nc211 Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Well, who here hasn't heard about GM? I will now eat my crow, as I was one of those who said the government would never let GM go bankrupt. I was wrong. Although, I do think it's the right move, sadly. Let's just hope this shakes the american automotive business to it's core, and they don't return with the same problems. GM's not "out", just down. I find this article below quite interesting. It's titled "Americans Don't Care About GM", written in the eyes of the workers. It's not too long. In it, there is one sentence that I think sums up the entire situation for GM in general, which led it to today. That is: “There was a moment in time when the company wasn’t run by car people,” http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home In my opinion, they never recovered from that sentence. And if the American population truly doesn't care if they go bankrupt, it's probably due to one too many burnt out alternators, leaking door seals on a $45k truck, broken this, rattle that, etc.. One too many problems to one too many customers. On a side note, I use to watch the Indy 500 as a kid, every year. I was a huge fan. Not until this year, did I actually sit down to watch it again. I remember a race where engine failure was a huge component of that race, where drivers would literally coast across the finish line because their engine had failed. This year, there was not one single engine failure during the entire race, not a one. I was really surprised, and even made the comment to my brother who was watching it with me "isn't it strange none of the Chevy or Ford engines have failed?". I kid you not, it wasn't 20 seconds later when the screen flashed information about the engines.....which were ALL built by Honda. Go figure. An American icon sporting event, powered by a competitive company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcrome04 Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 The Gov't "helped" GM and Chrysler... look at them... Ford did not reach into the Gov't cookie jar.. and look at them! Thank God Ford didn't get mixed up with government. I don't think GM will ever be the same. The Indy 500 should be strictly American! :D haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nc211 Posted June 2, 2009 Author Share Posted June 2, 2009 The Gov't "helped" GM and Chrysler... look at them... Ford did not reach into the Gov't cookie jar.. and look at them! Thank God Ford didn't get mixed up with government. I don't think GM will ever be the same. The Indy 500 should be strictly American! :D haha Yeah, you've got to hand it to Ford for being a bit better on the ball. You can thank the fact that they have a better balance between trucks/suvs and sedans. And Mazda too, for which Ford utilizes their ownership shares for management training experience. I read somewhere that Ford requires any junior executive manager coming up the ladder to spend like 3 years with Mazda first, to understand their culture and focus for manufacturing. As symbols of American automotive might, I like GM and Ford, but Ford has a more "family" feel to it, as where GM has a more "Corporate" feel. Chrystler has become the red-headed step child. All I know, is that the next decade has the potential to really razzle and dazzle us car nuts! I hope our country can step up and win again. I wouldn't mind a Ford car in my garage actually. But, my wife would. We'll see, we'll just have to wait and see. Bankruptcy isn't always a bad thing, as it can give a sufficating company breathing room to readjust and readapt. Just look at the airline industry. How many times have they gone into bk? They've been mostly "in" than "out" of bankruptcy over the past 9 years, and yet have had the safest period of travel in their entire history. The Indy 500 should be strictly American! :D haha That's called NASCAR. And if anyone has ever witnessed the missing links of man kind, at Talledega Motor Speedway....well, Tokyo doesn't sound too bad actually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcrome04 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 I think Ford is going to be the only American company that does any razzling and dazzling of nuts :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW03ES Posted June 5, 2009 Share Posted June 5, 2009 And its not because GM and Chrysler took Government bailouts that has caused the bankruptcies, its because they were in a much more precarious situation than Ford ever was. I just wish they had done this sooner and saved us the money... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nc211 Posted June 5, 2009 Author Share Posted June 5, 2009 And its not because GM and Chrysler took Government bailouts that has caused the bankruptcies, its because they were in a much more precarious situation than Ford ever was. I just wish they had done this sooner and saved us the money... Amen to that! Funny thing is, the first round of bailouts to these two were to prevent bankruptcy...yet a few 10's of billions of dollars later to the taxpayer....and what happened? I think GM should offer a DEEP discount to every tax paying citizen in this country that wants to buy one of thier cars. You bring in proof that you're a tax paying citizen in good standing, and they knock off 40% right from the start, as a thank you gesture. Amen, Amigo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcrome04 Posted June 8, 2009 Share Posted June 8, 2009 Gov't should stay out and let the business run it's course. GM and Chrysler could have gone bankrupt WITHOUT our billions a long time ago and saved us a lot of time (and money). