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Automotive News & Views Do You Favor A Government Loan To The Detroit 3?
3958 messages, Last post on Oct 02, 2009 at 4:52 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Shouldn't the consumer, after decades of over-consumption, be allowed to digest the over-indebtedness and save, rather than be encouraged to take risk? Shouldn't companies, no matter what state they reside in from a political point of view, if run poorly, be allowed to fail or forced to restructure? Should taxpayer money be used to make up for the mishaps at financial institutions or should we allow them to wallow in their own mistakes? Shouldn't free markets be free? When did Socialism make its way to our shores? How do we choose who is bailed out and who loses? Shouldn't we place blame on the politicians, bureaucrats and other "decision makers" and put skilled people in place that know how to run the businesses? Shouldn't investors, led blindly down the primrose path of "buy and hold, diversify and don't open your brokerage statement except once every 10 years" be allowed to follow the Prudent Man Rule? |
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A friend was telling me`about his first new and only new car he ever bought. A 1976 Chev Nova. He had numerous problems but the last big one was he had a trunkful of water every time it rained. He complained to his salesman, and the salesman put his arm around him and said, "Jimmy, Jimmy Jimmy, so what's the big problem, if you think about it, how often does it rain." Ever since then he has never bought a new car again, only used ones where he says, "I only pay 10 cents on the dollar for them". Moral: Another potential customer lost forever!
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You wouldn't actually buy our crappy cars any more - so now we have found another way of getting your money.
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Replying to: driver100 (Jan 10, 2009 8:11 am) Regards, OW 
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Replying to: driver100 (Jan 10, 2009 8:08 am)
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Replying to: mikefm58 (Jan 10, 2009 12:11 pm) The thing is for a long time there only were the D3 and most of us bought cars that were fine. But many people got burned somewhere along the line...and basically these people were ignored, because the D3 were doing fine and if a customer had a complaint nothing was done for them. Many of those cars weren't of the highest quality either, GM even admits this. So, when the new guys from Toyota and Honda come along and build very solid reliable cars people were quick to change their buying habits. The one idiot salesperson isn't going to hurt the D3, but the cumulative affect of people getting burned is going to make them look elsewhere, if someone has a better product. I had many GM cars that I loved, but my Corsica fell apart after 60,000 miles, so why would I go back. My father had Fords and then bought an Oldsmobile Omega which he thought was unsafe to drive. He bought Camrys after that. I think the D3 has a problem in that the baby boomers want either reliabe and practical cars like Toyotas or enthusiasts cars like Lexus or BMW. Young people want to be cool and they like Toyotas and Hondas. I don't think there are any salespeople like that these days.....they wouldn't last. But there were salespeople like that in the 60s, 70s and 80s and it gave people a bad experience. |
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Replying to: driver100 (Jan 10, 2009 1:27 pm) It's the financial managers at the dealers who have taken the place of the idiot salesman...that's at ALL dealers including the imports.  Regards, OW
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Replying to: circlew (Jan 10, 2009 2:43 pm) It's very cool to drive a Buick.....in China. For some unknown reason they love Buicks and Cadillacs there. I sometimes think GM wants to get out of the car business in North America.....if they only sold cars overseas they would actually be very profitable.
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Take a look at the 2010 Buick LaCrosse. I think it looks as cool as the imports in its class, despite the uncool image of the Buick brand. The challenge for Detroit now, in terms of image, is that perception lags reality. For many years, from the 1920s through about the early 1970s, many of Detroit's offerings were the coolest. The Chevrolet Malibu and Corvette, Cadillac CTS, 2010 Ford Fusion, the initial success of the RWD Chrysler 300, and the Detroit 3 pickups demonstrate that the domestic car makers can be viable. Does the new Acura TL look cool? We have a TL in our family. It's been excellent, but we don't think the '09 looks cool. We probably wouldn't consider one. I cite this to make the point that perceptions can change, and that it's possible for Detroit to come back.
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Jan 11, 2009 8:11 am) The 2010 LaCrosse is a huge departur from Buicks of the recent past. The interior is even farther from where Buick was and the badge looks out of place.  As you cited, perceptions can change. Ironically, the brink of oblivion might be the trick needed! Regards, OW |
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