Also, this year the Vette interior was updated. Lot better quality, same boring design.

procrastinate now- I don’t really understand what your point is either. Most Japanese designed models in America don’t sell well anywhere else either. Tundra, 4Runner, Camry, Avalon, Accord, Vibe, just to name a few. It’s because American’s like larger cars.

Fact: Americans are larger than the rest of the world. And I’m not talking about just size wise, I’m talking about height, purchasing power and family size. Those are all things that factor into buying a car. They can stuff three rows of seats into the little LR2, but in America the seats in it are already fairly small. You’d be surprised that it’s actually a big difference.

There’s nothing wrong with that. You people act like Americans have wanted small cars for forever. Another fact is, they still and never have sold as well as larger vehicles. Even though we have quite a few good small cars, such as the Focus, Civic, Cobalt, Astra, Golf, Jetta, as well as a slew of smaller European offerings in the past, they don’t sell in huge numbers. That’s not to say their not good, and yeah, we’ve had our share of bad small cars and stereotypes about them, but if you gave an American $30k to spend on a smaller car that costs $15k, or a mid-size SUV that costs $20k, they’d most likely choose the SUV. Where other countries are lacking in large vehicles, such as Europe, we’ve got plenty of them. Hey, maybe that’s a bad decision, but that’s freedom of choice.

But as a consumer would I pay extra for something that’s domestic made vs foreign made? Probably not. lol

And yeah… more and more Japanese and other Foreign cars are in fact being manufactured right here in the U.S utilizing U.S. workers so the line between what’s foreign and domestic is definitely becoming less fine. Because chances are that Camry or Tundra driving down the road is probably more “American” than that Focus that’s driving down the road.

And touche with the Chinese buying all the GM cars ?… lol I don’t think I can answer that…lol

Although in that case from my understanding these GM joint ventures with these Chinese companies that have to be like majority owned by a Chinese company that’s mandated by the Chinese government, seems to make me think that probably majority of the money that’s being made isn’t going into GM’s pockets stateside.

It’s simple minded to suggest that just because an American company makes a product, every American should buy it or else, be labled anti-domestic. Are you telling us every product in your house was made in the US?

GM vehicles are actually selling pretty well in other regions of the world, but it’s just in their home market where everyone is anti-domestic…

And it’s not just GM taking things from Ferrari for the Corvette, such as Delphi’s magnetic suspension that’s been used on the Corvette Ferrari uses for the 599GTB, and I also want to say the new Ferrari California…

But yeah the American public in general is very stupid. This proves it…

Let’s give the banks 700B with basically no strings attached, but when the Big 3 come asking for loans that they will repay everyone is against it.

I’ve officially lost all faith in this country…

And, not just Americans. If you travel to Europe, South America and parts of Asia, you see BMW’s, Mercs, Audi’s, VW’s, Toyota’s and even Renaults, of all shapes and sizes. You don’t see Taurus’s, Sebrings, or the Lacrosse. They won’t sell anywhere else. And, it’s not just because of trade protectionism. The solution is simple, build a better product that’s intresting and intuitive and, it’ll sell. Ford has been making strides to do just that. GM has the Corvette and the CTS series but, those are not cars your average soccer mom is going to buy to haul the brats with all their crap. And Chrysler, well,…’nuff said.

I’m not sure if the bailout or Chapter 11 will save the Big 3. If they make it, they’re still going to need a better product line up than they have now. And they need to knock off the redundant re-badging nonsense.

Simple fact is the automotive industry is hobbled by mass prejudice and ignorance. 61% of “americans,” i’d bet they only called Californians, probably don’t understand anything other than “Bail out” is what they hear on gilligan’s island when the raft starts sinking.

So explain to me how that is possible with “inferior technology.”

BTW, the most powerful internal combustion engines in the world, producing north of 8,000 horsepower, in top fuel dragsters, use PUSHRODS. Overhead cams are NOT technologically advanced – they’ve been around almost as long as the pushrod design. Ignorant people like you think they are advanced, because letters like “DOHC” sound hi-tech.

Domestically we don’t Produce any mass market worldwide cars(Prius,Jazz,A4,Rabbit) only niche pieces of Americana . If your best selling vehicle is Huge displacement gas guzzling truck for Cletus joe to transport his 18pack bud lite from K-mart you should be worried.

SSEAN54 hearing your insane xenophobic BS comments BLAMING other people and nations for the big 3′s problems is enough reason not to give them a dime. Maybe you should go back to for day job and wear your white suit plus pointy white hat and lynch the chocolate people..

why didn’t the public demand that the AIG staff take concessions? why aren’t their managers working for a dollar? why doesn’t anyone question this?

If an American car company fails we lose more manufacturing in the US which we can’t afford.
Let the UAW fail and reinvent it as a sensible Union not the bloated mess it is now.
Loan them some money and stick your made up 61% of 1100 up your a**.
You could find 1100 people that think the earth is flat. Isn’t that a rather small poll?

http://a137.g.akamai.net/n/137/3538/20000204203412/www.cars.com/features/autoshow2000/production/pontiac/images/01_pontiac_aztek.jpg

http://www.somethingsowrong.com/images/sgp.jpg

@S SEAN54, you’re obviously an intellectual.

