GM vs. Toyota: By the Numbers

[iateyourcheese]

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/gmvstoyota/

It's now two months old, but this NPR piece compares the success of Toyota to the mess that is GM.

Highlight: Profitability per vehicle: GM loses $2,313 per vehicle, Toyota makes $1,488 per vehicle. :ack:

[lemming]

http://www.npr.org/news/specials/gmvstoyota/

It's now two months old, but this NPR piece compares the success of Toyota to the mess that is GM.

Highlight: Profitability per vehicle: GM loses $2,313 per vehicle, Toyota makes $1,488 per vehicle. :ack:

not really going to change drastically for a few years, either, if ever --the disparity, i mean. GM could lose less and even turn a profit, but it's not likely to ever match Toyo's profit because Toyota has a better time of it having the corporation's HQ and most of its workers in a socialist-type economy.

[iateyourcheese]

This has to be a huge drag on GM:

Employees
White collar: 36,000
Production: 106,000.
Retirees: 460,000

Compare with Toyota:
White collar: 17,000
Production: 21,000
Retirees: 1,600

I was actually expecting GM to have a disproportionately high number of white collar workers compared with Toyota. Sort of "management creep" if you will. Seems like the longer a company is in business, the fatter the management ranks get. This trend doesn't fit here, but of course we're only seeing the US numbers.

[lemming]

it would be fine and easy to meet the demands of the UAW, for example, such "largesse" (i.e. blackmailing) such as workers getting 95% pay even when the factory is idled --in a tax-heavy socialist society like Japan or any European country.

but the fact is, we're extremely capitalist in our tax structure and our society just doesn't support the level of socialism so GM gets creamed paying for its retirees.

[lupinsea]

um . . . what about people saving for their own retirement? It's not like we don't have 40+ years to do so. :eeps:

[lemming]

um . . . what about people saving for their own retirement? It's not like we don't have 40+ years to do so. :eeps:

so you've had a lot of dealings in your life (personal or work) with UAW people, have you?

:D

i dunno if you remember that last big strike that GM faced with the brake parts? dual UAW worker families were crying because strike pay couldn't cover the cost of their two cars, two house (one up north) and skimobiles. they were interviewed on TV actually admitting to all of these things they had to "pay for" --with that level of entitlement, do you really expect these types to save for themselves?