American Made

[Sane Asylum]

Lets see now, China & other Foreign countries shut down the United States Steel Industry and our government did nothing to level the import competition......U. S. Airlines have been driven to bankruptcy by the radical Muslim countries and our government did nothing......Electronics (TV's, CD Players, Boom Boxes etc.) in the U. S. are now nonexistent and our government did nothing.....Mexicans are over running our country with 13 million illegal aliens and our government is doing nothing.....Oil prices and availability are being dictated to the U. S. by the Middle Eastern countries and our government is doing nothing....now the Japanese are driving U. S. automotive companies out of business and our government is doing nothing to level the import competition. How long will it be before the Japanese dictate what we drive and what we pay to drive it, like Oil is now? Ask yourself, where is this going to stop? What will America OWN in a few years? What will we sell to other countries?
It's not like our goverment is doing nothing..........they're allowing our private property to be taken over by Emminent Domain so it can be re-sold/directed into new tax cash cows to build their little fifedoms and support the absurd levels of government we now have to look after our every needs
It's called free enterprise. If you had a better idea, better efficiencies, lower costs, etc. then you can set up shop right beside someone who doesn't have new or better ideas, poor efficiencies, and high costs and kick his ass. This is what makes our country great...........It's a good thing. GM pays for more overhead, than any auto manufacturer on the planet....
They've failed to look at things like cost of capital, cashflow, and their debt to revenue ratio.............(Maybe they've looked at it but couldn't do anything about it....dunno)..........This is not the governments fault.........REPEAT after me...........It's not the governments fault......The government is not on the hook to fix it........
Merry Christmas BTW.....

[goneboatin]

Why are American cars in a slump? Maybe build the quality a few years back, maybe it's the "oh well" attitude of the domestic auto dealership service departments. The buyers got burned and went where they were treated right.
Maybe it's beacause other than DCX (Chrysler, Dodge), the designs of the latests offerings from GM & Ford are pretty lame looking. They do look better than they did 10 years ago, but they should have looked that way 10 years ago.
Not wanting to bash on American vehicles, but is there a domestic luxury sedan or sport sedan that you would want to own? Maybe a Cadillac CTS -V, an STS-V, or a Chrysler 300 STR-8. The domestics are finally getting it.
The Euopean automakers kept their rear wheel drive platforms, whereas the domestics all went front wheel drive. Yes, yes I know the the Cadillac DeVille was rwd and also the Lincoln Town Car, but these were geared toward "old fogies", nothing that a successful individual in their 30's and 40's to would want to drive.
The Pontiac division of GM is the "excitement" brand. Nothing says excitement like a Torrent minivan. The GTO is a great attempt, it is exciting to drive, but it doesn't look too exciting. The Buick Division is the only division that has their priorities in line -cater to old farts. That's the only purpose of the Crown Vic and Grand Marquis other than make police criusers.
The domestic pricing is is all over the board. A loaded 4x4 Chevy 2500HD crew cab with the Duramax / Allison combo stickers for about $48,000, but with discounts you can get one out the door around $40K+. What does that tell you, the vehicles are way overpriced. Well, it sucks to pay the big bucks for a vehicle, but come on, bring the pricing to a more realistic level where the discounting isn't so great so the resale doesn't kill you when get rid of it or step up.
The vehicle engineers, testers, and factory enthusists (sp) should take a bigger part in the conception, building, and marketing of the vehicles. The prototypes always look bitchen, then the executives get involved and Silverado SS goes from a 500 hp hot rod to a 4 wheel drive extra cab truck with a warmed over mid duty engine in it. Keep the beancounters out of the process.
I don't have the slightest idea how to run a corporation, but to be successful you need to produce something that people want to buy.
Thank you and good night.

[Kachina26]

GM pays for more overhead, than any auto manufacturer on the planet....
I suppose I would get flamed pretty bad if I alluded to the cause of this......... :argue:

[Old Texan]

