5th Oct 2009, 17:01

Funny, but wrong. What got us into this mess was the outsourcing of jobs and the offering of pensions. When the Big 3 decided to give their workers pensions, they basically wrote themselves a death wish. The import companies had NOTHING to do with the demise of the Big 3. The Big 3 brought this upon themselves. It's quite obvious to see this by the way. The Big 3 offered pensions to retired workers, now they're paying the retired workers, so let's say Mr. Retired Autoworker now gets $2,000 a month from his pension. Well, that $2,000 is money that ISN'T being spent on producing good, quality vehicles. Hence cut-corners assembly and lower quality materials. Not to mention the outsourcing that was done. Most "American" built cars are built by Mexicans or Canadians. Not Americans. The Big 3 caused themselves this problem, Honda and Toyota as well as the other import companies didn't offer pensions and other retirement plans. Tougher on the worker? Yes. But it does create a very successful company.

25th Apr 2012, 12:57

The Japanese have been making far superior everything for years now! The North American brand vehicles are so far behind in design, quality, technology, etc. that it should be painfully obvious to anyone. Almost every automotive innovation worth having has been invented by either Mitsubishi or Mercedes, and Mercedes dropped Chrysler Corp. like a hot potato because of the poor quality they were contributing to the Mercedes name.

NA makers are just now starting to produce fuel efficient vehicles, only because they have been forced to by US government mandates. In 1995 the Civic got 44MPG on the highway. Do some research, or don't say anything at all!

5th Jan 2013, 19:00

If the domestic brands would give up on their planned obsolescence scam, you know, making a car to last 5 years only, I might consider one.

This is what happens when you let accountants run a business.

I will keep buying imports until you, the unionized workers toss the management ruining your companies out on their butts. A car has to last 10 years, no less. A car should ideally run as long as possible, giving it a sweet resale value, and that resale money goes towards the seller buying a new car.

Bean counters didn't account for resale value huh?