American Cars: The new advertising campaign

[brianphi]

[IMG]http://www.treehugger.com/20081209-the-bailout-****ty-cars.jpg[/IMG]

[bignasty36]

[IMG]http://www.treehugger.com/20081209-the-bailout-****ty-cars.jpg[/IMG]

damn thats rough

[itzatol]

nice

[AMcHizZl3]

except ford does not want uncle sam telling them what to do and will likely not be participating

[SquatTillYaPuke]

So fuking true.

[brianphi]

Before I get any negs..... I AM excited for the new Camaro, and I'd love to get my hands on a C6 Z06 after another year or two of depreciation (poor)

On the other hand, I owned a Chevy Cavalier at one point in time, so I can fully embrace the image I posted!

[J1n]

[IMG]http://www.treehugger.com/20081209-the-bailout-****ty-cars.jpg[/IMG]

So true.

[steezemcgreazee]

[IMG]http://www.treehugger.com/20081209-the-bailout-****ty-cars.jpg[/IMG]

the truth has never been truer

[justdragit]

Good thing I bought this a few months back..

[MrGuitar]

Nothing wrong with American cars these days. Healthcare and pension obligations swamp their budgets....considering negging.

[itzatol]

Nothing wrong with American cars these days. Healthcare and pension obligations swamp their budgets....considering negging.

So then how come no one is buying them?

[shoobey]

Healthcare and pension obligations swamp their budgets....considering negging.

Oh you mean like every other company in the entire country? It is not like paying health care and pension is a automaker problem, every company has to budget themselves for those things, and make sure their revenue covers all the extra costs . Yea lame excuse. In other words they run a failed business model and it's is their own fault.

[nygolfer]

Nothing wrong with American cars these days. Healthcare and pension obligations swamp their budgets....considering negging.

agree with this guy..know plenty of people with newer American cars who have no more problems than those with imports

[AlphaBlack]

Nothing wrong with American cars these days. Healthcare and pension obligations swamp their budgets....considering negging.

i blame the UAW union

[justdragit]

agree with this guy..know plenty of people with newer American cars who have no more problems than those with imports

yep. imports still fail.

[Deez Nutz]

people buy tons of American cars. look how many trucks, Taurus, mustangs, and cobalts are on the road. It has nothing to do with the cars.

[bignasty36]

yep. imports still fail.

we need specifics, can just say they fail as a whole

[SquatTillYaPuke]

Nothing wrong with American cars these days. Healthcare and pension obligations swamp their budgets....considering negging.

That depends on what you mean by these days. You cant tell how the cars that have just come out are going to hold up. I bought a ford focus a few years back........piece of ****. I really dont know how it wins awards, there are so many design flaws that are extremely annoying. Also the supposed good gas mileage held up for about a year, after that the mileage droped considerably and it was allways needing something fixed. Glad I got rid of it, definitely cant compare to a honda or toyota.

[MrGuitar]

So then how come no one is buying them?

Actually, GM, in a tie with toyota, led the industry in global sales in 2007. Currently, people are not buying any cars. Fords sales droped 31% in november....Toyota's sales dropped 34%. Everyone is doing bad due to the economy. The American companies have far more financial responsibilites than their foreign competitiors. GM is paying people that havnt worked for them in 30 years. They pay for heathcare for 1,000,000 people. The pensions they guaranteed decades ago have proven to be unsustainable.

[shoobey]

people buy tons of American cars. look how many trucks, Taurus, mustangs, and cobalts are on the road. It has nothing to do with the cars.

they are a business that sells automobiles. If they are not making enough money from their business, then that means they suck. No other excuses. They forget that they are still running a business and this is the risk people take for running businesses? Wtf, when did the U.S turn into a socialist state?

[Hat_Monster]

DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYMN!

But you'd still take the import...

[itzatol]

Actually, GM, in a tie with toyota, led the industry in global sales in 2007. Currently, people are not buying any cars. Fords sales droped 31% in november....Toyota's sales dropped 34%. Everyone is doing bad due to the economy. The American companies have far more financial responsibilites than their foreign competitiors. GM is paying people that havnt worked for them in 30 years. They pay for heathcare for 1,000,000 people. The pensions they guaranteed decades ago have proven to be unsustainable.

