Comments on: The decline of the North American car

By: kurz-urlaub

kurz-urlaub — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:02:37 +0000

yeah, Garry Bradasch is right !!

By: slv leuchten

slv leuchten — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:36:32 +0000

Jap.
Es wird Zeit das die Spritschleudern endlich verschwinden. Ich frag mich wie sich die Amerikaner das Autofahren überhaupt noch leisten können – also ich dreh hier durch bei unseren Spritpreisen und bin froh das mein Auto "nur" 7,8l schluckt. Bei meinem alten Auto waren es satte 11l.
Opel hatte ja schon recht gute Patente zwecks Spritverbrauch. Liegen die jetz nich bei GM?
Man kann echt nur hoffen, dass GM, Chrylser und co. endlich auf den Zug aufspringen.

By: Mutter Witze

Mutter Witze — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:53:14 +0000

Die Usa wird noch schnell nachziehen müssen, es lohnt sich ja auch finanziell sehr, schließlich ist die usa angeblich ja immer weiter mit der forschung ectr. als Deutschland

By: iPhonekönig

iPhonekönig — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:27:38 +0000

Ich bin der selben Meinung wie MPU. Also hier bei den deutschen Autoherstellern wird schon viel in Richtung spritsparende und umweltfreundliche Autos geforscht. Und auch in Japan sind sie sehr bemüht.
Die amerikanischen Autokonzerne sollten auf diesen Zug aufspringen, damit sie ihn nicht verpassen und nachher mit leeren Händen dastehen.

By: Aquarium beleuchtung

Aquarium beleuchtung — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:27:58 +0000

yeah, Garry Bradasch is right !!

By: Garry Bradasch

Garry Bradasch — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 06:46:33 +0000

Das letzte gute amerikanischeAuto wurden in1966 gebaut. Ford Fairlane 500, 289 cu.in. v8, manual transmission, 24 mpg.

By: MPU

MPU — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:32:35 +0000

Die USA haben da wirklich was verschlafen, besoders Chrysler GM und Ford gehören zu den neuen Entwicklungsländern was die Produktion von Benzin sparenden Autos angeht. Da bleibt sicher lich nur der neidische Blick nach Japan, Korea als auch nach Europa und das auf Kosten der Arbeitsplätze

By: It’s the consumer, stupid! « The Web Columnist

It’s the consumer, stupid! « The Web Columnist — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:44:51 +0000

[...] off a blackmailer – are the reason why the labour costs of every North-American car now far exceed the cost of the very raw material, steel, used to make those cars. As anyone can see, it does not [...]

By: Employer relations with the Unions - a new era? « Welcome to Durler Consulting

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:06:29 +0000

[...] both the public and private sectors the potential long term consequences for the US and Canadian economies are [...]

By: Slam

Slam — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:11:56 +0000

It is time for Canada to have our own national car !

By: It’s the consumer, stupid! at Werner Patels

It’s the consumer, stupid! at Werner Patels — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 04:32:51 +0000

By: Employer relations with the Unions - a new era? « Durler Consulting’s Blog from North America

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:50:49 +0000

[...] both the public and private sectors the potential long-term consequences for the US and Candian economies are [...]

By: onthesocialside

onthesocialside — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 16:12:56 +0000

It’s a real shame that the auto industry is in the state it now is. While it’s been declining over here in Europe where our manufacturers all fell by the curb or were consumed by the larger groups, the hike in in oil prices and recessions have been seen before and from them companies emerged victorious. Wasn’t Chrysler the definition of phoenix from the ashes before?

While there’s no Iacocca there should be someone in charge up at the top of these companies that has a sharp enough eye to use this as a motivator for change? This should be the case across the board, what are Presidents of these companies doing if they’re not preparing contingencies?

The industry has certainly become bloated and lost touch with the needs of many consumers but I’m sure that it can salvage itself.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:46:11 +0000

Joe, why should Canadians care what foreign automakers donated to help with a particular foreign disaster?

My tip: buy the car that is the best value to you, and donate the savings to the charity of your choice.

By: madeyoulook

madeyoulook — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:28:32 +0000

Alain, it’s you; you might want to get out of the house and wander by a gas station. Gas prices have plummeted. Bloody colluding oil companies gouging us with 80-90 cent per litre gasoline. Pay no attention to actual common sense, and to how much of that litre’s price goes to taxes, and you might actually nod your head in ignorant agreement to the previous insane sentence.

By: Alain

Alain — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 05:21:02 +0000

Is it just me…or does no one see that the high gas prices is the cause for all of this economic turmoil in norht america? Why is no one attacking those in control of the prices? These large oil companies are getting away with murder…while we squabble over whose back we shouldn’t scratch!!! Wake up people!!! we need to hold the right people accountable for our plight!

