I'm surprised nobody dared to touch on this article (see here http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/s...d.php?t=46062). You can read into many different stories from Lutz's quotes alone (God, I love that man! ).

Anyway, just wanted to expand a little on Big Bob's comments. I believe Bob is being kind by stating one Detroiter will go. Ford are in big trouble IMHO. I don't know how the stock market operates. I don't know how much control the Ford family has on its company. What I do know is that Ford's sales are sliding at a rapid rate and there is nothing on the horizon, which promises great things.

Chrysler seem to be heading the way of GM if Lutz's comments are a guide. Why else would Bob comment on something that didn't concern him or his employer for that matter, right?

If you want to know how the US market will fare in future (assuming GM don't lift their game), look no further than the Australian domestic market currently! Toyota is numero uno, Holden is a distant second, Ford are nowhere...

However, I am not a GM basher and I can see some light at the end of the tunnel. I can't stand to see a Japanese maker succeed in a foreign market... not because I'm pseudo racist, but because the manufacturing/legacy costs and policies relating to the auto market is more favorable toward foreign owned makes.

 

It will be a sad day for Americans when the remnants of FOMOCO are bought up by the japanese. The 012 toyota mustang assembled right here in the USA ( with nippon denso, nippon seiki nippon ... parts) Keep buying those camrys folks. Help destroy the American middle class manufacturing worker.

 

I didn't read Bob's quotes but I doubt he is talking about Ford. While they are shrinking in marketshare and for the moment profitability they are slashing their workforce. They are reducing operating costs in the US which will help the company rebound in the next few years. True that they don't have to much on the horizon but they can work faster than GM to get a new model or update out of the door.

If they are really in the need for new products they have all of Ford Europe to plunder, which are rated very highly and are quite competitive with VW and Opel as well as low level BMWs and MBs in Europe. Then they have Ford Aus' Falcon line which could be completely brought to the states in short order, once Orion is finished (it will be LHD).

The question is where is the company headed. For the moment it seems the plan is to shrink to profitability. But once you do that where do you take your brands? What do you do with you established marques? Lots of questions that I personally want to hear Bill or Allan answer.

 

Ok…let me make sure I understand…

You “hate to see a Japanese maker succeed in a foreign market”. This is coming from someone for whom GM is a foreign maker in Australia (I guess you don’t have a problem with a foreign make like GM succeeding in Australia).

Of course, it looks as if your comments are directed at the U.S. market and not Australia but if true, that makes your next comments all the more telling when you say that you aren’t a “pseudo racist”, yet you specifically and only mention the Japanese while apparently forgetting to mention any other nationality/nameplate such as BMW, MB and other European manufacturers. Last time I checked, those nameplates get the same “breaks” as the Japanese nameplates yet for some reason, people don’t seem to have much of a problem with them. Funny that.

I also find it funny that when Dell and Gateway and Apple took advantage of being the “new kids on the block” and the unfair advantage that brings (such as not having the overhead and “legacy costs” of IBM which has been THE computer manufacturer for decades) and all but put mighty IBM out of the personal computer business; I don’t recall a lot of people complaining that it was “unfair” that Dell and Gateway could take advantage of their position to sell as good or better of a product for less money…I guess when it comes to computers or any other good, that’s Ok but when it comes to cars, that competition is now deemed “unfair”.

I’m glad we cleared that up!

 

A weaker US dollar is one way the government can help US manufacturing. Fed needs to drop interest rates back down to 2%

 

That would likely give us doubble-digit inflation again...is that really what you want?

 

Its not the market, its Detroit.

GM has or is about to turn the Titantic on a dime, why cant Ford or Chrysler do the same?

Despite Chryslers misteps I wont blame them if they go under, at this point they simply cant survive without MB, and unless someone on one of these boards buys it I dont think it would be any more of american company then it is now.

Ford wasted too much time doing then undoing in a years long panic. If they could manage to pull together product, half of which arent that bad, marketing, which sucks, and a couple other things they should be alright... If they dont I wont have any sympathy.

 

Yes, we're all victims, are we not? Ah poor us?

If GM, Ford, or Dodge builds something I want, I will buy it.

 

That's all it comes down to for me. I don't give a crap what badge is on the front of the car. If I like it and can afford it, I'll buy it.


Since I can't afford anything, I just buy used

 

Lutz I suspect, had Chrysler in his head when he made his comments.

Although Chrysler is arguably in the best position of the big 3, and perhaps the easiest to fix, I realize now it's in the most danger.

I've correctly suspected that former Chrysler CEO and now DamilerChrysler head Dieter Zetsche would rather eat glass than sell off Chrysler. What I didn't consider was that Daimler's German stockholders and Mercedes employees were all for getting rid of Chrysler, and DaimlerChrysler's largest stockholder, Deutche Bank (Daimler's protector against takeovers and the 800 pound, decision-backing gorilla) has reduced it's shares in Daimler, therefore it's influence and ability to protect the corperation.

Now, Dieter Zetsche is more beholden to the stockholders, who feel Chrysler was a folly that has dragged them (and Mercedes Benz) down.

