If this happens what will we all drive

[pma]

The future looks bleak I hope he,s wrong


http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=19087

 

[Dave's E55 AMG]

What a Volvo - Malcolm's already got one!

 

[television]

I do not really want to think about it too hard:sad:

 

[Xtractorfan]

Yea I think its that millennium bug thinggy all over again, remember how that stopped the world..

 

[pma]

Yea I think its that millennium bug thinggy all over again, remember how that stopped the world..

Yes I hope you are right but it was Sergio Marchionne the head of Fiat who said it

 

[television]

Yes I hope you are right but it was Sergio Marchionne the head of Fiat who said it

Then we can all drive around in fiat topalino's 500's

 

[Xtractorfan]

I think evolution is what it is called, cars have to change, the world has to evolve and change, Sergio is expressing a viewpoint from his particular position, These things have a habit of working themselves out, people need transport, governments need revenue.
To be honest I think our biggest problem is the developing world, China and India being the leaders..

 

[Splatt]

The American Government is at this moment deliberating which of the big 3 it will save . Very shortly the two who do not get bailed out will go Phut !

 

[Alex M Grieve]

The American Government is at this moment deliberating which of the big 3 it will save . Very shortly the two who do not get bailed out will go Phut !

The "big 3" in the USA are locked in arrangements with the US Autoworkers Union. Unionised staff are entitled to salary until retirement age, pension until they die, and free healthcare provided throughout, all by the employer. This gives them the most expensive labour costs on the planet, by a long way. (I put a thread on recently about an automated Ford plant in Brazil, where they do not have these costs and that mentioned the fact that they would never be able to automate in the US, unless over the autoworkers dead bodies!).

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=43316

Honda, Toyota and the other non US car makers in the USA were prohibited from importing so decided to build cars in the USA, thus providing jobs for the US economy. They are non unionised however.

So GM, Ford and Chrysler can not afford to build cars in the USA. The Japanese and others can not afford not to!

And this is all without considering the credit crunch and the downturn. GM have been offering staff discounts to the man in the street on new cars for several years now and 2 for one (bogof) for at least the last 3 years - so the entrepreneur who did this in the UK recently did not invent the idea, he merely imported it.

Further to that, the folks in the USA have just had to pay more realistic "gas" prices in recent years (although it is back below $2 per gallon now), so SUVs, 4x4s and Winnbagos are hard to give away at present.

Once we understand all these things, unless the recession eases, throwing any money at the "big 3" will only postpone the inevitable, not cure it - and not for very long either!! :sad::sad::sad: