Comments on: Draft Steve Jobs to run GM? Why not?

The auto industry obviously is in a world of hurt. But financial rescue plan or not, its biggest need is that spark of creativity that once put Detroit on top. Silicon Valley can help.

[KayakFun]

When dutch financial minister Wouter Bos bailed out the Fortis bank, he also put two board directors with veto rights, killed all bonusses for 2008, and capped all new salaries to the level of the dutch prime minister (EUR 168.000).
You can't blindly give the guilty more money, to continue their reality-neglecting management. The old boys network has proven incapable, so bring in outsiders with an innovation track record. Look at the success of the new Linux netbooks with an Intel Atom processor: cheap, small, good enough, breaking the decades-old trend of increasingly powerful PCs getting slowed down by increasingly bloated Windows versions.

[sdhebert]

The big 3 isn't in as bad of shape as they say - (1) they are stepping up to the $700b trough to get their share, (2) the "dire situation" helps stake their claim and (3) they are positioning themselves to support the next administrations plan (more of a vague idea than a plan really) to socialize healthcare. Step #3 is needed to give the next administration the opening to take over the big 2.5s healthcare liability promises to their union members (past and present). This will amount to savings of multiple billions of dollars.

When you add it all up at the end of the day, GM/Ford/Chrylser will dish out the new money in bonuses and dividends and still put the same lousy products on the road.

[sting7k]

Lol, wow cnet going for comedy now. Steve Jobs run GM, that's a good one. The comments are even better. A car with one button, no way to refill the gas tank without returning to them, no doors; LOL. Sounds like exactly the car he would try to sell, and no doubt all his disciples would buy it.

Seriously though, GM needs to take a look around at the car companies who make money. What do Toyota, Nissan, and Honda all have in common besides being Japanese companies? They do not sell the same car under 4 different brand names. GM is competeting with itself by selling the same car over and over and just changing some body panels and badges. This is a waste of money. GM and ford need to just sell their own brand of cars and an upscale brand. By having so many brands they spread out the sales and increase costs, horrible business. Buick, Saturn, Pontiac, and GMC all need to go. That's it cut the bleeders, no one I know wants to buy these cars or would ever consider looking at them. Just sell Chevys and Cadillac, a mainstream brand and upscale. Just like the profitable companies. This will allow them to move much more quickly to market changes when they don't have to design 4 versions of the same car to sell under 4 brands. Ford can do the same thing, get rid of brands no one wants. I know some people will be upset and may love these brands, but we have to move on. They are killing the US auto industry. We invented the car, now we won't even be making our own soon if drastic changes don't happen fast.

[CBattery]

Man, some guy slaps a touch screen on an MP3 player and a cellphone and suddenly he's capable of turing around the entire U.S. auto industry? Unless you're trying to be ironic this just shows how little you know about Apple and GM/Ford.

[mpitogo]

I've never bought american, why? Because I test drove one, what a heavy huge clunker. If they can make a young family sedan with 300HP-295ft/lb, 4 piston Brembo on all 4 corners with an active suspension and nice styling then maybe I'd bite. All my life early 30s now, I've owned 3 european cars, they're small, stylish and somewhat fuel efficient with good powerful guts. I'm not in the market for banana boats that get me sea sick with their sloppy suspension. (only exception in my books is the corvette but its not quite a 4 door sedan).

[montex66]

Just because Steve Jobs seems to be the one and only competent CEO in the entire country, doesn't mean he needs to run everything! The solution to the current auto maker crises is to throw out their management staffs and start over with people whose career goals are to serve the consumer - not themselves.

[ukluk]

Apple... cool, but Google even better and here is why:

EV: The next big thing for the web and the car industry

Look at http://www.betterplace.com; very inspiring!

1) The car will eventually get connected and be charged from the electric grid
2) Long range Wireless (cell or WiMax) connectivity and assisted navigation are going to be "core" to the car system
3) off-grid charging and storage (batteries, Supercaps, etc...) are principal technology enablers for this to happen

Private establishments re-selling battery charging services.fast food chains, Supermarkets, Movie Theaters, Shopping malls that by re-selling energy time drive customers to their establishments
Allow for alternative sources to charge the battery at any scale? if I can grow my own power (small medium or large) then make me part of the infrastructure (the new industry will require connectivity and regulatory bodies)? Different opportunities will raise like solar-cells in the dessert, wave-dynamos in the coast and wind-mills in the prairies but give everyone the chance to participate in the offline charging battery business.
The utility should also be interested in moving out of the grid, expensive battery charges during peak demand?
Invite the OS giants and the handset manufacturers to build location-aware products targeting mobile-car-phones, link the iPhone/Android/WinMobile phones to the car-brain using blue-tooth and use the phones as extensions for the car navigation and battery charging system. What about intelligent advertisement that knows where you are, knows that you have been driving 5 hrs and it is time to top those batteries.
OnStar is today the most successful M2M application? with this in mind, build ?black-box-recorder? systems with User Identity, Location, Speed and Time. These records should be available to the Insurance companies. Yes it is big brother? but if I have to pay less for my insurance I will consider getting a ?Car-Nanny? to monitor my habits (or my teenage daughter) and even confining to geo-fences? And If big brother is too annoying allow me to disable the black box.
Parking lots: These buildings could also become service, replacement and charging centers (and value added resellers). There should be a Multi-drop energy plug that works as a vending machine.
The wireless network likely is going to change in a few years. Digital-only plans on GPRS and CDMA are cost effective but tomorrow WiMax might be the answer? EV applications might be a driving force to tilt any wireless carrier technology and probably the Qualcomms, Sprints and AT&Ts will jump into the infrastructure race same way they did years ago building cell towers nationwide. Keep it carrier agnostics if possible or make them compete for the EV market.

[adam_hartung]

GM needs new leadership that is not committed to old Lock-ins if it is going to ever be a viable competitor. Only someone from outside the industry will be able to implement necessary Disruptions and create White Space that will allow GM (or Ford or Chrysler) to address long-term shortcomings. I don't know why Jobs would take the job, but someone who is Jobs-like is necessary. Read more at http://www.ThePhoenixPrinciple.com