Patoruzú and his loyal steed Pampero brought to you by Frank M. Pohole
Posted on 06/11/2005 6:46:30 AM PDT by voletti
Korean cars gave Detroit fits in the late '90s by undercutting domestic small cars on price and outdoing them on quality -- then moving up into other segments. Autos from China could provide more lower-cost competition for the Big Three at a time when GM and Ford Motor Co. (F ) are already reeling. That could cost them, along with Chrysler (DCX ), more market share and prod them to move more of their own production offshore.
How fast can the Chinese gear up? The way things are going, it won't take 20 years to match Toyota Motor Corp. (TM ) quality levels, as it did for the Koreans. And with Chinese auto assembly workers earning $2 an hour -- vs. $22 in Korea and nearly $60 in the U.S. for wages and benefits -- it may not be long before China has the wherewithal to start selling competitively priced cars overseas. "The Chinese are probably five or six years away from being able to sell a competent low-end car," says auto analyst Maryann N. Keller.
The Chinese government is putting its heft behind the export push -- subsidizing the export drive of such local players as Chery and giving the likes of Honda big incentives. Beijing also is nudging foreign auto makers to divert investment into export production so local partners can become familiar with managing foreign-exchange risk and global supply chains. It's also pushing domestic companies such as Chery, Geely Auto, Brilliance China Automotive (CBA ), and Shanghai Automotive Industry to develop their own brands overseas.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Did your neighbor also tell you that most of the problems are in the foreign made parts? GM like all other car companies has been forced to outsource their parts to third world countries. Please note GM scrapped these cars- didn't try to sell them. Just a little info for you...Japan is also suffering serious quality problems because they too have been forced to begin manufacturing parts in third world countries. Go ahead and bash GM, buy your crappy foreign car but remember a sinking economy (especially for the middle class)will sink your family also- in time. Tell me-in what industry do you suggest your children work? Perhaps, they could work in IT-wait It is being outsourced to India and other countries. Let's see I know -how about steel? Wait cheap foreign made steel has destroyed the steel industry. I guess they will have to flip burgers or work for the government. Perhaps (like me) they could work for a foreign company-15 workers are employed and the profits are sent to company headquarters every two weeks-that would be in Europe- my friend- where they employ hundreds of people.
And don't forget. That big trade deficit we have with China is not as bad as it looks. We buy their plastic toys. They bring those bucks back to the U.S. and buy U.S. Treasuries. Because they are a big buyer their presence in the market increases demand and raises the price of Treasuries. This is good. High price for Treasuries equals low interest for Treasuries and low interest for you when you want to refinance that mortgage at a low interest rate. Ending this marriage of convenience would cost us all in many ways.
Americans are going to have to make a lot of adjustments as the world grows ever smaller. We are no longer an isolated country. Nobody is. Mankind will have to learn to live and work together, like it or not. We will live together or die together. If I were a young person I would be looking toward China for investments.
This is untrue. Robotics are used in every car plant in the US...my husband works for GM in management. Unions have truly tried to work with management-giving concessions only to watch as incompetent CEO's give themselves fat raised.
I have a question about your Consumer Reports link. It lists the Toyota Prius as one of the most satisfying and the (replaced by the Cobalt) Cavalier as one of the least satisfying.
Now here's the question: Do you think Consumer Reports adjusts their rankings by sales volume? I don't. Toyota sells about 20,000 Priuses a year. Chevy sold 200,000 Cavaliers a year. Doesn't sound like an apples-to-apples comparison to me. In fact, ALL of the "most satisfying" small cars are niche market cars.
I happen to like the Aztec...myself. However any country that allows foreign countries to destroy complete industries deserves what they get. Where will jobs come from in the futures? I can tell you the jobs won't come from steel, garment, electronics or IT. Where will the jobs come from and how much will these jobs pay-enough to support the middle class?
It's less than 13%. That doesn't prevent union haters from demagoguing the idea that unions are destroying the country.
Really! Explain exactly how American workers can be expected to compete with those that earn two dollars an hour? Some prisoner labor is also employed in China. There is little concern for the envionment in China also thus saving companies billions of dollars. My husband is management, but we see the handwriting on the wall. It is the trade agreements which never benefitted the workers in this country and have been unfairly applied (anti US) which are destroying this country-not the unions.
about 4 years ago or so the orange county register reported that uc irvine was teaching the chinese how to market cars in the united states.
they had photos of the chinese out on beach blvd looking at american car dealerships.
Unions. I have a friend who is an engineer. She finally got fed up at GM and went to Honda.
I think most people would consider 20,000 a statistically significant sample. If we were surveying the 90 people who bought a Ferrari F430 I'd agree with you. :]
I am a GM wife. I am familiar with GM cars and policies. You have no idea what it is like. For example, a number of years ago (under trade laws) GM and Germany made an agreement about the number of Chevy Vans which could be sold in both countries. The Germans took so many and the US took so many. After the cars were build Germany reneged on the deal and refused to take the amount of cars agreed upon. These cars were scrapped as they were built to German specifications and could not be sold in the US Germany got away with this behavior, and they sold every single car in the US per their agreement which they never even honored. This is business as usual in the anti-US global world. GM is trying to lower costs in order to stay in business. They are trying to lower costs by using less expensive parts. Also the same press that hate America in general hates American business in particular because American business is the only thing which prevents socialism from flourishing in this country. Go ahead support the destruction of American business...but your children will live in slavery-socialism.
Right, but are they used as much as they could be, or have the unions held out for job protection benefits in every labor contract negotiation?
This is completely unfair. Honda is subsidized by their government...also they don't have to provide retirement and health benefits to the workers in their own country (government does this). They don't have the cost associated with running an American business. I suppose auto workers should work for minimum wage and have no health benefits....right?
Unions have conceded just about everything...robotics can not do every job...it doesn't work that way. Have you ever toured a modern car manufacturing plant?
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