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:50:25 +0000

It’s unfortunate Darden Cavalcade feels it neccessary to call people clowns and not intelligently discussing the issue of his future. Without the Auto Industry in North America the employment lines will turn into welfare lines. Who does he thinks pays for welfare, his taxes if he’s working. The following article is one of interest and I attempted to cut and paste it so it would fit into the comment box. It’s hard to believe Darden’s comment on these companies being American with following statistic.

TAKE A SPECIAL NOTE:

CNN Headline News did a short news listing regarding Ford and GM’s
contributions to the Sept. 11, 2001 relief and recovery efforts in New York
and Washington.

The findings are as follows…..

1. FORD – $1 million to American Red Cross matching employee contributions
of the same number plus 10 Excursion vehicles to NY Fire Dept. The company also
offered ER response team services and office space to displaced government
employees.

2. GM – $1 million to American Red Cross matching employee contributions of
the same number and a fleet of vans, suv’s, and trucks..

3. Daimler Chrysler – $10 million to support of the children and victims of
the Sept. 11 attack.

8. BMW – Nothing

18. Toyota – Nothing despite claims of high sales in July and August 2001.

11. Honda – Nothing despite boasting of second best sales month ever in
August 2001

Whenever the time may be for you to purchase or lease a new vehicle,
you might want to give more consideration to a car manufactured by an
American-owned and / or American based company.

Apart from Hyundai and Volkswagen, the foreign car companies contributed
nothing at all to the citizens of the United States . It’s OK for these
companies to take money out of this country, but it is apparently not acceptable to
return some in a time of crisis. We should not forget things like this. Say thank you in a
way t hat gets their attention

By: Darden Cavalcade

Darden Cavalcade — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:16:47 +0000

Toyota, Honda, BMW…these are all North American car companies. Let GM, Ford, and Chrysler become the Studebaker, Nash-Rambler, and International Harvester of the 21st Century! And let the UAW clowns find their place in line down at the unemployment office.

By: KW

KW — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 19:30:42 +0000

I happened into a Chrysler dealership this week. There in the centre of the showroom floor, on a raised stage was a 2009 Dodge Challenger Hemi. 5.7L, 375hp. It gets 16mpg and requires premium gas.

Are we really going to bail out these idiots?

As I said to my wife yesterday, I took a professional degree and can only count on my own savings for retirement…now I’m expected to fund the retirement of people who will retire earlier than me, have better benefits, and make more money for bolting in seats?

in the end, we may have to…but there’d better be some serious strings attached.

By: Count Dracula

Count Dracula — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:34:23 +0000

We need to remember that the CAW, the teaher’s unions, the welders union etc formed a powerful coalition known as the Working Families. Their objective was to get McGuinty elected in return for government support of their unions. With this in mind can we trust McGuinty to behave with integrity regarding the use of tax payers money? And will a bail out mean anything in real terms or will it simply buy a few extra hours on the Titainic at the cost of one less life boat?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:28:34 +0000

I’ll pick up where John left off about dictating how the big 3 use any bail out cash. I was just laid off along with 400 co-workers who supplied the big 3. Our European corporate parent thinks Mexico & China are the only place to manufacture cost effectively plus it’s where our customers want to buy from.
We would quote assemblies to the big 3 at fair prices, I’d say the average value of our finished modules was $20 and very competitive with good quality and full engineering support. I don’t know how many buyers from our customer base would mandate that we move some of our major tool building or parts off shore to China so we could get the price down a buck? Usually it wan’t a savings. either if there was quality spill and you needed fast correction to a problem. We would ask them the same question everytime “where are your kids & grandkids going to work” you keep shipping out jobs to save a buck.
The response was always the same “that’s not a concern our job is to get this part as cheap as possible”. Good luck retiring on that beaten down retirement fund and don’t look to your unemployed kids for help either. You did a great job saving those bucks?
People from all walks of life are going to have to start taking a hard look at building and buying North American, it may cost a bit more but it keeps your neighbour working. Don’t get fooled buying the North American built Honda or Toyota either, they only provide 1.5 jobs / car where the big 3 vehicles provide 7 jobs / vehicle. On the other hand North American manufactures are going to have to look hard at providing the best products and services in the world if they want customer loyalty. Toyota and Honda didn’t win the car war in a year, they did 1% per year for the last 30 years. They washed customers cars, admitted they had a problem and fixed it for free plus eliminated it on future models which equals happy repeat customer loyalty which equals jobs.
If the government really wanted to send one message to the big 3 besides building something everybody will buy I would tell the big three they must buy all their parts within NAFTA borders unless it has to come from a unique source outside NAFTA. China is not an option!

By: John Spence

John Spence — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 02:15:56 +0000

I bought my last General Motors car, an Oldsmobile Omega, in 1980. It was the worst car I ever owned, obviously put together by people not concerned about what my next car would be. One wonders how a company that pioneered an automatic transmission so good that it could be taken out of the crate and bolted unmodified to a Rolls Royce, could come up with an 1980 automatic that failed twice in normal service – not to mention a radiator that sprung a leak while I was at work and left green blood all over the parking lot, brake pads that broke up and dropped out of the car in its second year, rear drum brakes one of which locked up regularly, making winter driving a nightmare.

