http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061127/ap_on_bi_ge/ford_financing
Using factories and their intellectual property as collateral, they’re financing their predicted losses over the next 2 years to the tune of $18,000,000,000. :bloated: I hope their restructuring goes very very well…
:word: hope all goes well for them during the restructuring. I guess we’ll find out in 2 years or so
all in
Man I hope they have something good up their sleeve. Right now they don’t have shit in the US.
^ hopefully that something up their sleeves is adapting a “happy medium” between the UK and US counterparts…where they make our models look alot more like the UK models and make them pass US standards…that and the AWD c30r would be HOTT
lol.
i am going to continue to make this call…american car companies will not be around very much longer. i feel bad for my stepdad, he works for ford
Ford could succeed easily in cars if they: 1) Let mazda design the cars performance, interior, and exterior; 2) Let Volvo fully test and and finalize cars 3) Allow Ford UK division to market cars… 
With volumes like Ford sees, the best front end in the world can’t make up for inefficient manufacturing.
So did they just walk into their local bank and fill out an application for $18,000,000,000.00.:lol:
i think Womack went to ford and told them how to turn their operations around…?
http://www.hpmconsortium.com/newsAll.asp <- good read
edit:
also from womack…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/02/AR2005120201377.html
go to lean.org and read some of the E-letters.
the copy/paste did not work…
The real problem with american car companies is the Unions which in turn leads to lackluster performance which leads to poor quality vehicles. Now thats the problem with the actual cars, the designs on the other hand (other than chrysler products which seem like they were at least thought out somewhat) are looking like something designed in the 80s. They really need to design a car that people will want, especially the market that appeals to most Americans which would be midsize sedans like the impala (which is hands down the worst GM design as of late IMO). The guys designing the vette, mustang, ect need to be designing the other cars for the company as well so that one day maybe we will actually want to buy the car for their looks.
The quality issues are something I don’t really see getting fixed anytime soon, at least they are getting more reliable.
Stop letting JoesTypeS post from your account 
the big 3 can build cars at roughly the same cost as toyota.
quality is much better than in the past.
GM would not offer a 100k warrenty if they planned on fixing a lot of cars.
the 2.2 ecos at the tonawanda plant are traceable down to the raw materials
now… that is a big step in quality control.
unions had their time, but if they are to continue, they need to be restructured.
it should be about the best person for the job. just because two people can do the same job, does not make them equal.
That is exactly the reason that Toyota succeeded with the Scion stuff. Toyota said in a press conference “We just built what the public was asking for.” when asked by I believe GM on why it was so successful.
The main difference between GM and the Toyota Scion Program is this:
GM builds cars that they think the public will buy.
Toyota used the Scion nameplate to build cars the public said they would buy. Scion did tons of research with the public and built the best they could come up with. Look what happened…
Which do you think would be more successful?
I will take No. 2 please.
Ive been saying this for fuckin YEARS!
GM Thinks it knows what the consumers want, and the dont have a fuckin clue.
Failed GM ideas:
SSR - - Lol? who wants to pay out of the ass for crap convertible truck?
Cobalt - - Cavalier rebadged? At least its a new platform
Aztek - - HAHAHA /wipestearfromeye
Catera – wtf? Ugly duckling, but RWD hmm 
I dunno
GM can do:
Saturn is going to be the flagship of design. Vue was butt ugly, but the platform seems decent. I like the new G6/Aurora. They need to build off of more cross platform vehicles that look Unique.
Not a Jimmy/Blazer bastardization.
The new saturns are kick-ass compared to the old ones.
I like the look of the aura.
The cobalt was actually a huge step in the right direction, but yeah the SSR and Aztek, and to a lesser extent the Catera, were embarassments. The Aztek was just ugly. The Shitty Shitty Roadster might have sold if it had cost $20k. I roffled for like 20 minutes when I heard what GM was asking for that inbred transmarotruck.
you cant be everything to everybody.
i doubt any of us have the market knowledge they need to design a car that can sell
45,000 per year.
enthusiasts are a small part of the total picture and our views are biased to
performance. not the mom and pop point A to point B trash.
:word: If I were to design a $45,000 dollar car I’d probably come up with something that one person in this country would like. But hey at least I’d be happy.