I started with this idea and evolved to this whole question.

the idea was how in laymans tearms is it the overhead of the big 2 that is making thme lose money? they are making great cars, its just the size of these 2 that will not make them have a profit?

Now with that said is the restructuring that Ford and GM are doing and the added UAW hopefully waking up and not biting the hand that feeds. Will that be a factor and the last one that sums it up.

MEDIA:
Yea the ones the have beaten down every american company no matter how great the product is, just cus its american. What it looks like im seeing is a change in media, the beat down that they have given us for the most part of 20 years they see its really done a number on the perception of american autos and the "glory" of bashing them is now looked at like OHH NOO..they are going to dissapear if we keep this up..not just make better products..they cant be the whipping boys any more.
they are making good cars we gotta let people know..
thats what I am asking I have seen alot of positive reports on cars comming from detroit in the last couple of months. AND rightfully so they are great cars again and the spin is that the media is backing these cars. So what I am asking is with the media finally helping out instead of giving Detroit the wooden nickle, will we see a change in the market enough so that the big 2 will not go under or falter?

 

The UAW is about sharing not biting.

 

I was thinking the same thing. I just can not understand why the American media would bash the American auto industry in such a damaging way. Do they actually know what they are doing? It is as if it is fashionable to degrade the American automobile. You would think that it would be the American media giving the imports a biased report in our favor, just like every other county in the world. We should be like Japan and pretty much boycott any forign product.

I think you are right though, the carelessness of the American media has cought up and is at a breaking point. Now they are saying, "oh ****, what is going on here?". It seems that things have changed and the playing field is a bit more even. Let's hope that the new designs and products of Ford and GM will further dispell any myths and leave little doubt in the minds of the media and in turn, the public.

 

I may be too pessimistic, but no, 2006 is probably not the turning point year. It simply takes too long to repair a damaged brand. There are still way too many people out there who are still on the "LOL, dumbestic!" frequency.

Although the attitude might soften, it won't go away. Look for it to take 5+ years from the time when the US manufacturers clearly surpass the imports in quality and value before the attitudes really begin to change. And we still don't do that for all cars. It'll be a rough road.

It's a pity, really. The venomous attitude of the mainstream media sometimes seems to imply that GM, Ford and Chrysler burned down their homes, killed their babies, and danced on the ashes, rather than just producing some crappy cars.

IMO, it's at least partly a product of rationalization due to guilt. "I must be VERY VERY VERY mad at our dumbestic industry, since they FORCED ME to buy a foreign car! I had no other choice! Otherwise my children wouldn't get to school, I wouldn't make it to work, and my friends would snicker behind my back and ask me why I couldn't afford a decent car. BAD! BAD! EVIL!"

Really childish when you think about it. Move on. It's time to judge product by its merit, without taking cheap shots based on something that happened a generation ago.

 

I think that by this bashing it should up the quality of the american auto, which is a good thing, but at what price. You have ford cutting 30K jobs and closing facilities. Itll be bad for the economy if 2 of the big 3 have major layoff's.
Shane

 

I say extend the warranties to 10 years 100k miles and you could see a turnaround as soon as 2 years from now, assuming the average quality/durability of the cars is as good as some say it is.

Leave them at 3 years 36k miles and it'd take 3-4 times as long IMO.

 

Threxx I think your right..they gotta give themselves an "ego" boost..let people know they got a great car with a waranty like that..

 

The problem with that is they would be blasted in the media for "playing catch up" again.

 

The media doesn't buy the cars. Consumers do ...with hard earned money that they want to believe has been well spent. Longer warranties would be a good indicator.