When people think of American car companies two names always pop into people’s heads: Ford and GM. Well that might all change in a few months as GM is experiencing huge losses, even for such a mammoth auto transport company.

GM lost $15.5 billion this quarter, as the automobile industry has been in trouble lately. With much higher oil prices, and Japanese and other foreign made cars having a significantly more reliable track record and on top of that a higher resale value, people simply aren’t buying as many American made cars as they used to. In a time when the economy could already be in a recession, people are shying away from the American automobile transport stereotype of big gas guzzling cars, and towards the Japanese stereotype of smaller fuel efficient cars. Although both American and foreign companies produce a wide range of different vehicles, this mindset has hurt GM’s already unstable business. According to GM vehicle sales were down 5% from the same quarter last year. This combined with other financial problems created the monstrous $15.5 billion loss this quarter.

GM seems to be doing everything it can to react to the changes in the US economy and auto market, but since it is such an enormous company with so many divisions, it is difficult to make changes that will revive the company as a whole. Any bad news whatsoever is being blown out of proportion by the stock market these days, with companies taking huge hits in price when earnings don’t meet estimates by the slightest amount. GM’s stock is likewise tumbling and all of this may be having irreparable damage on the company. Thousands have already been laid off, as pension plans take a further toll on the massive company, and sooner or later the company will not be able to opperate if lay-offs continue.

Some analysts are even speculating that GM could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This would allow GM to rehabilitate and reorganize the company and hopefully get back on track. GM however denies this. Regardless, since GM will not be filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy any time soon, it is clear that we are going to still see GM cars on car carriers being moved by auto shipping companies for at least a few more years to come. For the good of the tens of thousands of hard working Americans, and a significant part of the American Economy, let’s hope that GM finds a way out of this quagmire.