Chrysler

QuarterToTen

a sad day for America.

even though Billions of dollars have been squandered for many years,
and this was inevitable, it is still a very sad day indeed.

hopefully this isn't the beginning of the end for the Big 3.

know1

So why did our tax dollars keep going down the toilet to "bail them out"??

Why couldn't they have just filed for bankruptcy in the first place and we could use that money wisely on something much more useful....like to line my pockets where I might actually use it to BUY A CAR!

Sludge Factory

know1 wrote:

So why did our tax dollars keep going down the toilet to "bail them out"??

Why couldn't they have just filed for bankruptcy in the first place and we could use that money wisely on something much more useful....like to line my pockets where I might actually use it to BUY A CAR!

I love how Obama is all talking up how Bankruptcy isn't the end and it is actually a good thing now for them. No fucking shit! That's why they should've been doing it from the beginning instead of trying to band-aid their wound.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Chrysler- ... 87171.html

"No one should be confused by what a bankruptcy means..." Well apparently your administration and the Bush administration were very confused to what it meant when deciding to bail these guys out.

sweet adeline

oh darn, a shitty car company that makes shitty cars is filing for bankruptcy.

the real downer is the Tropicana in vegas filing bankruptcy. i quadded up there one night at the poker table, it was sweet.

Lesbelges

know1 wrote:

So why did our tax dollars keep going down the toilet to "bail them out"??

Why couldn't they have just filed for bankruptcy in the first place and we could use that money wisely on something much more useful....like to line my pockets where I might actually use it to BUY A CAR!

Easy, the reason was that Bush didn't want to be the President who let one of the Big 3 fail, so he put on a bandaid to let them get through till Obama got in. It's easy to throw over the wall for others to deal with.

I think Obama is doing a pretty good job with GM and Chrysler.

norm

a company owned by the uaw and the federal gov't



hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha




:roll:

Cosmo

American Motors (Rambler/Nash)... Studebaker... Packard/Hudson... Franklin... all those companies disappeared.
Chrysler got a government bail-out in the 70s. They have been digging their own grave for decades. The past 20 years they have focused on gas guzzlers and really crappy econo-crap (ref. Neon, Colt, etc...). Their bad business decisions have decided their outcome. How about them accepting the reality and the responsibilty for bad businness? Decide to build a good product and people will buy it.
Who is to blame? The Chrysler top brass... who won't suffer a bit. They are rich and will not be in the soup lines too soon. Their workers will suffer... just like the workers for American Motors... Studebaker... et al.

mca47

I'm a bit torn on this news.

While I do think the Obama administration did what they could to help the struggling car company, there was only so much that could be done.
I am an Obama supporter, a former employee of the Chrysler corp (summers during college) but was not a fan of the bail-out. I knew and know hundreds of people that would have gotten the axe had it died, but I feel that if your company sucks, it should die. Evolution of sorts...survival of the fittest.

I see both points, and I think what many don't know is that the money put in to Chrysler will be paid back to the tax payers...it was NOT free money like so many people want to believe.

Kel Varnsen

What bugs me is that now the Canadian and Ontario governments (both of which I pay taxes to) now own a portion of Chrysler. It not like the Big Three are the only companies making cars in Canada. Why not use that money as kind of a reward to support companies that make cars people want to buy. I mean instead of propping up a dying company like Chrysler, why not give those billions of dollars to say Toyota (who make cars in Canada) under the condition that if Chrysler goes out of business their market share will go up and this money is to be used to increase production in Canada and give more Canadians jobs.

SPEEDY MCCREADY

So how much of the BAILOUT money were these assholes at Chrysler given???

anyone know the amount????

HermanBloom

They need to cut union contracts, but Obama will make sure his voters get their money

QuarterToTen

SPEEDY MCCREADY wrote:

So how much of the BAILOUT money were these assholes at Chrysler given???

anyone know the amount????

9 billion dollars.

BILLION.

how could that possibly not be enough?

Cosmo

nathanastin wrote:

They need to cut union contracts, but Obama will make sure his voters get their money

...
What about the ridiculous Executive bonuses? Management makes billions of dollars if they find cost cutting or higher production numbers... which would probably make sense if they didn't cut corners in doing so. But more times than not, they decide to make cheaper, crappier products. It's not the unions that make the decisions.
I agree with the Unions being a part of the problem, but Management is not exempt from blame. in reality, management is probably MORE to blame, but have the power to publicize how the workers are reason for their demise... not them.

