[Leica] IMG: American Styling

[grduprey at mchsi.com (grduprey at mchsi.com)]

Jayanand,

Actually Ford is doing quite well at this time.  They have not asked for any 
assistance at all.

Gene
-------------- Original message from Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at 
gmail.com>: -------------- 


> Jim, 
> I have always thought of GM and Ford as pension funds which make cars on 
> the 
> side. It could not have lasted. Now that GM is in Chapter 11, does it not 
> make sense for Ford to go down that route as well and rationalize their 
> liabilities as well? Otherwise, how will they compete? 
> Cheers 
> Jayanand 
> 
> On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 5:55 AM, Jim Shulman wrote: 
> 
> > There are many things that helped to kill the US auto industry, well 
> > above 
> > the styling excess of 50s and 60s cars. 
> > 
> > Corporate Arrogance would head my list, beginning with lackluster to 
> > dreadful quality control. The prevailing feeling in the 50s and 60s was 
> > that customers would trade in their cars every two or three years, so 
> > why 
> > build a car that would endure? One former Ford executive who, when I 
> > asked 
> > about the metal parts of early Mustangs that were not galvanized or 
> > painted, 
> > said, "these cars were built to last as long as the payment book." 
> > Consumer 
> > Reports recently discussed the relative quality of the US automakers 
> > product, which still fell short of many of their competitors' models. GM 
> > was considered not bad, Ford was considered better, and Chrysler still 
> > abysmal. Given this, would you put your money on "not bad", when for the 
> > same money or less you could own "excellent"? 
> > 
> > Next would be tone-deafness to consumer preferences about auto size, 
> > mileage, and safety features. For every excuse that Detroit offered, a 
> > foreign competitor would answer with a product that offered size, 
> > efficiency, and safety that exceeded customer expectations. 
> > 
> > Then would come internal inertia, where the organizations were more 
> > focused 
> > on their corporate needs than the customer's demands. Those of us who 
> > remember the awful generic GM autos of the 80s can attest to the 
> > problems 
> > of 
> > putting "badge engineering" above customer demand for cars 
> > differentiated 
> > by 
> > both style and engineering. Cadillac Cimarron, anyone? Or the 
> > Opel-derived 
> > Catera? 
> > 
> > Finally would come the myopia of executive leadership of the past 
> > thirty-plus years, which believed that their successors would fix the 
> > problems they avoided. Alfred Sloan predicted in the late 1940s that a 
> > GM 
> > defined-benefit pension plan would eventually bring the company to 
> > financial 
> > ruin. When GM owned 50% of the US car market, it was less of a 
> > concern--but 
> > as market share declined (and as retirees lived longer than their 
> > parents 
> > or 
> > grandparents) it became a huge problem. 
> > 
> > Jim Shulman 
> > Wynnewood, PA 
> > Who is still waiting for his '57 Dodge to come out of the repair shop. 
> > 
> > -----Original Message----- 
> > From: lug-bounces+jshul=comcast.net at leica-users.org 
> > [mailto:lug-bounces+jshul =comcast.net@ 
> > leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Ric 
> > Carter 
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 8:06 PM 
> > To: Leica Users Group 
> > Subject: Re: [Leica] IMG: American Styling 
> > 
> > I'm a child of the '50s and '60s 
> > 
> > I LOVE excess;^) 
> > 
> > ric 
> > 
> > 
> > On Jun 23, 2009, at 7:57 PM, Jerry Lehrer wrote: 
> > 
> > > 
> > > If you are trying to show us some of the excesses that helped to 
> > > kill the American auto industry, you 
> > > are succeeding! 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________ 
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> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________ 
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> > 
> 
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