Quote:
Originally Posted by fbodfather
I don't even know how to respond to this --
Stupid decisions?
Not thinking things thru?
Demand the best from them?
I'm not sure what the 'stupid' decisions are that you refer to -- but I DO know we've thought things thru - and we are doing our best. Look -- not to brag, but have some of you READ what people are SAYING about the cars on the road? Are you paying attention as to HOW the vehicles are being received by the public at large? The fact is that the car has incredible initial acceptance -- and, arguably, success....that means that there is heavy demand for it - -and that means that some -- SOME -- people -- are willing to pay over MSRP.......REGARDLESS of how many times I've typed "JUST SAY NO!"
The very easiest way to get initial 'approval' from some would be to ship the initial cars -- everyone's happy - until something goes wrong.
In case you missed it, there was an issue with a 'cracked' fascia over the weekend - by the time people got the REAL story, we'd been accused of everything EXCEPT the Lindberg Baby kidnapping!
Now -- we have made it clear that every one of the cars from start-of-production thru the end of March are being retro-fitted -- each car is being looked at very carefully and they are receiving the close scrutiny that they deserve.
Pay attention to the next part: (because I've discussed this many times already...) The issue of retrofits is nothing new. All new vehicle programs have this issue -- the difference is that years ago, the vehicles were shipped and THEN corrected.....at the dealership level........ The solution: We go dark -- and by that I mean we go back to being tight lipped and we no longer share information -- we start production without talking about it - we allow you to guess about the new car --(...and we saw where THAT went early on in the development of this car....) we allow you to guess about when we're going to start building them..... -- and we quietly start building them and holding them....and when the retrofits are done - we THEN start shipping cars -- of course that means that everyones' cars are 3 months later....but hey -- you asked for it......
Is that what you collectively want? (...newsflash - you'll never get a collective agreement...)
EDIT:
Wow -- I just read thru this post -- and I just hate posting something like this -- but frankly, a few people need to calm the heck down -- and stop making accusations - esp. when they have no idea or experience in building something this complex......
My apologies to most of you -- I really hate when a website boils over like this.......
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You're COMPLETELY missing the point of everything I've been saying.
We want fairness. We want information. That pretty much sums it up.
I've never denied the fact that this car is amazing, I wouldn't have one on order if I didn't think so. That's not at debate here.
I've not bitched about the quality of the vehicle, nor the steps being taken to ensure that there are no issues (or at least as minimal as possible) affect customer cars. If there's delays, so be it. We want the car to be right and applaud GM for taking the steps to ensure that this is the case.
My first problem is that the preordering system was a farce (this is the stupid decision I was referring to). If GM had done no preorders and just started taking orders when the first allocation cycles opened back in February, we all would have been much better off (including you, personally!); so many of the issues would not have been issues at all. You may say, "fine, don't preorder, that was your choice". Well not really. Our hand was forced by the fact that if we didn't preorder, we would have no guarantee of when we could get a car, or so we were made to believe. I firmly believe that this system has given the upper hand to unscrupulous dealers by allowing them to NOT participate in preorders so that only the ones that are left with allocation can just charge way over MSRP. So now you have all these dealers getting lot cars and cars for customers that just found out that there's this thing called a Kamero with lots of horse power before people that put there order in back in November. It's happening all over the place.
Now, how come when a dealer calls up the DBC, they can't find out why their customer's car is lost in space? Why can't they get any sort of ball park as to when the ship will sail it on in? It seems like you (not necessarily you personally but GM) like to give out a bit of information just to get us in a frenzy and then clam up. You can't have it both ways. You either have to open up or clam up. Giving out little bits here and there isn't going to cut it. You only anger people and force them to want more. I would argue that the right course of action is almost full disclosure. But I'm sure many within GM would disagree. If you'll notice, all of these boil overs could be solved by more information. If GM would have written up an explanation of the preordering system and the plans for order production in some official documentation, we wouldn't be at this point. When the information is given, it all subsides. Even if we don't like the answer (ABL), it cools off rather quickly once the facts are known. When we're left all alone here just to stew on issues, the only option is eventual boil over. Another example… break weights.
That being said, I still do not understand why someone like John is incapable of signing up on this forum and posting. I find it hilarious that he has had to ask people to post information on his behalf. What’s he afraid of? You and other GM employees have been able to wade the treacherous waters of forum posting but no one from the marketing team can? It would make sense to me that part of his job would be community involvement. This isn't your responsibility but we really appreciate having you here. Could you imagine what would happen without you? Now only imagine if one or two members of the marketing team posted on here on a regular basis. I feel like you're doing part of John's job pro bono when you should be able to just have fun with the more pleasant issues instead of putting out fires.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fbodfather
We have established the following:
1. There were around 15,000 pre-orders
2. On March 16 we were building about 30-50 cars a day --
3. We are currently at just over 200 cars a day.
Do the math.
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Your information does not match up to the information posted by plant employees. It was stated that the first week of production they were over 200/day and are
now over 360/day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hylton
Perhaps indicating back in October, that ordering a car in October would not guarantee it would be built before one ordered in April, would have been something worth communicating to your customers. It was not.
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