Wow, crazy american deals!

[fastbmw]

http://www.universitydodge.com/specials/index.htm

Buy one Dodge Ram and get the 2nd free. Holy cow.

[EuroPlate]

Well at least one of the Big Three is admitting that if you buy one of their new cars you will need a second one as a parts car for the first.

[nuts4bmw]

That's actually very funny, but sadly not far from the truth!

The north american big three have been asleep at the switch for a long, long time! Alot of the stuff you buy from them these days is crap.

For example: The new Mustang Cobra...sure it's powerful but it still has a stiff rear axel!!!! How lame is that?

Corvette has had 4 wheel independant suspension for decades. Fuel injection??? The europeans were running fuel injection for decades before the americans finally started mass producing it in numerous models, the early corvettes notwithstanding.

I don't feel one bit sorry for the big 3 auto makers. They haven't kept up with the europeans nor the japanese......and now they want a bail out from the us government??? Oh please give me a break!

[nuts4bmw]

If anyone has any doubts about my little rant about the BIG 3, just read the front page of the business section of the Vancouver Sun......enough said.

That is today's Sun Nov. 20th.

[sha1234]

Its true, EVO was writing about an american auto show then went to, and how Ford was bragging about newer bigger leaf springs in their trucks, i mean come leaf springs!!
when my F450 super extra king crew max cab harly edition eddy bauer power stroke deasel
that costs 75,000 comes in i would expect to have a little more inovation than bigger stronger leaf springs, but maybe thats just me

Tim

[bimmerbob]

I totally agree the big three cars and SUV are awful. However I think they aren't too far off on how to build a work truck. They seem to have matched use / build quality / technology fairly well.

My 89 F150 only get used once a month, always starts, always squeaks, always rattles, but always gets the job done.

My cars on the other hand, Honda, BMW, Merc, Porsche, if you leave them sitting for any period of time feel like they are angry you woke them up.

[JimB]

To begin with the big 3 need to shrink to 2...and then go under new management.
That can only happen if they go through bankruptcy, clean house and then have a fresh start.

Jim

[nuts4bmw]

Even the quality of the trucks suck. I can give you two examples:

My nephew bought a brand new F350 Harley Davidson in '04. Thank goodness he had the foresight to buy extended warranty.
He has put three transmissions in it and has had to have the entire front end replaced twice!!! We're talking about an $80,000.00 truck here with under 100,000 km's and I haven't even mentioned the troubles he's had with the fuel injection system!

2nd point: Same nephew leased a 1/2 ton silverado for four years prior to the F350 purchase. The truck carried a 60,000 km factory powertrain warranty, and yup you guessed it, at 62,000 km the differental needed to be replaced......do ya think GM stepped up to cover it????Think again. It was at this point that he bought the F350 and told GM to stick their truck where the sun don't shine

It won't be long before Toyota perfects the Tundra and start taking over a significant share of the market....especially if they come out with a diesel.

[nuts4bmw]

.......and furthermore, who's to blame for their financial troubles anyway??? The imports? Nope....they are...... they're their own worst enemy.
Just think about it. Who has been selling all the technology and specifications to China and Korea in order to save a buck on production costs? Who has been manufacturing parts in Mexico and other parts of the world to save a buck?

With China's booming economy of late, cheap labor, and lack of enviornmental standards, where do you think the BIG 3 are going to set up shop once they go bankrupt in North America???? You guessed it.

[PPP]

Originally Posted by nuts4bmw .......and furthermore, who's to blame for their financial troubles anyway??? The imports? Nope....they are...... they're their own worst enemy. Just think about it. Who has been selling all the technology and specifications to China and Korea in order to save a buck on production costs? Who has been manufacturing parts in Mexico and other parts of the world to save a buck? With China's booming economy of late, cheap labor, and lack of enviornmental standards, where do you think the BIG 3 are going to set up shop once they go bankrupt in North America???? You guessed it.

Just want to echo the previous posts, like the children's story about the race between the rabbit and the turtle, while the big3 have been sleeping for decades, the Koreans have been making leaps and jumps in their auto industry -- from Hyundai Pony to Hyundai Genesis; from local Korean market to pan-asia then world-wide. I must say it shows a lot of determination and hard work to get to their current stage. It actually took them comparatively fewer years than the Japanese.

By the way, the big3 does currently have factories in China. And Buick actually is a better seller there than in North America, but if the big3 don't clean up their act fast, they wouldn't last long there also. Currently, the Japanese, Koreans and Germans particularly VW & Audi is huge in China. They have been in China for decades and have factories there as well.

[nuts4bmw]

well, there ya go......thanks for your insight re. the big 3's manufacturing facilities in the far east. Not surprising. Also, it's not surprising that the asian market has caught on to the european brands and their superior products.

By the way, I don't know this for a fact, but an American friend of mine who's pretty tuned in to the economy, told me that the USA maufactures less than 10% of what it used to 30 years ago!!!!

Kinda has the same ring to it as Canada shipping raw logs abroad, rather than put added value into our own raw materials....wake up Canada!!!