The American companies should have done things the right way from the beginning. The world automakers passed them a LONG time ago in quality and only recently have the American companies tried to step their game up in that regard.
Too little, too late. Put a fork in em. Those companies should combine and just build trucks/heavy duty machinery. Their SUV’s, Auto’s, and even Van’s are utter crap. I’d take a Honda Odyssey or a Toyota Siena over any American van on the market. I’d take an QX SUV over any American SUV, and Auto’s…well…no need to say anything here.
For the record “Chapter 11 bankruptcy” and complete loss of business are completely different things.
Here some food for thought
If Airlines started asking for huge bailouts right now, would you support them? They are doing miserable and are always filing bankruptcy without anybody really caring, and they have a very similar if not a bigger effect on the economy as the auto industry.
If they don’t get bailed out, automakers will be forced to put their noses down and actually restructure their business to be profitable again.
And don’t get it confused, bailout won’t revive them, it will merely let them survive longer.
The models that are unpopular now are still planned in production for the next ~4 years, which still won’t be selling, especially now that consumers have little to no trust into the companies.
not everything in life is guarunteed, so why would those people think that there jobs are set for life, you cant take into consideration that you’ll have your job forever, if you do you get screwed in the end, the economy will go on without the big three, and there will be others in its place
Stop making it sound like people don’t want GM products… 9 million did in 2007. As many as Toyota. Just noting a point due to the manor of Vlad’s comments (Hello Sir) Truth be told, thats a Shawn style statistic… many of those a GM owned companies like Opel, that are not produced here and thus somewhat irrellivent to this discussion- but does speak to mismanagement to an extent)
The most purchased vehicle in the USA is a ford, and the 2nd is a Chevy. Ponder that.
Her are Truck Numbers:
Ford F-Series: 790,589
Chevy Silverado: 618,257
Dodge Ram: 358,295
GMC Sierra: 208,243
Toyota Tundra: 196,555
Nissan Titan: 65,746
I am not discussing quality over the past 15 years in general. Just pointing out a fact some may not be aware of.
Also of intere4sting note the that Ambercrombie and Finch have a total of 7,000 MORE employees than Ford at the moment.
Business Plan , they need to sell their plan to a non-bias /non-Union bought off group of politicans. Impossible. so were all gonna pay. Time to March on Washington is coming, in the Obama Era.
They made those sales numbers by selling their cars for cheaper than what could sustain the corporation. Americans didnt PREFER the car, they bought it because the deal was too good to pass up. Or because it was an H2 with chrome package.
That’s like saying I make a TV that costs me $1000 but I sell it for $800. It’s not as good as the competition, but they can get it for 40% less. People buy it. Great sales numbers! But I ran myself bankrupt doing it.
BTW, my loaner car is a new Accord and this thing sucks. That is all.
I think one of the major reasons they are going under is because they have WAY to many dealerships. GM alone has over 7,000 in the US and Toyota for example only has 4,000. If GM were to cut the total number of dealerships they had to maintain they would save a lot of money…
Plus…GM would have made a lot more if people wanted their CARS as much as they do their trucks.
I won’t deny it…Americans know how to build trucks. My dads got a 92 Chevy with like 280k on it. He changed the original clutch at 220k. That’s quality.
Cars? Not so much.
As J said…American cars are loads cheaper than imports…obviously because of import taxes and stuff but also because they tried getting the people in the dealerships by offering crazy incentives, deals, etc. This came back to bite them in the ass over the last 10 or so years.
Like I said before…the big three should have put forth the effort 20 years ago…not now. They kicked themselves in the balls by offering shit for 20 years and when people form an opinion about a product, it usually does not change.
LOL, loaner…why, your other import break and in shop?
I know, that’s my point, to an extent. GM needs to be broken completely and rebuilt the old way…with earnings in mind… thus quality and design become imperative.
Is that even possible? Not GM but a company of that magnitude. To me, it seems like everyone knew they were falling behind yet didn’t make the major changes necessary to re-organize. I always felt they continued to do business as usual.
No idea if its possible, and the politics of it wont let it happen. Unions will feign bending, and will not bend far enough.
Facts are this thread is full of opinions, and some gacts here and there. Some people here think that GM is CHEAPly Priced, Shawns referenced article suggests that people get sticker shock with American cars.
I think reality is in the middle. You cant compare an Impala to a BMW s… but you can compare a Cadi, but the Cadi costs more when outfitted similarly. American cars are not cheap pricewise when compared to the Hyundi/Kia/ etc. Honda and Toyota have earned a premium in the daily commuter and mini-van world, but theres also a difference in the feel of an American car sometimes. To me, I generally like the feel of American cars…yes heavy, but softer. This is changing these last few years though as imports become more American style soft in some cases.
You can make crappy cars and make a profit, or you can make good cars and make a profit, however what the Big 3 was doing, was building lower quality cars and selling them as contenders for quality cars, meanwhile either being undersold by my cheaper imports or being beat in quality by Germans or Asians.
Plus you don’t spend $40,000 per person to fly to Washington on your private jets out of “Safety Reasons” to tell congress that you’re scrambling to get every dollar.