You make a good point Ernie. Diversification brought a lot of people that maybe did not fully understand the automobile industry. I have seen other companies get into fields they didn't fully understand and it turned into a disaster.

 

Yep-

and then there's Toyota. No finance arm. No Real Estate Arm. Zero aquisition aspirations (they prefer to let the indistry downsize itself). What are they thinking? They have their eye focused on only one ball- the one with "#1 worldwide producer" painted on it.

 

Actually Ernie Toyota's goal is to be the number one in transportation regardless of mode. This is there 50 year vision. That is the tell point do you know of an american company that even has a 10 year vision and does not revise it every 6 months based on what the market is doing.

 

Ford does need to stop gettng ridiculous with its cirrent offerings as well.

As one glossy rag (some car mag) put it best:

"The Aviator was FoMoCo's answer to a question that wasn't asked"

Now, with the Aviator due to become a gussied-up Escape.....for 2006, has that same scenario repeated itself? Heck, the Mariner might apply to that thought as well, but definitely a near $40K unibody bubble on wheels is a joke.

Geely group. The name slipped me, but here is what they are slated to sell early on:

http://www.federalgroupusa.com/index_2.htm

I don't know if my brother's dual fart-canned Tiburon is scared yet....and I doubt it would give my MGB a run (maybe, who knows) after that 2.3L/T5 swap is done....

 

Ironically this is where Ford make thier money...
Don't know about the rest of the American companies

 

You misunderstood what I was trying to say. You and I both know that all companies have recalls and not every car/truck is perfect. What I was saying is that the average guy on the street who has no true knowledge about the car/truck industry does not know that. All you ever hear from them is how if they purchase a foreign vehicle, they beleive, that it will never have to be repaired.

I was also stating the same thing you were when you said that they make a more reliable vehicle that has a load less recalls then any American vehicle. That's why I said that GM, Ford and Chrysler need to smartin up and learn from there mistakes. How many issues are companies like Ford hiding away from fixing because they are afraid of doing a recall?

- Chris

 

GM just got a little smaller by selling off EMD. They built the best locomotive but for some reason, I don't know why, couldn't out sell GE. Mismanaged most likely, so they sold it.

 

Mr. Lutz just pulled the plug on the 2008 rear wheeled drive mid-sized auto. So there may not be any new Camaro. Read this at www.detnews.com.

 

Someone earlier mentioned the R+D that went into failed bells and whistles, IE 4 wheel steering. It may just be me but I really don't even want Onstar, ABS that needs considerable maintenance, traction control, a DVD movie player, tire pressure sensors, or computerized ride control. About all I want on a vehicle is cruise control and a simple computerized fuel injected engine. I have no problem buckling my seatbelt so you could delete my airbag too. Passlock? If it doesn't recognize your key it takes 10 minutes to reset. OK I got all day.

I wonder how much extra money, weight and maintenance goes into a vehicle carrying all this extra garbage. What kind of vehicle would you end up with if this extra money was put into tires, suspension, ergonomics, and corrosion control? What kind of price would a vehicle fetch without this stuff?

My 1987 Jeep Cherokee weighs a tic over 3,000 lbs and has about 270,000 miles on it. I love it. My 1979 F-250 weighs about 4,000 lbs and if it had a modern FI engine, I would love it too. My 2001 Olds Alero GLS is a fine ride that drives me crazy only because of the inop ABS/traction control (didn't want it), Passlock (hate it), the original Goodyear Eagles (that don't even compare to the replacement Bridgestone Potenzas) and the intake manifold leak on the 3.4L that should have been recalled.

Did I mention my 7 relatives that work or have worked for GM made or still make crazy amounts of money? Must have slipped my mind.

 

GM has a long tradition of developing products and releasing them before they are complete and letting the consumer be their test bed. A few failed examples are the Turboglide transmission and air ride suspension of the 50's, the aluminum block engines and air cooled engines of the 60's, the diesel engines and aluminum engines (again with the Vega) of the 70's, the variable displacement engines (Cadillac 4/6/8) and FWD (early Citation) of the 80's, the quad 4 and the 4.8/5.3/6.0 piston slap problems (normal and not covered bny warranty per GM) of the 90's and the quadrasteer of today.

Many were good ideas but you can't release them before they are ready and get or maintain a reputation for quality. I've been looking for a used car (bought a traditional Town Car) but many of the warranty companies have a $500 surcharge if you want to cover a Cadillac with a Northstar engine and many shops refuse to work on them. There must be a reason.

And we wonder why they are in trouble. (and they agreed to buy FIAT and paid $2 billion to get out of the deal).

 

osbornk "GM has a long tradition of developing products and releasing them before they are complete and letting the consumer be their test bed."

Unfortunately they aren't the only one's guilty of that. That's pretty much ended since 2000 though.

 

I called this 6 months ago! Everyone took GM's side.
What is so different now?
Go ahead and look it up - GM out of business soon.

 

Spot on, but that average guy obviously has that perception for a reason...

 

landstroker51-" I called this 6 months ago! Everyone took GM's side.
What is so different now?
Go ahead and look it up"

I did- what post am I missing?

- GM out of business soon.

Not a freakin' chance. Chapter 11, maybe, but that's a different issue. And, if GM does go chapter 11, Ford will be forced to follow. You can quote me on that.

The Northwest Chapter of FTE
we don't get lost,
we just get found

 

If GM screwed up on the rest of it's product line like it did the full-size pickups, they wouldn't have had a $2B earnings miss. My math sez the Silverado/Sierra is selling 1:1 against the F-Series- there's a few threads going with links to the sales numbers.