Dieter Zetsche's plan to pull Mercedes Benz and Chrysler vehicles closer together in development and parts sharing on one hand, improves Chrysler's development costs dramatically. But on the other hand, it seems to be enraging a portion of stockholders who feel MB has already suffered because of the tieup. In case anyone's missed it, he's basically tied his continued career at Daimler to the success of Chrysler. If they dump Chrysler anyway (even before Chrysler's plan kicks in), I see a very real risk of him being voted out.

Ironically, it's Zetsche and the Daimler executives who shuttle to the US or are assigned to Chrysler who are it's strongest supporters. Not what you'd expect for what once seemed like a group who felt they were being sent to Siberia for a lost cause in an unglamourous division in going to Chrysler.


If the German stockholders win, and Chrysler is sold, that's likely to be a death warrant. Whoever buys Chrysler is going to need to resist the temptation to take the easy way to save money & cut development budgets (something expert auto industry decision makers have only recently figured out). They are going to also need to resist the temptation to shrink the company to a size they can manage (effectively turning Chrysler into a specialty brand, making it even more venerable to failure). At the very least, any buyer will need to have a crack team of automobile experts running the show with NO interference from the new owners. But this isn't very likely. History tends to show in instances like this, the buyer gains a company as a personal playtoy or.... buys the company to dismember it and sell it off for massive profit.

Chrysler's assets are worth FAR more than it's stock value, making it a fat, juicy target for anyone who can actually pony up the purchase price.


My favorite whipping boy of the moment, Ford, is certainly on the course of a death spiral. Fortunately, Ford's new CEO, Alan Mulally, seems to have been given total control of Ford, Lock, Stock, & Barrel, to do anything he needs to fix it. Right down to brusing egos and sidelining Bill Ford's or Ford family friends to get the company in shape.

Mark Fields named the recent Ford concept sedan Elimiator even though it was called Galaxie when designed. The production version will be called Galaxie. He seems to be the point man regarding Lincoln's renaming Zephyr MKZ, killing the "Aviator" name on Lincoln's new crossover in favor of "MKX", and naming the 2008 Lincoln Continental the Lincoln MKS. One wonders about who decided to kill the Taurus name.

Paul Mascarenas, the platform manager who has championed his FWD/AWD Volvo based chassis for everything at Ford (and effectively responsible for killing off Ford's D2C based, rear drive sedans). The upcoming Lincoln Continental 2008 MKS was planned to be based on the D2C as recently as 2-3 years ago. It was to replace the Town Car (and why production was initially planned to stop). His influence seems to have hit the wall, as there seems to be no additional cars planned on his chassis after next year's Lincoln MKS outside of crossovers and updates to existing models (not including one that may be replaced). Rear drive D2C is the plan.

Ford apparently has a killer Mustang done for 2009, and Ford is taking very seriously the next F series and SUVs, planning the exteriors to be as dramatic a upgrade as the interiors of the current ones were when they came out. Alan Mulally has essentially dictated that he wants the Mondeo here ASAP. There's better than even money on a version of the next Ford Falcon being imported here in small quanities in '09 and only slightly chance less we'll see a performance Focus here from Europe.

I think Ford's enemy is no longer itself, but the marketplace.

Ford's plan to shrink itself down to profitability, proliferate profitable and easy to sell crossovers (which will probally protect them when the truck market tanks again), continue to stay in the forefront with Mustang and it's large trucks, and globally standardize it's car platforms with only skin and tuning differences between countries, and buying out half of it's workforce & winning concessions in hiring temps seems from a automotive business standpoint a surefire winner to stay alive. Add to the mix that it appears no takeover entity can touch it (the Ford family own a controlling intrest), and you have a company that won't be raided for parts (just the Mustang name or manufacturing the F-series based trucks alone as a sort of modern International Harvester is worth serious bank!)


Although Ford was arguably in the worse condition of all 3 and Chrysler is in the best, I feel irony will play out IF any US maker dies. I'd say IF that happens, Chrysler won't make it while Ford will.

 

If Chrysler gets sold I would LOVE to see whoever buys it hire Jaques Nasser. He seemed to understand the market very well, his Dew98 cars would have been a few years ahead of Chryslers LX and would likely have started the RWD revolution even sooner.

 

Correction: Already successful Japanese automakers gaining momentum in a foreign land... at the expense of locals.

Put yourself in Detroit's shoes and see how welcoming the Japanese are to US automakers.

Oh. that's right, you don't care because Nissan puts bread on your table.

 

Oh...well that really clears it up!

So long as a Japanese manufacturer isn't "too successful" (whatever level that is determined to be) it's not an issue for you.

I guess then all we need is for the United States to put a cap on how successful the Japanese are allowed to be.

 

That would be fair given how Japan treat their trade ally.

 

You mean nothing that GM, Ford or Chrysler makes interests you, but something Japanese does?
What could they make for you that you'd want?(..at an affordable price...)
(..curious..)
Or could it just be, like others, you dislike Union made products??(except Harleys)