GM's new plans for Europe

摘要

It is a tough world out there for carmakers. The roller coaster of mergers and take-overs at the end of the last century are beginning to show their toll. Some industry experts say that perhaps all these acquisitions were not necessarily a wise decision. Toyota, after all, has booted the former emperor Ford out of its path to become the world's number two carmaker, and many in the industry say that General Motor's position as number one is not perhaps as solid as all that. There have been recent rumours of supplier dissatisfaction. GM, the suppliers say, is enforcing strict new policies upon them such as price pressure, higher quality without any compensation and for the suppliers themselves to cover product recall. There have been other rumours about GM's inability to forecast sales volumes, apparent on the Opel/ Vauxhall Vectra and Signum programmes in Europe. Therefore perhaps it is a good thing that the US giant is drastically rethinking many of its operations, primarily its European side.