jpd80

The whole Auto Industry needs to downsize, car makers, parts suppliers and dealer chains. You cannot downsize car makers without upstream and down stream consequences.

There is no other lending available to GM at the moment, especially Chapter 11 lending under regulation. If they do not receive government loans them that's it - they cannot trade with insufficient funds. And while it's easy to be hard headed and say GM deserve everything they get, their employees and suppliers will suffer badly - those consequences are bigger than punishing GM. They need immediate funding for the whole motor industry's sake. And btw, Alan Mulally is worth every cent Ford pays him, it is based on what he was earning at Boeing, remember he lost all his boeing shares when he left, that's a big hit for a long term employee.

GM needs an "Alan Mulally" to clean out the trash, could you imagine the fireworks!!!!!

Australia has local production by Ford, Holden Toyota and until recently Mitsubishi. If the Aussie Rudd government can pitch in $4 billion through to 2020 for their 1 million/year industry then surely the US can pitch in $60 billion for USA, unless they don't really care either way.

Bill Ford now looks like the smartest man in Detroit and so glad Ford had the courage to change itself. I'm sad for GM and pray they pull through but I would like to see Ford back on top.

Chapter 11 option is not an option for GM, restructuring loans are all dried up. and that's why they're pleading with Bush/Obama to allow cheap loans, it's their last chance. Without the loans, GM will hit their $13 billion minimum cash operating value by late December. Without government funding, I'm afraid it's nearing Chapter 7 slice and dice time.

Richard, Any reason why catsrtg likemr walksingds on keyboarnenrek.

Watch it with alcohol, it makes perfect sense. AFL Best Marks and goals

Found this great clip on Youtube, it's a cult Aussie surfing move from 1971 call "Morning of the Earth" G. wane Thomas wrote "open up your heart" in 15 minutes, enjoy Morning Of The Earth (Open Your Heart - G.Wayne Thomas)

Imagine if the US government gave its auto industry US$60 billion, the same per capita amount for those projects.

My thoughts exactly, why can't they just accept that and see how hard Flex tries out of its environment?

I see what you're getting at, the US has excess auto production capacity that needs to be reduced. This is where a lot of Ford and GM's cash burn stems from, permanent elimination of plants and people. I recall reading somewhere that it is cheaper to do that idle plants and pay people to stay at home. Perhaps someone connected with the industry could enlighten.

It's all too late for GM, they need the government to come save them. Ford have made huge strides in the last two years, maybe they can still save themselves.....

Did I say anything about stopping traditional vehicles? No. And I did say it was a wacky plan, especially when the government is borrowing the cash......

Yeah, Ford should be selling Volvo to them - they've lost $720 million in nine months!!!

I'm sure Ford, GM and Chrysler would love a "free market" without competitors.. :rolleyes: Unfortunately, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. but here's a wacky idea that may work: US government forgives all outstanding debts in Ford, GM and Chrysler in return for new issue of stock that makes them 49% stakeholders in each company. As a condition of purchase, all three makers then has funding to roll out en mass, hybrids, plug in electric and Hydrogen powered vehicles. The landscape of North American vehicle manufacturing is forever changed. On recovery of stock prices, the government sells down the stock and netts a tidy profit in the process. In the meantime, Asian and European car makers begin an automotive version of the "cold war".

Maybe it's time for parts manufacturers to talk to Detroit about ways to trim parts costs. The costs of similar but unique parts creates an unnecessarily heavy cost burden on parts suppliers and I'll give you an example: Windsceen washer bottles. In Australia a few years back the parts supply industry went to Ford, Holden, Hoyota and Mitsubishu explaining that between the four manufacturers they had 37 windscreen washer bottles, surely if the industry could provide say 15 varieties at least one would fit each model. The cost savings were quite staggering! I believe other parts are shared now, some interior light panels for Holden have a Ford part number cast on the back side and vice versa on other bits.

Ford offers a V8 engine in panthers and Mustangs, all other cars and CUV are limited to V6 or less. That bodes well for coming regulations as the Ecoboost I-4 can replace the V6s when needed.

Might be a dealer ditching really old stock, probably very limited numbers - more a radio gimmick?

Too right FordBuyer, and I hope all the parts suppliers breethe a little easier too. In tight times people turn to certain constants so let's hope Ford (and GM) is one of them.

An even scarier thought is their parts suppliers will die a death of a thousand cuts. As Detroit continue to downsize production, Just On Time supply contracts don't get renewed. Think about Chrysler, rumored production cuts and consequences for suppliers, is this their future? Don't mean to sound gloomy burt US government needs to protect certain industries seen as strategic manufacturing importance and possibly reinforcing American culture and lifestyle.

In the last 20 years, Detroit's market share has gone from over 75% to under 50%. That means their factories, employees and supplier chains are being replaced with foreign brands. Who here thinks this isn't going to keep continuing?

IIRC, Ford will fund the VEBA at 46% of the ($23 billion) total liabilities, compared with 68% at GM. UAW gave Ford a break on its VEBA contribution by allowing the automaker to calculate its retiree health care liabilities using a 6% health care inflation rate, instead of the 9% rate used at GM. The automaker also will contribute a smaller portion of VEBA funding in cash. Instead, Ford will invest cash in making plants more flexible so they can produce different models of vehicles.

I thought the Flex was for those ex-Explorer/Expedition buyers who really didn't go off roading? Kind of a strange vehicle comparison when we know Ford is working on the D3 Explorer.

"Technically Insolvent" is a journalist playing with words, a company is either solvent or inslovent They either have sufficient cash to operate and continue making loan repayments or they don't. Those liabilities also include a big chunk of consumer debt which comes from GM's part ownership of GMAC and are all supported by customer assets and indexed for inflation.