Fri 12 Dec 2008
I find it odd that the “Big Three” can’t believe they are in trouble. They decry they can’t make money or grow with the way our trade policies are and because of competition.
Please.
I own a Honda Element, manufactured in Youngstown, Ohio – the number one state in job loss in 2004, the year I bought the car. Other car manufacturers (those fucking socialist foreigners) are not having a problem competing. Yes, they are suffering from the economic downturn like everyone else, but they are not begging for money.
I am in the market for a new car, I tend to trade every 5 years. I looked at everything and the American cars I looked at were all gas guzzlers and when compared to their Japanese cousins, they are horrid in terms of build quality. The plastics in the interior of the American cars all seemed flimsy and insubstantial. In a Saturn, I opened a little storage bin and the damn door fell off in my hand. If they can’t get a storage bin right, what shape is the engine in?
I do not want to see possible millions of manufacturing jobs lost that could stem from a Big Three failure – it might put us in a shock that we may not recover quickly from. But I can’t see how Ford, GM or Chrysler can succeed. The management overhaul would take longer than would be reasonable. The debt these companies already have on the balance books is too much for a robust car company to handle. Maybe if Dems didn’t buckle on CAFE standards, government could have forced the Big Three to manufacture cars people wanted?
What I think needs to happen, is for a couple of billionaires to get together, buy all three plus the struggling Tesla Motors, thin out the product lines, kill the guzzlers and integrate Tesla technology into the model ranges. Also killing some of the brands would be a step in the right direction. Have you looked at the Mercury car line? Ugly, expensive, polluting and ripe for brand death.
But that idea will never fly, it makes too much sense.
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December 12th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
I can’t completely agree with you about the Big 3 making only gas guzzlers and cars with cheap plastic. I travel a bit for business, and tried out as many different rental vehicles as possible in anticipation of buying a new car.
Full disclosure – I did buy a Toyota Rav4, which I am extremely happy with. The interior is finished very well, it rides as nicely as I could expect a sub-$30k SUV to ride, and I think I will be happy with it for the full 10 years I expect to keep it. I bought the Limited version. However, had I rented or test-drove the basic model, I would have been disappointed. The finish in the base model I just rented was nowhere near as nice, and the ride was much rockier – similar to many of the base models I’ve rented of other cars.
There have been a few American cars that I scratched off shortly after sitting in them. But I can say the same about some foreign cars. I would positively compare the Chrysler 300 I rented to the Nissan Maxima I drove for the previous 10 years, and if I had been looking for another sedan I might have bought one. (Knee troubles limited me to an SUV or truck.)
Anyways, I do believe it is true that the overall quality of some foreign car makers (such as Toyota) is better than the Big 3, but it is not across the board, nor are the Big 3 incapable of making a good car, truck, or SUV. Nor is it true that Foreign = Quality…. A couple of the biggest POS’s I drove were foreign (one a Honda – but then I never did like the jerkiness of their automatic transmission).
I do believe we need to give the Big 3 a boost, with the hope that one or more of them turns it around. I know the logic behind “we’re tossing money at the Financial industry, so why not Automakers” is kind of weak, but if it can save a million or so jobs, it is a very, very worthy gamble.