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I believe we are nearing the end for the U.S.-headquartered auto industry, and good riddance. I have no sympathy for them; we struggled for decades in the south to get manufacturing, and the greedy unions would pitch fits when The Big 3 wanted to open up operations in non-union states like the Carolinas, or Georgia. Unions don't want "fair", they want no competition. They don't want a competitive wage, they want every penny they can get, and they want it from my wallet.
However, this isn't the end for the U.S. auto industry. Down here in non-union country, we have plants from Volkswagen, Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Honda, and things are humming along fine.
I have worked in the auto industry at the dealership level for 27 yrs. I am currently a small GM dealer Parts Manager. I can give you a little perspective from my end. The General is not as helpful to the dealers it has selling it product as it should be, and has gotten worse in recent years. To give an example of waste I have to stock 15-20 differant oil filters to have the coverage I need to service my customers. Why? Because the General keeps changing the oil filter for the same vehicle from year to year. Also the availability of some parts is awful. I have a 2008 HHR in my shop now that needs an elec wiring block , but the General has none and neither do any dealers in the US. I have the part on a VIP order but 24hrs after I ordered it the General still has no answer when I will recieve it. This is just two examples of waste and poor management by GM.
After 27yrs in this industry I am ready to make a change and use my management,accounting,inventory and marketing skills in another career.
To answer the question at hand I don't know if the big three will die but it will be a very rough time in the coming years....cut the waste and steamline is what is needed ..NOW ...really was needed years ago ..but you can't change the past.
Someone will buy them? Then why is no one buying Chrysler? GM was interested in Chrysler in part because they believed that they would be paid to take them. No one wants Chrysler, it is just a liability. The former big three will have no value unless they shed their retiree burden (through bankruptcy) and break the UAW stranglehold. If they do, who is going to support the millions of retirees who will suddenly have no insurance and no income? Are you advocating that we just let all of these people die and say "Too bad, have to sacrifice the few to benefit the many"?
Someone on this thread said That they do not want to see GM merge with Chrysler because that would result in job losses. This is true, but Chrysler is failing. What is your solution? Would you rather see them close? That would result in far more job losses than a merger.
If the foreign car makers end up being the only car makers, we lose a lot more than just manufacturing capability. The foreign car makers do manufacture parts of cars int he US, but where are the designs done? Where are the executives, and shareholders who receive and spend the company's profits? Where are the service industry needs located?
I am not sure what the solution to the problem is, but sitting back and letting the big three collapse and hope that the Foreign car manufacturers make up the difference is not a rational solution. We will end up not only with no manufacturing capability,y but with no design capability either. We need to figure out how to bring some of the business back to the US or we will end up a backwater has been country. We make almost nothing. We grow less and less each year. For now we provide the world with lawyers, account ans and management, but for how long? Once they have trained a sufficient number of their own service personnel what will we provide? Like England, we ea livng off the wealth of our past and slowly depleting that wealth. Our govenrment is too concerned with who "wins" and who gets the power and the pork to spend any time figuring out how to keep the country from backsliding further. What legacy are we going to leave our children?
I believe we are nearing the end for the U.S.-headquartered auto industry, and good riddance. I have no sympathy for them; we struggled for decades in the south to get manufacturing, and the greedy unions would pitch fits when The Big 3 wanted to open up operations in non-union states like the Carolinas, or Georgia. Unions don't want "fair", they want no competition. They don't want a competitive wage, they want every penny they can get, and they want it from my wallet.
However, this isn't the end for the U.S. auto industry. We have plants from Volkswagen, Nissan, Mercedes, BMW, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Honda, etc., and things are humming along fine.
Yes, thanks to servile southerners the Germans, Koreans and Japanese hold us in the same contempt we hold the Mexicans in as a source of cheap and compliant labor.
Yes, thanks to servile southerners the Germans, Koreans and Japanese hold us in the same contempt we hold the Mexicans in as a source of cheap and compliant labor.
Speak for yourself, I don't hold Mexicans in contempt.
They are burning cash so fast now with few sales and continued expenses that any or all of the three could be out of business within a year. They are looking for government loans to stay alive...
"A top General Motors Corp. (GM) executive on Wednesday said the next 100 days could represent the most crucial time in the history of the troubled company and entire U.S. auto industry."
It is amazing that they are burdened with more than 4 times as many retirees on full benefits than actual employees. That expense threatens not only current cash flow but the ability to develop and market cars because of the constant drag on finances.
No way that is going to happen ;the democrats want more vehicles under CAFE ;not less. They also want tp0o crackdown on commercial vehcile pollution by making diesel operate under stricker standard. They even made new regs that require all vehicles to be included in the same CAFE standards. Their MPG standards alone will eliminate many vehciles .
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