Originally Posted by dwightdmagee
I wasn't aware that we have car factories up for sale, radmanly. Where are they and what might they be?
According to
this, GM's Wilmington, DE assembly plant closes next month. I'll bet if you make an offer, GM will happily sell it to you.
It is a certainty, ramanly, that you will see this farce of a Congress-led restructuring slowly unravel over the next eighteen months. Both GM and Chrysler have shed nearly all models currently on the market, and it will take forever for a management-by-consensus to put a new product into production, let alone a car in the showroom. Keep in mind that the fixed costs for both GM and Chrysler are said to be about $100,000,000 a day. What are all of these managers and highly skilled workmen you mention to do in the meantime - while Congress helps develop the next super-car of a green America? Where is the American confidence to buy anything from GM or Chrysler? What are they trying to sell?
While I agree that GM and Chrysler have monumental tasks ahead of them, I disagree that Congress will be designing products. Obama has made it very clear that the government will not tell the carmakers what products to introduce. I'd rather see "managers and highly skilled workmen" on the job--even if they're not doing much--than on the unemployment line. We have enough unemployed people already.
And Fiat is to save the day? I see Audi's, Volvo's, Beemers, Beetles and Porshes everywhere on the American streets and highways. I could throw a cat in the air and it will probably land on a Benz. But where are all of theses Fiat's that are supposed to incline the American car-buyer to see the vision of Obama's restructuring? I can't say that I've ever seen one of these wonderful Fiat's anywhere.
As Fiat hasn't been in the US market in decades, it's not surprising that you haven't seen one. If you go to Mexico, they're everywhere. However, there are some of Fiat's subsidiaries already selling in the US market like Ferrari and Maserati. That's not bad company for Chrysler.
And Fiat now owns 35% of GM without investing one dollar - they are ponying up instead their superior small-car technology and automotive secrets? Give me a break.
Here's my hope for Chrysler: I want to see them use Fiat's expertise with small, fuel-efficient cars to produce some compelling AMERICAN vehicles that get better gas mileage than the current lineup. The mileage from Chrysler's current engine offerings is pitiful. Honda gets the same mileage out of their V6 that Chrysler gets from its I4. So, the mechanicals could use some help.
However, I want the designs to remain American. One of the things I really love about the Crossfire is its American design. Sure, it's Mercedes under the hood but the shape of the car is American. I just wish it had been assembled in America. The MB SLK does nothing for me but put an American-designed body on it and I'll buy two. I think most Alfas are rather fugly so I'm not looking for an Alfa 159 with the Chrysler wings on it, either.
I want Chrysler to be a high-end brand like Cadillac, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes. It should concentrate on premium RWD sedans, convertibles, and coupes. Anything designed to haul children or groceries and use FWD should go to Dodge. Chrysler should super- and turbo-charge all of its cars to get more performance from smaller engines. I'd love to see a Chrysler 300 with a truly premium (think Audi) interior and a supercharged V6. Chrysler needs to reclaim its reputation for good design and it won't do that by just rebadging Fiats. Of course, nobody at Chrysler cares what I think.
When Congress and Obama, GM and Chrysler, Fiat and our new Car Czar, finally concede to failure, a new truly Capitalist People as I have described above, one that remembers how to work and not to bargain, cloaked as the Chinese, a Korean or the Japs, will be there to pick up the pieces.
This sounds like an ideological rant rather than a business plan. It sounds like you want to punish Chrysler and GM for taking government money and employing union labor. The costs to the larger economy or to Chrysler customers take a backseat to teaching ideological lessons.
After all this time, pissing away $100,000,000 tax-dollars a day, just to finally admit that it ain't going to work. How can it possibly work, radmanly? Tell me. And be specific.
Ultimately, it comes down to product. If Fiat and Chrysler can produce cars that people actually want, it will work. Chrysler's been bailed out by the government before and was able to pay it back and survive. It could happen again.
In the meantime, Ford Motors will have been cranking out those plain white Crown Vic's with the steel painted rims.
I don't think so. I thought Ford was discontinuing the Crown Vic. I believe it's currently only available for fleet sales.