Some love Detroit, they are called Japanese auto companies (sales, buying)

[Blue water lake]

All the Detroit bashers can finally rest at ease feeling they were right when the Japanese and other foreign car makers buy out the big three. Maybe not tomorrow, but all the stocks are worthless in the big three and that puts a big fat smile on the foreign auto makers. Hundreds of thousands of people came to Detroit for auto work over the last 60 years made their money and left. Billions and billions of dollars were made in wages over that time. Greedy corporate leaders and the greedy auto union can now feel they were right. I wonder if the Japanese auto companies pay $70.00 per hour for attaching a couple of bolts on a vehicle rolling down the assembly line? Hey, maybe Japanese executives get million dollar bonuses? Maybe Detroit can start manufacturing english/japanese dictionaries. When the sell-outs start, they don't tend to stop.

[Cliffie]

It'll be interesting to see how this goes (she said nervously). I wonder if Honda, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Toyota and Suzuki will just leave us to die or if they will sweep in and take over.

[Ryeno]

Having parents who have worked in the big 3 and just recently leaving Michigan for obvious reason, I can truly say the big 3 brought their problems on themselves. I mean look what they did. They allowed domestic cars to get a negative connotation.

Back in the 90s when they got challenged by the jp car companys do you know what they did? No they didnt make cars better, they outsourced their jobs to india and built plants in mexico. Instead of creating better cars they cut expenses. Now they are at a point where a new pontiac costs 16k. And even still no one wants to buy it.

And now look, we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. We give them money and odds are they will just keep on doing what they have been doing. Or we allow them to go under and its a disaster. And being from michigan i know what i means to allow them to go under. Eitherway all the people who have lost their jobs wont suddenly get rehired.

[Dexterguy]

Originally Posted by Blue water lake

All the Detroit bashers can finally rest at ease feeling they were right when the Japanese and other foreign car makers buy out the big three. Maybe not tomorrow, but all the stocks are worthless in the big three and that puts a big fat smile on the foreign auto makers. Hundreds of thousands of people came to Detroit for auto work over the last 60 years made their money and left. Billions and billions of dollars were made in wages over that time. Greedy corporate leaders and the greedy auto union can now feel they were right. I wonder if the Japanese auto companies pay $70.00 per hour for attaching a couple of bolts on a vehicle rolling down the assembly line? Hey, maybe Japanese executives get million dollar bonuses? Maybe Detroit can start manufacturing english/japanese dictionaries. When the sell-outs start, they don't tend to stop.

I agree with what you have said, it is amazing to me that it has really gone this far, I knew that one day the domestic auto companies were going to hurt themselves badly, but it really is amazing that we have reached the point in a 105 year history that this has happend.

I hope that the domestic three get the bailout, at least the hard working blue collar retirees would get their pension checks, WHICH THEY DESERVE! As for the executives at GM, Ford, and Chrysler, they make me sick!! GM and Ford's CEO make $20 Million a year and the companies are on the verge of bankruptcy, how does this make any sense, I wish that we could randomly pull a blue collar worker off the assembly line and make him the GM CEO, at least they may care about the company they work for, I know many who do!

[Vision-Quest]

I would like to see Detroit allow some japanese auto makers put some plants in the Detroit area to make up for the lost jobs. But that will only happen if the big three go bankrupt. I don't think anybody calls Detroit "Motor City" anymore. I don't. I don't call it "Mo-Town" anymore either. I call it "Hockeytown".

[Dangerous Dave]

Originally Posted by Vision-Quest

I would like to see Detroit allow some japanese auto makers put some plants in the Detroit area to make up for the lost jobs.

The Japanese makers aren't stupid enough to move into a state with a bunch of UAW sharks circling the waters.

[Shnoz]

Originally Posted by Cliffie

It'll be interesting to see how this goes (she said nervously). I wonder if Honda, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Toyota and Suzuki will just leave us to die or if they will sweep in and take over.

It won't be Isuzu that's for sure. By the end of this year (or Q1 2009) they are getting out of the business of selling cars and light trucks in the USA.

I frankly don't see Mitsubishi or Suzuki having the capital to be major players in buying up pieces of the domestic Big 3. Mitsubishi car and light truck American sales in 2006 through 2008 annualized are 119k > 129k > 104k. Suzuki's are 101k > 102k > 94k. The Saturn division outsells both these manufacturers combined.

When talking about this topic, it's important to keep in mind that if other companies would be to buy segments of the domestics, it would be to help grow their company. It's for this reason that I see the Japanese Big 3 (Toyota, Nissan, Honda) not really doing much.

However, there are companies that might seize this opportunity. Take Hyundai for example. Over the past few years they've been growing by leaps and bounds, adding more new car dealerships per year than Toyota, Nissan, and Honda combined. They are releasing their first V8 RWD car this year, not to mention the Genesis is looking pretty good. So what would Hyundai use? Dealership locations, without a doubt.

Other company you left off your list is surprisingly not from Japan or Asia but actually from Germany: Volkswagen. They are planning to almost double their sales in the US over the next five years. Like Hyundai, they're going to need some new car dealerships. Keep in mind that their Routan (minivan) is essentially a rebadged Dodge Caravan and you have a company that would be seriously looking to purchase large chunks of a company.

That being said, what if, say, FoMoCo went out of business? I'll tell you right now that some entrepreneur would snap up some of the plants to make replacement parts for all those Ford vehicles. All of those Fords driving around right now aren't going anywhere and they're going to need LOTS of parts to keep them hunks of metal moving.

[brokerdave]

Originally Posted by Dangerous Dave

The Japanese makers aren't stupid enough to move into a state with a bunch of UAW sharks circling the waters.

they have tried to come to ann arbor and fowlerville. the state keeps turning away the manufacturing plants telling them to go to detroit, but kwame want them to pay him off, etc.

non-uaw auotworkers still make a great wage for no educational level requirements.

GM assets are through the roof. if they liguidated half the land they are holding onto that isnt even used, we are talking about billions of $. i want to see the bankruptcy, a lot of great commerical property would finally be released that they have held on to for far to long.