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Old 11-18-08, 03:07   #143 (permalink)
Len_A
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Re: Should the government bail-out include domestic automakers?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jfelbab View Post
You have more current data on how much the big three is making/losing per vehicle? If so, post it. The data I cited were reported in the news today.

I never said that GM's labor contract was the reason for their inability to turn a profit on their cars. Is that your assumption?

They have pension obligations, excessive management, too many high paid chiefs, poor organization, too many competing models, and a host of issues driving the cost up.
I'm sorry to say this, but "today's news" has been full of inaccuracies.

Last year, Toyota factory employees made more money than their UAW counterparts, link here. Honda, Nissan, BMW, and Mercedes employees are comparable to the Detroit 3. Their benefits are also comparable, except for the retirement programs, which any new UAW represented employees, as new ones come in to replace the retiring workers, are no longer eligible for. New contract with the Detroit 3 and the UAW eliminated al the non-manufacturing jobs, and they are now outsourced to lower cost vendors. This includes all shipping and receiving, material handling - including all forklift operations and overhead crane operation, janitorial, exterior building maintenance and landscaping, and the spare machine parts/nonproduction crib. All of those jobs are now in the hands of temp agencies and contractors at Ford and Chrysler, and in the hands of half-pay employees at GM. Plus there are whole manufacturing operations located in the assembly plants that are in the hands of low cost contractors. Link Here and link here

All the transplant automakers in the USA pay everyone, including their execs, comparable to the Detroit automakers.

GM, Ford, and Chrysler fought the regulations alone? And everyone embraced them? Baloney. On emission, safety, and fuel economy, Toyota and Nissan were standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Detroit opposing them, especially the fuel economy increases that were passed last year.Link Here. Honda was lobbying separately, and fighting much of them as well. All you armchair quarterback critics act like the Detroit automakers march in lockstep together opposing the regulations and the non-Detroit automakers happily accept them, and nothing could be further from the truth. First company to file written objections to this years increase in fuel economy standards, filed on record in the Federal Registry, was BMW. See Link for article

Got news for you - the same thing is happening in Europe. European union has sharply increased emission standards, and every European automaker, led by Daimler and BMW, are complaining up a storm, fighting them tooth and nail. Link Here

Don't want to get into a pissing contest, but is there any other misconceptions on the auto industry that people need updating on??
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