That's a good point about assistance from governments. And when I really think about it, the only american made cars I know of being sold in europe are BMW Z4s. I wouldn't expect to see any big 3 models in asia either. So really, the North American governments may really be to blame, for allowing foreign manufacturers to have what the big 3 aren't allowed to have, global trade. The only way American companies are able to get sales outside north america, is to own other foreign companies, or have a partnership with them, i.e. Holden, Opel, Volvo, Mazda etc.

 

BMW is European owned, and Holden/Opel are GM...

 

For someone who is as strongly for free market as you seem to be I would expect you of all people to realize that our economy is not a free market system. It has roots in that and still has some similarities but there is far too much regulation and oversight for anyone with half a brain to claim it's a free market. In a true free market your solution might bear some merit, however right now we're in this mess mainly thanks to the government (big surprise there) and after giving 700 BILLION to the financial industry now they should not give a Loan to the Detroit 3 to give them a fighting chance?

News flash: even Toyota's sales are down, they get plenty of help from their government in their home market. Detroit got slammed hard from both sides by the gas price surge and the financial market collapse. Before you go complaining how it's Detroit's fault for not building fuel efficient cars stop and think for a moment. What is the goal of a business? They need to make a profit, and up until the gas surge the majority of the profits were to be had in the truck and suv markets. Toyota, Honda and the like have many small cars available and have been continually advancing them because they need those vehicles for some of their other markets, especially their home market, Japan.

In regards to your comments about horrible mismanagement, Alan Mullaly has not been on very long at Ford and it seems to me he's doing a pretty good job at the helm. In Chrysler's case they just got done being bent over and raped by Daimler when all this hits. Whatever your opinion on Cerberus might be they haven't had enough time to make a difference yet, there is no such thing as instant turnaround in the auto industry. As for GM, I think Wagoneer's been there awhile so we'll see what happens there.

 

Every Z4 is made in the U.S., the engines are made in Munich, shipped to the U.S. for Z4 assembly, then sold around the world. I gave Holden and Opel as examples of the only ways GM is able to sell overseas. Ford is able to sell in some foreign countries, but every vehicle they sell overseas is made overseas. My point was that the north american auto industry isn't able to export, it seems the only car made by american hands that is sold overseas is the BMW Z4.

 

While Detroit is begging for money, the Japanese, once again, beat them at innovation.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/...ept-vans_N.htm

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bud...n-Save-Detroit?

There was a video article on this on ABC, where they were showing the average blue collar GM employee makes $75 an hour....compared to the $45-$50 an hour that Toyota/Honda/Nissan pays its employees...

Now, that right there explains the situation we're in......it adds up to anywhere from $1500-2000 per car difference...

 

Are these in production?? Or are you just pulling crap from your ****? Also, the Detroit 3 have never ever produced anything innovative??

Try googling the New Dodge Ram

 

I guess you're too ignorant to read the article.

The new Dodge Ram is innovative? The coil spring rear end was done by Chevy years ago. The cargo side boxes? Big whoo-pee. Look at what Volkswagen did back in the 1960's.





Folding gates are superior to the crappy fixed side-walls that US trucks have.

 

You didn't answer my question, are those vans you first posted, concepts or production??
The VW vans are how old of a design? If the design was so great why doesn't every manufacturer make a version?

I will say that the VW design could be a good option

 

Back on topic(expecting some moderation in here), hopefully the concessions will give them enough survivability to get the loans. The loans can carry them until the industry saving models come out.

What I would suggest for GM, is to kill the doubled and tripled models. Kill all of the domestic brands and bring it all under the GM brand(they're already putting GM badges on their cars), and keep one model from every class. Also I would suggest they sell Saturn, rather than just kill it.