Upcoming UAW Strike

No offense but some of that is incorrect. Chrysler took a guaranteed Loan. Lee Iacocca studied Toyota and the efficiency of building cars with transverse engines. They built the K car, a fairly crappy mediocre vehicle. Backed by a 50k warranty. Sold by Iacocca himself in commercials. He was a Marketing genius. Truly a self made man. Chrysler repaid the loan in full way ahead of schedule. By contrast the recent bail outs in 08 are a different story. GM formed a new Corporation, letting the old one die. Shareholders lost everything. The new GM issued stock shares to the Government as collateral. The Government sold the shares off in huge lots, after the price increased. The total return was way less, maybe $600 million? than originally borrowed. That was a true bail out. GM quickly claimed that they had repaid the loan. Chrysler took a loan, and repaid it in full. Ford didn’t take any money. Instead they took on more debt and are still close to being rated as junk as a result. Ford is the only responsible one of the 3. They survived despite being at a huge debt laden disadvantage , while GM and Chrysler posted record profits.

 

[QUOTE="Rideandrepair, post: 12571867, Ford is the only responsible one of the 3. They survived despite being at a huge debt laden disadvantage , while GM and Chrysler posted record profits.[/QUOTE]
Ford is only one of big three that is even bargining with UAW, and there have settled with canadian autoworkers.

 

I kind of figured that. My information is old and piecemeal. One big difference between US Automakers and the Japanese is the amount of R&D reinvested. 15% vs. 35%. That’s how we got behind in the late 70’s 80’s and still are behind in Quality control. Just another example of how profits are taken almost immediately instead of investing for a better future. One unbelievable fact we learned during the last Banking Crisis, is that Major Companies borrow payroll every week. I couldn’t believe it. It’s crazy. All so the stock values can stay as high as possible.

 

Ford got a pretty good bailout in the early 80's though. Over 20 million vehicles with transmissions that could slip out of park that they didn't need to fix. Just mail out a warning label instead.

 

The older I get the more I catch myself having wrong information. Ive always been amazed at the Auto Industry. It’s a very tricky Business. The major players and it’s affect on the Country. What’s good for GM is good for America, it was once said. Not true anymore. Governments always been involved. In the 20’s Walter P Chrysler was appointed CEO of Willys Jeep, as part of a Reorganization. He tried unsuccessfully to hijack the Company, and build a car with his name on it. Jeeps been Bankrupt a total of 8 times. I like the Jeep Compasx. Even though it’s ranked near bottom in reliability. It’s a bargain for $30k compared to BMW of Mercedes ( also near bottom of JD Powers Owner survey). The current M1Tank is powered by an engine that was developed as a result of Chryslers Turbine Engine program. Given enough money they can create top quality products. As for a Jeep Compass. You get what you pay for. Lol.

 

I see Tesla's everywhere. Not sure how you can say they dropped the price because of supply and demand. It was because of new technology on the battery side and manufacturing is the reason. You swung and missed on this one and I am no fan boy of Electric but they have the market!

 

Sounds like they saturated the market and need to lower the price because demand is lower. Or they got supply up and are making more and again saturated the market.

 

Better do some home work on that! They have newer cheaper technology and passing the cost down. Now they are creating a cheaper model that will be more affordable but that is a different cheaper market around 25K.

 

Might want to do your own homework. Capitalism doesn't work that way. Everyone is selling at the highest the market will bear. Period.
Anything else is marketing and lip service.