Douchebag.

yes, this man knows what he’s talking about…

If this guy waffles any more they should put him in charge of an IHOP.

wagoner, you’re a joke! I’m not in favor of your lame gas tax $hit! I am however in favor of hanging you off the tallest tree on earth!

If you were so smart, you would know that if you made a good quality vehicle that people would actually like to buy, you wouldn’t need the help of higher gas prices to sell your lame volt that is going to be way more expensive and way less reliably than the highly efficient vehicles that have already been treading water for years now and have survived! He cares about no one but himself because after all, he is the CEO and he brings home plenty of money one way or another!

He has a point. GM made such drastic decisions when gas was high to change their plans, they can’t back out on them now. Think of it, you change your lineups on the thought gas would be 4-5 dollars. You would want it to be a higher price too so people have reasons to switch cars and goto more fuel efficient cars. I had a inkling of this during the summer that if the oil market plummets, like it did, all of their changes could be devestating to their future, even worse than if gas went above 6 dollars. Right now it’s a nightmare at GM, worst case scenario time.

I expected this to come out, any CEO would say the same thing.

Put it this way – you have a clothing company and the price of cotton skyrockets. You change your company around thinking cloth is going to be outragious for the foreseeable future. You change production lines/advertising/styles of the clothing to be less reliant on cotton/EVERYTHING. Cotton market collapses, no cotton is back to normal and even less than normal. What now? You’ve already commitied yourself to alternatives and efficiency to gain attention and now people can spend less and get a cotton shirt cheaper again. You’re screwed.

It’s worst case for every company right now, all hybrid’s values have plummeted and so has the profit to those dealers. Add the credit crunch, housing bubble burst, and steel prices high and you have right now. A perfect storm.

GM put all a good portion of its eggs in one basket. Hell it seems that all automakers have done this. Gas goes through the roof and everyone all of a sudden makes plans for smaller more efficient vehicles. I completely understand where Wagoner is coming from, however I dont agree with him. Not everyone is in the market for a new vehicle in the next three years. Gas going higher is not going to do anything for me but make it just that much harder to get by. Had they had a balanced line up from the get go things wouldnt have been like this. People blame GM’s supposedly sub par quality for the current predicament they are in, I however disagree. I blame GM getting lazy and building nothing but trucks/mid to full size SUVs. The public should not be forced to buy more fuel efficient cars if it doesnt want to. I think that Volt will be an excellent piece of machinery but again dont attempt to make people buy it just because the market conditions have changed yet again.

Look at what happened to used car values on SUV’s over the summer. They completely tanked, whether it was GM, Toyota, Honda, Ford – whatever brand. Now values on SUV’s have come back up because gas is cheap. As long as gas is cheap, people want to drive big vehicles. That’s what America is known for. American car companies have been building vehicles that people want, it is just that everyone ran away from them when gas hit $4. Even at $4, we were still cheaper than most countries, which is why most other countries have diesels, manuals, and no big SUV’s. YTD, Ford F-Series and Chevy Silverado fill the top 2 best selling vehicles in America.

What a douche, gas prices dont need to be raised, good cars sell period. Stop makin crap. Ive been a big fan of GM but this pretty much pisses me off. Besides the volt which isnt out yet, do they even really make a fuel efficent car or truck……no. The malibu hybrid isnt any good on mpg……**** non of their cars are good on mpg. What a joke

He’s making sense. CAFE doesn’t work. The only thing to produce the government’s desired effect was gas at $4/gallon. GM and Ford both took losses to sell lots of Cobalts and Focuses to offset the SUVs and trucks people actually wanted so they wouldn’t get fined…….until gas rose to $4/gallon and suddenly Cobalts were profitable.

He’s just saying that is the only way to actually create the demand the government is after. Otherwise they’re just making a bunch of cars no one wants and selling them for a loss so they can actually build cars that ARE in demand. He’s right.

GM has the most vehicles available with over 30 MPG highway.

This is a PR thing..

so , basically every time GM makes a bad decision , Americans should pay.

I have better idea…why don’t we simply send Wagoner and Lutz the bill? Hell, they lobbied against all this and now they are for it? Effing jerks.

GM new motto: One Bad Decision a Day until GM Folds!

I wish somebody would make up their minds. 6 months ago everyone said we had to break our dependence on oil. They treated it like crack cocaine. It was a god send because the high prices would help global warning to the greenies. Now it is cheap and no one cares and goes back to SUV’s.

We as a country need an energy policy. Do we want to keep under the control of the mideast?

We need to do something. Taxes are one way of doing it.

$1 gas is too low
$4 gas is too high
Gas should be between $2.50-$3.00
At this price, consumers start to grow a brain, and F-150s and Hummers aren’t on top of the shopping list for young couples

GM needs profits right now, and a small-car agenda won’t get it done in the short-term

I see what he’s thinking, with the Cruze and Volt coming down the line, he’s trying to guide the market his way. If he can turn Cruze/Malibu/Volt into Civic/Accord/Insight or Corolla/Camry/Prius, he has a long-term, affordable base to work from.

