Do not do "big brother" has three years of massive recall shaken general position

GM's recall involves two pickup trucks, the Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierras, from 2000 to 2004. The reason for the recall was due to a defective tailgate. In addition, some of the Chevrolet and Cadillac SUVs are also included. So far, the relevant departments have received 134 reports of minor injuries.

In early February of this year, GM recalled a total of 2.5 million cars and SUVs three times in a week. Although it is not unusual for car recalls to be “usually commonplace” in the United States, the frequent and large-scale recalls like GM are rare.

Huge recalls discredit generic product images

The recall of nearly 4 million vehicles at a time will inevitably damage the image of any company. On the day of the recall, GM's stock fell 15 cents on the New York Stock Exchange. And more serious is that it shakes consumer confidence in the brand. It has been reported that the recall was the largest in GM's history in 23 years. In particular, the recalled pick-up truck is the dominant model of the American automobile market, and is also the most profitable car model for American car dealers. The Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck is a universal best-selling car. It sold 684,000 vehicles last year, so the negative impact of this recall is unusual. Industry experts predict that GM’s efforts to continuously improve product quality in recent years may go down the drain.

Huge recalls make GM chairman sit still

After GM announced the recall, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer Wagner immediately summoned GM’s 2,900 senior executives worldwide to “Disney World” and listened to him for three days. Wagner, the basketball player of the former U.S. Duke University, doesn't like ambiguity and loves to use sports as a metaphor. He said: "In the first half of the race to become the world's dominant car manufacturer, GM is in danger of losing to Toyota." Wagner told his men that the threat from Toyota was real and it made People fear, but this feeling will not be relieved quickly. GM will face challenges. This may be Wagner's first public recognition of the strength of his competitors.

In a world-famous Fun Park, discussing Wagner's serious and heavy issues such as company crisis and competition, he was well-intentioned.

General boss status is at stake

Will GM be significantly reduced in competitiveness due to this massive recall? This is a common concern in the industry. In recent years, GM has been struggling to catch up with Toyota in terms of product quality and production efficiency, but opponents are constantly gaining sales and profits. Whether it is North America, Europe, or the global market, Toyota’s share is rising and GM is falling or stagnating. Financially, the difference between the two is even more obvious. GM’s net profit last year was 3.8 billion U.S. dollars, of which 1.2 billion U.S. dollars came from the United States. Toyota made 8.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2003, and most of it came from American consumers. Judging from the number of recalls, Toyota recalled 222.252 million cars in the United States last year, a 58% drop from a year ago; General Motors recalled 7.4 million cars and added 3.8 million cars. With the new car promotion cost, GM spent 1/3 more on each vehicle than Toyota.

Nothing is more vivid than the digital contrast

Although GM has improved continuously compared to itself, Toyota has run faster. Today Toyota has become the detroit automaker to measure its own standards. The recall will undoubtedly make GM aware of the increased crisis, making GM, which has not been easy, even more tense.

The coldness of the back and the sweating of his palms may be the feeling of Wagner at that time. It is also the reason why Wagner immediately called the senior executives to boost their morale.

For this competition with Toyota, Wagner believes that the results of the game cannot be predicted when the second half of the game has not started. GM's spirit of not acknowledging this is indeed worthy of recognition. However, taking a look at the above two sets of figures, we have to admit that Toyota's pace of surpassing GM is getting faster and faster, and the seat of GM's global car boss is getting worse. Stable. No one said anything well. When Toyota surpassed Ford in a cold spell, it would suddenly go ahead of General Motors.

Last week, the week when GM announced the recall, the famous American "Fortune" magazine announced the ranking of the world's top 500 companies in 2003. Unfortunately, General Motors fell from second place in 2002 to third place. Wal-Mart, the retail giant, has won the No. 1 position for three consecutive years, which means that once the world’s largest company, General Motors, has not been the “boss” for three years.