"Ford and GM have tried to embrace lean production methods, but as their market share shrinks, the legacy of the past looms larger. The U.S. firms need to shed large numbers of employees, but the main way to do that under "life-time employment" union contracts has been to encourage early retirement. This has solved one problem -- too many active workers. But it created a second -- too many retired workers for the active workers to support."
Sigh.
americans working for Japanese auto makers in the US earn good wages - but they do not earn the level of wages and most notably retirement benefits of UAW workers. and the japanese's US workforce is much younger then Ford and GMs, a big advantage in terms of wages and worker productivity.
GM is making much better cars these day - they still have some "duds" to be sure - but the new Caddys, the two new Buick sedans, the Corvette and the Solstice roadsters - are all very good.
Those are certainly real "back-end" causes, but you can't discount the consumer perspective:
I see 2 dealerships, one with cool cars at fair prices... the other has overpriced crap and plays shady games to compensate for it.
Guess which dealer I'll buy from...
It was in 1981 when the import restrictions became law that I swore never to buy another GM car, and I have not. As soon as the law passed, GM, who had fought the unions with the threat of Japanese compeition, turned around and gave the company managers huge bonuses and jacked up the price of cars.
Never again, GM.
GM's biggest money making division is GMAC. They are now a finance org whose secondary focus is automobile manufacturing. They have totally forgotten what their primary industry should be, making good looking, functional and desirable autos the public likes.
I have always thought that the decline in GM started when they made common size cars between divisions look the same. The Chevelle, LeMans/GTO, Buick Gran Sport, etc. This is precisely when bean counters took over and put the CAR people in the back seat. I think this is why Lee was so successful at Chrysler, he was the last of the car guys to run a major auto company in the US.
Last but not least, I think when GM got rid of Fischer Body Division was the decline of the GM styling and fit and finish quality.
In the past 5 years our family has had 3 new Ford products, one Honda, one Toyota, one Nissan, one Saturn and one BMW.
Ford service is at the bottom of the heap. The most problem-free Ford is our Ranger, which is actiually a rebadged Mazda. The Mustang is a dog. Three engine rear seals and counting @ only 25K miles.
Saturn service is next.
Then BMW.
Then Honda.
Nissan and Toyota are at the top of the list for dealer attitudes, service, and vehicle quality.
A vehicle is more than just the car itself, it is the sum of design, reliability, and dealer service.
While the critics may find the design of Japanese cars boring, what many consumers want is a boring car that just keeps on working. Lasts like a mother-in-law's curse.
We get $30 oil changes at the dealer. And they check out everything else during that oil change. When they find something wrong, it is always under warranty and they just go ahead and fix it, since the cost to us is zero.
Ford is always trying to weasel out of their warranty. They are not getting any more of my business.
No, the real problem is WCF owning a football that is being run by a idiot named Millen.
Is the unionism not the very same kind of problems we face with the Socialist Security System??
AND, wouldn't it have been better had the unions allowed individuals to accumulate and compound their savings in individual accounts that could never be fritterd away by others they have no control over, like the unsecured loans to the mob or just the sticky finger syndrome so many union bosses have been prosecuted for?
SS, Unionism, the Fed Resv, the ICC, the FCC, ad infinitum are all just measures to enrich and empower elites from hard working citizen's wallets.
Hiring Matt Millen.....
That's what bad decisions are supposed to result in: Failure!
If not, two things happen:
First, bad policies and practices are not eliminated, because they didn't hurt enough.
Second, the firm's failures must be paid for by somebody else. In the USA, that means you and me; John Q. Taxpayer.