My solution: A one-time bailout
Whatever they ask for, give then 2/3 of it, and say “Make it enough!”
To let them die is wrong
To prevent them from meeting their natural end, good or bad, is just as wrong.
DrFill

As for the topic at hand, 61% of Americans oppose the Big Three getting financial aid because they saw how it was used by AIG and the like recently. If those damn banks didn’t get all that money and just let it go to waste, I think more people would be supportive of the Big Three getting money. It’s just unfortunate that people don’t see that this is a loan and that they’re only going to (if they do) get a fraction of what the banks got in the bailout.

They need to be bailed out, unfortunately. It’s a harsh reality, but there’s little choice.

JakeK66: I don’t think it could possibly be a hoax. The amount of cash left on hand to help each of the 3 companies through ’09 isn’t a fabricated denomination; w/o federal help, they truly will run out of money to run their businesses, endangering the futures of MILLIONS, not to mention our future economic stability in general.

would you support a bailout on condition all the top execs were fired?

NO – Because it’s not ALL of the top execs that are the problem, some were put in this situation for only a couple tears and are trying to fix it (RE Ford) so it’s not fair to fire them because a market collapses while they are trying to steer it in the right direction. Why fire Jim Press who’s been at Chrysler less than a year and has done more to their product than ever imagined in such a short time (Case and point interior of the 09 Journey and 09 Jeep Patriot vs. the ’08 interior). Change takes time, there’s no magic executives to make the bad good with a wave of the wand.

-would you support a bailout on condition the UAW was fired?

What? All fired? No, just strip the UAW of their tight grip and allow the manufacturers to pay competitive rates like that of Toyota and Honda pay in the United States.

Does anyone else think this whole thing could, again COULD, be a big hoax by the automakers to make them appear worse off than they are to get cheap loans and renegotiate terms with the unions? Just a thought.

let them suffer until they have no option but to change union plans, get rid of the many useless workers, and create a better strategy! money isn’t going to solve anything, just like the 700B isn’t doing what was promised to the public!

@johnnycanuck, the answer for me is yes and, yes. There is a foreign concept called corporate responsibility. Flying in private jets and taking huge paychecks, at a time when your company is deep in the red, is probably not the most convincing way of expressing it.

While, like many others, I’m opposed to bailouts in principal for any sector, my preference has always been for a negotiated BK with secured Debt holders and a form of Escrow for warranty issues. What’s fair for the banks is fair for the Auto sector – a helluva a lot cheaper too!

What I find interesting in all this is that the major players in the banking sector bailout are all major contributors to the Democrats and even Obama as is the UAW. Rubin and the other high-level back-room financial advisors to Obama are all from the upper echelons of the Wall Street hierarchy. Oh yeah, “Yes we Can,” what a joke, same-old same-old – watch and see. This time we got to see Oprah cry though… The schooling of the electorate never seems to stop, Bush, Obama, Clinton, Regan etc., guess it’s the luck of the draw who gets in without any major issues confronting the country; but I digress. America is one of the few countries that does not support its domestic industrial base through health care and/or pension support. The big 3 are actually a microcosm of the USA today. The banks, the tech sector and on and on…

So what’s the difference between a Trillion$+ bank bailout, a 50Billion auto sector bailout, 300Billion+ for Credit Card defaults etc., and people clamoring to be allowed to stay in homes they can’t afford to pay for and/or were trying to speculate in real-estate? Congratulations my fellow Americans and in particular the 61% in the CNN poll (the fine news establishment that it is) – well done, applause:-))) TDF

As I said in early October, how many Bmers and Benzs etc., y’all see moving off the lots. Sad thing is it’s a toss up if it gets any worse – regardless who is President or controls Congress – it’s really that bad folks.

Okay, Back to regular scheduled programming. Sorry no Holograms;-)

DB9

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“IF God did not exist it would be necessary to invent Him” Voltaire

Don’t realize that 5M workers will affect THEIR JOBS!

We SPEND $30B in Iraq IN THREE MONTHS! Yet we can’t LOAN these car companies the same amount?

Yet AIG was given $150B? And it’s already gone???

What’s wrong w/the public?

WE MADE MONEY WHEN WE LOANED CHRYSLER IN THE LATE ’70S MONEY!

-would you support a bailout on condition all the top execs were fired?

this idea i support. its the knuckleheads up top that need to get axed.

What does surprise me is all the bashing of hard working union workers. Middle Class Americans.
Its sad that middle class workers are the ones that are made to be the problem of the big 3. Well they made/design/marketed all those cars. Yeah they took pay cuts to where new members make about the same an non-union worker at other plants. All they got are broken promise of future health-care. Whatever! Hey we don’t need a middle class in this country. Its not like most appreciate unionization has done for this country. Keep bashing the unions boys and one day you’ll wake up to your Mexican economy that some on here seem to pine for.

Who needs the middle class worker all the fat cats will by all the goods and companies will prosper off their good will. Right!