jasonjm

Here here. Bravo. Flush them all.

wills2k106

For GM a condition of the bail out should certainly be an ousting of Rick Wagoner. He was in charge throughout the 90's when GM didn't make a single car worth buying. Now that GM North America isn't designing the cars anymore there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Europe is designing most of the cars under the global platforms, with Australia contributing. Holden even had to sell the Zeta chassis to GM, they weren't thinking globally while there Aussie counterparts were. The tail wagging the dog. But they still didn't have plans for a solid lineup until congress asked them for one. Wagoner can only blame himself and the unions.

When the proverbial sh*t hit the fan they should have done what Ford is doing. The Fiesta, European Focus (Mazda 3), Mondeo and Falcon are all scheduled to become global platforms. The Mondeo and Falcon are being delayed so that they can be engineered to our safety and emissions standards with the next model cycle. The current Taurus is a Volvo S80 and the Fusion is a Mazda 6. Even in the short term they at least tried.

Chrysler has the Viper and most of the Jeep brand. Not worth saving in my opinion but maybe it should be split up among the other two or split up and sold in pieces. I wouldn't trust Nardelli with $7 let alone $7 billion, he couldn't run a successful company at Home Depot. Why Cerburus called him off the bench is beyond me.

Rednine

[QUOTE=jasonjm,Dec 3 2008, 03:01 PM] Thats nice, I've made more than 3x my money in SKF.

Silverstreak HX

We CAN NOT afford to lose our manufacturing base in case of a crisis not to mention the 3 million jobs would immediately be lost.
If the taxpayer can not loan the Big 3 some money make the oil companies do it . Hell their the ones with the obscene profits so let them put that money to work! Duh.
What I can't figure out is where did the engineering go? It seems Ford cars were using Mazda and Volvo technology . Chrysler was using last generation Mercedes technology in their cars and bringing up the rear GM as usual had no technology in theirs . The one funny thing about GM was the one area where they looked like they had something ahead of everybody (EV1) they sent it to the crusher.
But the thing that really burned me up was the press kept saying that Ford had Great cars in Europe so how come we never got any of them ? Were the bastards really too cheap to bring them over here?? Now the whole economy and industry comes crashing down and NOW they finally decide to bring over the Europe lineup.
My next question is when and if the big 3 survive where do they expect to get customers when 1/4 of Americans have lost their job due to this crappy economy?
WOW what a mess .

TheDonEffect

Just trying to be optimistic here, lol.

timrocks311

yeah...i just agree with most people on here and i don't see a means to profitability for these companies. reading articles on CNN they're highlighting bullsh*t like $1 a year salaries, selling jets, etc. WTF!? stuff like that won't do anything to save these companies...especially when the CEOs will still get millions in bonuses. how can you give bonuses to people when they are running a failing company?

anyway, i'd love to hear their plan (in detail) for how these companies are going to make money. even with new products and such, is anyone actually going to buy them? i like the idea of taking the money and giving everyone $20k to buy a car. i'd go out tomorrow and get one...of course i guarantee it would not be a GM, Chrysler or Ford. unfortunately, these companies have developed such a bad reputation compared to Honda, Toyota, etc, that they can't get away from it.

jasonjm

Yes, there are opportunities right now. And I am banking on that only.

But I will still not bank on GM, even with a bail out.

Much like the historical events which similarly happened in the UK with their auto industry. And that, is my fundamental foresight. A technical foresight would be analyzing what potential a firm has when it couldn't do things right when times were booming.

But really do I really want to see the American Auto industry down in the gutter? No. I wish the American auto industry was in much better shape, that it would be _thee_ shining of a once brightly filled sky.

No matter what, the big three have huge inventories, and they're planning on shedding weight. Great, but that means all their estimates even from three weeks ago are way off. On top of that they have to make people buy their cars and they're literally behind the curve. Think about it, it's not just about hiring cheaper labor, or imitating car design and material.

It's changing a company's core. Look at GM with it's "A car for every person" mission mantra. This is some serious re-engineering of Firm, Organization, Cost Structures, Materials, Design, and Production. In the end you'd have a new firm.

So is it easier to renovate and re-sell the housing projects (no pun intended!), or just tear it down all together?

I would completely fund with confidence and hope a whole new American Car company, a fresh start. Call it 'AM1, American 1' or whatever, and start doing things the right way.

Sure, they'll be casualties along the way but this is a opportunity I see.

Take the Best, brightest, and hardest working of the big three and make One spearhead of a company.

Rednine

[QUOTE=timrocks311,Dec 4 2008, 04:18 AM]
i like the idea of taking the money and giving everyone $20k to buy a car. i'd go out tomorrow and get one...of course i guarantee it would not be a GM, Chrysler or Ford.

ECale3

I would consider a bailout of ford and let the other two die. I think of the three Ford is the only one currently positioned for future success.

Elistan

That "three million jobs" number assumes that domestic car company production and employment immediately drops to zero for a full year. And it's only for the first year - three years later in 2011, the study estimates that 1.3 million jobs return. To put that in perspective, we're already had 1 million job cuts this year. Is 1.7 million more bad? Sure, but it seems to me to be an extremely unlikely scenario (heck, even Ford says it doesn't "need" the money but would like to have it available just in case) that's not nearly as bad as people are making out. Declaring bankruptcy does not mean an immediate cessation of all production. It is, IMO, the best way to restructure these companies so they can emerge as better ones.

http://www.cargroup.org/documents/FINALDet...pact_3__000.pdf