Posted on 11/17/2008 9:35:11 AM PST by nateriver
Four generations of my family worked in General Motors Plants. My great grandfather, grandfather, father, brothers and I all worked for Buick Motor Division in Flint, Michigan. After working my way through college at the Buick Engine Plant, I became an economic analyst and then a supervisor at another GM plant. My family was so loyal to General Motors that we considered a Ford a foreign car. This is why it makes it particularly painful for me to say that there should not be a bailout.
(Excerpt) Read more at regularfolksunited.com ...
Myth No. 1
Nobody buys their vehicles.
Reality:
General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC sold 8.5 million vehicles in the United States last year and millions more around the world. GM outsold Toyota by about 1.2 million vehicles in the United States last year and holds a U.S. lead over Toyota of about 560,000 so far this year. Globally, GM in 2007 remained the world's largest automaker, selling 9,369,524 vehicles worldwide -- about 3,000 more than Toyota.
Ford outsold Honda by about 850,000 and Nissan by more than 1.3 million vehicles in the United States last year.
Chrysler sold more vehicles here than Nissan and Hyundai combined in 2007 and so far this year.
Myth No. 2
They build unreliable junk.
Reality:
The creaky, leaky vehicles of the 1980s and '90s are long gone. Consumer Reports recently found that "Ford's reliability is now on par with good Japanese automakers." The independent J.D. Power Initial Quality Study scored Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Mercury, Pontiac and Lincoln brands' overall quality as high or higher than that of Acura, Audi, BMW, Honda, Nissan, Scion, Volkswagen and Volvo.
Power rated the Chevrolet Malibu the highest-quality midsize sedan. Both the Malibu and Ford Fusion scored better than the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.
Myth No. 3
They build gas-guzzlers.
Reality:
All of the Detroit Three build midsize sedans the Environmental Protection Agency rates at 29-33 miles per gallon on the highway. The most fuel-efficient Chevrolet Malibu gets 33 m.p.g. on the highway, 2 m.p.g. better than the best Honda Accord. The most fuel-efficient Ford Focus has the same highway fuel economy ratings as the most efficient Toyota Corolla. The most fuel-efficient Chevrolet Cobalt has the same city fuel economy and better highway fuel economy than the most efficient non-hybrid Honda Civic. A recent study by Edmunds.com found that the Chevrolet Aveo subcompact is the least expensive car to buy and operate.
Myth No. 4
They already got a $25-billion bailout.
Reality:
None of that money has been lent out and may not be for more than a year. In addition, it can, by law, be used only to invest in future vehicles and technology, so it has no effect on the shortage of operating cash the companies face because of the economic slowdown that's killing them now.
Myth No. 5
GM, Ford and Chrysler are idiots for investing in pickups and SUVs.
Reality:
The domestic companies' lineup has been truck-heavy, but Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and BMW have all spent billions of dollars on pickups and SUVs because trucks are a large and historically profitable part of the auto industry. The most fuel-efficient full-size pickups from GM, Ford and Chrysler all have higher EPA fuel economy ratings than Toyota and Nissan's full-size pickups.
Myth No. 6
They don't build hybrids.
Reality:
The Detroit Three got into the hybrid business late, but Ford and GM each now offers more hybrid models than Honda or Nissan, with several more due to hit the road in early 2009.
I supervised a loading dock and 21 UAW workers who worked approximately five hours per day for eight hours pay. They could easily load one third more rail cars and still maintain their union negotiated break times, but when I tried to make them increase production ever so slightly they sabotaged my ability to make even the current production levels by hiding stock, calling in sick, feigning equipment problems, and even once, as a show of force, used a fork lift truck and pallets and racks to create a car part prison where they trapped me while I was conducting inventory. The reaction of upper management to my request to boost production was that I should “not be naïve”.
We bought a 2005 Dodge pickup truck brand new. It's great. But it was assembled in Hermosillo, Mexico. (We found that out later when sorting through the pile of paperwork from the sale.) Our PT Cruiser was made in Mexico too.
dugg
I pile the miles on my vehicles, have to buy a new one every 3 years ( I put about 40k miles every year ) and have not had a problem with any vehicle I have bought in the past 15 years, I did blow an engine in my Ford Windstar, but it had 170k on it so I cannot complain...since i find myself at the car plants for work, I have to buy an american car, and the quality is comperable to any other car manufactured out there
The Union made you poor if anyone did not the people who chose to buy the kind of car they think is the better car. BTW, it's none of your business what kind of car anyone buys in this country. It is also not the taxpayer's responsibility to help you keep your retirement and/or 401K.
if you dummy's would have bought American cars instead of Jap cars we wouldn't be in this mess
Why should anyone pay $1,500 more for a car just to subsidize your family's health-care including Viagra?!
BTW, with your attitude I doubt I will ever want buy a UNION made car!
I drive a Toyota today, and I will drive a Toyota in the future.
You make me want to buy a union-made American car even less. I pray that don’t hand the US automakers a friggin bailout. Whiners don’t deserve it. union members were overpaid for the work they did, and whining about the retirement they hardly deserve is more icing onthe cake. Whiners anger me.
We didn’t make you poor, your damn union did by supporting RAT candidates who in turn pushed the subprime loan fiasco down our throats. My 401K is worth approximately 50% of what it was in August, can I get a government bailout so I can retire?
NO KIDDING!
Your Congress will decide the issue. I predict they will give the automakers billions. And no, they won’t ask us taxpayers first.
Chapter 11= Last hope for the auto industry.
I was around in the 60’s when the first Japanese cars started to enter the U.S. market and how arrogantly the auto executives surrendered the small car market.
Gradually the quality of the Japanese cars improved and the auto executives felt secure in owning the large and luxury car market. When the Japanese moved into that market Detroit still could make money from suv’s etc.
Now who builds small cars, luxury cars and suv’s and pick-ups and, AND is profitable?
Detroit opened an artery long ago and only chapter 11 has any chance of stopping or slowing the bleeding. But even that may not be enough
Same here. I’m on my third Toyota truck and not looking back.
On the J.D. Powers page Buick does well when all categories are added up, doing better than other GM products but Infiniti and Lexus appear to the winners when all categories are considered together.
The worst appears to be Saturn, supposedly the break from GM rigidity. Of course a Lexus costs a bit more than a Saturn too.
But as in any business volume of sales or quality matters little if the company isn’t profitable.
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