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I'll give you a big fat case in point about GM. Back last year, we were buying a crossover. So we go to the Saturn dealership to look at the Vue (I think that's what it's called). The salesguy was poorly trained and not terribly enthusiastic about the product. So we get into the thing. The door closing sounded flimsy. The thing drove like a tank and couldn't accelerated up a good sized hill. Plus it was comparably priced to Japanese models in the category.
So then we go to Mazda and look at the MX9. OMG, total difference. The salesman was sharp, the car drove beautifully, was smooth as silk, and had all kinds of extras--all for about 2,500 more than the Saturn.
As it turned out, we decided that we liked the Ford Freestyle best of all. All things being equal, the Mazda was a better car, but the Ford was 10K less, and had 0% financing--plus it was way better than the Saturn. So at least Ford understands that you have to slap a lower price tag on the thing if you can't beat the Japanese on quality.
Good choice! I bought the first model year of the Freestyle and it's pretty good. Ford did good on that one, decent mileage, AWD and plenty of room.
As I've said before, I'd go for the bailout with strings 1.No bonus for anyone, 2. Pay cut for execs 3. Suspension of union contracts and bringing rank and file pay to par with competitors until such a time as the company has paid back the loan and is profitable then a renegociation to sanity.
GM didn't pay attention to what the American public wanted back in the 1970s during the oil crisis. We wanted smaller, more fuel efficient cars. We had to buy foreign cars to get what we wanted. GM watched us buying foreign cars and did nothing.
Really? Did you forget the Yugo,Vega,Chevette etc?
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How many years has it been? They still churn out huge, wasteful cars and market those cars. They could have made a different choice and given us what we wanted. With all the advertising they have done for their gas guzzlers, they could have been marketing economical cars and people would have bought them. Then GM wouldn't be in trouble. They deserve what they get.
If you look at the top selling vehicles up until fuel went wacko it was SUV's and full size trucks. These companies are McDonalds where they can change hamburgers in a week, it takes millions of $$$ and time to retool. They've spent the millions on a retool and now due to the economy and loans can't sell much of anything (and even the "precious" foriegn manufactures can't at this point) so are going broke.
Could they have done something sooner? Maybe. Should they have? Well with hindsight being 20/20 the answer is yes but I'm sure they also thought the fuel hike was temporary (you'll notice fuel went back down) and didn't expect the credit crunch that hit. Will fuel go back up? Who really knows? Hell I didn't think it'd come back to where it is now and no one on here knows for sure what it'll do.
Failure of auto industry could set off catastrophe: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081112/meltdown_autos.html - broken link)
Don't necessarily agree with this. But why not throw this article out there.
Tax Revenue is one of if not the biggest reason why US auto isn't going anywhere... everyone can argue it all they want, the Gov is the most ruthless corporation in the world and those part of that will do what is best for their business. We the peoples opinions mean nothing. We are the slaves to it remember !
If you were the US Gov and were receiving $150 Billion in tax revenue every few years from some industry, wouldn't you invest a measly $25 billion in it to help restructure it to keep that revenue coming in or possibly increase that amount if that revenue was in jeopardy ? Hell yes you would... AND they'll basically have that back in a short few months too !
The gov't already gave them a short term loan. They are coming back to the table looking for more..just like AIG did. At what point is enough enough ?
GE is now FDIC insured and American Express just became a bank. DHL has left America and thousands of people are being laid off just this week alone and it's only Wedneday.
This is a big ponzi game that is being played right before our eyes and there is not enough money to pay off the 65 to 1 leveraging that has gone on in shadow banking.
I think it's time to call abandon ship and we all swim ashore and start building another boat.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,656 posts, read 57,755,120 times
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Originally Posted by HappyTexan
...I think it's time to call abandon ship and we all swim ashore and start building another boat.
We need to discover another continent, ours is about to be FORECLOSED (But maybe we'll only need a small island, (those of us with life vests) lower Real estate taxes that way )
We can start by using our talents (If we remember how) to actually produce tangible gizmos that have REAL value. Now you would think the car companies could do that
Did they hire politicians to provide their 'strategic business plans'?
we can clearly see now how a bailout is presented to the public and how the bailout then morphs into something completely different. they presented the auto bailout last in their original bailout group because it would be seen as a bailout for the little guy, but what it actually does is protect the people on top who make the bad decisions and need to be bailed out repeatedly. i am sure that the press will not stay on top of this, but it is their duty to inform the public what is going on behind their back.
I'm game... All those that require a life jacket, just stay on the boat !
Yep, time to let go and rebuild. You can only patch so long before the pressure of the water sinks you. And the boom is coming around...
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(But maybe we'll only need a small island, (those of us with life vests) lower Real estate taxes that way 
)
