Here's an editorial analyzing GM's future, and it's reasonably upbeat. He brings up some good points about past missteps that GM needs to avoid, like the bit about Ron Zarella.

"It was only about five years ago that we started hearing about product again from then-GM President Ron Zarrella. (Remember him? The guy who wouldn't promote engineers unless they got a masters degree in business, then turned out to have lied about getting his own MBA?) Zarrella's line of thinking was that all you had to do was put out better TV commercials and people would believe you had the best product. That was the sort of thinking that led to the current rebate crisis, with GM shelling out more than $3000 per vehicle to get people into its showrooms."

Or here about this:

"What GM really needs is surprisingly simple, Keller argues: good mainstream vehicles. We've seen a couple decent attempts this year, the Chevrolet Cobalt among them. And I'm especially impressed with some of the entries coming from Saturn in 2006, especially the Aura sedan, which has what I consider the single best interior GM has ever designed.

This is what will get folks to buy General Motors products, not little chrome badges with the letters G-M, which will soon appear on every vehicle (except some Saab vehicles, we're told)."

Also some intriguing points about GM's emphasis on technology which hasn't gone as planned, like the XUV's weird back-end.

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Industry/Publishers_Letter/Publishers_Letter_GM_Cuts.S249.A8751.html

It's fashionable to hate on GM these days so that article is a nice change of pace.

It's fashionable to hate on GM these days so that article is a nice change of pace.

I agree!

I especially like this quote...

"This is what will get folks to buy General Motors products, not little chrome badges with the letters G-M, which will soon appear on every vehicle (except some Saab vehicles, we're told)."

People want distinction, not everycar to say "GM" on the hood!

It's more than just marketing as well.

Right now we have the Corvette/Z06, the truck line which is slumping but still the best domestic truck line by far, the Cobalt which has taken off, the always popular CTS and smash hit CTS-V, the popular Hummer line-up, the upcoming Saturn vehicles which look really promising, the truck line redesign in 06', the very hip Equinox and a few others... As you can see GM doesnt have a problem producing vehicles people want when they put their heads in the game.

But then they really make me scratch my head sometimes with just really cheap feeling and looking vehicles no one really wants... i.e. Impala, Monte Carlo, LaCrosse (and really most if not all the remaining Buick line-up), G6 (200hp max with a top line MSRP of near 30k, what the hell is that?! though the coupe does look nice), Malibu etc. And then other vehicles which are underdeveloped for the markets they serve... i.e. STS-V (thats a sore spot for me), and XLR-V.

Obviously the formula for success is there, it is up to them to put the ingredients together and slam it out of the park as it were. Id say right now were sitting at about a 50/50 split between vehicles that make sense and do it right, and the other extreme which is the boneyard of vehicles that are just sitting around/not generating any real attention.