GM Diesel Disaster Coming Again?

With lawmakers seriously looking at corporate fuel rankings for the first time in nearly a decade, GM has taken an old idea off the shelf and dusted it off again. Diesel engines. Wait, didn't they do that once before?

General Motors has announced that it is planning on putting diesel engines in some Cadillac and
Saturn models by 2010 for US sales and that they'll be available in Europe in 2009. Let's hope they don't repeat the disaster GM faced in the early 1980's. One blogger's remarks sum it up quite well:

Leo, posted Mar 17th 2006 1:33PM

I worked at a luxury import dealer from 1982-1986, and I can remember customers of the Cadillac dealer across the street coming over (after their 15th service visit for their POS Cadillac diesel) to look at our product.

I can still see the look of horror when we told them their one year old Caddy was now worth $1,500 in trade because the GM diesel engine was such a disaster. The product was horrible, and the company's response was even worse. They abandoned their customer base in a way that left the automotive world in disbelief.

I don't know if there's ever been a bigger customer service disaster on a vehicle in that price range in world history. And given GM's precarious financial position, I'm not sure I'd go there - even in trucks, and even 25 years later.

There's good reason to worry here, folks. I agree with Leo. That diesel Caddy in the 80's was a disaster for everyone. I had a case with one back then and when I showed up in court for the first hearing with the Judge, he turned to the GM attorney and told him that "I'm going to take judicial notice that this car is a lemon."

That means everyone knew it and the Judge wasn't going to hear any arguing about it. That pretty much sums it up.
Here's a page on the 1984 Cadillac on the web and you can see they actually charged extra for that optional diesel engine. Whether your lemon is a diesel or not, we can help.

Smashing lemons into lemonade is what we've been doing for almost 30 years for thousands of clients and millions of dollars in refunds. Car manufacturers don't like us but that's okay. We kind of prefer it that way.

Burdge Law Office
www.UsLemonLawyers.com
Helping Consumers Get Rid of Lemons (Diesel included) Since 1978

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Known nationwide as a leading Lemon Law attorney, Ronald L. Burdge has represented literally thousands of consumers in "lemon" lawsuits and actively co-counsels and coaches other Consumer Law attorneys. From 2005 through 2018, attorney Ronald L. Burdge has been named as the only Lemon Law Ohio Super Lawyer by Law and Politics magazine and Thomson Reuters Corp., Professional Division. Burdge restricts his practice to Lemon Law and Consumer Law cases. The Ohio Super Lawyer results are published annually in the January issue of Cincinnati Magazine. Ronald L. Burdge was named Consumer Law Trial Lawyer of the Year 2004 by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the nation's largest organization of consumer law private and government attorneys. "Your impact on the auto industry has been magnified many times over because of the trail you blazed for others," stated NACA's Executive Director, Will Ogburn. Burdge has represented thousands of consumers in Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere since 1978 and is a frequent lecturer to national, state and local Bar Associations and Judicial organizations. Burdge is admitted to Ohio's state and federal courts, Kentucky's state courts, and Indiana's federal courts. Other court admissions are on a "pro hac" temporary, case by cases basis.