Tom Walsh: You know GM's back in black when...

[Variance]

Tom Walsh: You know GM's back in black when...

When will we know that General Motors Corp. has fully emerged from its 30-year funk?

This question arises as GM Chairman Rick Wagoner, Vice Chairman Bob Lutz and other GM brass begin walking and talking with a touch of swagger now that they've run off pesky billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, who cashed out his 10% GM stake, and brushed off SuperCEO Carlos Ghosn of Renault and Nissan in his bid to lure GM into a super-synergistic-sucker's auto alliance.

Things are indeed looking up for GM, but remember, this is still a company only 11 months removed from a $10.6-billion loss in 2006. So how can we tell when GM has really turned the corner to prosperity?

Here are 10 telltale signs[...]

Detroit Free Press

[91z4me]

I for one would love to see Lutz on Letterman doing a Borat!!!

[Dragon]

can't wait for the day

[CARBIZ]

An interesting read. I especially like the point about the junk bond status. Some of the reader's comments are pretty telling, too.

I am not sure I like the headline, as though GM has been in a steady decline for 30 years. Starting off with nearly half the market in the North America, did GM really have anywhere else to go but down? Just as Toyota started off with a zero percent chunk of the market 30 years ago - it had nowhere else to go but up!

There have been a lot of ups and downs for all of the Big Three in the past 30 years. All have faced financial ruin more than once. They are victims of being the biggest players in the world's most lucrative vehicle market. Japan Inc will do anything to conquer and control this market. Anything. The first item on their agenda is to keep foreign competition out.

Has anyone seen recent figures on whether any of the Japanese Big 5 are making money in North America? Do they even break those numbers down? Or are they losing money, as did Hitachi, Toshiba and others, while they scale the ramparts?