Will give measly reps for where you got these numbers? I actually keep finding it the other way around?

[MrGuitar]

Oh you mean like every other company in the entire country? It is not like paying health care and pension is a automaker problem, every company has to budget themselves for those things, and make sure their revenue covers all the extra costs . Yea lame excuse. In other words they run a failed business model and it's is their own fault.

these pensions were guaranteed decades ago when times were very different. toyota, honda, nissan, ect do not have this huge burden. GM pays out 6.5 billion in pensions each year

[itzatol]

they are a business that sells automobiles. If they are not making enough money from their business, then that means they suck. No other excuses. They forget that they are still running a business and this is the risk people take for running businesses? Wtf, when did the U.S turn into a socialist state?

When they first started the bailouts..DUH

[shoobey]

these pensions were guaranteed decades ago when times were very different. toyota, honda, nissan, ect do not have this huge burden. GM pays out 6.5 billion in pensions each year

uh ok? That has nothing to do with my point though, just shows that they have poor fore sighting ability, and more further shows that they run their business poorly and inefficiently. So basically they made a bad business decision and now the tax payers are supposed to help them out?

[MrGuitar]

Will give measly reps for where you got these numbers? I actually keep finding it the other way around?

Pension payout each year:
http://pensionpulse.blogspot.com/200...sion-fund.html

Health care obligations:
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-99065916.html

november auto sales
http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/02/news...ales/index.htm

GM's global sales in 2007:
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/23/g...heat-with-toy/

[MrGuitar]

uh ok? That has nothing to do with my point though, just shows that they have poor fore sighting ability. So basically they made a bad business decision and now the tax payers are supposed to help them out?

The intial claim was that the quality of their cars is the contributing factor to their financial troubles. I am here to prove that this is not the case. I never defended their decisions made years and years ago. I am simply pointing out that quality of the products is not the issue. Read the OP before posting....

[MrGuitar]

bump

[shoobey]

The intial claim was that the quality of their cars is the contributing factor to their financial troubles. I am here to prove that this is not the case. I never defended their decisions made years and years ago. I am simply pointing out that quality of the products is not the issue. Read the OP before posting....

how can you say it's not an issue? GM and Ford are infamous for poor quality. You think if they were known for building solid, ultra reliable cars like Toyota, or Honda, Toyota/Honda would sell nearly as many of their cars to Americans as they do now?

If GM and Ford weren't associated with horrid quality and reliability, they would be selling a lot more cars then they are now, balancing out all the money they need to pay for pensions and whatever else. No one would have reason to buy a Toyota/Honda if they could buy cheaper domestics with the same level of quality and reliability. GM only stopped making the horrible crap rattly cars and really tried to up their quality in like 03/04, not really all that long ago for lifetime of subpar quality.

I personally owned a GM car for several years. It was a peice, and was barely a car. It felt more like a military vehicle or something inside, everything was plastic, rattly and cold. Just screamed out "econo quality" all over the place. I have a honda now, no comparison whatsoever with quality.

[MrGuitar]

how can you say it's not an issue? GM and Ford are infamous for poor quality. You think if they were known for building solid, ultra reliable cars like Toyota, or Honda, Toyota/Honda would sell nearly as many of their cars to Americans as they do now?

If GM and Ford weren't associated with horrid quality and reliability, they would be selling a lot more cars then they are now, balancing out all the money they need to pay for pensions and whatever else. No one would have reason to buy a Toyota/Honda if they could buy cheaper domestics with the same level of quality and reliability. GM only stopped making the horrible crap rattly cars i like 03/04, not really all that long ago for lifetime of subpar quality.

I personally owned a GM car for several years. It was a peice, and was barely a car. It felt more like a military vehicle or something inside, everything was plastic, rattly and cold. Just screamed out "econo quality" all over the place. I have a honda now, no comparison whatsoever with quality.

I agree that in the past, quality was an issue, but now those significant differences in quality do not exist. Only ignorant stereotypes still exist in regard to quality. I will support my claim with data rather than providing evidence based on a "I owned a *insert name here* car and it was crap" approach.