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Automotive News & Views United Automobile Workers of America (UAW)
16705 messages, Last post on Nov 25, 2009 at 6:56 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
People find this discussion expecting to read about the UAW. We have 100's of other discussions to discuss Future Vehicles or All Things Porsche or Classic Cars.
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So does anyone have anything to say about the Saturn project. The Tennessee experiment in which labor(UAW) and management would partner up to beat out the Japanese car companies. They started out with a worthwhile goal, but the end result questions if eastern ideology can ever transition into the western culture.
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Cadillac wanting to entice younger people (YUPPIES) tried the Catera as its bridge to this new market. Built in Germany by Opel, a GM division. High end Bosch parts, Recaro seats, Bose sound system, and basically bastardized as most euro cars are (sharing common parts from common brands). In any case this failed here in America to make any dent in the young urban professional euro market. Given that most German companies are union represented as is Opel in Germany. The car has been redone today CTS (Catera Touring Sedan) and can't keep up with demand in these trying times. Then its a UAW built car from Michigan. What went wrong with its initial offering? It should also be noted that the Catera is now the Opel Omega and a big hit in Europe.
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Replying to: dallasdude1 (Nov 22, 2008 9:26 am) The original Catera handled well but was underpowered relative to its weight (it was something of a porker, as I recall), suffered from bland styling & was sold only with an automatic. I was surprised at the time (late 90s) that Cadillac's 1st shot at this market missed so badly. You refer to this market segment as new, but yuppies had been identified as a separate market way back in the mid 80s - more than 10 years earlier. By the late 80s, jokes about "yuppies in their BMWs" were standard comic fare. Given that Cadillac was so many years late to this party, you'd think that their entry would have shown a much clearer understanding of what yuppies wanted in their cars. Understand that I'm not a reflexive Cadillac basher. The 1st-gen (2003-07) CTS was vastly better than the Catera, & the current CTS is easily the best Cadillac in 50 years, & one that I'll seriously consider as a replacement for my BMW. It's just too bad, though, that it takes GM so long to bring genuinely compelling cars to market. IMO, that's the biggest single reason why the company is in trouble today. |
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Back when the UAW/unions were strong, CEO's weren't compensated what they are today. I recall, if memory serves me right, that the GM CEO was making $400,000 a year. That was more than the president was making. As PATCO and other unions were weakened, CEO/board of director pay has gotten out of hand. I have no problem with the risk taker and or someone with special talents being compensated well. The entrepreneur making absurd sums is just fine. However, to pay these folks who aren't even our brightest for mismanaging is just not right. Most of this countries finest and brightest go into engineering, science, medicine, and other fields which create innovation. Higher education weeds out the best and brightest. Many college freshmen change majors when they can't overcome a class or classes which are required for the sciences. I would venture to guess the less than 10% have the ability to complete the science/engineering/medical requirements. I'm also aware that all these engineers coming out of India are not even close to the product American universities and colleges produce. Business schools are fine and dandy. If there is anything hard in their discipline, it might be the option of sitting in on the CPA exam. Most opt for the many other specialties. So why on earth would we allow these folks who took the low road in getting a degree to operate a large corporation? Economic axioms of banks/insurance concerns being a sure thing have to be rewritten as these fools have proven us wrong. The chore of removing postulates from text books is at hand. This talent pool is not exactly the best and brightest of what higher education has to offer. Village idiots put in charge of corporations is just not wise. The union made me do it, the sun was in my eyes, I ate paint chips, I wasn't breast fed/nursed or other lame excuses should not be accepted. Its been my experience that if I put my mind to anything, I can get it done. Trained in the scientific disciplines, but interested in other fields has given me the ability to invest well and make money is a safe manner in the financial markets. Rewarded for both risk and talents/abilities has more than rewarded me with, something I consider rather simplistic, a higher standard of living. In fact I made, what I consider reasonable, second income advising others up until this last year. This leaves me wondering if those CEO's will be able to manage their compensation/wealth, because of the very fact that they did a poor job managing the corporations they operated. If they do it the same manner, they might well be in front or behind you in the unemployment line.
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Replying to: jimbres (Nov 22, 2008 10:18 am) There is an "S" on the shifter for sports mode. That causes the gears to 6000 plus RPM. There is a snow button which starts the car off in third gear. The current Opel Omega comes with a 4, 6, or VETT 8. Its considered one of the most reliable cars in Europe. Dealers weren't too keen on training their service people. The oil cooler is in the middle of the engine. In a bath of coolant. If oil was detected in the coolant, the heads were assumed to be leaking. Never-mind a leak in the oil cooler unit. By 2001 most of the issues were fixed (most were electrical). With the exception of the crank sensor. Engine heat would over time, melt the wire insulation. $60 part, $500 to $700 to get the dealer to fix this. Then there was a heater control unit which failed from time to time, cheap plastic, and it was a $40 part and hundreds to have the dealer fix it. Then the plastic overflow tank would break, also common to the Mini Cooper. The timing belt on these cars last 100,000 miles and $2500 to $3500 for the dealer replacement. Tensioner, pulleys, bearings, water pump, belts, and other preventive maint is done. This is common in Volvo's and many other euro cars, but here in the states seen differently. So the CTS is suppose to be the Americanized version. Now the UAW gets to make it too. |
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Replying to: dallasdude1 (Nov 22, 2008 10:29 am) A Harvard education and a good line of BS and you can be President of just about any company or the President of the United States of America. Grades are not available to inquiring minds. You pay, you pass. Most CEOs did work up through the ranks somewhere before becoming CEO. Unless their dad started the company. I do agree that the money given to executives that run a company into the ground is just WRONG. When you have people sitting on multiple Boards of Directors, you get a lot of the good old boy treatment. I vote for your raise and you vote for mine.
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Replying to: dallasdude1 (Nov 22, 2008 9:09 am) Given that Saturn is now a set of rebadges except for an imported Opel, I'd say the experiment is a failure and there is no need for Saturn. |
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Replying to: jimbres (Nov 22, 2008 10:18 am)
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