IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.
November 1983 saw the release of the Dodge Caravan. Since then, minivans have made their way into culture, and some hilarious moments. Here are a few examples of the minivan-related hilarity:
GM vice president Bob Lutz was brought in to the company in 2001 to help turn things around. Since then, the company has only lost market shares and has continued to rely on gas-guzzlers for sales. In 2005, Lutz wrote a blog post explaining that GM was being all maverick-y with their SUV initiatives. And although we may have seen a small jump in SUV sales recently since gas prices lowered, it’s probably unlikely these gas-guzzlers will ever rule the market again. Read what Lutz had to say three years ago:
We began developing these trucks three years ago when fuel prices were stable and historically low in real-dollar terms. Nevertheless, we made fuel economy an extremely high priority item, even back then.
This is one reason why we are still very confident of their success. In addition, we have a huge owner body, it’s a segment we think will level off at about 750,000, and we’re going to have the newest and best products out there, with substantial improvements in fuel economy. If you’re using our Displacement on Demand technology and you carefully manage when and how often you go on four cylinders, you can do better than the EPA ratings!
Let me make this clear: I don’t think anything exemplifies the state of our art today like our all-new full-size sport-utilities. We’ve made significant strides forward in exterior styling, interior refinement, vehicle dynamics, safety, quality and reliability.
You think he’d agree now with his past self? Read more…
“Workers at General Motor’s Arlington, Texas, SUV assembly plant began working overtime this month and are scheduled to remain on overtime for the rest of the year.
The plant, which employs 2,500 workers, is now the only GM factory building full-size sport utility vehicles like the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade.Although sales of the vehicles are still down overall, they have rebounded in recent weeks as gas prices have fallen and cash-strapped automakers have slashed prices. The vehicles have proven to be a solid source of revenue for GM.”
Ford and Toyota revealed their October sales today - both of which were far below average. It is expected that when the rest of the industry’s sales reports are seen, they too will be low. It is likely that October 2008 was the lowest month for sales in the auto industry in 16 years. Read more…
A flying car could be just two years away, claim its makers. The Autovolantor will cost an estimated $1 million, and be able to reach 100 mph on the road and 150 mph in the air. It is important to keep in mind that this car is still in the design stages and they haven’t actually made a car fly. But a small scale model has given the design team hope that a flying car is possible. Read more…
