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Why American manufacturers are failing...
I clicked on the article posted here about the new Buick concept revealed in Shanghai (http://www.autospies.com/news/SHANGHAI-MOTOR-SHOW-2007-Buick-Riviera-Concept-14428/). What a beauty!!! I was thinking to myself, why is it that ALL of the American brands are doing so poorly, when it is obviously POSSIBLE for them to create interesting and forward thinking designs that are attractive. Then it hit me... when American manufacturers release their concept designs, everyone knows that nothing even remotely similar will ever hit the streets. They spend all this design, R&D time and MONEY to build cars that people lust after that will NEVER hit the streets. It's quite sad really.

Take a look at the Japanese and the Germans... Infiniti Coupe Concept: on the road later this year, SLR concept: one of the most stunning and powerful beasts on asphalt, Honda, BMW, TOYOTA... they all use conceptual designs to guage interest and then take cues from the info and make cars that approximate what the people liked in these concepts. It's pretty simple really.

Now, to give credit where credit is due, the US majors have done this with great success. How about the 05 Mustang concept which made it directly to production? How about the renaissance of Cadillac? How about the upcoming return of the Camaro (you know this will be a hit!)? All of these examples illustrate how the US has created winners by giving the public what it wants.

What I want is to see less of are these outrageous designs, like the new Buick, that get everyone excited, only to let us all down with the lackluster design and execution of what actually hits dealers showrooms. I would be proud to buy American if they put cars like this new concept on the road. But hell will likely freeze over before you ever cach me in a Lucerne!!!



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kart1kart1 - 4/23/2007 10:14:07 AM
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It all comes down to money. Why are American cars not sold in America better than the American cars sold in America? The ones not sold in America costs a lot more. The Mustang has great looks and Cadillac is an expensive brand so GM can afford to build better cars for them. There is another thing, it is more expensive to build a car for GM than it is for Toyota. American companies are not failing because they can't make good cars, no they are failing because their production and labor system is killing them. And about the part of putting the money in R&D, producing concepts, and then not following through with them - GM knows that they will not be able to produce these extraordinary concepts and make a profit as well.

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TruenoAE86TruenoAE86 - 4/23/2007 10:28:55 AM
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Why American manufacturers are failing? Just ask UAW.

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stevenv1999stevenv1999 - 4/23/2007 11:15:53 AM
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You know what, I am sick and tired of people saying American car companies problems are because of labor costs or bad designs that nobody wants. That is such an out there and rather naive statement. Kind of like believing the soft water industry that says soft water is actually soft. The first thing is American car companies suffer because of poor quality, with very little improvement and always trying to play catch-up. This erosion of their bottom line has been going on for decades and they did virtually nothing to prevent this. This is while Toyota was quietly taking 1% to 2% market share for decades. The next issue is any sort of refinement or for that matter innovation. I will use American engines as one of the best examples of sorely lacking technology. I remember GM's response to this: "we didn't know this was important to our customer"(referring to their archaic engines)? WHAT? I am as patriotic as the next guy, but lets get to the truth here. Toyota's quality is built in. They will use a high quality, well engineered door handle internals for everything from their Matrix to their Lexus. I use Toyota as a shining example of how a car company should be ran. I am pissed that GM, Ford and Chrysler have had such a long time to improve and they didn't. Every new model from all other manufacturers improves, year by year, model after model, but not our 3 above losers. You can have the best workers in the world, but the jobs have most certainly been killed over the years by bad product and even poorer management. The rich for once are getting what they deserve for their decades of corporate greed and the really sad part is this is at the expense of our workforce. The better quality vehicles that kart1 is referring to are produces by Honda, Toyota and whomever and sold worldwide everyday. That is just another ongoing excuse used by poorly managed companies.

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chuck717chuck717 - 4/23/2007 11:32:27 AM
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Americans have the fool me once fine but fool me twice on shame on me atittude. With the now little three care makers in the USA Americans had fool me several times and now we won't ever come back and that is what the industry did to themselves they all but put themselves out of business.
They didn't pay attention to the AUTO INDUSTRY OR TRENDS and certainly not the ultimate judge which is the consumer?

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jt716jt716 - 4/23/2007 12:40:39 PMView My AgentSpace
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Well actually Ford was the only American manufacture to compete with Toyota and Nissan for 2nd place in quality. I got it from some article on autospies.Indeed they need a big rock to hit their head to get the idea now lets hope it never happens if they do come back

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indoctrin8edindoctrin8ed - 4/23/2007 9:01:21 PM
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Reasons they're failing:
- UAW want more money for labor for less productivity
- UAW demand more pension money
- UAW demand unreasonable healthcare benefits

UAW have Ford, GM and the Chrysler half of Diamler by the balls.


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Bmw8terBmw8ter - 4/24/2007 9:56:01 AM
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I have to agree with this, especially because of a bs strike a few weeks ago where I work.

Unions have the most absurd demands, just to continue at the same rate of productivity, if not less.


stevenv1999stevenv1999 - 4/24/2007 2:15:23 PM
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Labor can and will build whatever is given to them. If they are given crap they will build it. If they are given a quality product, they will build that also. In other words to blame labor for profit and loss is just wrong. I am not saying that the demands from the UAW are reasonable, but remember how many thousands of workers have lost their jobs over the past 2 decades and remember how many plants have closed and for each instance, labor was asked to sacrifice. I think the UAW's approach is that management should make the same concessions that labor has been making for decades. I think this is a really bad approach. This still comes down to the big 3 making the changes that they should have done long ago and like most huge American companies are now forced to do so, just to survive.

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