Autoblog

Whenever I see this fat slob I always picture him from Team America with hot dogs in both hands and mustard stains all over his shirt, priceless. Regardless the fat slob only has one valid point, we can't lose all of those jobs. I personally think that CEO salaries should be slashed not completely taken away, who the hell except for "Dollar-Man" Nardelli wants to work for free.

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The main reason the Big 3 were making more trucks and large SUV's is because those were the only models they were making any money on. Trucks have long been Ford and GM's bread and butter. They make absolutely nothing on mid-sized and small cars. They are such utter crap anyway. The Japanese and Korean car companies make money on their small cars because they don't have the legacy costs sucking them dry.

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Ford and GM's mid and especially full sized cars are very good and many are at the top of the list in reliability and fuel economy. Chrysler not so much but they still offer very nice products. Where American car companies are lacking most is in small cars.

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I was about to say the exact same thing. They responded to customers TOO MUCH and didn't realize that SUVs were just another silly trend like fins and wooden side panels. The only problem was they couldn't keep up or easily switch to the new trend which was the exact opposite of the last one; fuel efficient, reliable, cleanly-styled cars.

I don't think they ignored customers, but I strongly blame them for not building cars for the future; which every car designer knows...you don't design cars for now, you design them for later! The Big 3 because they blatantly ignored the long run and greedily induced profit for the short run.

Even as of late you can tell that some still don't get it. One of the more recent trends has been the whole crossover thing. So what does Ford do? comes out with 3 crossovers with one being only slightly bigger than the other. Meanwhile they come out with two extremely bland sedans (even though reliable, to be fair) and an uninspiring re-skinning of something they had before (Focus).

GM i actually feel sorry for because they've come out with some pretty cool cars( Malibu,G6,G8, Aura, etc) and they've improved the fuel economy of their SUVs. all they need now is to build a reputation off of these new name brands. and their planning for somewhat- future trends by coming out with a full hybrid. (a little late, but still somewhat on time compared to others)

Chrysler doesn't get it because they wouldn't know success if slapped them across the face. Ralph Gilles had to fight the entire design team in order to make a car like the 300 a reality. But even after that, they went right back to making embarrassingly hideous and boring cars. IMO even the 300 is getting stale because that's all chrysler had to show for itself in the last 4 years. The no-brainer 4 door wrangler only came out like what? 2 years ago?

I really hope the big 3 get back on track. really, i do. The only reason i support the bailout is because the Big 3 contribute to a lot of good things in this country, so if they get back on track more non-profit organizations and unfortunate people can get help. If the big 3 shows that they can make products for tomorrow instead of yesterday, I'll support them all the way

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I am so sick of people blaming the Big 3 for the Big SUV's and Trucks. They built what we wanted. The only reason the Japanese companies didn't have as heavy of a portfolio in Trucks and SUV's was because buyers didn't like what they had to offer as much. It is not like Toyota didn't build Tundras, Sequoias and 4 Runners and don't believe for a moment that Honda wouldn't have expanded on their truck line if they had sold more Ridgelines. Hell Toyota built a huge new plant to build more Tundras just before the market imploded.

The Japanese and Koreans also have well developed small cars because that is what their home markets buy (which are pretty much closed to Detroit). It is not like they developed these vehicles for the North American market. They imported products with the development being paid for by their home markets (not to mention help from their governments).

Detroit shouldn't have let their small cars fall so far behind but they were building what we wanted. The only people who wanted small cars didn't want to pay anything for them so they made them cheap. GM even imported the Astra from Europe and buyers are turning their noses up at the price. GM has solid cars on their lots (Malibu, Aura,) and more on the way (Cruze) as does Ford (Fusion, Fiesta, Euro Focus) so it is not like they haven't been doing anything. Chrysler is screwed right now but that's thanks to Daimler.

We got what we wanted and it's still going on. People are just buying "Crossovers" now instead of body on frame. For all the talk there are still an awful lot of commuters out there driving to work by themselves in something that could hold half the office with off roading abilities they will never use.

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Wow. Judy Zik pretty much covered every point I was going to make.

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k.w.a,
Are you my lost twin brother or something? I fully agree with your opinion.

I'd only add that I support the help because I believe GM and Ford were turning around with solid new products and with better labor deal with UAW.

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Judy.. you're wrong on a major point. People DID and still DO want small cars. They just don't want econoboxes like the big three insisted all small cars should be. The MINI opened a huge hole in that argument, they've been selling great ever since they were introduced in the states. So the market WAS there, it's that nobody dared to try.

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@ JUDY....

REALLY? Where are the letters asking the big 3 to start making 8 passenger, 2.5 tonne sub-standard pieces of crap?

Please...I'd like to know.

Now...I agree with you that the public are too stupid to realize any better and judge how much car they get by size versus price. There I can agree.

This is also the psychology the big 3 played on the general public too....pitching huge cars for small car prices.

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be smarter?

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Uh uh. Michael Moore has a lot to do with the industry. His worked at AC Delco so that alone makes him an expert. Plus, he made a movie which means he is super smart about any issue he covers. He has to be the most well balanced and objective movie makers EVER!!!

Plus he didn't take a dime from prostituting the misfortunes of his home city. He's a honest, hard workin' man that really enjoys food, hates Republicans, capitalisim, and a hot shower.

Thats why he's important! Duh!

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and they will be right

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That's true.

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@ Michael, who wrote:
" I predict a lot of people will ignore him and call him an idiot just because they saw "Michael Moore"."
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And the vast majority of them will be numb-skulled conservatives too partisan to recognize that Moore is agreeing with many of their complaints--that Detroit CEOs were too stupid and stubborn in their ways, and that buyers bought better made cars elsewhere.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/20/lkl.michael.moore/index.html

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That's because Michael Moore *IS* an idiot.

The things that he says whenever he opens that cesspool of a mouth shows his lack of intelligence. I'm not sticking up for the US Auto Companies, but when Moore says that the US built cars that nobody would purchase he must have missed the whole SUV craze. Those vehicles were selling and evidence to this is all over our roads and highways. The US does have vehicles that get 30mpg on the road today, and their reliability is up and doing substantially better than they once did. There are problems no doubt, but our Savior is *not* Michael Moore, and why his opinion warrants 30 minutes of Larry King is beyond me. Larry King has substantially dropped in any credibility that it may have had at one time long ago....

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