Why are American cars in a slump? Maybe build the quality a few years back, maybe it's the "oh well" attitude of the domestic auto dealership service departments. The buyers got burned and went where they were treated right.
Maybe it's beacause other than DCX (Chrysler, Dodge), the designs of the latests offerings from GM & Ford are pretty lame looking. They do look better than they did 10 years ago, but they should have looked that way 10 years ago.
Not wanting to bash on American vehicles, but is there a domestic luxury sedan or sport sedan that you would want to own? Maybe a Cadillac CTS -V, an STS-V, or a Chrysler 300 STR-8. The domestics are finally getting it.
The Euopean automakers kept their rear wheel drive platforms, whereas the domestics all went front wheel drive. Yes, yes I know the the Cadillac DeVille was rwd and also the Lincoln Town Car, but these were geared toward "old fogies", nothing that a successful individual in their 30's and 40's to would want to drive.
The Pontiac division of GM is the "excitement" brand. Nothing says excitement like a Torrent minivan. The GTO is a great attempt, it is exciting to drive, but it doesn't look too exciting. The Buick Division is the only division that has their priorities in line -cater to old farts. That's the only purpose of the Crown Vic and Grand Marquis other than make police criusers.
The domestic pricing is is all over the board. A loaded 4x4 Chevy 2500HD crew cab with the Duramax / Allison combo stickers for about $48,000, but with discounts you can get one out the door around $40K+. What does that tell you, the vehicles are way overpriced. Well, it sucks to pay the big bucks for a vehicle, but come on, bring the pricing to a more realistic level where the discounting isn't so great so the resale doesn't kill you when get rid of it or step up.
The vehicle engineers, testers, and factory enthusists (sp) should take a bigger part in the conception, building, and marketing of the vehicles. The prototypes always look bitchen, then the executives get involved and Silverado SS goes from a 500 hp hot rod to a 4 wheel drive extra cab truck with a warmed over mid duty engine in it. Keep the beancounters out of the process.
I don't have the slightest idea how to run a corporation, but to be successful you need to produce something that people want to buy.
Thank you and good night.
Well said.
To add a few thoughts. The GM format has way to much redundancy. For years their customer base was Brand trained to buy Olds, Buick, Pontiac, and Chevrolet. Remember the Chevy Nova? Each division had it's own named version based on letters N O V A. Chev Nova, Olds Omega, Pontiac Ventura, Buick Appollo. Chev and GMC, more duplication of efforts. Got to raise costs.
GM has lived off the fat and failed to adapt. Back in the early 70's and the gas crisis they wouldn't listen and continued to produce big barges that got 8-12 mpg. They opened the door for foreign builders and it's been down hill for the General ever since.
Look at the disasterous results GM has produced by rushing poor solutions to the market to solve mpg and emission demands. The Vega, the 350 diesel conversion, the GEO series. Cadillac has always been their cream and they have tinkered with it several times with terrible results. The Opal made Catera and one I forget the name of that was compact, built elsewhere, and was pure junk.
Like the man said it's a global economy and GM needs to get their domestic act together. Their foreign market seems to be quite successful, maybe they nedd to move a few execs around.

[Sane Asylum]

I suppose I would get flamed pretty bad if I alluded to the cause of this......... :argue:
Since when has that stopped ya....?? :argue:

[Just Tool'n]

Does everyone know why all of the imports located factories down south?
To get rid of the unions!
Not one single plant is union, & have remained non-union for all of these years. No UAW.
Unions are killing this mfg base in this country, they did serve a time & purpose in this country, but they have outlived their usefullness.
Look at our home state of California.
Look at New York City right now, the unions are creating havoc there.
The mayor ought to fire them all, hire back all non-union, like Reagan did to the Air Traffic Controllers.
What really gets me, is the union is being fined 1 million a day. Those funds are going to be paid from the rank & file members.

[Kachina26]

Well said.
Each division had it's own named version based on letters N O V A. Chev Nova, Olds Omega, Pontiac Ventura, Buick Appollo.
Cadillac............................ and one I forget the name of that was compact, built elsewhere, and was pure junk.
I didn't know about the NOVA thing, I thought it was a slang version of No vas!
The cadillac Cimmaron is the piece of crap J body you were thinking of, and it was a pile.

[baja 232]

Baja got SERVED!???????

[Kachina26]

Since when has that stopped ya....?? :argue:
Toolin' handled it for me
Sad thing is, in a few days, everyone in my house will be a union member.
My 17 yo son has a job at a grocer, luckily the union is there to make sure he gets minimum wage
I start my union job in 2 weeks. I have mixed feelings on that.

[Stoneman]

Toolin' handled it for me
Sad thing is, in a few days, everyone in my house will be a union member.
My 17 yo son has a job at a grocer, luckily the union is there to make sure he gets minimum wage
I start my union job in 2 weeks. I have mixed feelings on that.
If GM made a great product I'd buy it, union or not.