Profitability was a big part of what got them in this. Large cars were what they were making money at, people were buying them, and they were the only vehicles that could be padded enough to cover the UAW's demands. The big three were making cars and trucks that covered both bases, made money and people were buying them. How is this a bad model to follow while you try to restructure like Gm and Ford were doing before the s*** hit the fan?
When the oil prices shot through the roof many people expected what has happened to occur, it was a bubble and it was going to burst. The problem is it happened coupled with the stock crash and money constraints all at the same time.
I am not saying that the execs aren't to blame, they have done some dumb-assed things too, but the major problems are the unions and the contracts negotiated years before most of these guys ever saw the inside of an office.
I am a supplier to these guys, lived most of my life in the Detroit suburbs and just about everyone I knew growing up was tied into the auto industry one way or another.
Not a single person, not one, that I knew had anything good to say about the unions and could have told you 20+ years ago this outcome of bankruptcy was going to come over the pensions and healthcare without a major concession by the unions, it was etched in stone.
Detroit, day or night is it as dangerous as everyone says it is? What are the areas to avoid?/Just Asking - seoul62.....