Originally Posted by johnhayes6
They obviously all have labor costs, but the question should be how much of the costs for domestic manufacturers are legacy costs, for employees that work for them 5, 10, 20 years ago. In the past foreign makers where making cars in their home nations. The governments provided benefits that the automakers in America provided, such as healthcare, retirement, etc.
This however is obviously not the entire story, if you look at TMS (Toyota Management System) you’ll see large differences from what is typical in America, empowerment of line employees, a less adversarial relationship with suppliers, better IT / Supply chain management, among other things.
The deals we’re getting on these cars are the result of the problems they’re facing.
Thanks for a really interesting and enlightening post. All those issues I never even considered increasing costs incrementally. It's pretty complicated I guess.
Maybe there's hope. American cars have improved dramatically in the last decade or two. Even if they're generally not the envy of the world, at least they're not the **** boxes of the 70's and 80's (a very dark time for US cars, as we know). Who wouldn't love to have a new Corvette? Cadillac has some interesting models, too. The Ford Escape I had for a while my Xfire was in the shop seemed very solid - no squeaks or rattles (still hated it, though).
I never thought I'd own an American car (even one made in Germany from Merc parts). So that says something, too.
I hope the homegrown cars keep getting better.