# GM says "Stop pedaling... start driving" WTH?



## Ronin Six (Oct 1, 2009)

What were they thinking? Apparently they think riding a bike is embarrassing? LOL

Their FB Wall sure is taking a hit for it...
https://www.facebook.com/gmcollegeprogram?sk=wall

(apologies for the cross-post)


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## TheTwanksta (Feb 26, 2011)

haha, that sucks! Guess they didnt realize how many people actually do still use bikes on an everyday basis and ENJOY IT!


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## Moozh (Jan 20, 2010)

Yea..the other quick and easy way for any college student to become immediately in more debt than is sensible...although If'n I had a rich daddy I woulda appreciated a sweet ride. I was stuck depending on public transit and working 2 part time jobs all thru my college years.


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## terrasmak (Jun 14, 2011)

I'd rather push my Ford than drive a chevy. 


Actually i would rather peddle my Jamis , than drive a chevy. Hell i would probably buy a Walgoose before i bought a chevy.


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## Oatbag (Jun 25, 2010)

College Discount for a 2012 Sierra 1500? Obviously these kids aren't going to the same school I did. How bout a clapped out 80s Jetta or a 90s Civic or something?


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## adroit 96' (Sep 16, 2011)

Oh boy first ''employee discounts'' to the public and now this LMAO!!!

BTW GM I can pick up more chicks riding a bike that driving one of your piece of $hit weak a$$ trucks......


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## MRisme (Mar 22, 2010)

Wow, just wow...


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## AC/BC (Jun 22, 2006)

They should go after pedestrians next.
















,.


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## s0ckeyeus (Jun 20, 2008)

Isn't this this the sort of thinking that got GM in trouble to begin with? The last thing a college student or recent grad needs is more debt, especially car debt.


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## Ilikemtb999 (Oct 8, 2010)

That girl doesn't seem to mind that guy is on an old road bike.


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

Hard to tell if her expression is "really? a bike?" Or "I know where I want those quads later..."


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## jeffscott (May 10, 2006)

AndrwSwitch said:


> Hard to tell if her expression is "really? a bike?" Or "I know where I want those quads later..."


Yup she wants it.


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## Buster Bluth (Sep 11, 2008)

This just emphasizes how out of touch with the public GM is. They'll be bankrupt for good within the next 10 years.


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## Straz85 (Mar 20, 2009)

Oatbag said:


> College Discount for a 2012 Sierra 1500? Obviously these kids aren't going to the same school I did. How bout a clapped out 80s Jetta or a 90s Civic or something?


Well obviously all college students needs to tow a 10,000lb trailer and go wheelin' every weekend! Seems to make more sense to me to have an ad campaign with a Cruze or something like that geared towards college students, not a huge-ass truck.


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## J3SSEB (Jun 1, 2009)

My bike will outlast a GM any day.


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

My oldest bike is a mid-80s road bike.

I wonder what proportion of GMs that age are still on the road.


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## terrasmak (Jun 14, 2011)

Straz85 said:


> Well obviously all college students needs to tow a 10,000lb trailer and go wheelin' every weekend! Seems to make more sense to me to have an ad campaign with a Cruze or something like that geared towards college students, not a huge-ass truck.


Actually they are in touch a little bit, seems to be trendy to have a yuppy sized truck if you need to haul anything larger than a briefcase.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

Straz makes sense to me. I know big is trendy, but no students I know have the money for $30,000 trucks.


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## Ronin Six (Oct 1, 2009)

Seems like the Marketing suit is making an attempt to put a band-aid on a hemorrhaging jugular:

We're Listening | GM FastLane

https://www.facebook.com/gmcollegeprogram?sk=wall


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## byknuts (Aug 9, 2008)

This is from the company (once one of the largest on the PLANET) who mis-managed themselves into complete bankruptcy.
I expect this type of thing from them, sorry.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

byknuts said:


> This is from the company (once one of the largest on the PLANET) who mis-managed themselves into complete bankruptcy.
> I expect this type of thing from them, sorry.


Yeah, now that you mention it, it makes a lot more sense.


