Could GM and Chrysler have pulled it off?

Question

Ford managed to survive the recession without government aid by seeing what was coming and taking out some loans, investing, trimming some fat (Jaguar, Land Rover). GM did the same thing, but they were already in the hole when they started frantically axing all of their brands and taking donations. My question is, could GM (and Chrysler to a lesser extent) have survived on their own if they were smarter or saw what what coming, or was the old GM's business model too convoluted and outdated to function without a complete overhaul?

Hank Scorpio · Accepted Answer

GM will be dead within 5 years.  Why?  They're still making the same mistakes (see: volt) they made prior...lack of foresight, model duplication, offshoring production, and introducing subpar quality vehicles at non-competitive prices.  I'm still not sure how fiat got suckered into buying Chrysler unless they were looking for a tax shelter (to actually lose money).

Rustynail · Answer

The problem with both automakers is that they produced boring and dull products that had morphed over time into cookie cutter cars that looked identical with each other, with no brand identity, styling, or characteristic that separated it from the other brands. Without government aid neither automaker could have survived on it's own.

Pat · Answer

Restructuring is the best thing that could have happened even though at the time
it was at the expense of jobs... that will now come back bigger, better, stronger!

bikerwoody · Answer

Of course they could have, but the government gave them lots of money, why wouldn't they take it?

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Could GM and Chrysler have pulled it off?

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