Auto Industry

[Mahonri]

Some of the auto companies (like Ford) chose NOT to take bailout money.

 

[Rosalind]

Don't know what to tell you. Ford makes decent trucks, I agree the smaller Japanese trucks are not quite so good for towing, snowplowing--pretty much you can only use them for a little light hauling (furniture, garden stuff). Have you considered looking at older than 2008 trucks? Our 1999 F150 has only needed a wiring harness and brakes replaced in 150,000 miles, we got it for $8000 used in 2005.

Other than trucks, the MOPAR/Ford vehicles are really just not quality engineering. Sorry, American MechEs, it's true, Japan and Germany kick yer butts. If the American auto marketing divisions and engineering/design departments had bothered to stay at all current and ask themselves why Japanese cars were taking over the market, why Tata Motors was ruling the roost in Asia, they wouldn't have these problems. Everyone else in the whole universe knew that cheap oil wasn't going to last forever, and planned accordingly, except the Ford/GM/Chrysler execs.

I disagree that this is all UAW's fault. It is the chief executives' faults. They run the place, don't they? They made the decisions to make vehicles with horrible mileage, vehicles that don't last as long and are less efficient than Japanese and German engineered vehicles (Wankel and Boxer designs, for example), promote vehicles with great short-term profits instead of (as opposed to in parallel with) vehicles designed for long-term sales stability. The UAW wasn't saying, "but, but but, we REFUSE to make anything other than SUVs! You can't force us to speed up the implementation of the Volt! It's merely sensible to imagine that a slant eight will be viable in a market with $5/gallon gas! You cannot possibly market a Transit or Bantam in the US, regardless of the incredibly successful sales in Europe, New Zealand and Mexico! Bah!" No, that was entirely the executives' decision.

It's sad; all the manufacturing has moved to China, and now is finding China too expensive and moving to Central America. However, most of the folks I know who run the manufacturing companies complain that they get nothing but low quality, inconsistent production schedules, and blatant lies from their manufacturing folks about little things like, "When will the shipment be ready" and "Can you make this component to this set of specifications". It takes them years and years to figure that out, though, and they never want to admit that they made a bad decision, and they never learn from anyone else's mistakes, so they just keep making the same mistakes over again--ship the job somewhere with cheap labor and no regulations, find out that the cheap place doesn't produce any kind of good product, freak out because now they can't afford to move everything back to the US again, lay everyone off and close up shop. I swear, it's a good thing people are learning to live with less, because with the special kind of stupid these captains of industry possess, soon we'll have to stop having factories of any kind.

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now.

 

[conny63malies]

You cant live far from me . I live in Mahoning county , about 2 miles from the steel mills and just a little further from the Chevy plant in Lordstown .Thought my husband isnt in this industry i get to see what happens to it through every day life around here. And it sucks

 

[SportTees]

My DH was and autoworker for a foreign company and is out of work also. America owes so much money to China right now its unreal. Allot of companies are going out of business but the problem is its the smaller holdings. If some of the big names started to go out I think things would turn around. All of the smaller companies could go under and it would just make Walmart richer because they sell everything. This year we have lost KB toys, Goodies, Circuit City, Kmart - I hear is fazing out, linens and things, and countless others that have been around for years. People are looking more to the old ways of gardening and raising animals. I think the more people that get back to these ways the better off we will be. People have gotten to comfortable being taking care of instead of taking care of there selves. I grew up in the city were if you need something you just go to the store. Since moving to the country 8 yrs ago I have realized most of that stuff you can make at home for allot cheaper and you usuallly end up with a better product. O.K. thats my 2 cents

 

[PurpleChicken]

It's all a cycle folks. The higher the peaks the lower the lows.
Unfortunately we really haven't truly felt the dropoff of the internet
bubble that burst in 3/2000. Now couple it with the government influenced
real estate bubble and we have a serious situation.

The same goes with car companies. I don't see them going out of business
but I do see a possible loss of one. They did bad in the 80's and good in
the 90's. Now it's their turn to get their poo together so maybe in a few
years they can turn it around.

