LexFather

Its amazing the hate for GM/Ford/Chrysler is so BAD by AMERICANS, they are willing to see these companies go. Yet these same Americans have no problem supporting some pretty CRAPPY vehicles with an import badge.

Hell since the govt is going against my wishes and bailing out the crooks, hell, why not bail out the auto companies as well or at least help them develop serious hybrid or alternative tech.

Send GM etc some NASA scientists, BLAM 200MPG cars

mmarshall

My response to this: Get a Life.

If German carmakers spent as much time designing electronics/hardware to match the excellence of their chassis/suspensions as they did whining about how Uncle Sam spends his money, they would be better off.

UDel

It was the top US auto brass who decided on that poor method of designing and building really cheap crappy cars and reaping profits, unfortunately the thousands of auto workers had absolutely no say in what they were building and it is not their fault they were given crappy designs with poor materials to build. It may serve the top brass right but they are only a handful of the vast GM working force that will be affected and they are rich anyways and it is all the hard working autoworkers who are going to lose their jobs and suffer based on the decisions of a bunch of privileged upper management and CEOs with prestigious degrees who also drove American companies in the dirt just like these same CEOs have done on Wall Street recently. I don't agree with a govt bailout but I really do not want to see these American companies go under and tens of thousands of their workers let go with no jobs or ways to support themselves or their families. It would really hurt our economy and image. There are enough American companies,brands, and factories going under or moving abroad to be replaced with super cheap labor from China and India with even worse quality, we don't need our automotive companies to go under to be replaced by horrible quality cheap vehicles made in China from practically slave labor.

mmarshall

Cheaper, poor quality materials are not just the realm of American-nameplate cars (in fact, some Detroit brands are actually improving now). Some non-American-nameplates are also showing signs of quality deterioration and use of cheaper materials.

UDel

That is true, look at the current Camry,RAV4, original G35 and 01 or 02 new bigger Altima, which had/have some pretty poor recent quality interior wise on Japanese cars but Detroit automakers were the biggest offenders in the 80's and 90's which is mainly what I was talking about in the decisions to go ahead with lackluster quality and designs and what has completely killed their image with Americans public and people around the world. GM is making big strides in quality with the new Caddy CTS, Malibu, Trailblazer, and some Buick sedans/SUVs but they still have more work to do to catch up to the vast majority of Japanese and European counterparts. Ford and Chrysler continue with lackluster designs and quality though and are not close to up to par even with GM on interior quality and materials aside from maybe the new Lincoln MKS/MKZ.

SLegacy99

My boss had an '04 Stratus. ....it caught on fire in the parking at work lot a few days ago....Wow.

mmarshall

Chrysler, yes.....they continue to use a lot of cheap materials in their designs (see my latest review of the Challenger R/T). But Ford is definitely improving. Their Fusion/Milan/MKZ triplets, especially, have excellent reputations. I, personally, also have a very high opinion of the new Taurus/Sable twins (formerly Five Hundered/Montego), not the old Taurus/Sable.

MoLexus

Ford is stepping it up big time with their materials, marketing (very eye catching), and designs. I strongly believe out of the big three that they will become profitable again. The next thing they need to do is drop Mercury and fix Lincoln's product line and they should be fine.

Indio

iTrader: (1)

Democrats? I believe that was Bush on tv begging for this bailout, I'm with Sick on this one, betting that most of you live in this country its amazing to see the cheerleading that goes on here for one or all of the big three to fail, not cool.

-J-P-L-

Yes, Bush seems to be the biggest supporter of the bailout and is disappointed that it didn't pass yesterday. And 40% of Democrats voted against it.

As for the failing of the big three, no one wants to see them fail of course. We're just so frustrated that they have built mostly junk for decades and expect to come away clean. Fortunately, they have made huge strides in the past few years, but so much damage has been done.

It's going to take a product like the Chevy Volt for me to make the switch back to domestics (assuming Toyota doesn't have anything superior at the time). But the Volt has to match Toyota quality, beat Toyota's efficiency, and be affordable. Can they do it? If so, they've won me back.