If you haven’t heard yet, GM released an open letter to the American public.  I’ll link the actual GM apology letter below, but first, here’s a SLATE.com report on the apology:

“From time to time, companies find it necessary to apologize. They may not do it in so many words, but in the wake of a crisis or a scandal or a huge, news-making problem, they will mount an advertising campaign to assure you, the consumer, that efforts are underway to “win back your trust.” During the Ford/Firestone fiasco a couple of years ago, for instance, both of those firms launched forgiveness campaigns.

Like all ad campaigns, the bottom line is that GM, right now, is a fine, high-quality company, whose products you should buy immediately. It’s the journey to this obvious destination that’s interesting. “Thirty years ago, GM quality was the best in the world,” the print ad starts. “Twenty years ago, it wasn’t.”

And apparently the company muddled along in a sub-par manner for 10 years before deciding to change. “The hard part [was] breaking out of our own bureaucratic gridlock,” the ad copy continues, and “learning some humbling lessons from our competitors.” After a “painful” decade of effort, they’re now back up to snuff, putting out great cars, etc., etc. The ad cites positive consumer-satisfaction research and recent automotive awards, presumably the hook for the campaign. “The road to redemption has no finish line,” the copy concludes. “But it does have a corner. And it’s fair to say we’ve turned it.”

GM says that campaign is aimed at the apparently large segment of the car-buying public that simply won’t consider its models. The company’s North American president calls it “a unique effort to reach those consumers whose perceptions of GM are out of step with today’s reality.” I suppose that’s reasonable, but let’s say you’re one of the thousands who did buy a GM car in the 1980s and 1990s. You, apparently, were a sucker. Your vehicle was not put together by a company with “a true culture of quality in every division.” That’s not what I’m saying—it’s what GM is saying.”

Had enough?

Well guess what….

That article is about GM’s apology in 2003!

Yup, you read that right - it’s from five years ago.
Here’s the 2008 version that’s now asking for taxpayer money to continue, but it really begs, no DEMANDS the question:  What’s going to change this time?

Super Props to Michelle Malkin for this one

admin Domestic, Economics & The economy, General auto makers, bailout, Economics & The economy, lame excuses