Question

Despite its drastic downsizing a decade ago under a federally funded bailout and bankruptcy​ restructuring, General Motors again finds itself with too many U.S. factories that can turn out too many​ vehicles. GM's factory-utilization rate in North America averaged​ 95.1% over the past two​ years, below​ Ford's 111.9% and Toyota​ 's 101.4%.​ (Rates can exceed​ 100% when factories work a 3rd shift or schedule overtime work on​ weekends.) The auto industry often runs its factories​ dawn-till-dusk or even around the clock to boost their efficiency. ​Factory-utilization rates typically measure how much production capacity a plant uses based on a​ 16-hour workday. GM says its utilization rate is​ 100% on average when its​ round-the-clock truck and SUV lines are figured in with the relatively sleepy factories making​ cars. GM said it is working to​ "drive further​ improvements" in its plant​ utilization, including adding crossover SUVs to more factory lines. A plant in the Kansas City area that now makes only the Malibu is scheduled to begin assembling a small Cadillac SUV soon. But such a​ switch-over typically takes car makers several years of lead​ time, to order and install new​ assembly-line equipment and tooling.

Answer 1

The question is actually missing (see attached image):

the answer is:

D. Less than that of its competitors.

Step-by-step explanation:

Personally, I believe that GM is an extremely spoiled child that refuses to assume responsibility for its continuous and never ending mistakes. GM has either filed for bankruptcy or threatened to do so twice in the last 30 years or so, and every time the US government has to bail them out. But GM keeps doing things wrong.

It doesn't matter if you like their cars or not, GM is terribly managed. No other company in US history has received so much financial aid from the government and continued to lose money and work inefficiently. The problem is that whenever things go wrong, stockholders lose their money but the executives keep getting tens of millions of dollars. If a company is managed in such a disastrous way, their top management shouldn't get paid that much.

A car factory costs a lot of money, and not using it efficiently is outrageous considering GM's history. If they had never received a cent from the government, then its only their problem. But the government lost $11.2 billion on GM's last bailout. During the 1980s GM lobbied fro the government to impose import quotas on Japanese cars because they were better cars and GM couldn't compete against them. So whenever they do things wrong, big brother has to help them. During the last couple of years GM had to sell most of its foreign operations in order to get cash, and you generally do not make money by selling your assets.