RascalKing

Chrysler builds some good cars. They have dominated the minivan market offering a quality product at less of a cost than the import minivans (which are damn good vehicles too.) Most of the Jeep products are of very good quality and again a great value compared to the imports they compete against. 300C, Dodge Charger, and the new Challenger are solid vehicles. The quality of these domestic vehicles being subpar is more a product of the past than most people will even consider. Most "consumer guide" publications suffer from this same bias and their own need to satisfy the right advertiser at the right time. I am in the retail end of this business and have watched the American manufacturers destroy themselves with their marketing plans more than anything. 0% financing in lieu of $7000 rebates completely destroying even further the resale value of the cars people buy. Banks letting people borrow money so far out of whack with the near future value of the collateral causing people to become slaves to their car payment and completely melded to the vehicle they purchased. Dealers piled on top of each other and not getting the point that the internet has changed the way these products should be marketed. The list is endless. Even though I must now be concerned that I will not have my job to go to in a matter of days I am excited about what Obama has accomplished here. Fiat will not take majority control of Chrysler until they have paid the government the money back. The process of this restructuring is going to impact severely a lot of people, possibly myself as well but I am excited to see where the American auto industry is after this necessary pain is suffered. This was money spent a lot more wisely than all the money thrown at the banks. Lastly, the workers (UAW & CAW) need to be commended and supported for the sacrifices they made to hopefully get their long term futures headed in the right direction. I'm no BUY AMERICAN robot but I do hope before anybody buys a car they will open mindedly CONSIDER AMERICAN. Peace to all.

RoughMix

Kel Varnsen wrote:

What bugs me is that now the Canadian and Ontario governments (both of which I pay taxes to) now own a portion of Chrysler. It not like the Big Three are the only companies making cars in Canada. Why not use that money as kind of a reward to support companies that make cars people want to buy. I mean instead of propping up a dying company like Chrysler, why not give those billions of dollars to say Toyota (who make cars in Canada) under the condition that if Chrysler goes out of business their market share will go up and this money is to be used to increase production in Canada and give more Canadians jobs.

Why? So they can send the profits back to Japan?
Who cares if they have plants in Canada.The Japanese gov't. has been propping up toyota,honda etc,during this recession.
Part of the problem is people buying foreign cars.
Unfortunately the domestic automakers let their quality slip years ago and they lost a crucial amount of customers to the foreign brands.
Quality is now on an equal, (if not better) footing and nobody has more vehicles with better gas mileage than GM.
Support GM,Ford,and Chrysler.

Kel Varnsen

RoughMix wrote:

Kel Varnsen wrote:

What bugs me is that now the Canadian and Ontario governments (both of which I pay taxes to) now own a portion of Chrysler. It not like the Big Three are the only companies making cars in Canada. Why not use that money as kind of a reward to support companies that make cars people want to buy. I mean instead of propping up a dying company like Chrysler, why not give those billions of dollars to say Toyota (who make cars in Canada) under the condition that if Chrysler goes out of business their market share will go up and this money is to be used to increase production in Canada and give more Canadians jobs.

Why? So they can send the profits back to Japan?
Who cares if they have plants in Canada.The Japanese gov't. has been propping up toyota,honda etc,during this recession.
Part of the problem is people buying foreign cars.
Unfortunately the domestic automakers let their quality slip years ago and they lost a crucial amount of customers to the foreign brands.
Quality is now on an equal, (if not better) footing and nobody has more vehicles with better gas mileage than GM.
Support GM,Ford,and Chrysler.

But if I live in Canada what difference does it make to me if profits go back to Japan or back to the United States? I am not sure if I believe that quality is equal now. I recently bought a Honda Fit, and before I bought it I test drove a Nissan Versa and a Pontiac Wave, both the Versa and the Fit were way better than the Wave both based on my test drive and based on research and reviews I read that rated their quality.

South of Seattle

I'm pleased with my German Vehicle.

Don't let the door hit you in the Ass Chrysler.

Sludge Factory

Kel Varnsen wrote:

RoughMix wrote:

Kel Varnsen wrote:

What bugs me is that now the Canadian and Ontario governments (both of which I pay taxes to) now own a portion of Chrysler. It not like the Big Three are the only companies making cars in Canada. Why not use that money as kind of a reward to support companies that make cars people want to buy. I mean instead of propping up a dying company like Chrysler, why not give those billions of dollars to say Toyota (who make cars in Canada) under the condition that if Chrysler goes out of business their market share will go up and this money is to be used to increase production in Canada and give more Canadians jobs.

