dlq04

Speculation is Chrysler, as we've known it, will be history within 12 months. Ford is hanging on by it's teeth and betting a lot on small European Ford cars making it to the states within a couple years. If that fails, so do they. GM which once ruled the country with a 50% market share is just keeping a float thanks to Bob Lutz (who knows product). Speculation is it could end with Caddy and Chevy as 80% of the their car business and a few sprinklings of other products with names we all know. With all the $$$ demands on the big 2.25 (used to be big 3) in the short term it's reported they just can'd do it. Demands from Russia, China, and India will keep gasoline high. Sales of SUVs and trucks are in the crapper and will continue... and these were their short term money makers. So where does the money come from to retool, replace SUV/truck factories with small car factories, and work on long term alternate fuel cars, like the Volt, come from? Their cash flow is bad. Their savings is bad. Their situation is bad and will get worse. And to add to that they are dropping or really tightening up on leasing programs. If it wasn't for leasing programs I think 3 out of 4 cars in Michigan would be 10 years old. Estimates are these companies need billions, like 40 billions or more just to keep the doors open while they adjust to the sudden new market. Keep in mind 1 out of every 12 jobs in the US is tied into the US auto industry. Do we let this manufacturing base disappear or do we bail it out? What do you think?

Tadashi

Big 2.25

The last time the damn government bailed out Chrysler we ended up with them producing a zillion minivans

Ford needs to sell off some of the MANY other car companies it bought up over the last 10 years.

I truly would HATE to see Ford die off - really I would - I hate their cars but the NAME has alot of history and I'd be very sad to see it go the way of Oldsmobile who also had a long history in the auto industry

It's only 11 pm here, not 2 am like my post says!!!

Wildncrazy

Let 'em sink. They dug their way into the hole and they can dig their way out or they deserve to die.

S1997

Supposedly the government are us. I think it might be in our interest to see the US auto industry survive and flourish. I found it interesting to hear what Obama was saying in Michigan earlier this week about subsidizing research and development of alternative propulsion systems for automobiles and providing for jobs in Michigan and elsewhere. Maybe that wasn't all merely political posturing. Too bad about Chrysler, though. They actually designed some decent autos under Daimler -- like the Dodge Charger and the Chrysler 300 -- and of course some colossal duds like the Dodge Caliber. But they couldn't adapt quickly enough to changes -- involving what they could sell at the moment and what they should be building to meet the emerging needs. (The excellent Charger is a mid sized car, and the mediocre Caliber is a small car. Too bad they didn't have it just the reverse -- an excellent small car and medium sized bust.)

What makes it harder to accept the American failures, is that the rise of oil prices was not exactly unforeseen. So, like the others, they are once again caught with their pants down. The well-known American requirement for short term corporate profits has made it difficult for American automobile companies to do long term planning. Alas.

Could be that with our extreme version of laissez faire capitalism we might need the government to step in periodically and promote long term planning that is not so sensitive to short term measurable profit motives. After all there should be room somewhere in the system for furthering such a thing as the general welfare and sustaining the overall health of the economy.

Anyway, there is apparently a whole new energy industry to be invented, and there are a lot of non-internal-combustion engines to be built -- by somebody, -- and it might as we be us.

valentine

It is always in our interest to look to ways to provide jobs for Americans and to boost the American economy. You're exactly right: the government are us.

Lainey

This is a gloomy report. I hope it does not come to pass. Chrylser/Jeep pays our bills, along with many others employed by the company nationwide.

I hadn't heard this speculation...what are they saying about Jeep and Dodge?

I saw this article this morning: Chrylser/Nissan car

Zippy

As much as I hate to see the government mixing with industry, we are rapidly loosing too many jobs that keep the middle-class in the middle.
One bright spot for GM, China loves Buick, Caddy and Chevy brands, but I am sure that the cars that are bought there are produced there.

RC - Ryder

I doubt the US auto companies can successfully reinvent themselves. But, there will continue to be a major market share for them in this country, if they can become profitable. There are too many jobs at stake to abandon them. They need to continue their cost cutting, by closing plants, more modern production, and retiring their highly paid older workers. I think they can produce cars that Americans will want to buy, but they can't manage their retiree health care and pension plans over the next 25 plus years without "public assistance." Though the mismanaged companies and greedy workers probably don't deserve it, I think they will get it. If you subsidize something you get more of it, and if you overly tax something, you get less of it. It works for corn, milk, cheese, sugar, peanuts, ethanol, and the like - why not cars?

Wildncrazy

They won't reinvent themselves but they will drop in value until it is a good deal for someone else to come in with a new bright idea.

They will restructure the whole company, get rid of the fat ass pensions/healthcare and unions (or at least seriously change they way they work) and we will marvel that it wsn't done before cause it will be so obvious.

Let em starve until it is a good enough deal for someone to come in and rescue them privately.

OhioRacer

Once again I say let the free market do what it is suppose to do. It is self-correcting. The weak and stupid are supposed to be pruned. If the Big 2.5 were caught with their pants down (AGAIN! - remember the 70's and the original Japanese car invasion?) then they are incompetent in some aspect of their business. The Japanese have been focused on hybrids/etc. for years. That proved to be smart business. Why should we bail out incompetent business managers? If I make a strategic mistake in my firm I am penalized. If I make smart decisions, I am rewarded. No one saves my employees if I make an error in judgement. We've been clamoring for a free market economy in other parts of the world, and even went to war to get it, and now we have it and don't like it because other countries are out-smarting us. Boo-hoo. I'll buy American when you give me a comparable value.