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Automotive News & Views The Big 3 and the domestic issues that will affect them
1221 messages, Last post on Feb 14, 2008 at 10:06 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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...were VCRs ever built here? I believe Sony invented it. To get an interesting perspective on the history of the VCR, see the Kinnear-Dafoe film "Auto Focus" based on the life of actor Bob Crane. VCRs used to look like big reel-to-reel recorders back in the mid-1960s. When they went to cassettes, the cassettes were at least twice as big as they are now. We feel more emotional about our cars for this reason - cars are the closest man-made object we have to a living being. So much of our culture is tied to the automobile from where we live, where and how we shop, how we vacation, and how we even come of age. Heck, I remember major life events on the cars people owned at the time. Many were GM cars and most of the memories are very pleasant. |
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cars. I remember the Pirates winning the World Series in 1979 because I was going to school then in downtown Seattle and also interested in my 35mm camera. I still remember taking a picture of the winning run as the Pirate slid across home plate. I snapped a picture of it and recently found that picture in my wife and I's extensive picture collection. Where am I heading with all of this? I'll tell you. The car I drove from Edmonds, 15 miles north of Seattle, to downtown Seattle every day was my original car, my 1965 Ford Mustang. I still love it and I can stare up on top of my computer whenever I want to look at a model of one. The model is a '65 convertible in ice blue, shown with the top down. My point is that I tie all of those memories together. There is emotion involved. The 2006 Pontiac Solstice is the type of vehicle a person can be proud to own. I look at the Ford, DCX and GM lineup of cars now and there's basically the Solstice, maybe the Chevy HHR and SSR and maybe the Pontiac G6 (maybe the Pontiac G6) that might invoke emotion and this close tie to what's going on in your life at the time. |
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A few desireable models don't bring in the sales required to stay in business unless your drop to Porsche or Saleen in size. GM's problem is that it makes incredibly bland cars with horribly dated ergonomics on about 90% of what it sells. So they do poorly. The new Mazda MX-5(Miata replacement) actually bested the Solstice in real-world testing - check out the video review on this very site. GM's innovation is really a step behind when Mazda can trump their newest yuppie toy. BMW also is being pressured as well - the IS350 is a 3 series contender that appears to be besting the standard(not the M3) models with ease. GM... Ford... Not enough bread-and-butter vehicles that are worth buying to stay afloat. |
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They want to build Toyotas without the Toyota quality or image. Toyota's aren't fun or exciting, and from the looks of it, that won't change much in the future. But they keep up with the times, gain USEFUL IMPROVEMENTS every 3-5 years (not 7-10 years), so they are always competitive with the best in class, and quality IMPROVES EVERY generation. Easy to use. Won't upset their owner. The Big 3 don't keep up with Joneses. Redesigns can be 6-8 years away, if they feel the design is BAD (Ford Focus). If they think it's good, it could be 10-15 years (Cavalier, Corvette). Another problem is if you get a Corvette, for example, and then you drive a Malibu or somethin', they might as well be made by different companies. You sit in a Honda or Toyota, you can feel the same level of quality in a Civic as you do a S2000 or Odyssey. The Big3 don't put the same amount of effort into all of their cars, and it shows. You can tell Toyota sweated every detail on the Corolla, and the same with Honda and their Civic. It's OBVIOUS that Ford didn't do that on the Focus. And the Cobalt is no benchmark either.  How the Focus skips a generation in this market, when they actually made a car people were buying, and lose their momentum, is beyond me. This Mazda3 platform is one of the best in the business, and Ford misses the boat, again.  DrFill
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Replying to: callmedrfill (Nov 18, 2005 9:13 am) |
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| The two biggest problems Ford faces is their retiree benefit expenses and variable marketing. The retiree benefit expenses add nearly $2,000 to the price of each Ford. Then they have to turn around and incentivize the heck out of them to sell them. The imports will sell a vehicle near to sticker with little to no variable marketing expenses. Yeah, I know someone could write, but the import is worth the sticker price. Well, not always. There is quite a bit of customer perception that has to be overcome by Ford and GM. How do they do that? Building a better vehicle apparently isn't the answer. They're building them better, but customers who have left the domestics aren't coming back. If you look at some of the dependability studies, most of the manufacturers below industry average are imports; Kia, MINI Cooper, Volkswagen, Isuzu, Daewoo, Audi, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Hyundai, Mazda, Saab, Mercedes-Benz, etc. Again I ask, how do Ford and GM overcome the "imports are better" perception? | |
Building a better vehicle can happen when one realizes that quality and reliability are not the same thing. Some industry bigwigs apparently don't get it.
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Replying to: fintail (Dec 01, 2005 11:35 am) |
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Quality = materials. Ask an Audi or VW owner about that. A car can have poor materials but be above average in reliability. GM has shown this. |
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| A Rolex watch may be better crafted and have gold and diamonds but it doesn't tell time any better than the cheap Pulsar watch I bought at Caldor over 10 years ago. | |
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