It says he bought it after his buyout at GM, but nowhere does it say that his buyout was that much money- or that he bought it with the buyout money. It does say that he was an elctrician with GM for 37 years, tho.

..which I guess your purpose is meant to imply:

1) GM, in its wonderful Humane tradition, has given its humble employees such huge buyouts as to allow them to pursue their richest fantasies.
or
2) GM has obviously paid this humble electrician WAY too much money over his 37 years, and that's why they're hurting now.
or both.

I'm happy for this man, but I don't see how this shows anything about GM, Ford, or Chryslers position.

 

American automotive industry is lacking because they pay Americans way more than the Japanese auto industry pays their workers. (just like all the other 500 posts above said )

Also because the quality and design of cars nowadays from america is less than par.

Also because they thought the SUV and Truck market would be enough to keep them alive. (Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra anyone? WAY better trucks )

What Detroit needs to do is either drop wages for assembly line jobs (how hard is an assembly line job, sounds BORING to me) Make safe reliable vehicles with less complex engines, mechanisms, etc.. (the less complicated, less likely to break) And get a hold in the tuner market and or young buyers market (Cars under 20,000)

If they can do all this above, they will be a strong competition for Foreign Automakers.

GM:
Pontiac needs to redesign the style of the GTO and or release a Firebird/Transam based of new Camaro.

Chevrolet needs to make 3 Camaros, an 18,000 RS version with V6 or even I4SuperCharged, a 26,000 Z28 edition with a V8, and a 35,000 SS Edition with a Supercharged V8. That would cover alot of market space.

Ford:
Ford needs to make a quality mustang, period. Same a Chevrolet with the 3 step program about the same prices.

Dodge:
Same for Challenger as with Ford and Chevrolet.

All the american automakers need to bring their signature cars at a low price with high quality!! People will buy the Camaro, simply because it is a Camaro, not because it is quality, or faster, or slower even.

They also need to make super cheap vehicles, like the cobalt should be only 14,000. Ford should make a fusion for 14,000 also, and Dodge needs to release the Demon with a base model of about 14,000 also.

This would help American automotive industry ALOT. But sadly, this most likely will not happen.. At least not for a few more years (like 5-15).

 

Idunno... my mother's F-250 Super Duty Diesel is a beast... she pulls a horse trailer with it.

 

ford sells what....1 million f150s per year...toyota is aiming for 150,000

 

My rusty piece of crap H2 hummer is the last american car i'm ever buying in my life. i've had so many american cars that were OK but after paying $65,000 in cash for my hummer, and being sooooo highly dissappointed, i'm never buying one again. the only people that will continue to buy american cars are stubborn hicks.

And I hope no one takes my comments as being anti-american or anything of the sort. but when i pay $65,000 of my hard earned cash for a product, i want it to be a very good product and not ____ like american cars are. i dont care if the car came from america, japan or fu/ckin' pluto - i want a quality product for the price i pay - and with american cars, you don't get that.
- sh00k

 

This thread falls under the "Can of Worms" section. Mods please move it there.

 

My vote is Toyota buys Ford scraps everything except the Heavy Duty Trucks and blows GM/Chrysler out of the water

 

Actually he hasn’t taken a check for at least 3 years.

 

This is not true. What are you basing this pay scale on?

 

when i have time il post wage differences, i have to leave for work..

 

Um... Mustang?

 

Well.. you did make a mistake there. The H2 is about the biggest pos suv you could buy. The military hummer has its share of issues (like being impossible to work on in the fiel) if you talk to some motorpool guys. The H2 is in no way, shape or form a hummer, it is an suv made to look like one for the most part.

 

i personally know a few toyota techs that used to be gm techs at one point in their carear and now make 6 figures and usualy work half days. Toyota takes good care of its people imo.