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## zkrazy (Jan 19, 2011)

As a tech at a gm dealer, I am not surprised. When they design a car that requires removal of the wheel, fender liner, and bumper, to remove the headlight in order to replace a bulb, and a normal size male hand doesn't fit into the access hole, all for a cost of over $200, its obvious they don't get it. This is just one example, their designs are absurd, at the expense of the owner and the pain and danger of their techs. Their online service manuals are full of wrong, contradicting, or missing info, the search function doesn't work, etc.... It's shameful the government bailed out a company that's run SO bad.


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## jseko (Jan 25, 2011)

Not surprising since this is the same company that dismantled many American public transit systems.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

jseko said:


> Not surprising since this is the same company that dismantled many American public transit systems.


How`s that? Not familiar with that news.


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## jseko (Jan 25, 2011)

rodar y rodar said:


> How`s that? Not familiar with that news.


In order to sell automobiles and buses starting around post WW I and into the 1970s, GM was a major player in acquiring hundreds of electric streetcar systems and razing them. Looking at it again, I erred in my last post when I said "public transit systems" because many of these systems were privately owned. I should have said mass transit systems instead.

They had a complex network of holding companies and independent companies headed by puppets of GM to achieve this goal. There are other factors such as suburbanization and sprawl which reduced the effectiveness of transit, government subsidies to automobile owners in the form of roads (private railways had to pay taxes), and romanticizing the automobile, but Alfred Sloan's plan and GM role are hard to ignore.

More information: Great American streetcar scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Minnesnowtan (Oct 14, 2011)

Ronin Six said:


> What were they thinking? Apparently they think riding a bike is embarrassing? LOL


You are close. It isn't "What were they thinking?"

it is

"What, were they thinking?"

And what does GM know about reality? They should be out of business. THAT is reality.

In an old movie, someone left the room and a character said "only one pair of shoes, but three heels just left the room."

GM is being smug and they have no right to be. After owning a GM car I purchased a Toyota and later two Hondas. After reading what it takes to replace a light bulb in one of those crap GM cars I'm even more inclined to go Salsa Vaya or Surly Big Dummy.

GM=
Garbage Machine
General Mistrust
Governmental Misappropriation


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## Dalton (Jun 30, 2004)

I like the new take on the old ad.



Credit to EcoVelo where I found that.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

More information: Great American streetcar scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/url
Interresting, thanks.



jseko said:


> In order to sell automobiles and buses starting around post WW I and into the 1970s,...


Now that was good thinking- how did they get so silly? Maybe if they went on a new campaign to eliminate Toyota and Honda they could pull themselves back up.
But they ain`t gettin MY Toyota!


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## Straz85 (Mar 20, 2009)

They also had that whole BS with the electric car, the EV1. They leased them out then quickly forced all customers to return them.


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## jmmUT (Sep 15, 2008)

jseko said:


> In order to sell automobiles and buses starting around post WW I and into the 1970s, GM was a major player in acquiring hundreds of electric streetcar systems and razing them. Looking at it again, I erred in my last post when I said "public transit systems" because many of these systems were privately owned. I should have said mass transit systems instead.
> 
> They had a complex network of holding companies and independent companies headed by puppets of GM to achieve this goal. There are other factors such as suburbanization and sprawl which reduced the effectiveness of transit, government subsidies to automobile owners in the form of roads (private railways had to pay taxes), and romanticizing the automobile, but Alfred Sloan's plan and GM role are hard to ignore.
> 
> More information: Great American streetcar scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


And now us taxpayers are footing the bill to put rails back into the cities after they destroyed them. Like the lightrail in Denver, which was one of the places taken out by GM


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## newfangled (Sep 13, 2010)

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is about the streetcar scandal, but with the role of GM filled by a cartoon super-villain. 

Just a few months ago the South Australian government did something similar to the GM ads:





Lose your licence and your screwed :: Motor Accident Commission SA


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

^^Guys weraing helmets like those deserve to get the cold shoulder!

Actually, that looks like a petty good ad campaign. Don`t agree wtih all of it, but it`s got more huevos than any public campaign can show in the US.


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## BigE610 (Oct 24, 2007)

whats wrong with the helmet?


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## jseko (Jan 25, 2011)

They look ill fitting and improperly worn. The white one looks like it might be on backwards.


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## J_Hopper (Mar 5, 2005)

Oatbag said:


> College Discount for a 2012 Sierra 1500? Obviously these kids aren't going to the same school I did. How bout a clapped out 80s Jetta or a 90s Civic or something?


