GM Management points to the Engineers, and says they will not design cars people want to buy....
The Engineers point to the Union, and say they refuse to work hard enough to build the cars they design....
The Union points to Management, and says they get paid too much, while the Union gets paid too little....
Management points to the Engineers.........
GM's management decided to continue selling cars which consumed a lot of fuel even as gas prices continued to climb. While I don't think they should dump large vehicles because clearly people do use them, they should not have made those the foundation for profit for the entire economy. When gas goes back to $4 a gallon or more, any company that makes most of its money selling vehicles like these will take a hit once again. They could have also tried to find a way to make larger vehicles use less gas.
Then there's the quality issues. The UAW simply refuses to build quality vehicles. They've been doing this for decades. Many customers simply said "screw you" and bought foreign makes instead.
If what happened in my family is any example, the GM just needs someone to nail the coffin shut. My entire family was all GM until I got tired of being on a first name basis with my mechanic and bought my first Honda. When my mom tells me that she is happy she found a mechanic close by who can fix her GM vehicle, I tell her... you see the problem with that?