G.M.: Trucks may not be the future

It might be safe to assume the magic number was 4.
That is in it took the price of gas to hit $4 a gallon for G.M. to realize that maybe focusing on trucks and SUVs was not the way to go and maybe they should focus on fuel efficient vehicles.
So, now GM is shutting down four plants in North America that makes trucks and SUVs.
Within three years, trucks will account for less than 40% of the vehicles that G.M. produces in North America, down from about half today, said G.M. Chairman Rick Wagoner.
Wagoner said rising gasoline prices had forced a “structural shift” by American consumers away from truck-based vehicles built by G.M.
“These prices are changing consumer behavior and changing it rapidly,” Wagoner said before G.M.’s centennial shareholders meeting in Wilmington, Del. “We don’t believe it’s a spike or a temporary shift. We believe it is, by and large, permanent.”
What planet does Wagoner live on? Obviously not one that sees people struggling to figure out how they are going to pay for gas that has gone up from $2.58 a gallon in 2006 to $4 a gallon this year.
While saying rising gas prices may be an additional excuse for G.M. to break the union and lay off more people and to cut expenses, that may seem too cynical. But is it?
G.M. will close plants in Janesville, Wisc.; Moraine, Ohio; Oshawa, Ontario; and Toluca, Mexico by or before 2010.
The cuts will affect about 8,000 workers at the four plants. Some people, however, will be able to fill spots created when other workers leave because of early retirement and buyout offers.
“This is tough stuff,” Wagoner. “It’s not about we like this plant better than that one. It’s about that the market has radically changed and we have to adapt to it.”
“Tough stuff” indeed. It just seems if Wagoner and his merry band of managers in their corporate Ivory Tower were on the ball years ago, they wouldn’t necessarily be in this situation. Wagoner has no clue about “tough stuff.”