The sooner and harder the economy drops the sooner we can get in
a growth mode again, hopefully next time it will be a slow steady growth
rather than an artificial one we have seen over the last 15, maybe 25
years.

Beware the nest possible bubble: Alternative energies. Obama has said
this will be the next great thing. If done right it could be a small positive
for the country. If blown up it will pop like a balloon.

 

[country lady]

What's this about the UAW owning a posh golf course/resort? Read it on the crawl. Wonder if the average dues paying auto worker knew! It's sad when the worker is caught between the company and his own union--is there anybody looking out for the worker? I assume the UAW is paying taxes on this outside business.

 

[PurpleChicken]

I am not a union guy. They had their place in history and I question
their true purposes today. However, the unions aren't to blame for
mismanagement, greed, corruption, lack of foresight, bad marketing,
fuel costs, recession, lousy dealers, etc....

Most union people are just middle class family folk trying to take care
of their families. Most of them probably saw this coming and were
powerless to do anything about it.

No one is selling cars right now, even Toyota. I agree with the OP that
the cost of cars are just way out of control. I can't understand why
they can't make a basic pickup truck for less than $20,000.

Oh, I have 2 trucks, one is a 98 Nissan and one is a 97 GMC 3500. I
love both and combined they cost me less than $8000. My wife
has a Hyundai Tuscon. It's a fuel efficient and reliable mini SUV. We
paid $19,000 for it.

 

[beak]

The American car industry is behind the 8 ball because of prior contracts with the UAW. A large chunk of their profits go towards pensions and health care for retired workers. They say the avg auto worker earns about 23.00 an hour. I believe that comes out to about 53k a year. Yes it is above the avg but is not outrageous. There are a lot of jobs that don't require a college education that pay the same or more. The executives on the other hand get paid a lot more. I believe I heard that GM's CEO earns 11million a year. That doesn't include stock option. Yes he is only taking 1$ now but he's at the helm of a sinking ship. It's his job to turn a profit.

If you've looked at foreign car prices they are not cheap. Toyota's large SUV's are in the50-60k range. They aren't really any better. American cars have come a long way.

Hopefully the car industry will not fail. They are a huge part of our economy. A failure would put millions out of work through the ripple effect. Even a bankruptcy and reorganization would topple it. Who wants to pay 40k to a company that is bankrupt. I would be a little concerned about warranty issues and future parts issues. It was shameful the way they were put off by the same people that just gave 700B to all the crooks on wall street. I believe they asked for a total of 31B and it was a loan not a give me.

Don't give up. It will come back.

 

[beak]

We can blame the executives at the big 3 for all the gas guzzlers that they put out. They did what the consumer wanted and it was working for them. SUV's accounted for more sales than any other segment. Even the foreign manufacturers completely retooled to produce things like the Armada, Sequoia, Highlander. Mercedes, BMW and Volvo even got in on it. They just weren't counting on 4 dollar gas and the housing crash. The foreign manufacturers all had well designed small cars already on line. Their countries had 5$ a gallon gas in the early 80s. So they had a little bit of a head start.

Our love affair with gas guzzlers has got to stop.

 

[chickenchickenbulkbulk]

Beak you bring out a lot of good points. My Husband makes $23 an hour. He runs the biggest crane at the mill. He has a very stressful job. If he would mess up he could kill people. I heard on TV that Ford will not be needing any money from GOVT. that makes me feel good. Are there actually any auto makers in the United States that are 100% American made cars? I would really love for this question to be answered. I agree with the gas guzzling vehicles. I have never bought any thing, but a 6 cy. any more I felt was a waste of my money. Take that back I bought a 4 cl. chevy s-10 pickup truck..it had 3 miles on it when I bought it..had no power and was a lemon..chevy would not even talk to me to try to make things right. They wouldn't stand behind there product so why should I stand behind them? Ford has always stood behind there product. This is my personal opinion and my life lessons with the auto industry.