Yet while Ford has been matching many of GM's generous vehicle incentives, like 0% financing, its revenue per vehicle is rising as GM's plummets.
Of the more than 34, 000 workers who participated in GM s accelerated attrition program, most took early retirement, which means they will receive their full pension and retiree health care benefits.
But the average age of Ford s workforce is about five years younger than GM s, which means Ford will have to shell out more money to convince workers to give up their high salaries and gold-plated benefits.
No surprise that contract manufacturers for electronic gear have sprung up in Malaysia and China, where skill levels are high but labor costs only a fourth what it does in the U.S. GM's former parts-making subsidiary, Delphi, which opened its first plant in Mexico in 1978, now has 55 plants there.
In the distant past, some of GM's (nyse: GM - news - people ) and Ford's (nyse: F - news - people ) biggest problems erupted, as one might expect, when car sales plummeted during economic slowdowns.
In 1990, when GM initially invested in Saab, the thinking was that GM could help improve Saab's quality and overall refinement, while the Swedish brand would add some luster to GM's generally dull product portfolio.
Despite the dollar's collapse, GM's U.S. market share has continued to wither, falling from 41% in 1985 to less than 25% today.
It's not even GM's first attempt to share design: Remember the Buicks and Oldsmobiles in the 1980s and early 1990s that were barely distinguishable from one another?
GM's vice president for research and development, Lawrence Burns, says consumers have to start thinking of their car as a power-supplying appliance as well as a means of transportation. (A hybrid car, for example, might be an alternative to an emergency generator during an ice storm.) Meanwhile, GM is endorsing Huber's thinking with plans to introduce plug-in versions of the Chevrolet Volt and a Saturn vue crossover by 2010.
Last year GM 's (nyse: GM - news - people ) Chevrolet Corvette as well as new entries like BMW's Mini Cooper, the Lincoln Aviator and the Volvo XC90, were sold almost exclusively to individuals.
The initial quality gap between foreign and domestic manufacturers has closed dramatically, (see chart, below), and among Detroit's Big Three, GM's quality is best.
The deal will lift GMAC's ratings above parent GM's, which have been sinking deeper into junk territory in light of ongoing accounting issues and the possible hit from labor unrest at Delphi.
He's got his eyes on GM's profitable mortgage and insurance business.
If GM does fail in the U.S., it is quite possible that its operations on other continents can continue and one day provide the money to restart GM's business in the States.
Now that it's in trouble, at least GM's not bearing the brunt alone.
The firm may also escape the fury of Saab's many fans who rightly blamed GM's mismanagement for the firm's decline.
ECONOMIST: A Dutch sports-car firm aims to revive ailing Saab
Saab is literally being called home: It will move its U.S. headquarters from Georgia to GM's offices in Detroit this fall.
High gas prices have decimated sales of Chrysler's trucks, minivans and SUVs, which account for 76% of the company's vehicle sales, higher than GM's 60% and Ford's 62%.
In the arrangement, GE paid GM's suppliers at a discount, and GM in turn repaid GE.
But if it's too dire, he risks sending GM's BBB- credit rating into the junk pile.
GM's car business (that is, GM minus the Hughes Electronics stake) has a market value half that of Yahoo.
Mr. SHAIKEN: From the union's point of view, they know GM's in trouble.
The drive unit and motor will be assembled of U.S. and globally sourced parts at GM's White Marsh, Md.
ENGADGET: Chevy details 2014 Spark EV: under $25,000, 0-60 in 8 seconds and a 20-minute fast charge
America's big three car makers had a torrid November in home markets: Ford's sales fell by 17%, GM'S by 18% and DaimlerChrysler's by 12%.
He put himself in charge of GM's most important and sickly unit, GM North America, and said he would delay building a rear-wheel-drive car line so he could move up production of the company's next generation large SUVs like the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon.
York pushed for an alliance between GM, Nissan Motor Co. (nasdaq: NSANY - news - people ) and Renault S.A., but after exploring the possibility for three months, GM's board scrapped the idea.
Monday's comments come less than a week after GM's chief executive said he was feeling confident now that billions of U.S. government bailout dollars have bolstered the company's balance sheet.
Chrysler's sales from August rose slightly, while GM's declined.
The Financial Times report also said that Peugeot's chief executive, Philippe Varin, visited GM's headquarters in Detroit in January for a dinner of industry chief executives on the sidelines of the city's motor show.
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