Some have suggested that in ordered to save the domestic automakers, we need to effectively dismember them – spin off brands into smaller, leaner companies. The punditry class isn’t wrong when they say that GM and its two counterparts need to get leaner – but a baby-bell style breakup, which some see as a potential outcome of possible Chapter 11 filings, is exactly the wrong plan.
Spinning off Buick, Dodge, Mercury, & the other brands into stand-alone companies is a sure-fire path to oblivion for the American auto industry. These smaller companies would be unsustainable, and ultimately would have to re-merge or be gobbled up by international players, or possibly fail altogether.
