UBERGALAXY

General Motors, along with Ford and Chrysler, is floundering. The big three North American auto makers are now sinking ships, while Americans and Canadians alike are snapping up smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles made by European and Asian manufacturers.

Honda was the only manufacturer in America to report record sales this year. And Toyota announced it can't keep up with consumer demand for its hybrid, Prius. Car rental companies say the demand for compact cars is soaring, and full-sized models are left sitting in the lot.

It's no secret that people are leaning towards more fuel efficient vehicles. The change didn't happen overnight. The price of gas has been steadily creeping up, and coupled with a growing awareness of environmental issues in general, people are looking to save money and cut emissions wherever they can.

Meanwhile, the "big three" have been rolling out SUV after SUV, and scratch their heads when the gas-guzzlers don't sell. The truth is this ship has been sinking for years. Production plants in the US and Canada have been cutting shifts, and GM announced recently the huge plant in Oshawa would close by the end of 2009. Oshawa is poised to become Canada's Detroit: turning into a virtual economic ghost-town once the city's biggest employer packed its bags.

The Canadian government has been criticized for failing to make the province of Ontario more business-friendly. The Federal Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty, has gone on record as saying that Ontario is not conducive to big-business, because taxes are too high. This left the opposition screaming foul, saying Flaherty single-handedly convinced GM and other manufactures to pack-up and leave. That would be an easy solution, but the writing has been on the wall for some time.

First off, the very cars that GM makes are problematic. They aren't selling, and the company is losing money. So it's closing its truck plants. Part of the problem is supply-and-demand, but that's not the whole story, either.

One could argue that GM's unionized employees have unionized themselves out of a job. The fact is, while unions are beneficial in protecting employee rights and offering job security, they can also go too far. Too much job security, and wages through the roof, the company simply can't keep up. GM is closing its Oshawa plant, but it's reopening the plant in Mexico, where wages are far lower. It's a shrewd move, and while it may not be right to exploit a workforce that's hungry for jobs and cheaper to employ, it is a reality. And when the American auto industry is going belly-up, it is an attractive job market to tap into.

But unions aren't wholly to blame, either. The problem originates with the companies themveles, and their failure to adapt to a growing and evolving market. GM could be a leader if it got on board the green wagon and realized what consumers are asking for. It could have created a hybrid vehicle, or at least a more fuel efficient one. And we're not talking hybrid SUVs, people.

While gas is high in North America now, it has been much higher in Europe and Asia for years. And, seeing the trend unfold, auto makers have responded with smaller, more efficient vehicles. Smaller because the lighter weight means less fuel burned, and smaller because more and more people are realizing they don't need an SUV if they have no children and live in a condo in the city. I can understand a larger vehicle if you have more than two children in the house to transport. But since most families are having fewer children, if they're breeding at all, why the larger vehicles? Not everyone has a job that requires a truck to haul supplies.

There have been plenty of warning signs leading up to this point for America's auto makers. Environmental issues are at the forefront of people's minds. Money is tight as the economy is slowing in Canada, and gasping for breath in America. People are making shrewd financial choices for themselves, and those choices don't include Ford's Explorers or GM's lumbering Hummers. But American manufactures have been staying the course for so long, it is coming back and biting them in the ass now. And the amazing thing is, some people continue to be surprised by it all.

What surprises me is that GM claims it actually has a bidder for its Hummer SUV line. Apparently, someone out there is still interested in flogging a dead horse, even when that horse has been dead so long, you're insane not to notice the smell.

Now that is what is truly shocking.