GM Introduces Plug-In Electric Car - washingtonpost.com:

"Wagoner reacted strongly to calls from Washington lawmakers for government-mandated increases to as high as 40 miles per gallon from the current level of 27.5 mpg for passenger cars, with a lower level for trucks.

'That's simply impossible,' he said."

Wagoner's wrong and he knows it. The Big Three got fuel standards up with a federal mandate before Dingell gummed up the works and got it stopped in the 80s. Imagine if things had kept up, the Big Three would be in far better shape by not having to rely so heavily on trucks and SUVs. The consumer keeps losing in these battles

In another note, Ford and GM are quitting the minivan market with DaimlerChrysler the only "North American" car maker still in the game. This is troubling in that the Japanese and Koreans are going to come for the Big Truck market too. With the release of the new Toyota Tundra in Detroit, bad things are coming over the horizon.

Conventional Wisdom has Ford at the bottom of the heap for North American auto makers. I don't doubt that, but I don't think that GM or DaimlerChrysler are that healthy either. GM is still having trouble making money and DC just lost a Billion plus. Ford has mortgaged everything pretty much and is basically going for broke. GM is close behind, but in the end one will fall.

There's too much auto capacity in the world right now. With China coming online in the next decade and India in the decade after that, we're talking about too many cars and not enough drivers/roads/demand for autos. Ford will be around, but will have to carve a tight niche market that centers around a few cars instead of a fleet. GM will "drop/consolidate/sell" another nameplate or two. Toyota too will have to be realistic. Things are going gangbusters right now, but the competition is coming hard and fast in Asia.