Hold on, I drive a 91 Civic. It's the best car I've ever had. It's both cheap and reliable. It's also environmentally friendly.

Sure I can afford a new car, but what's the point? I ride my bike part time, and I need a car to run my kids around on my days off. No, I can't replace my car with a bike, as unfortunately I typically drive 80 to 90 miles a day shuttling the children around. On the flip side, it's only this school year. A 91 Civic is perfect for this. And yes, I'm a college graduate.


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## jseko (Jan 25, 2011)

J_Hopper said:


> Hold on, I drive a 91 Civic. It's the best car I've ever had. It's both cheap and reliable. It's also environmentally friendly.


I think that was his point. The car is inexpensive to own and operate. Not saying anything bad, but being nearly 20 years old, the cars are probably a bit beat up.


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## metro2005 (Oct 5, 2011)

I have always wondered if my college days would have been better with a truck the size of a small house... 

No really, how do they come up with this stuff. Its almost embarrassing.


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## BrianMc (Jan 5, 2010)

rodar y rodar said:


> ^^Guys weraing helmets like those deserve to get the cold shoulder!
> 
> Actually, that looks like a petty good ad campaign. Don`t agree wtih all of it, but it`s got more huevos than any public campaign can show in the US.


The slang is different there, or they could have added "or not, depending".

BrianMc


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

BrianMc said:


> ...or they could have added "or not, depending".


:lol: I think that`s actually the message they were trying to imply!


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## FireLikeIYA (Mar 15, 2009)

Straz85 said:


> They also had that whole BS with the electric car, the EV1. They leased them out then quickly forced all customers to return them.


They actually lost a lot of money on the EV1's. They tried to comply with the EPA mandating that 5% of a manufacturers vehicles be electric... other manufacturers decided not to. The other manufacturers lobbied saying it wasnt possible and won out. The EPA changed their ruling on requiring 0 emission cars. GM lost their shirt on that deal. They ended up suing the EPA... I think that had something to do with it.


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## thesenator (Jul 26, 2007)

*Fun facts about GM!*



FireLikeIYA said:


> They actually lost a lot of money on the EV1's. They tried to comply with the EPA mandating that 5% of a manufacturers vehicles be electric... other manufacturers decided not to. The other manufacturers lobbied saying it wasnt possible and won out. The EPA changed their ruling on requiring 0 emission cars. GM lost their shirt on that deal. They ended up sueing the EPA... I think that had something to do with it.


Companies always initially lose money on developing new products. Until that company sells a quantity of that product to re-coup R&D costs. Since GM decided not to continue producing the car, they didn't have a chance to sell the necessary volume to recoup R&D costs.

Read "Internal Combustion" by Edwin Black. It tells all about how GM disposed of clean, electric, inexpensive, light-rail trains and replaced them with noisy, dirty, expensive, petro consuming, GM-manufactured buses. GM does not make good cars, and they obviously can't run a business if they need a bailout. This advertisement proves the lack of thought at the company.

PS Has everyone seen, "Who Killed the Electic Car?" It is obvious GM doesn't care about polluting the environment or damaging out health.

Did you also know that GM consulted with Harvard's School of Business and asked them "what should we do with our vast profits, perfect the automobile?" Harvard's answer was "no, you should invest in financial markets." So they did. This is why GM cars are of such poor quality. GM has the resources to make a car as good as company XYZ, only THEY CHOOSE NOT TO!


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## Thalamos (Jun 14, 2009)

Yet another reason I'll never buy another vehicle from "Government Motors".

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk


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## Straz85 (Mar 20, 2009)

FireLikeIYA said:


> They actually lost a lot of money on the EV1's. They tried to comply with the EPA mandating that 5% of a manufacturers vehicles be electric... other manufacturers decided not to. The other manufacturers lobbied saying it wasnt possible and won out. The EPA changed their ruling on requiring 0 emission cars. GM lost their shirt on that deal. They ended up suing the EPA... I think that had something to do with it.


The EPA didn't force them to take all the EV1's back, that was their decision. Why did they force owners who were leasing them to give them back prior to the end of the lease? There's a LOT more to this than you say if you read into it more.


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