Ditto.
Bought my last GM car in 1979....
They build CRAP!!!!!
Once the decision is made to restrict the $350 Billion (+another 350 NOT) to the Financial Industry, other industries will quit wasting their time whining about bailouts and get back to work! You’re in good company with other great Americans who have just stumbled a bit. On a clear day you’ll always see GM! and when they put the union coffin behind them, eventually they’ll be as competitive as the Japanese! (full disclosure—I’d never buy a Japanese car)
Wait, you mean that those companies aren't around anymore? I guess America can survive.
Union Thugs spent $ 400,000,000 of stolen union member money getting Obama elected. They are simply demanding that they get what they paid for.
More like Tanks for the Memories.
“The strength of the union and the weakness of management made it impossible to conduct business properly at any level. For instance, I had an employee who punched in his time card and then disappeared. The rules were such that I had to spend hours documenting that this man was not in his three foot by three foot work area. I needed witnesses, timed reports, calls over the intercom and a plant wide search all documented in detail. After this absurdity I decided to go my own route; I called the corner bar and paged him and he came to the phone. I gave him a 30 day unpaid disciplinary lay off because he was a “repeat offender”. When he returned he thanked me for the PAID vacation. I scoffed, until he explained: (1) He had tried to get the lay off because it was fishing season; (2) The UAW negotiated with GM Labor Relations Department to give him the time WITH PAY.”
Oh yeah - unions. They have such a valuable purpose...
I would like to buy a new car once again in my lifetime. The prices are outrageous. I drive a Toyota pickup with 250,000 miles on it. My old Ford Thunderbird is sitting dead in the garage at 100,000 with the inside door handle broken off, the seatbelt nonfunctional, the lights non functional and an expensive overheating issue.
I thought that Ford started mass production with the idea that he would make an affordable automobile for the average family. Perhaps the big three need to go back to that idea.
The good news is that the Ford Family will have to sell the Detroit Lions, so maybe finally they can win a game.
GM Spends $17 Million Per Year on Viagra
Jobs bank programs — 12,000 paid not to work
Big 3 and suppliers pay billions to keep downsized UAW members on payroll in decades-long deal.
Chapter 11 is probably the only way anything can be salvaged.
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.
Your Congress will decide the issue. I predict they will give the automakers billions. And no, they won’t ask us taxpayers first.