which automaker do you think is best off out of these:

*FORD
*GENERAL MOTORS
*TOYOTA

Im asking this question because im in a program through my technical school that allows high school students to participate in a paid internship. also another reason is that the last thing i want to happen is to get a job at one dealership that is listed above and then have it fold on me. hopefully some people out there have some food for thought on which one i should work for. My first choice will be ford just because i own one and that just kind of makes sense in my opinion. let me know what you think guys. thanks.

 

If GM closes thier doors for nine weeks like they say they are, the GM dealers may have no cars to sell.

So I wouldn't choose that one.

Toyota's profits go to Japan not the US, and are like all import companies in the fact that they are wringing the last drops of blood from our economy before it goes south, so I wouldn't choose them either.

Guess all you are left with is Ford.

 

This question is too vague and irrelevant toward your situation. Whether or not a dealership you're working at closes is more dependent on the community, local costs and employment rates, the dealership's management, the services offered, and the dealership's sales. It's not as correlated to what's going on at headquarters as you are assuming. I'm not saying there is no correlation, what I'm saying is there are more direct and localized factors you should consider. If you still want to know what's going on, read the news and Yahoo's stock screener and find out for yourself.

 

If this paid internship is sponcered by the car maker do not worry about which dealer may or may not close. Get the certified hands on experience. Then you are qualified to go to any dealer and apply as a full pay line tech. Who is the sponcer of this program? Dont forget you dont have to lock in to any make or model for the rest of you life now while you are in a training program. When you apply for a mechanic job at a dealer they want to know 2 main things. Number one is your hands on experience and 2 any certification/factory training /tech school etc you have to back it up...Then its 100% up to the mechanic to work at flat rate (by the job and paid a percentage) or fidle around and not make anything.....Big money is there to be made,,,,BIG MONEY................................if you got the skills and all of the tools.

 

Toyota...by a country mile.

Ford is second...GM is last.

The Wall Street Journal, Standard & Poor, most of the autopress expect GM to go bankrupt within the next several weeks.

Chrysler too...and if Chrysler goes bankrupt, it won't be Chapter 11, it will be Chapter 7 = the company will be sold off...piece by piece...for peanuts.

Chrysler has until April 30th to merge with another company, or Obama will not give them anymore bailout bucks = our taxpayer dollars.

btw: There are 6100 GM dealers in the US and Canada. Since GM sales are 45% LESS this year than last year, the dealers have plenty of inventory to sell.

Enough to last them...for months.

Sales do not increase when automakers go bankrupt...they decrease, because people are afraid they'll get stuck with an orphan.

There have been over 2500 makes of cars sold in the US. How many remain today?

 

And that's part of the reason why this country is dying financially. If we keep sending our money overseas, we eventually won't have any left.

I'm sure someone will say how the toyotas are made here and what not but that is pretty far from the truth. The most American made Toyota is the Tundra. It is ASSEMBLED in the US out of 85% JAPANESE parts. 100% of the profit goes to Japan. The funding needed to support the American assemblers jobs is a fraction of what is sent back to Japan.

They are slowly killing us and we need to keep our money here.

Yes, that was my angry rant for the night... LOL

 

Ford
GM
Toyota

Sorry, I have nothing but contempt for the Japanese automakers, not a huge fan of GM, but we need them to survive.

 

Your choice of who to be paid by has no effect on their ability to extract money from US consumers, but does affect your own bottom line. If you work at a Toyota dealer and spend the profit on Fords, you are even diverting some revenue to Ford from Toyota.

A job isn't a lifetime commitment, just a job. You might consider working a variety of brands both foreign and domestic, which would give you a variety of experience. There are many very prosperous used car dealers who do all their work in-house. Multi-brand experience pays for them and they get to be independent of the manufacturers (and of current credit problems, because they finance in-house too).

Think about the future and about more than just being a mechanic. You might own your own business one day and profit from your varied career beforehand.

 

Ford
Toyota (definatly not the trucks though)
GM

GM is closing their plants for 9 weeks this summer, it has been confirmed.
Toyota is also seeking money from the Japanese government. Their sales here in the US are whats basically helping them out.

 

You obviously haven't looked at the North American parts content on a Toyota's window sticker recently. I suggest you do.

The North American parts content of a US assembled Camry is 77%, it's 67% for Tundra's which are assembled in Evansville Indiana and San Antonio TX.

In contrast, the Ford Fusion is assembled in Mexico, its NA parts content is 30%.

The profits go to Japan? That's hogwash, over 90% of the profits go to ToMoCo stock holders.

I'm no fan of Toyota, have never owned one, but facts are facts.
---------------------------------------------------------------
The OP asked which automaker is better off. I assume he meant better off FINANCIALLY.

Ford is not the answer.

While Ford is in the best shape of the so-called Big Three, and did not ask for bailout money, the only reason for that is...Ford put up ALL the company assets worldwide in 2006 to get a 23 billion dollar loan.

That loan money, the sale of Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin (which totalled less than 3 billion dollars), is keeping the wolf away from Ford's door.

Bottom line: Ford is mortgaged to the hilt.

If the economy does not improve by December, 2009...Ford will absolutely need a bailout, because that's how long Ford's automotive cash will last...which is now approximatly 9.5 billion dollars.

btw: Jaguar never made ONE CENT of profit for FoMoCo.