I suggest he get the Malibu a decent hybrid engine, competitive with Ford and ‘Yota
And make a Volt people can afford
GM is on the right path, but is simply running out of time
DrFill

Again…..love how NMOFGM is hidden behind Wagoner’s ENORMOUS stupidity. Just because this guy makes 7 or 8 figures a year, now thinks that the common man can afford $4 a gallon every day…..dumbass!!!!!!

You know the guy won’t drive a Chevy Volt when it comes out….he drives a Suburban or Escalade that needs to be followed everywhere by a tanker truck.

Fire this jackass instead.

That is just so wrong of Wagoner doing this, I’m wonder where is NMOFGM at this time? Ya all know that almost all the line in GM are gas sucker at this point, even include the new Camaro too.

This is coming from a CEO who made the following income in 2007
Salary – $1,558,333
Stock Awards – $2,561,113
Option Awards – $3,776,710
Non Equity Incentive – $1,802,000
Change in Pension – $4,020,400
“Other” Compensation – $697,358

TOTAL COMPENSATION – $14,415,914

Avg. U.S HOUSEHOLD Income – $50,233

This guy is WAY out of touch with the American consumer!!!

Bavarian_818,
you forgot something. His travel and misc. company paid expenses were just over $470,000 for ‘07. thats a lot of f-in moneyyyyyyyyyl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…this is bizarre, did i just read this right. 1) Ol Ricky boy is in favor of 4$ gas. 2) GMs Spin Doctor Greg Martin, says that fuel efficiency only became an issue when gas hit 4$…….really? are these living here..on this planet… this is truly bizarre and as Bavarian_818 said, “This guy is WAY out of touch with the American consumer!!!”

…i’ll withhold sig due to the shock of stupidity that is still coming out of GM. really strange i cant begin to understand what GMs priorities are….

NMOFGM—this is your big bad leader? because there are similarities.

btw GM now stands for G.ot M.oney?

BUY FORD or CHRYSLER because GM Is a JOKE!

Of course he can ask for higher taxes. He needs out treasury to pay him. It is logical.

i can see where the guy is coming from, but im from canada, and when gas was 4$ a gallon there, it was 6-7$ a gallon here. right now its still close to 4$. up here though, we actually need suvs to get back and forth to our igloos. (im kidding about that one). but everybody is right about both sides. nobody cared when gas was cheap and then it turned expensive, and then cheap again. but notice that when gas got cheap again, gm said they didnt need this month’s bailout money? dont shoot the hand that feeds you…
gm needs to get all the rappers and pop stars to drive their small and fuel efficient cars though, thats how all these huge trucks became popular. the public will follow

also i forgot to add.
the 4$ gas was the icing on the cake for the recession, and in that event, wagoner wouldnt have had to ask the government for money.

This man will never get it. They are destroying the very same middleclass in this country that enabled this industry to grow over the last 100 years. GM is dead. Taking goverment loans is the death nell for them as well as Chrysler. At least Ford had the sense to turn away from them. I am sick of reading about a Camaro that after 4 years is not here. A $42,000 Volt thats nowhere in site. The Cruz etc etc etc.

Yeap, need to make the gas expensive so people are forced to buy Volt. Real smooth Wagoner…

What a jerk!

So it’s the nation paying higher taxes in order to be enforced to buy the expensive new cars with the enviromental friendly technology… What do the managers lose on that? Nothing? What a surprise! Is he getting a bonus if GM makes it?

He has a good point, a larger gas tax would have benefits.

If Omerica had $4 dollar gas like it is in Canada then people would buy fuel efficient cars. It explains why sub compacts are much more popular in the frozen wasteland to the north.

Then Omerica, enabled with more efficient vehicles, wouldn’t have to buy as much ‘Foreign Oil’ from evil terror Regimes like Saudi Arabia and Canada. +

It would also clean up your poor air quality in California ++

It would also help Omerica to pay back its 11 + Trillion dollars it owes to the rest of the world. +++

So yes, since Omericans refuse to buy fuel efficient vehicles unless gas prices are high. Then you will keep your habits the way they are, Cadillac Escalade anyone ?

is anyone surprised? GM, the company that cares about people… not. period.

inally someone in the auto industry is talking sense though it may have come too late for some. lets hope not. a fuel excise is a brilliant way to go. not only will it enable americans out of their motor drawn carriages (suv’s, pick ups, family truxters) whatever you want to call them but into some more sophisticated engineered vehicles. no wonder the europeans and the japanese have many more desirable cars. they are well put together, engineered correctly and for the little amount of engine capacity they still out perform any american cars you can care to mention. your big banger v8’s are dead. stop making those enormous pick ups for the stupid southerners, pay the extra money for the fuel, embrace diesel, hybrids and electric and you will have a viable and profitable car industry. fuel in most g20 countries are government taxed but people still enjoy their classics whether its a v8 or not. mark my word it will pass through the senate eventually and you will be paying the extra cost and it will strengthen you automotive infrastructure. oh….and for gods sake loose the bloody leaf spring rear end, regain your automotive desirability of the 50’s and 60’s kill off the f150, gmc and dodge pick ups. they are absolutely hideous unsafe and f..king crap

Yea talking sense only when your life is depended on a certain product called Volt.

