GM is currently making cars America wants and it is selling them at full price, none of this Toyota discount nonsense. The cars are outwardly good looking but most of all they are beautifully designed from the floor up and most importantly, they are well engineered. A Cadillac CTS-V (my next car when this recession ends) is thirty grand cheaper than its Mercedes or BMW equivalent and is twice the car. The Chevy Volt (I am praying the battery is American made!) is the most awaited model GM can claim it has had in decades. Car dealers already tell of long waiting lists and they expect the car to resell for far above MSRP until GM’s production can catch up with the public’s demand. Compare the beauty of the Volt to the stark ugliness of Toyota’s Prius. It is night and day. As much as I hate to concede the Japanese have been the trendsetter for small cars over the last twenty years, but they have awoken the sleeping giants. Within two years Ford and GM will leave their Japanese competitors in the dust and they will regain their positions of number one and number two respectively in the world.

Chris Liddell says GM’s public offering could be just months away. I have already got my order in with my stockbroker. My 401K portfolio will be dominated by GM. My only disappointment is they shed the Pontiac brand. Maybe it will be resurrected as GM has to extend its range of models to keep production matching demand! Sure, this might be wishful thinking. After driving Pontiacs for years I will have to get used to telling people, I drive a Caddy, the best car money can buy. If I hold onto my Pontiacs I could have valuable collectors’ items in ten years time!

New Zealander Chris Liddell, (an old boy of my old school, Mount Albert Grammar) is GM’s CFO and CEO in waiting. He resigned his position as CFO at Microsoft to move to Detroit earlier this year. He is learning the ropes very quickly and already he has written checks for $billions repaying TARP money. Uncle Sam still is the majority shareholder and not that the media or Wall St want to say anything positive about Treasury’s investment in GM, Tim Geithner and his buddies are rubbing their hands in glee. Citicorp will return at least $7 billion profit once the government unloads all its stock, but this will be postage stamps compared to General Motors IPO!

When the auction of GM stock takes place later this year, 20% of my 401K plan will be reinvested in the new GM. Why? There are some American manufacturing companies that are at the top of their game. No-one will ever topple Microsoft in technology, Proctor and Gamble have weathered all sorts of storms but is still the global leader in its field, Du Pont has no peer in chemical products, the list could go on and on. For me, I never lost faith in GM because every day once the garage door opens my Pontiac G8 or GTO takes me to work or play. No mat gets stuck between my foot and the accelerator pedal! Sales of GM products around the world are starting to boom and once their new age electric hybrid cars hit the roads, all those greenies will be scrapping their ugly, worthless Prius Toyotas for the Chevy Volt! I like V8 power myself so old petrol heads like me will never change to a car powered by an Eveready battery. For me it’s all about 0-60 in less than five seconds being such an adrenalin rush. 0-60 in ten seconds is what I achieve driving my GTO in reverse!

Long live General Motors (and for me long live the 700 horse power V8 Corvette) the symbol of America at its very best for nearly 100 years, yes followed by a small hiccup but now proudly the brand that epitomizes true 21st century excellence. While Toyotas are being sold at fire sale prices GM have jacked theirs up. People will pay more for quality, even in tough times!

Isn’t it funny that over the past year with the exception of now Italian-owned Chrysler, Ford and G.M. have the most exciting range of cars on the market, but more importantly the public image of quality American auto standards has returned to just like the good old days when G.M. had 50% market share and Ford and Chrysler were fighting for the remainder. Last year the former besieged former Chairman/CEO of G.M. Rick Wagoner was portrayed as a fool. He was ridiculed when he tried to tell America G.M. was bringing out a range of automobiles that drivers would love and their competitors would envy. He was on the money, but he never envisioned Toyota falling off their bicycle to help them along!

Two colleagues at work decided four years back to buy Toyota. One became sick and tired of their credit department hounding him for the payment even before it was due so he paid them off and sold the car. The other was told to take a hike when he discovered the roof of his car starting eat away with rust and asked if the problem was under warranty. He spent $500 re-spraying the roof and sold it on Ebay within a week. Initially both were impressed with their vehicles, but the novelty soon wore off. When it came to service and feeling like a customer, Toyota fell far short. One copied me and now owns a Pontiac and the other opted for a European brand. They are adamant they would never buy Toyota again. I wonder how many other Americans will start feeling the same way, keeping a wide berth from Toyota. I reckon millions!

Mr Toyoda did the typical Japanese thing, basically dived into his bunker and resurfaced when he thought the coast would be clear. That behavior might have worked twenty years ago but today as Tiger Woods can attest to, silence will not allow the problem to disappear. His apologies at the one or two press conferences Toyota has mustered have rung rather hollow. Why? Toyota tried hard for months, probably years, to sweep the problem of eight million defective cars under the carpet.