Rather than announce they are going to reduce capacity, how about Ford and GM announce they are going to increase quality? Will Bill Ford get up in front of a news conference and announce this:
"We admit that we built crap cars from the eighties up to the present. We foisted poorly-engineered designs on an unsuspecting buying public, and sourced parts for them from the cheapest suppliers with no regard for durability. We f*cked up, and now we're paying for it."
It's about time these automakers confessed their sins, rather than just close plants. It's not the fault of the Japanese, the Germans, the Koreans, or oil prices that Ford and GM sales are slipping. It's a history of crappy cars and trucks.
I agree, to a certain extent.
I also like to blame unions, helath plans, and the privatization of essential medical services.
Regardless, the perdicaments domestic automakers find themselves in have mutliple causes... not one thing can be blamed. Poor quality... bad public image.... managment issues.... union issues... government issues... compitition.... etc. are all partial reasons.
That being said, GM will never,
EVER, go bankrupt... not in our life times. The US government wont allow it.
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In other news, Toyota recalls for 2005 more than doubled over last year.
Restructuring is a good thing, it allows them, like GM, to learn from and correct mistakes from the past.
marked 8 wrote:In other news, Toyota recalls for 2005 more than doubled over last year.
Restructuring is a good thing, it allows them, like GM, to learn from and correct mistakes from the past.
GM learning from their mistakes?! Oh boy....
Toyota is doing just fine making bland appliance-like cars...
MKSkud wrote:
Toyota is doing just fine making bland appliance-like cars...
lol...I love posts like this coming from people who drive j-bodies.
Lash wrote:MKSkud wrote:
Toyota is doing just fine making bland appliance-like cars...
lol...I love posts like this coming from people who drive j-bodies.
I'm not knocking Toyota... They make a great car, just very bland, but a great car none-the-less...
I honestly dont think Ford will be taking as big of a hit than GM. Mainly because they have more products to offer, due to the aftermarket performance packages aka SVT, Roush and Saleen. And Chrystler, they wont make any changes, mainly to the fact that they are in partnership with Mercedes. Allthough I maybe wrong about the chrystler partnership. I have not followed up on it. But, I do have a right to say so, since the crossfire is about 60% + german.
Could someone clarify the Chrystler Mercedes Partnership for me.
Thanks in advance,
dan
Travel with me through my deep thoughts y'all can't learn dubduce18s by the stuff y'all be
readin in The ORG; It's deeper of course ... Lord help me, all I ever wanted to be was
wealthy or somebody to tell me that they felt me.
Also, the Wixim (sp) power plant for Ford does have a lot of room. Or so I heard, so they might be able to produce more units
dan
Travel with me through my deep thoughts y'all can't learn dubduce18s by the stuff y'all be
readin in The ORG; It's deeper of course ... Lord help me, all I ever wanted to be was
wealthy or somebody to tell me that they felt me.
Ford is better off than GM because their car sales are on the rise even tho their truck sales are declining. And even tho they are declining in truck sales, they are still number one in that department.
Chevy and Ford both suck... there... I said it.
MKSkud wrote:Lash wrote:MKSkud wrote:
Toyota is doing just fine making bland appliance-like cars...
lol...I love posts like this coming from people who drive j-bodies.
I'm not knocking Toyota... They make a great car, just very bland, but a great car none-the-less...
yepppp.....even people who are into toyotas will admit it, but they are great cars just nothing cutting edge about designs
Quote:
even tho they are declining in truck sales, they are still number one in that department.
how so? gm sells more trucks if you combine gmc and chevy.
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Ford will be ok. GM will be ok. The newsmedia loves doom and gloom when it comes to domestic automakers. I found it humourous that bliZsham didnt mention that Nissan just about folded in the late 1990's. The company was up to its eyeballs in debt, the Z car was no longer exported to the US after 1996, the rest of the Nissan lineup of cars and trucks were garbage and poor quality. How many Nissan NX 2000 do you see anymore? It took a french owned company to bail them out. Ghosn saw how the Japanese executives had run the company into the ground, and thank gawd, was able to set a path back to profitability.
As far as sucks, didnt the 2003 & 2004 350Z's have a camber problem that trashes the front tires every 10,000 miles that Nissan hasnt been able to solve? Nissan Titan/Pathfinder Armada sales are falling more steeply than the GM and Ford equivalents. GM and Ford just don't get a fair shake in the press.
"...nevermind maneuvers lieutenant, just go straight at them!"
-Admiral Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar
JinxedZ THE LOVED ONE wrote:Ford is already screwed.
More so then GM.
People just like poking at GM because they are currently at the top.... yeah, its easy to criticize the number one automaker.
