“Japanese and European carmakers are thriving.”
Not only that, but they have employees with benefits. Can you believe that?
The problems at the once big three go far beyond unions. Bad management is at the top of the list.
The US auto firms have had 35 years to adopt to a world market, but have continually planned very short term.
They sat by cranking out guzzler SUVs and short term profit, while Toyota put over 1,000,000 hybrids on the road (as an example).
Toyota now licesenses that technology to Ford and Nissan. Who do you think will have their own proprietary hybrid technology first, Nissan or Ford?
Nissan’s own hybrid tech is set to appear in 2009 and will replace the Prius-style licensed from Toyota that’s on cars like the Altima. I think Ford’s said theirs will appear in 2010.
I don’t blame the domestics for cranking out trucks and SUVs. Even Toyota and Nissan did that. What I do blame them for is not having the breadth of lineup that Toyota and Nissan had, especially given that they do have appropriate and competitive models in Europe - just not here.