Re: Ford bail out

On Dec 20, 2:43 pm, "RickyBobby" <nasca...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
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On Dec 18, 10:18 pm, "armpit" <armarmpit...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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On Dec 18, 1:40 pm, "Raymond O'Hara" <raymond-oh...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
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Ford CEO said that Ford doesn't need any bailout money. How could
they
be
better off than GM? One thing might be that GM makes too many
different
cars and they all cost millions to design and build.

most of those "different cars" are on the same platform a the
differences
are just cosmetic.

Ford has the Ford 150 and 250 trucks - pretty hard to beat, consumer-
wise...

==================

Ford has also sold about a bazillion Mustangs as well.

(Love the Mustang. But I loved my 'Vette, too.)

Interesting new print ad - a full-page Chevy ad in my new Better Homes
& Gardens, claiming (I'm sure it's accurate) that they have more
models with x (I think 30 mpg) highway mileage than Honda, Nissan,
Toyota, VW, etc. The problem is, they have too many models, period.

N.

They have entirely too many models. And each and every one of them costs
a ton of money to make, even if nobody buys them. The slow selling Chevy
Cobalt comes in four distinct flavors, two door, two door supercharged,
four door, and four door supercharged. How many four door supercharged
Cobalts do you think will be sold in 2009? My guess would be about 137.

For every Mustang or Charger or Malibu success story they have had a
dozen Prowlers or SSRs or Thunderbirds that slowly but surely have driven
them to the brink of bankruptcy.

A lot of people get sidetracked into debating the hourly cost or
retirement cost of UAW workers. That is real money they are talking
about but if the Big Three still sold most of the vehicles in this
country the volume of sales would have made the hourly worker cost a
non-factor.

Outside of the half ton and heavy duty pick up truck 95% of their vehicle
nameplates since 1990 have sold like crap and have been discontinued. Or
at least 85%. All of Olds for sure, all of Pontiac, all of Buick, and so
on.

So what vehicles do sell? People must be driving around in something
with a nameplate on it....

Camry
Accord
Mustang
Corolla
Civic
F-150
Prius
Altima
Silverado
Jetta

In other words, vehicle nameplates that have been around for years and
have a strong reputation for value and providing a satisfying ownership
experience.

Why do the Aveo and Cobalt not sell any better? Because nobody has ever
heard a good word spoken about either one of them. It does not matter is
they both get 30MPG on the highway. People buy what they trust, not what
they never heard of.

Would the Buick Lucerne be selling better if is were called the Buick
LeSabre? Yes, it would. I understand that and you understand that but
Buick does not understand that.

There are a whole lot of factors that have driven the Big Three to beggar
status. It is not just 30highway MPG and it certainly is not just
nameplates and it is not mainly UAW labor costs and it is not just the
fact that a Civic at 200K miles is a ten times better car than a Cobalt
brand new. It is the sheer incompetence in the Big Three boardrooms over
the past twenty or thirty years.

The was no boardroom incompetence at Benz, BMW, Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai,
Honda, or VW. They do not have incompetent executives and they do not
try to market laughably bad vehicles either.

Instead of making silly assed Prowlers and SSRs and the like they should
have had a diesel line and a propane line even if they only sold them in
certain regions.

They should have done a whole lot of things. Mainly they should have
been making vehicles other than pick up trucks that people would buy.
The reason that they only have about 45% market share is not that
Americans are unpatriotic or that UAW members get paid too much. It is
because the foreign competition was just so much better from the day you
buy the VW/Nissan/Toyota/Honda until the day you sell it. It all starts
with the design of the vehicle. Everything else follows.

The Prius and diesel Jetta/Passat are so very much better than anything
coming out of Detroit that it is not even worth talking about. Talk about
fuel economy with the hybrid or long life with the diesel engine and
Detroit does not even deserve to be mentioned in the same paragraph.

If the new President appoints some sort of Car Czar that person had
better pack a lunch and be prepared to work some long hours. I could not
even imagine where they are supposed to begin.

If it were me I would immediately order Chevy to license or buy the
Passat diesel drivetrain from VW and drop it into a six passenger bench
front seat Impala and sell it for 19,999 dollars. There would be a line
in front of every Chevy dealership the next day.

The next day I would Chrsyler to produce a Hemi Propane bench front seat
six passenger Charger.

On the third day I would order Ford to put an all alloy turbo four banger
four valve per cylinder high revving gas engine into the Mustang that got
at least 30 highway mpg and hit sixty in less than five seconds.

On the fourth day I would order Chevy/GM to bring back the Astro/Safari
platform with gas, diesel, hybrid, and propane engine options depending
on the region and the application.

On the fifth day I would totally upset the applecart as we know it. I
would put a 30% tax on every motorized vehicle of any sort than was
assembled outside of the USA and sold in the USA. Car, truck, skid
loader, PWC, airplane, whatever.

Then I would call it good and resign my post.

Only 5 days? God worked 6 befrore His first weekend.

Great point though on the import tax but perhaps it would be better to
order them to bring back the jobs THEY (the big 3) shipped overseas before
giving them a red cent. The Jap cars would be the ones not paying the tax
since they have the integrety to put them together here.

I think VW, BMW, and Benz either build some here already or have plans in
the works to build some.

It is not the building that I much care about. It is the designing. A cast
iron engine block and a solid rear axle are jokes to anyone who expects
quality and value in any sort of vehicle.

I know that the Mustang has a solid rear axle and I do not even bother to
look up the Challenger and Camaro because I do not wish to depress myself
any further. The Challenger is darn nice looking, especially from the front
with that retro R/T badge on the grill so I think I will give it a passing
grade. A black Hemi Challenger with all of the modern bells and whistles is
one nice ride.

fear not, both the Camaro and Challenger have IRS, with the
challenger's being a 5-link suspension.
.

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