Bailout of the Big 3

[El Kabong]

Detroit puts out good cars but it's too little too late for them. They need to cut back on the models and styles of cars that they make.


The new Mustang and Camaro look better than anything from Europe for the same price. Cadillac still puts out great cars.


The problem with GM is they can't make a profit easily, they owe too much to their former (and current) workers. It's not a problem of quality anymore (it used to be) it's a problem of the cars costing too much along with GM not making much profit at all and therefore they aren't able to offer great deals and warrenties that other companies can.

GM was built on quality cars for cheap prices with cheap parts, and good service....it's going to take a while to right the ship but it can be done Harley Davidson did it.

[CGM]

The big three respond too slow to changing market conditions. e.g. the price of gas goes up up up starting in about 2005, and they take an absolute pounding in the SUV side of the business. Now gas is low, and in a recession, sales of big ticket items like cars are the first to fall. IMO this responsiveness needs to improve.

Also, consumers are not that reponsive. They switch to Japanese cars like Toyota for reliability and fuel economy, they find that Toyota makes decent cars, and guess what, lots of those customers don't come back to the big three, even when the big three do make improvements to be more competitive with Japanese makes.

In principle I tend to think the private sector should solve their own problems, but now the stakes are so high, I really don't think there's any advantage at all in letting the big three fail. There should be a better answer.

[El Kabong]

If GM responds too slowly adding in government bureaucrats isn't going to help.


No business is too big to fail, this might sting but it's been a long time coming and we need to take our medicine and that way we'll come back bigger, better, and stronger with new products and new ideas. But I suppose that's just too much to ask. Bakruptcy would be cheaper and have a better effect than government interference

[CGM]

If GM responds too slowly adding in government bureaucrats isn't going to help.


No business is too big to fail, this might sting but it's been a long time coming and we need to take our medicine and that way we'll come back bigger, better, and stronger with new products and new ideas. But I suppose that's just too much to ask. Bakruptcy would be cheaper and have a better effect than government interference

Government assistance in the form of loan guarantees worked for Chrysler back in the day, I thought Lee Iaccoca did a great job in improving Chrysler's business model. In that case I think we can say that gov't assistance was a good thing. No reason why that sort of thing can't happen again.

You're right about beaurocracy though, that we don't need. But there should be a way of doing it right. Anyways, we shall see.

[Trainer Monkey]

If GM responds too slowly adding in government bureaucrats isn't going to help.


No business is too big to fail, this might sting but it's been a long time coming and we need to take our medicine and that way we'll come back bigger, better, and stronger with new products and new ideas. But I suppose that's just too much to ask. Bakruptcy would be cheaper and have a better effect than government interference

Government assistance in the form of loan guarantees worked for Chrysler back in the day, I thought Lee Iaccoca did a great job in improving Chrysler's business model. In that case I think we can say that gov't assistance was a good thing. No reason why that sort of thing can't happen again.

You're right about beaurocracy though, that we don't need. But there should be a way of doing it right. Anyways, we shall see.

Youve never worked on a Horizon or a K-car,sorry thats only half a joke,my now wife owned one of each,and I hated repairing either one of them,they were freaking nightmares to work on.

[El Kabong]

Good ol' K-Car hahaha. In the mid to late 1970's for some reason the American car industry took a major turn for the worse....quality was crap, the cars were ugly and they just thought "We've got a monopoly, nothing will ever go wrong".....surprise

[Trainer Monkey]

Good ol' K-Car hahaha. In the mid to late 1970's for some reason the American car industry took a major turn for the worse....quality was crap, the cars were ugly and they just thought "We've got a monopoly, nothing will ever go wrong".....surprise

More or less what happened this time,when gas was $1.42 a gallon everybody wanted an SUV that wasnt even really an SUV like a Tahoe,when gas hit $4.00 a gallon suddenly they didnt seem as popular,and Detroit didnt have a plan b kicking around,Japan did. Just like in the 70's

[CGM]

Good ol' K-Car hahaha. In the mid to late 1970's for some reason the American car industry took a major turn for the worse....quality was crap, the cars were ugly and they just thought "We've got a monopoly, nothing will ever go wrong".....surprise

Ok well if that's true then the consumer a big fact sucker, don't it? Fact is, the Kcar provided value for the money, and Chrysler came back quite nicely.

Your mid to late 70s remark tells me the big three did not adapt well to changing market conditions (The Energy Crisis) it took them a while to get a handle on both quality and fuel effficency in the same car. Including Chrysler. Iaccoca ran the show from 78-92. (late '70s onwards) The kcar was Iaccoca's idea.