Posted on 04/03/2009 7:20:55 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The global financial crisis is suffocating the Detroit automakers, but the problems at General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have been festering for years—even when the mighty "Big Three" were earning billions. Aging factories, inflexible unions, arrogant executives and shoddy quality have all damaged Detroit. Now, with panicky consumers fleeing showrooms, catastrophe looms:
There will be plenty of business-school case studies analyzing all the automakers' wrong turns. But, as they say in the industry, it all comes down to product. So here are 10 cars that help explain the demise of Detroit: GM and Chrysler need a multibillion-dollar government bailout to survive, and both could be in bankruptcy by summer if they don't meet tough government demands. Ford hasn't asked for a bailout—yet—but it's bleeding cash and racing the clock to turn itself around.
Ford Pinto. This ill-fated subcompact came to epitomize the arrogance of Big Auto. Ford hurried the Pinto to market in the early 1970s to battle cheap imports like the Volkswagen Beetle that were selling for less than $2,000. Initial sales were strong, but quality problems emerged. Then came the infamous safety problems with exploding fuel tanks, which Ford refused to acknowledge. Message: The customer comes last. "The problems for the domestics really started in the '70s when they were offering cars like the Pinto up against higher-tech, better-built Toyota Corollas and Honda Civics," says Jack Nerad of Kelley Blue Book.
(Excerpt) Read more at autos.yahoo.com ...
Nope, the unions sank Detroit.
And which of the above mentioned American cars were designed by members of the UAW?
Thats funny, last time I checked, Nissan and Toyota both have large SUV’s and Pickup trucks. These journalists are just spouting idiotic conventional wisdom. The SUV is not the problem. The quality was.
The Chevy Vega and later Shovette...er..uh...Chevette come to mind.
Nope, the unions sank Detroit.
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That’s right!
The car that sank Detroit: The Coleman.
The Big Three? Isn’t that Toyota, Honda and Nissan?
The biggest problem was with Detroit engineering design dictated by the bean counters that minimized vehicle durability (and hence (real economic)value and residual (perceptual) value) especially compared to Toyota.
Truck margins in the late 60's early 70's were low compared to cars. After the gov't introduced CAFE and we got the Mustang II, most folks began to realize that trucks and truck based station wagons (Suburban etc.) represented value and the margin situation reversed.
Then Congress conspired to increase oil prices and then tanked the financial markets by promoting subprime real estate loans and voila, here we are.
The Unions make it very hard for Detroit to be flexible, change course quickly, or make much profit out of smaller or economy cars.
I think that Washington DC, with its hostile attitude towards energy, and the resulting gasoline price fluctuations, together with our ridiculous environmental laws ALL contributed greatly to the demise of Detroit.
Unions and Greens -—
A horrible combination!
Even worse are corporate execs who did not fight back, and caved into the crazies!
The Big Three? Isn’t that Toyota, Honda and Nissan
LOL Very good.
..... was the car that made me promise myself I would never, ever, own an American car again.
“Nope, the unions sank Detroit.”
Exactly.
The article pans the Pinto, but it was not a bad car for the price. It was light years better than the Chevette.
Ford sold Jaguar to Tata motors for a large sum.
Tata is facing difficulties re-financing required debt.
Ford weathers the storm with the cash.
It’s still the union’s fault
I’m driving a Nissan Altima that is about to turn 16. Bought her brand ne in ‘93, the first year Altima came out. In total, I’ve spent less than $2,000 on repairs, though I do keep up maintenance. 105,000 miles and I still smile when I see her. My excellent repair guy says fuggedabout getting rid of her; she’ll run 300,000 miles.
Can American cars do that? Oh yes, my Altima was built in Nashville. But I don’t think by union labor.
OTOH, I don’t know why anyone should work without earning a living wage.
You're right about the Vega. Along with the Pinto, it cemented the idea that Detroit couldn't build a decent small car. Buyers turned to the Japanese imports. The Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, and Datsun B210 established a reputation for quality for these companies that served them well as they introduced larger models.
The ford explorer sank detroit???
What a stupid stupid dumbass statement.
First of all, Ford isn’t taking any bailout money, so there shouldn’t be any fords on the list at all. But the ford explorer has been one of ford’s most successful models.
Second of all, detroit was thriving in the mid to late eighties and in the nineties. So any models that sank detroit should be relatively new models.
Trucks and SUV sales are what kept detroit alive. None of them should be on the list at all. The list should be composed of only chevy and chrysler models that did not earn the companies much profit.
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