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW03ES Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Hindsight is always 20/20. We just didn't know...and we still don't know what the effect of a GM bankruptcy would be on the economy or their employees. As it is their employees and retirees are really going to suffer because this helps GM get out of some of their pension obligations, it keeps them from having to pay out to lawsuit awards. Lots of consequences. Also the economy right now is a lot better than it was 6 months ago, credit is free-er. They may be more apt to come out of the BK now than they would have been then. I still think the best choices were made as could have been made at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amf1932 Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 So, I'll pose this question......are any of you Lexus owners going to buy an American car in the future?? ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocco B. Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Most likely not, BUT America has come out with some good cars lately. In MOTOR TREND they ranked the new CTS-V over the M5, thats a pretty big feat. But, I don't know if I will ever talk myself into buying one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcrome04 Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 So, I'll pose this question......are any of you Lexus owners going to buy an American car in the future?? ;) I would love to. I can't afford a new car right now because of other responsibilities I have at the moment.. but I would really love to buy an American car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEXIRX330 Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Gov't should stay out and let the business run it's course.GM and Chrysler could have gone bankrupt WITHOUT our billions a long time ago and saved us a lot of time (and money). Exactly. What we have done in my opinion is giving the companies billions of dollars and turned them over to the Unions that have ran them in the ground. And I am not saying that unions are all bad. But this is just ridiculous...AIG ridiculous too...this government spends billions of dollars like it is monopoly money. Oh wait it is...to them. And now lets fix health care...what a joke. Sure I may consider a Caddy in the future. But not in the market for a car right now since I just bought the X5 a little while back. Now did I consider an American car...yes and I did look at some. Looked at the Escalade and the Navigator. The Navigator was not my type of SUV did not like the styling of it. My neighbor had an Escalade kept it for less than a year he hated it. I have another neighbor that just bought his wife a new CTS...beautiful car she seems happy with it. I love the look of the new Escalade but when looking at an 06 or 07 vs. my 06 X5. I think I made the right choice. I would have loved to have the extra room that the Escalade offers but I was not willing to pay more money for a pre owned Escalade then what I could get an pre owned BMW X5 for...plus got .9% financing on the BMW...and BMW ate my entire lease out of the Benz...and the Caddy dealers would not even consider that. So yes I would consider buying an American Car...if the price is right. That is saying a lot...considering I have sworn there will never be another American car in my driveway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blake918 Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Gov't should stay out and let the business run it's course.GM and Chrysler could have gone bankrupt WITHOUT our billions a long time ago and saved us a lot of time (and money). Couldn't have said it better myself! Hopefully with these bankruptcies, GM and Chrysler will regain control from the corporate terrorists.....opps, I mean UAW, who currently control them. I've toured Bowling Green and The Rouge, so I've seen these UAW slugs in action. How they get compensated north of $70/hour is something I'll never, ever understand. The speed and quality of work that they produce would make them $20/hour workers at the most, w/o benefits. It's truly amazing that any of the cars actually function when they reach the end of the line. If Wagoner had to go, Gettelfinger should have walked out the door with him. They should just let Chrysler die. They haven't produced any cars people actually want in God knows how long. Taking Iococca's cars, well that was classy. They should have been offering him a management job instead. GM is slowly catching on with the new Malibus and CTSs; now they need to revamp the rest of the line with the same care that they gave to the CTS & Malibu and operate only under 3 brands: Cadillac, Chevy, and Buick (Buick, mostly for the sake of the Chinese). So, I'll pose this question......are any of you Lexus owners going to buy an American car in the future?? ;)I really want a 2009 Taurus LTD, but with the amount of repairs I've put in to my LS just in the first 11 months, I have to drive it for a while longer to put all of those repairs to use. I know Ford will still be here when I'm ready to buy one of their products! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SW03ES Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 So, I'll pose this question......are any of you Lexus owners going to buy an American car in the future?? ;) Yeah...I would. In fact I really like the Lincoln MKS and would seriously consider it instead of an ES350... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomWoodLexus Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 American Car? Funny! Almost ALL those cars you speak of are made in other countries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcrome04 Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 American Car? Funny! Almost ALL those cars you speak of are made in other countries. <_< People that play that card annoy me. hahahaha I would love the new Taurus SHO. 3.5L TT v6 B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky13 Posted June 14, 2009 Share Posted June 14, 2009 American Car? Funny! Almost ALL those cars you speak of are made in other countries. Don't start. You can split a hair 10 different ways but why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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