One thing I don't understand is why GM isn't promoting its current Chevy Malibu, which is getting rave reviews.
Even ESPN football columnist and respected policy analyst Gregg Easterbrook has praised the Malibu while ripping GM management and Capital Hil flunkies who have screwed up the GM bailout. Scroll down in Easterbrook's latest Tuesday Morning Quarterback column to get his take on Congress and the auto bailout, including an imaginery conversation between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a car salesman.
Here's what Easterbrook has to say about the 2009 Malibu:
"What America needs is midsized regular cars that combine safety, comfort and decent gas mileage. Get everybody into the Chevy Malibu or its equivalent and we'll all be safer, while petroleum demand would drop.
"Can Detroit-built regular cars succeed in the marketplace? Car mags are raving about the Malibu, which is said to offer the same overall manufacturing quality and driving experience as the Honda Accord.
"Four times this year I've rented a car on a trip and each time asked for a Malibu, so I could try one for myself. Each time the rental agent has said the same thing: All our Malibus are out because customers are requesting them. A Chevrolet regular car is a hot product! Maybe Detroit will survive."
Easterbrook then shifts from auto reviewing to his strong suit, policy analysis:
"General Motors just announced a months-long production shutdown at most plants, to clear out a backlog of cars at dealerships. Why isn't this opportunity being used to convert the facilities into 'flexible factories,' ones that quickly change output based on demand?
"The chief advantage Honda and Toyota have over the Big Three isn't their workforce -- UAW workers are hard-working and skilled -- it is flexible factories that use 'lean' production techniques."
If Easterbrook wasn't so busy writing policy books and a football column for ESPN, he'd make a helluva CEO at GM.