It is estimated that Ford LOST 20 billion dollars on Jaguar alone.

 

Dont see how any foreign product is helping us. The batterys we get for cars are made in Mexico. Money goes to mexico there. Import cars that are built here doesnt change the fact the money goes to the company and the company is based in another country.

Dealerships how ever selling import cars are not diverting money from import cars to workers that will then spend it on domestic cars. Dealerships are US owned businesses that buys the cars from the factorys then sells them. The dealership tacks on a few grand more so they make money but the money that the car make sold the vehicle for is 100% going to the company that built the car. The factories how ever are different if cars are assembled here then the company pays for that but with how much those cars are selling for it wouldnt make a big deal.

All I have to say is exclude any import from your list. Stick to domestic`s thats why were in the problem were in now is cause we are relying on getting stuff from other countrys and sending our money to them where in the past we exported all our stuff and their money came here.

But on a interesting note I saw a 60 min episode were they were talking bout how the people in Japan prefer Ford trucks over Toyota trucks and all that. Something about the American made trucks looked better and were built better.

How about we check out some cars that are domestics instead. I can go to any american built american car (Ford,Chrysler, Dodge, Chevrolet, Pontiac, ect) and point out parts that clearly says on them Made in Mexico, Made in Tailand, Made in Canada, Made in China, Made in Japan,ect. So just cause the import cars are supposedly using 67 or 70 percent american parts doesnt mean those parts were made here. It could be 67 - 70 percent american assembled parts for all we know.

Hell I think the starters on chrysler`s are bought from Toyota or Honda or something like that. And the Corvette has parts off of a import car that GM buys. Cant remember what it is but we were shown one at the tech classes.

 

How many Ford, Chrysler and GM vehicles are actually assembled in the US?

About 60%.

The rest are either assembled in Mexico, Canada....and in the case of GM, add South Korea and Europe.

About 15% of all US dealerships are foreign owned.

In Japan, 100% of all dealerships are Japanese owned, because that's a Japanese law.

By law, the country of origin, if not US made, must be listed on merchandise sold here.

Next time you buy Ford parts, check out the country of origin printed on the package.

Twenty years ago, 50% of Ford parts were Canadian made. Today, more replacement parts come from Mexico than Canada...and some parts are trickling into the US from China.

Ford, GM and Chrysler not only have parts plants located in China, but assembly plants as well.

Stick to demestics? GM is close to bankruptcy, Chrysler will be fortunate to make it to May 1st.

If Chrysler does not find a merger partner by then, they will not receive any more bailout bucks from the Obama Administration and will be forced to file for bankruptcy.

It will be Chapter 7 liquidation, not Chapter 11.

 

Ok so how about we do what you are implying and sell off all domestic cars and go buy import cars and really DRIVE that last nail in and make Ford, Chrysler, GM go under. ONLY thing that can save them is if people will BUY DOMESTIC and stop buying imports. It will give them extra cash.

Chrysler having to file is a problem cause of the incompetent president the people elected. All he does is keep blaimin bush for the problems when in fact this jerkoff has done nothing but made things worse than improve them and keep blaiming his presidessor after being president for so many months now.

 

I'm not implying anything, I'm stating facts.

If GM and Chrysler had not received bailout money from the Bush Administration, GM would have filed for Chapter 11 in January, Chrysler, Chapter 7 in March.

The Obama Administration (I voted for McCain, btw) has given Chrysler 30 days to merge with another automaker, or they will not receive another cent of US taxpayer money.

The clock is ticking...Chrysler has until midnight April 30th.

Chrysler having to file Chapter 7 is not the fauilt of Obama, it's Chrysler's incompetent leadership that got them into this mess.

Their sales have dropped over 70% since 2005, they have no new products waiting in the wings. They signed a working agreement with Nissan to build a small car for them.

Chrysler...in turn will build a new Titan for Nissan (Why bother? No one is buying the terd)...agreements which will be nullified if Chapter 7 is initiated.

btw: Check out what it says on line three of my signature.

In June 2008, I bought a new Fusion (made in Mexico), last October the wife bought a new Edge (made in Canada).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When was the last time you bought a new Ford?

The Fusion is the 10th new Ford I've bought new since March 1965:

1965 F100, 1968 F250, 1971 F100, 1979 F150, 1988 F150, 1992 F150, 2004 F150.

1979 Thunderbird, 1983 LTD, 2008 Fusion.
-----------------------------------------
How many shares of Ford stock have you bought recently?

I bought 4,000 shares in December 2008, giving me 40,000 shares total.

I'd be willing to bet that more than than 80% of all the registered FTE members have no Ford stock, have never bought any, don't plan on buying any.

Peeps b!tch everyday here on FTE about Ford's financial condition....but I'd also be willing to bet...that less than 40% have bought a new Ford...ever.

They also b!tch about dealership parts prices, so instead, buy the parts from autoparts stores.

Most parts sold today by autoparts stores are made in China.

One other thing...I do NOT shop at Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart or anyplace else that sells mostly foreign made merchandise.

I try and buy US made goods...which is getting tougher by the day.

Outside of two computers, two TV sets, two 2008 Fords and one Glock...almost everything else 'round here is US made.

 

Quick question - how is American-made parts content in newly-manufactured vehicles quantified? Is it by weight, cost, quantity, etc?