Comments on: GM’s Ransom Note to America

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:17:58 +0000

While the big 3 had a (deserved) reputation for poorly built cars in the past on the whole that is no longer true. Survey after survey in the past few years show almost no difference in the quality rankings of “domestic” vs. “foreign” vehicles. Unfortunately, people just assume that domestic cars are not as reliable as the foreign built cars are because that’s how they were in the past. So many don’t even consider a domestic when they’re in the market.

As far as fuel efficiency, yes, they should have planned better. But the next time you’re on the road look around and note how many SUVs and minivans and trucks you see around you. So the American car buying public is just as much to blame, the car companies just built the vehicles that people wanted to buy.

And no, I don’t work in the auto industry. But I also don’t want to see several million jobs disappear and the country thrown into a major depression, which is what would probably happen if one or more of the big 3 were to go bankrupt.

By: Dr Knox

Dr Knox — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:03:42 +0000

Well, GM workers did protest legislation that would have raised CAFE standards in 2002: “Higher CAFE Equals Wasted Resources”, “America Means Choice”, “Put Consumers First”. You can’t make this stuff up!
There is obviously a lot of blame to go around. The federal government, Congress, automakers, consumers, …
A major reality check seems necessary. For the automakers AND the public.

By: David Pulsipher

David Pulsipher — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:44:49 +0000

the car industry makes me mad for lots of reasons. especially the american car companies. as my co-worker often says, “you did this to yourself man.”

this is not to fault the workers of the companies, who i sympathize with a great deal.

but the people who make the big decisions – “you did this to yourself.”

for years, american consumers have been patronizing american car companies, many out of nationalistic loyalty and pride. the stark reality is: they make crappy cars. period. ford, chrysler, chevy, GM… all of them, continually score worse on reliability tests than their japanese counter parts. they’ve also drug their feet when it comes to joining in on the fuel economy debate, only now getting in when it promised to be trendy.

when they start making cars that are worthy of the american public’s patronage, then they are worthy of a bailout. they make an inferior product. no one to blame but themselves.