Which American car maker will be the first to go?

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Wall Street Journal today:

- DaimlerChrysler AG will cut 6,000 administrative jobs, or one-fifth of its worldwide total.

- Ford announced plans to slash up to 34,000 North American jobs over the next six years and shut 14 plants.

Maybe a better question is how long until the US automakers go beg for money, protection, etc. from Congress.

― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 14:33 (twenty years ago)

The outlook is so dismal for all three of them that it's hard to pick which one is going down the shitter first.

― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 14:33 (twenty years ago)

Maybe a better question is how long until the US automakers go beg for money, protection, etc. from Congress.

I think it's about time the US was introduced to this little concept called "free trade". You see, there's this thing called "capitalism"...

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 14:41 (twenty years ago)

you're telling don this

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 14:43 (twenty years ago)

it won't be ford

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 14:43 (twenty years ago)

i'm kinda impressed that that trustafarian Ford kid is puffing his chest and playing courageous.

the WSJ article is awesome in describing how Ford spent the past 15 years basing their marketing/production plans on...manufacturing capacity.

Ah, for the Reagan years where the mantra was "BUY AMERICAN."

― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 15:13 (twenty years ago)

Chrysler's part German now, innit?

― Jimmy Mod (I myself am lethal at 100 -110dB) (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 15:16 (twenty years ago)

But not the Nazi part.

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 15:16 (twenty years ago)

Chrysler's part German now, innit?

Hence the "AG" in the name.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 15:18 (twenty years ago)

AG-guh-guh-guh-guh-guh

http://www.vitaphone.org/popeye.jpg

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 15:22 (twenty years ago)

i'm kinda impressed that that trustafarian Ford kid is puffing his chest and playing courageous.

so OTM that it hurts.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 15:23 (twenty years ago)

buy low, sell high y'all!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 15:23 (twenty years ago)

"Hey no one's buying our crappy products anymore because the Japanese make better ones. I know, let's build really BIG crappy products."

"Hey, the Japanese have come up with better versions of our big crappy products. I know, let's keep doing what we're doing."

"Hey, people don't want big crappy products as much anymore! Let's uh, uh, cut a bunch of jobs!"

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 16:01 (twenty years ago)

... been there, done that (20 years ago)

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 16:06 (twenty years ago)

I should have added "Whew, that was close. Let's just sit on our thumbs until something bad happens again."

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 16:07 (twenty years ago)

From an article I just read today, GM is considered more likely to go through Chapter 11 restructuring than Ford, since the Ford family controls the voting stock of Ford and are likely to resist bankruptcy until the bitter end.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 16:09 (twenty years ago)

US lawmakers say carmakers need hand, not a bailout.

Zenith, RCA, etc. to thread, pls.

― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 16:25 (twenty years ago)

Chrysler already went; the DC "merger" was more of a buyout, wasn't it? there was a bit a while ago about several investors planning a suit since the deal was incorrectly portrayed.

― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 16:30 (twenty years ago)

Actor David Gallagher has passion for American-made muscle cars
LOS ANGELES (AP) — 7th Heaven actor David Gallagher loves cars — as long as they’re made in America.
It’s been nearly a decade since Gallagher landed the role of Simon Camden, evolving from a cute towhead into the troublesome teen on the WB series. Behind the scenes, he’s had a passion for American muscle cars.
The 20-year-old actor has 11 of them.
“I’m way into cars,” Gallagher told duPont Registry’s Celebrity Car magazine, which features a photo spread of his collection in the winter issue of the quarterly, now on newsstands.
“A lot of it has to do with my dad,” Gallagher said. “He was a mechanic my whole life. I grew up with cars . . . I have the utmost respect for American muscle cars.”
His collection includes a 1964 Chevrolet Impala, a 1971 Oldsmobile 442, a 1973 Ford Mustang convertible and a 1967 Pontiac Firebird. He also has a red Dodge Viper and a Plymouth Prowler.
“If you look at my collection, you will notice that all of my cars are American-made,” Gallagher said. “It’s just a personal preference and it’s my way of showing my support for American car manufacturers.”
http://www.david-gallagher.com/UnOfficial/DavidGallagher/english/gallery/pix/97/wtr97a_tb.jpg

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:38 (twenty years ago)

No matter what happenes with US auto mfg, those brand-names are far too valuable to simple bite the dust, right? Someone would buy the logos, name, rights to the brand etc, and move production, change management, slap those badges on things that are being built elsewhere, run a series of ads touting "The NEW [x]" "where we continue [x's] legendary commitment to quality" and most people wouldn't even notice, right? In fact, hasn't this already happened with tons of car makers?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:48 (twenty years ago)

What I would do if I was CEO of GM:

- I'd kill off the Chevrolet brand keeping only the Corvette. Combine Chevy trucks with GMC and eliminate all duplicate model lines.
- Eliminate all Pontiac models that aren't "performance" cars. Are there still Pontiac mini-vans? If so, move it to Buick. Relabel the prototype retro-Camaro a retro-Firebird
- Buick becomes the land of rental sedans and mini-vans. Eliminate any models that compete with Cadillac
- Keep Cadillac as is
- Sell off Saab & Hummer immediately
- After all that, pray

What I would do if I was CEO of Ford:
- Sell off Jaguar immediately.
- Kill off Mercury. If someone wants a poshy Ford, then sell them a Lincoln.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:12 (twenty years ago)

Tracer, already the chevrolet Badge has been slapped on Daewoos in Europe. To what end I don't know the Daewoo brand had more recognition, albeit as a dirt cheap reliable one.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:16 (twenty years ago)

Chrysler already went; the DC "merger" was more of a buyout, wasn't it? there was a bit a while ago about several investors planning a suit since the deal was incorrectly portrayed

This may be, but Chrysler still seems to have gotten the better of the arrangement. Of the original "Big Three" automakers, it was the only one to increase market share last year.

From the Economist:

DaimlerChrysler shares many of the same problems that plague Ford and GM but has held onto its proportion of total car sales in America with a simple tactic: it produces cars people want to buy. Its successful Chrysler 300, a big saloon, typifies its quirkier approach to design. Ford’s competing Five Hundred, a duller car, proved a failure in comparison.

It seems to me that Chrysler's recent models do tend to be better looking than similar models from Ford and GM. I'm not sure if Daimler shook up the design department or injected a European sensibility, but something seems to have changed there.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:34 (twenty years ago)

built elsewhere

You mean away from the UAW, not outside of the US, right?

― TOMBOT, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:47 (twenty years ago)

What I would do if I was CEO of GM:

Lobby for public health care as hard as possible.

What I would do if I was CEO of Ford:

Lobby for public health care as hard as possible.

― TOMBOT, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:49 (twenty years ago)

OTM

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:51 (twenty years ago)

In the end though car manufacture is relatively low tech so it will inevitably go to th ethe cheapest workforce or the most automated factory. Detraoit will probably start doing well when it starts getting expensive to produce things in India or China.

― Ed (dali), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:54 (twenty years ago)

ed howthefuck is car manufacture low tech???!

i mean final assembly is all welding and stuff, but these days there are like as many modern digital fiddlybits as in anything.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:11 (twenty years ago)

BLOOD FOR OIL, I tell ya BLOOD FOR OIL

― Kiwi, Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:22 (twenty years ago)

aren't most fiddlybits created elsewhere by others, then bought and slapped in by "GM" or "Ford" or whoever?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:35 (twenty years ago)

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