just as much as General Motors.
