Comments | seanorange: On Bailouts

seanorange

On Bailouts

Dec 04, 2008 09:47

The execs of the Big Three automakers headed back to Capitol Hill today (in hybrid cars) after an alreay-failed attempt to plead for free cash from the government. Why they get a second chance is beyond me, especially when they say things like how each of them deserves $9 billion in case one failsIt's bad enough that they're asking for the money ( Read more... )

you fucking liar, what the fuck ever, driving

Comments 10

tlhinganhom December 4 2008, 16:38:48 UTC

/agree

Samthing to think about... heckbemble December 4 2008, 21:26:14 UTC

...what if the big 3 can't make good cars b/c the gov't didn't bale them out in the first place? it seems to me efficient german cars are efficient b/c the nazis were in charge of manufacturing them in WWII2. the japanese were oversought by the hun approx. the same time. thats our competition!!! so you see, the big 3 are in trouble b/c the gov't didnt bale them out the way the hun and the nazis did.

theenigma42 December 5 2008, 13:48:06 UTC

Let them fail. If they were competetive; their employees (a lot) less decadent, their quality on par with the certain "Japanese"** auto companies, their R&D working on making moving their cars cheaper rather than figuring out whether or not they can move a 747 with them, they would not be having so much trouble now. I just love how the government used their methods of travel as ONE EXAMPLE of how they aren't walking the walk, and they turned around and came back in hybrids (the Chevy model of which only gets 2MPG better than it's gasoline counterpart) assuming fixing this inconsequential public relations issue would make it all better ( ... )

theenigma42 December 5 2008, 13:52:06 UTC

Also, I would like to put in an honerable mention for Ford. Of the big three, they are the only ones who have shown signs of improvment. They have been improving their quality by leaps and bounds for about five years now, and they have a few fuel efficient models that they can actually still sell. Anyway...
-KEiTH

theenigma42 December 5 2008, 16:08:01 UTC

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/081204-GM-CEO-Drives-a-Chevy-Volt-to-Washington-Sort-Of/

Ho-boy! I guess they learned their lesson. Turn it into a publicity stunt, while wasting the gas of two flatbeds to ship these volts to Washington. Makes perfect sense to me.
-KEiTH

seanorange December 6 2008, 00:53:23 UTC

I want to give them a LITTLE benefit of the doubt because it sounds like the Volt hasn't had a road model yet. But, yeah, the irony is palpable.

~Sean

tlhinganhom December 11 2008, 03:56:36 UTC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car

I just heard about this.

Wow.

seanorange December 11 2008, 07:19:45 UTC

Sad, right? I'm beginning to understand why people are afraid that the gas prices lowering were going to make the car ocmpanies lose their nerve. But if Congress has their way. they won't have a choice anyway.

~Sean

willmn December 13 2008, 23:46:36 UTC

If you believe Consumer Reports reliability, Ford at least has made improvements -
"Ford's three brands-Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury-continue to pull away from the rest of the Detroit automakers. Almost all Ford models are now average or better, with the exception of some that are truck-based. Excluding those, Ford's reliability is now on par with good Japanese automakers.

They really like the Ford Fusion, and rated it's reliability as 5/5.

The last time I watched the news on it, Ford was saying it didn't need money right now but wanted the possibility of an emergency loan in the future...at least there's hope for one company. It only took - how long? for someone to say "gee, maybe we should make more reliable cars!"

seanorange December 15 2008, 02:08:12 UTC

Yeah, to their credit, Ford indeed has been the best of the three. I keep lumping them together, because that's how the media is doing it, but it's not entirely truthful.

~Sean