I said then that GM was going to fail and it looks like will, for good reason. GM is incapable of making reliable, economical, low maintenance cars. Chrysler and Ford have similar records. (I once owned a 1987 Plymouth which was rated by some sources as the worst car built in America – mine was not as unreliable as the Omega however)

I have no sympathy for a company that found it necessary to squander billions on building a battery-operated EV-1 car that millions of people would have loved to own (and trashed them) when there are thousands of GM Geo Metros converted to battery-electric operation for a few thousand dollars that perform about as well.

Did everyone designing 6 litre Escalades, Hummers, 4-wheel drivers, 2.5 ton vans and SUVs at the big 3 fail to see the oil crisis coming? What were they thinking while Toyota became the biggest and probably the best car company in the world?

If governments have to bail out these companies, they should confine support to battery-operated cars, battery-operated Hybrids (like Chevy Volt) and low displacement gas and diesel cars. Governments should abandon the dinosaurs and the people who design and build them – before the only decent automobiles of this type are imported cars.

By: Wayne

Wayne — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:48:00 +0000

I think we need to be very careful about bailing out the industry. There is something that will happen within a few years as we move to hybrid and electric that a lot of people out there do not apreciate about the electric vehicle and the real reason chevy crushed the ev-1. Right now the money maker in the auto business is not the vehicle but the after market, maintenance, repair, oil changes, ras flushes and thousands of moving parts! …. however … an electric vehicle has 1 big moving part the rotor inside a large magnet – once we convert to electric vehicles there will be no need for hundreds of thousands of mechanics, lube and oil shops, exhaust muffler shops etc etc etc – if we start throwing money at a temporary fix it will only be delaying the inevitable. What is needed here is what we did with the railway offer a couple of million dollars to the canadian company that can come up with a canadian electric vehicle that makes sense and is affordable make sure it’s rechargable.

By: Macleans.ca - The car industry crash, by the numbers

Macleans.ca - The car industry crash, by the numbers — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:23:33 +0000

[...] the “Big Three,” now more accurately known as the “Detroit Three”—have sunk well below the rest. As the CEOs of Ford, General Motors and Chrysler plead for mercy from [...]

By: Joy Wawrow

Joy Wawrow — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:17:00 +0000

GM. must have been embarrassed showing their gas guzzlers at the Paris Auto Show, with all other manufacturers showing fuel efficient small ones.
NO, I think a bail out will not be the answer, they need a complete overhaul.
Twenty-five billion dollars would only keep their private jets running.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:32:59 +0000

The auto industries and the financial sector are just the tip of the iceberg. Look at our own government. We are in worse financial shape then all of the above combined. The US Treasury is fundamentally bankrupt. Spending far exceeds income. Other big expenses like retired government employees,Social Security,Medicare and Medicare two wars financed with barrowed funds and the prescription Drug program all are not adequately funded. I’m very much afraid our currency is about to collapse. I heard where China and Japan two of our largest creditors are in trouble to and may ask us to start repaying our loans so they can solve there own problems. When the rest of the world starts to cut off our credit look out because the end of life as we know it will come to a climatic end.
Thats about all of the good news I have for today….Boy am I scared!

By: dacook

dacook — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 19:58:09 +0000

Tax payer’s money to help union workers, who continue to strike for more money, to stay in business? The big three have failed. Ignorant to the needs of the public for which they need help, continually building gas guzzling trucks and cars and not paying attention to the global market. Toyota and Honda had their shit together from the start and continue to produce gas efficient superior quality cars and truck. Bailout is not the answer. My tax paying dollars to help the big three?

By: Macleans.ca - The real reason a Big Three bailout is a bad idea

Macleans.ca - The real reason a Big Three bailout is a bad idea — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:15:06 +0000

[...] Poor needy pathetic desperate Jen – 23 Comments The decline of the North American car – 1 Comments Mark Steyn is the new Bing Crosby – 0 Comments The real reason a Big Three bailout is [...]

By: Chris B

Chris B — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:00:52 +0000

Okay, let us assume that Chapter 11 protection is not available. Why not use the government funds to provide the credit that would normall be provided under Chapter 11. This would let the “good” parts of GM/Ford survive and pare away the deadwood.
I think the big thing that the Detroit Three need to do is ditch brands, ditch cars and streamline themselves. They are still basing themselves on the outmoded model that people start with a Chevy., move up to Buick and end with Cadillac.
Toyota sells 17 makes. GM sells 51. How can any organistion sell that many vehicles and ensure quality, good design etc? Even 17 is getting up there (and Toyota’s quality is suffering a little)