That's part of the carrot you put out with communities as you're closing a plant.
Toyota obviously has staked a lot of its prestige on this technology, so if there is a developing negative backlash in the U.S., they are going to work very hard to reverse that.
My sense is what they'll do is rework the distribution of work. They've got a temporary problem until the sports utility vehicle (SUV) comes on board.
The underlying demand is there for the Asians, in the attractiveness of their vehicles and vehicles in segments they've not been in or were under-represented.
There was payback from the employee-discount programs at the U.S. Big Three, and a little bit of truck punishment.
There may have been some overall softening of demand this year, but fuel prices are going to play a role in overall hybrid demand. We're starting to come to the realization that the fuel-price spike that we thought was seasonal is now becoming less so.
I don't think the SUV will be a huge success. It'll be arriving in a very glutted market. While the midsize segment is not glamorous, that's a good place for Saturn to be.
We're at a tipping point. We're getting to the point where there's some question whether this is seasonal or long term.
GM may not be the biggest automaker a year from now.
Using the liberal definition of what you include in worldwide sales, GM may not be the biggest automaker a year from now.