 

I've been seeing this dismantling of large American "smokestack" industries getting smaller each year. I am convinced that when the CEOs and Boards of Directors found that they couldn't bring the labor unions to their knees, they started investing more and more in foreigncompanies (GM -Toyota, Chrysler-Mitsubishi etc.) so they could close American plants, lay off union workers and still pull in profits trough their foreign affiliates. I predict that in the next 5 - 10 years we will see an explosion of foreign owned and managed factories here in the US, all with non-union employees. It's all part of globalization -bringing the US worker's salary and benefits down to a world wide average. We'll see how far it goes.

 

yes thats true, but if you work for a gm ford or chrysler dealer ur guarrantied work

 

Regardless of whether or not I got the h2, escalade or denali = all these american trucks rust very quickly and within 5 years, they begin to have some serious problems as a result. if i had spent the same money on a mercedes g500 i would not be having this problem. and that's where the issue is. why can import car makers give you such a "quality" vehicle when for the same price, an american car gives you so much less? less reliability, more prone to rust, tons of electrical issues, etc.
- sh00k

 

^next time take a look underneath a gm truck. they have all these little stickers with barcodes that say "Made in China".

 

A couple of points of interest:

1. Unions -- many people are blaming current high wages demanded by unions for the demise of the US auto industry. But it's not wages, necessarily. Consider "legacy costs:"

http://www.facsnet.org/tools/biz_econ/detroit_auto.php

Say what you will about how it's the unions that piled those costs onto the carmakers, I don't see how they can just blow them off now. It's a rock and a hard place, and eventually only bankruptcy will resolve (though hardly "solve") the problem.

Toyota etc can compete in the US, paying their US workers competetive wages, in large part because they don't have these legacy costs to bear.

If there were a fair solution, it would probably have to be (1) renegotiate all current union contracts to reduce future legacy costs for the industry and then (2) mandate through legislation that all auotomobile manufacturers in the US must share all existing legacy costs equally, regardless of who first incurred them, until they are paid down to some pre-set level (through attrition). This would of course never fly, diplomatically.

If the world economy is an organism, then what's happening is simply evolution in action. Intelligent design only works on the future.

2. US vs The World

Chrysler before DB was the least international of the Big Three. GM and Ford are major players internationally, and have been for decades, both as manufacturers and as retailers. These companies sell more than a third of their product outside of the US, and manufacture an even larger percentage overseas. Chrysler before the merger was far less of a presence in foreign markets, and thus far more vulnerable to the Japanese onslaught in the US.

The fact is, we don't need Chrysler. We'll still have a Big Three, and the new #3 (Toyota) will be making millions of cars in the US and employing thousands of US workers. They will also be making millions of cars and employing thousands of workers all over the world, just as Ford and GM do. There are "American" cars that are made in Mexico and contain less than 30% US-sourced parts. There are "Japanese" cars made in the US out of over 90% US parts. The whole idea of "American" cars and "American" car makers is becoming obsolete.

Evolution in action. It's not just replacement, it's survival of the fittest. The new top predators are badder than the old ones. What, did somebody think that Chrysler got *stronger* when they absorbed American Motors and Jeep?

R

 

Yes, you did miss something. You missed that I DID NOT say that American autoworkers should makes between $5 and $22 per hour. It was a comparison to demonstrate the rediculous wages American autoworkers are paid. Is it not reasonable to assume that because the big 3 have to pay so much in wages, that they had to make it up in other areas such as lower quality materials? So who is to blame? Unions.

 

I understand the point of unions (to an extent) and wanting to keep jobs and all this stuff... but seriously, business is all about finding the way to do the best job (hopefully) possible for the smallest cost (why immigrant workers are "stealing" jobs... they work for lower wages. I'd hire them)... I don't know the current state of job positions at a factory, but it's the 21st century... sorry, barring tasks that NEED to be done by humans (and there are still plenty) most of the assembly can and should be done by robotic equipment. I'm sure by now it has to be much more reliable, cost efficient, and just overall a better choice.

Times change. You shouldn't get paid because of it.