What a douche, we need less taxes not more. And a lot less government!

oh, dont worry, be sure he will at once step in to fight for lower taxes for the board of directors at GM, the very same guys that ran GM into the red, with years and years of throroughfully planned mismanagement… or plain simple stupidity…

What a kryptoniting retard!!! Have a gas tax to push gas prices up so that GM can sell the delayed Volt? It’s about making cars people want. Just because gas is going to be higher, it doesn’t mean everyone is going to buy a Volt. There are other carmakers in the market you retard. Is this his viability plan for the Obama administration?

What?

Somebody crucify this arsehole.

Sorry Rick. It may help GM sell one new car, but it will cripple every other business that nearly died out due to $4/gal. gas last year. That is those who actually survived.

I don’t need my bread to double in price again because GM wants to give people added incentive to buy the Volt, and I’m a proponent for the Volt.

With this economy everyone has $45,000.00++++ to drop on a volt you douche bag! Maybe GM is going to get into the scooter and moped business………retards.

bwm had it’s profits reduced 90% and some of you cry that if GM made quality cars that it wouldn’t be in financial trouble…that’s clearly not true…sure, all the executives of struggling companies share the blame, but the “they build crappy cars so they’re doing poorly financially” argument ignores the fact all companies are struggling right now because nobody is buy cars…

so what happened last year was that gas prices spiked, there was a huge clamor for more fuel efficient vehicles, the companies said “ok, we’ll shift our product line to have more of these cars” and yet when prices go down we go back to buying SUVs…now who is to blame for that? wake up, it’s us…

gas prices will go back up sometime, the question is really on what timeline…imo it’s going to take a spike of several consecutive years, however, to really get folks to switch over to more efficient vehicles…and if GM (or any company) produces a bunch of efficient cars that nobody buys because we’re still ok buying gas sucking tanks, then they’re screwed…

all signs point to gas going up again someday, so prepare…

sure, gas prices will go up eventually, that is for sure. but artificially raising the prices is just plain stupid, this will help noone. not even old rick; cause most people, even if they wanted to buy a volt, wouldnt have the cash, nor the credit to get one at 45k each… if rick wants to compete with tesla (they sold 250 of their current EV; GM hasnt sold a single volt…), hed better hurry, and have some better reasons than artificially raising gas prices; plus hed better get the prices of his volt down; as noone will spend 45k on a car that size…

I’m in favor of the following for Rick or anyone who advocates higher taxes:
…. “get out your checkbook and write a check to Uncle Sam now!”

That’s right, put your own money where your mouth is. Don’t put my money where your mouth is, because quite frankly if you try to I will put my fist where your mouth is.

I dont go around making demands of other people’s income or private lives. Screw to hell anyone who makes them of mine.

Something tells me he doesn’t have to buy gas…

If anything, we should tax the oil companies more!

Quality? Reliability? dependability? Nothing comes close to a GM vehicle. An American Revolution

Quality? Reliability? dependability?

GM has none. it’s over for GM.

Buy Toyota (or Honda) because Americans deserve a car that lasts.

I’m with Dre-dog

nothing comes close to a gm vehicle when it comes to annoying the driver… now, gm has taken another step toward being the perfect annoyance, and wagoner was the one to lift the covers on it…

GM – the company that really cares – to annoy you

I favor the tax. Gas should never be allowed to be too cheap — it just encourages gratuitous driving.

douchebag like that guy said in comments,we are taxed enuff,GM is not the leader in mpg,more cars over 30 mpg than anyone,BS ,stop,the ad hype,like jd power saying buick and jaguar have the lowest problems per 100,BS .real world mpg,i have had both,stop your 60s dedication for gm,I was gm,guy,got burned,tried a toyota,big change,get well GM ,notstupid.

If I felt the government worked as hard as I did for nearly 50% of my money (when it comes down to it, it’s actually more than 50%) then I would support this. But this is probably going to be part of my future as I’ll have a huge debt to pay off to countries such as China, The Middle East and other volatile places.

Thanks a lot US of A.

Cna we get a moderator in here?!?!?

Its about to be a LeftLaneNews showdown………….NMOFGM against the rest of LLN….the man (I would hope) clearly does NOT have a clue about what the definition of reliability and dependability are. Its quite sad actually….

As for Wagoner……please willl somebody fire his ass already?? I don’t care if the guy has a point, nobody wants to see gas go back to $4.11 again.

Ill stick by Mazda….a car company that doesnt have a stupid Blue badge on it…..and who can argue with such a simple yet effective slogan?!!?

Mazdaspeeeeeeeeeeeed for life

and howsmydriving……..

Driving is fun. Sure some people who drive miles and miles everyday might not enjoy it, but going out on a sunny Sunday afternoon with the windows open and the music on, there’s not much that can beat it. Find a windy back road and you’ve got not a worry in the world….so taking gas up high again is going to put an end to that. You have an excellent point though, keep the friggin’ soccer mom’s in their Suburban’s off the road.