Why? So they can send the profits back to Japan?
Who cares if they have plants in Canada.The Japanese gov't. has been propping up toyota,honda etc,during this recession.
Part of the problem is people buying foreign cars.
Unfortunately the domestic automakers let their quality slip years ago and they lost a crucial amount of customers to the foreign brands.
Quality is now on an equal, (if not better) footing and nobody has more vehicles with better gas mileage than GM.
Support GM,Ford,and Chrysler.

But if I live in Canada what difference does it make to me if profits go back to Japan or back to the United States? I am not sure if I believe that quality is equal now. I recently bought a Honda Fit, and before I bought it I test drove a Nissan Versa and a Pontiac Wave, both the Versa and the Fit were way better than the Wave both based on my test drive and based on research and reviews I read that rated their quality.

Yeah, Pontiac's have terrible quality in my opinion. I drive one and it is just shoddily put together. Granted I've got about 70,000 miles on it and it hasn't broken down yet, so that's nothing to scoff at. Since Pontiac is no more though, it looks like we won't have to worry about their poor craftsmanship and back door trim popping off every time you close a fucking door.

Cosmo

RoughMix wrote:

Why? So they can send the profits back to Japan?
Who cares if they have plants in Canada.The Japanese gov't. has been propping up toyota,honda etc,during this recession.
Part of the problem is people buying foreign cars.
Unfortunately the domestic automakers let their quality slip years ago and they lost a crucial amount of customers to the foreign brands.
Quality is now on an equal, (if not better) footing and nobody has more vehicles with better gas mileage than GM.
Support GM,Ford,and Chrysler.

...
I drove a '99 Dodge Durango. 2 of the 4 power windows are dead... and when I checked the Dodge forums, i found out that this is a common occurance with a lot of Dodge products. another thing... the ABS Brake Light goes on and then goes off. Again, a common occurance amongst a large number of Chrysler products. Some people posted about Dodge dealers charging owners upward of 500 buck to replace their brakes... one woman with only 10,000 mles on her car. The source was/is a faulty ABS Speed Sensor (I'm on my 3 one... and the light still comes on). Oh, and the speakers are all blown and the A/C is cool, not cold.
I wil never buy another Chrysler product.
As for supporting 'American Cars' are you talking about the American cars whose sub-assemblies are made in Mexico and China?

RoughMix

Cosmo wrote:

RoughMix wrote:

Why? So they can send the profits back to Japan?
Who cares if they have plants in Canada.The Japanese gov't. has been propping up toyota,honda etc,during this recession.
Part of the problem is people buying foreign cars.
Unfortunately the domestic automakers let their quality slip years ago and they lost a crucial amount of customers to the foreign brands.
Quality is now on an equal, (if not better) footing and nobody has more vehicles with better gas mileage than GM.
Support GM,Ford,and Chrysler.

...
I drove a '99 Dodge Durango. 2 of the 4 power windows are dead... and when I checked the Dodge forums, i found out that this is a common occurance with a lot of Dodge products. another thing... the ABS Brake Light goes on and then goes off. Again, a common occurance amongst a large number of Chrysler products. Some people posted about Dodge dealers charging owners upward of 500 buck to replace their brakes... one woman with only 10,000 mles on her car. The source was/is a faulty ABS Speed Sensor (I'm on my 3 one... and the light still comes on). Oh, and the speakers are all blown and the A/C is cool, not cold.
I wil never buy another Chrysler product.
As for supporting 'American Cars' are you talking about the American cars whose sub-assemblies are made in Mexico and China?

Where do you think the japanese or other foreign cars sub-assemblies and parts are manufactured?
As for your experience with the Durango, it is unfortunate.However great steps have been made in the last number of years to improve quality.
People should give domestic autos a drive if they are considering purchasing a new vehicle.
So many people on this board trash Wal-Mart for their foreign content and will not shop there,yet will not look at a domestic automobile because of negative misperceptions.
Of course you will hear of quality problems from 8-10 years ago partly bec. there were more domestic cars sold.
Quality issues have arisen with japanese products as the production levels have increased.