Likewise with Chrysler.
I don't know what you're talking about with Chrysler, but they are the only Domestic Manufacturer posting a profit right now, so I highly doubt that they are screwed. A big part of that is the hit they've had with the New Generation Hemi, when the Hemi costs less to produce then the 287 V-8 and it is in 3 vehicles that use both engines and you charge more for the Hemi, you are going to make quite a bit of profit on each one sold.
Chrysler is not a partner of Mercedes they are the same company, DaimlerChrysler. The Germans have basically allowed the Mopar boys (Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep) to basically do what they want as far as products are concerned. The Crossfire is the only car that either Dodge, Jeep or Chrysler produces that shares any significant number of parts with a Mercedes product. That is why not a lot of people are really clear on the whole DaimlerChrysler situation, the CEO has said he wants more parts and platform sharing between the Mopar boys and Mercedes, but who knows when that's going to happen.
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Foreign automakers have been climbing fast hurting Ford/GM/Mopar sales for a while. But they always had SUV's and big trucks to fall back on. With gas prices so high and foreign automakers producing trucks and SUV's with smaller engines that get better gas mileage and produce just as much HP. They are still way behind on the trucks (I think only due to lack of models they have) but the big 3 are definately feeling it.
Foreign automakers aren't to blame...Thats competition. But it seems Honda's Toyota's and Nissan's have gotten a lot better. Vehicles are cheaper (then they use to be) and you get a lot more and they are very reliable. I have always been a big die hard chevy fan, but when I trade in my explorer for a new SUV its going to be hard not to look at the Pathfinder, Xterra, 4runner. Probably no honda SUV's cause I dont really like them. My next vehicle for myself will defineately be a Nissan.
No matter how much you love your GM, Mopar, or Ford you have to admit the reliability on foreign vehicles has and always will be a lot better. That hurts.
problem with gm is they need a two step aporch stop building so many of the same cars and they also gotta i improve them at the same time look at chevy and gmc they all share trucks that are essentailly the same they just make minor comestic changes yet a gmc is 2000 -3000 more dollars. cutting production improving quality and svaing themselves loads of cash on bobby trap deals is what they need im sure all the japanese companies are having trouble too but it's their reputation thats keeping them afloat. and even if gm's qaulity is improving no ones gonna buy a car as often either which mean they need to cut back anyways
I think the big 3 domestic companies should merge and make a domestic super power
lol
There is no doubt that the foreign cars are great, but it will be very hard for domestic automakers to produce the same quality for the same amount of money. It's hard to compete when your competitors pay their workers so much less. I realise that more "foreign" cars are being assembled here than before, but still a lot are produced overseas. It's a losing battle, either we lower our pay scale (including health care), increase productivity ( and cut excess workers) or make foreign automakers pay higher import taxes.
Here is a link showing part of the problem, look at the chart at the top of the page.
bigj480 wrote:There is no doubt that the foreign cars are great, but it will be very hard for domestic automakers to produce the same quality for the same amount of money. It's hard to compete when your competitors pay their workers so much less. I realise that more "foreign" cars are being assembled here than before, but still a lot are produced overseas. It's a losing battle, either we lower our pay scale (including health care), increase productivity ( and cut excess workers) or make foreign automakers pay higher import taxes. Here is a link showing part of the problem, look at the chart at the top of the page.
Nonsense... Buy lowering GM's payscale, better cars will be made? I find that hard to believe... If you can't make a good car paying some guy 30 bones an hour, what makes you think a guy making 10 and hour will be any better? Money saved isn't a profit...
There is a $1800 difference in the profit between Nissan and gm per car, I think if that money was spent on the design of the car and better materials it would improve quality. Also, look at how many are sold, it's an uphill battle. If a company sells twice as many cars as you and makes four times the profit on each one how can you compete? That's not even counting their domestic market, where gm sells a lot less. Do you think that if all of the foreign car makers had to move to their factories to the US and pay their people three times as much (including health care) that they would dominate so much? I don't think so, it's a global market and we have the disadvantage. Think of a good cheap place to make a product........it's china or japan or Mexico. It's that simple. Also, many of the components gm uses come from overseas or Mexico, so on top of the higher wages they pay import tax too. this is happening in almost every product category, especially electronics. Do you think that we are so stupid that we can't compete? As long as every citizen in America insists on buying only foreign products and the government does nothing about it we don't stand a chance, it will only get worse. I'm all for fair competition, after all it's good for the consumer, but it's not fair right now.
heh
Dude, there is no Import tax on anything from Canada or Mexico, it's called NAFTA, North American Free Trade Agreement, I remember hearing about it in Elementary school
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