a stark contrast to bill ford… who was an insider only by name. he didn’t know anything about the nuts and bolts of how to build anything….and was partially to blame for fords decline after nassr’s tenure.

most automakers already have the business model of design and outsourced manufacturing. the assembly plants are just that… “assembly plants” to think that they are not following this business model already illustrates how uninformed the author is on how business runs.

if the author of the post actually took the time to really research the industry he’d understand what’s really going on and also acknowledge its the american consumer that played part in the down turn of these companies… they only continued to build gas guzzling suv’s because we told them to that by our spending habits…..

the newer products from gm and ford genuinely improved and comparable to the imports… however they do face brand preception issues due to years of mismanagement prior to wagoneers and mullaly’s tenure… had it not been for the credit meltdown… and shrinking of the economy we’d be touting the product renaissance going on in detroit

unfortunately chrysler is dead and should be put out to pasture……

If pigs could fly, we wouldn’t need autos and we could just fly around on pigs all day. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

And I bet those truck sales were to people who always buy trucks and probably most always buy a Ford truck. That is what you don’t understand about Steve Jobs and Apple. They are converting non buyers (PC) into Mac buyers, not just converting them but making them devotees and spokesmen for their products. Its one thing to have a normal F150 buyer tell his friend he loves his truck, but another for the guy who switch from a honda element or toyota (insert car) buyer into a F150 lover who brags about his new truck like he just had sex for the first time and the girl was Holly Berry. For instance, I bet their were people who never owned an SUV or Truck before who bought Hummers, they were converted. Sure Hummer is in trouble now because of fuel, but that excitement converted people, just as the Prius has converted people into Toyota/Hybrid marketing machines.

Here is how you sell more cars Big 3…take those concept cars and actually make them, no not take parts of them and turn out a similar version, actually make it. That excitement people have at the autoshow that is what you need to bottle up that is what you want Americans to feel about your cars.

I felt that way buying my 1971 camaro, my RX 400h, and my wifes BMW 5 series.

Quite frankly the point I see as most important is streamlining the companies and removing excess costs. Look at your dealerships and see where you can eliminate duplication in a market; look at executives and management and figure out where you have too many layers. Don’t just knee-jerk react and say “we’re closing X number of production plants” because that is what the news outlets are looking for – the human interest story that the Big Company is out to destroy the Little Guy.

SJ is good at what he does. I wouldn’t want him to design my car. BO is doing well at this Presidency thing, but I wouldn’t want him doing my root canal. My financial adviser is great at what he does, but I wouldn’t want him to fix my car. Get it? Just because you’re good (or great) at one thing doesn’t necessarily mean you have what it takes to save another industry.

Agreed. Article Fail.

Apparently, the author has missed the intense media coverage surrounding the layoffs, losses, and requests for loans by just about every other global automaker. He’s also missed the point that the Prius–the darling of the tree-hugging/anti-Detroit crowd–has seen its sales fall as fast–if not faster–than everything else. This is not a Detroit problem, and it can’t be cured by hybrids for everyone.