As a stock holder and truck owner I just want to say that I am proud that Ford has not taken a bail out.

 

Ditto that. I hope they can stay away from the hand-out, the buying public should reward them by purchasing a Ford vehicle.

 

I agree with both of you. I think Ford has been proactive whereas GM and Chrysler have been largely reactive. Even if I wasn't a Ford guy, I would be buying from them simply because they have chosen to trudge through the "hard times" on their own.

That said, I hope that both GM and Chrysler are able to work through this without falling apart. There are hundreds of thousands of jobs on the line for everybody from the white collar workers right down to the dealership staff. Not to mention all of the workers in the supply industry that would be out of work if they fail.

Let's hope that things pick up and the economy is restored soon. And, here's to Ford for struggling through.

 

did you'all just watch Larry King live with FORD's CEO ???

good interview..

had a good laff at my wife... when they asked " would u buy a new Ford" she instantly pointed at me, blurted out " HE would"...

to which i replied "only if teh bank will lend me the money", hahaahaha...

 

I have a fleet of Fords in my drive but I make mostly parts for Chrysler at work. Things are scary as hell around here. I know a lot of people don't want there tax dollars going to Chrysler or GM but if or when they fail it WILL be felt by everyone. In one shape or form the industry that supplies these two giants touch a whole slew of people. Obama might want to be careful on how hard he pulls the chain, there is no turning back after it's done.

 

bubbasz1:

In yesterday's USA TODAY an article about getting past it. The dealer's want the issue off the front page. From what I read, GM's dealer warranty claims in process would be eliminated and not paid. That only represents the GM unpaid claims up to the point of filing of bankrupcy.

I also saw part of Bill Ford's interview last night. Deep down it feels good to know your product is in better shape than the competition; BUT, imagine how bad the GM and CHRYSLER owner's feel.

There are no winners in this situation.

 

When is enough, enough? GM just got another $5bn and now the Gov is pushing them even further with mandatory restructuring.

I never knew that the folks in Washington were so qualified to operate a big company like GM. Unfortunately people, the bill ALWAYS comes due. Bailing out the Banks, Autocompanies will only prolong the effect of this failure.

GM will now be forced by the Government to produce "energy efficient" matchboxes which no one wants (majority). Notice that the latest round of firings are all non-union salary. Obama is simply throwing a favor back to the AWU. GM can't pay people who don't produce, and Mgmt is part responsible for agreeing to unsustainable contracts.

But look who is left with the burden of those decisions! TAX PAYERS! (the %50 who do pay)

In short, I am soooooooo thankful that Ford saw the writing on the wall and opted out.

 

Another article I read in the newspaper today is that the "STICK SHIFT" is a thing of the past. I have read in this forum that "no more stick shifts" is also the governments fault. Well it just seems that auto/truck customers are just not buying manual transmissions.

And, guess what, automatics get better fuel economy. So is this the governments fault? When we shave, look in the mirror. We are the people represented by the government. When enough people get fed up, things do change. Watch the news and see what is happening.

 

We all have valid points, I myself feel the goverment is going to fail two auto companies and I'm not quite shure why, but I'm low on the totem poll. Just as a FYI, you recall chrysler before the germans bought them. They had cash reserves and was selling lots of cars. Our buddy from Germany came over and stole Chrysler clean of everything and then sold them off. Sort of a cleansing of an American icon German style.

 

You know, I'm really not upset about that because the torqshift is a damn good tranny and I would much prefer to have an auto now then a manual. I hate shifting in town pulling a trailer, not fun. Please, when someone with an auto has custom tuning, there isn't any way a human can bang thru the gears quicker then a computer(if tuning is done properly that is).

 

That's a fact Tex, that's why all the fast drag cars are auto , they can't be beat, the only problem is some people like a stick and they won't be able to get what they want. Like it's not a huge deal but it is still a deal that shouldn't happen.

 

I think that the phase out of the stick shift is a combo of increase in auto trans efficiency and reduced costs. I'm not that old but I can remember that the manual was standard on vehicles and an Auto transmission was more money and the longevity was less than that of the manual transmission.

Plus as Americans we enjoy a high standard of living, whens the last time you saw a crank window?

 

My brotherinlaw works at the GM Tech center in Warren(Ghost Town). He's still there because he's working on the volt. But he is thinking he won't be there for long. There is nobody there, nothing but empty desks, lights off. You can't bring new vehicles to market if the core of your company is gone, I guess they can outsource the design work to Toyota and Kia and then we can drive around in those little third world three wheel taxis.

We must remember that until our boys in congress appeased freddie and fannie. Then our friends on wall street got greedy with the big bucks they making in oil and They brought the bus to a complete stop. They were selling car's, and staying afloat, somewhat, but nothing left but to see where the chips fall.

 

Thread moved to GAD

 

If you look at the history of Chrysler after the FIRST government bailout in the early 70's, they bought Jeep and Eagle, basically scrapped stuff they didnt want and steal the rest of the technology from those two. Most of Chryslers "innovative" ideas of the 70's and 80's was stolen from those 2 companies. Meanwhile, why didnt the government bailout AMC and help them as well??? But back to Chrysler, now in the late 80's early 90's they were running out of ideas again. So what do they do? Go to Mitsubishi and have them help them out with more technology and components like engines and trans (Remember the Stealth??? That was a Mitsu 3000GT dumbed down) The Prowler, Chip Foose came up with that design back when he was studying to become a car designer. So Diamler basically did to Chrysler what they did to other companies, but now Diamlers cars are turning into junk because of it.

I hate to see the millions of people that would loose their jobs as a result of Chrysler failing, but I say good riddance to a bad company. They have until April 30th now to get things straightened out, if not no more money from the government.

Why should the American tax payer pay for someones mistakes in running a at the time "private or publicly traded" company? Part of capitalism is to let the good companies (like Ford) succed and the bad ones to fail and go away. Why do we need to pay for someone elses stupidity? We are going to be paying for this for the rest of our lives, for our childrens lives and most likely our grandchildrens lives. No one is learning from history. I was taught early on in my school days thay if you fail to learn history, you are doomed to repeat it. Well here we go again, bailout #2 for Chrysler. And for what, they will probably be back here again in 20 to 30 years if they survive thru this.