[Leica] IMG: American Styling

[jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj)]

Gene,
I know that - but would not reorganising their liabilities under Chapter 11,
especially the retiree stuff not put them at a major cost disadvantage going
forward?
Cheers
Jayanand

On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 12:52 AM, <grduprey at mchsi.com> wrote:

> 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 <lug-bounces%2Bjshul> =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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