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13 Dec 2008, 00:23 (Ref:2353939) | #51 | ||
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VW Commodore??
A Passat-based replacement? They could do worse! |
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Go woke, Go broke… #CANCERSUCKS #GOCHIKO Here’s hoping a random universe works out in your favour… The meaning of life… ENJOYING THE PASSAGE OF TIME! |
13 Dec 2008, 01:03 (Ref:2353949) | #52 | ||
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The other issue is the UAW is inflexible when it comes to shifting production around or making changes on the assembly line. Plenty of companies have used Chapter 11 to reorganize. Most of the large airlines went bust after 9/11 and reorganized under Chapter 11. The airlines have the same problem with huge entitlement and union costs. It doesn't mean the business is closing, just that the company has protection from debt collection and can restructure the business. How much impact it would have on sales? Sales are already bad so I don't know how much worse it could be and all the bad press is already out there. Hummer is up for sale and I think Saab is going. Another option would be for GM to divest itself of Holden, Vauxhall, Opel, GM China, GM in South America, etc. Ultimately I believe a sale of assets or bailout money is just throwing good money after bad and doesn't correct the basic organizational, logistical and managerial problems these companies have. It only delays the train wreck for another few months. |
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13 Dec 2008, 01:42 (Ref:2353962) | #53 | ||
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The other advantage of Chapter 11 is that it gives the oportunity to get rid of the IGEC (Incompetent Greedy Executive Club) as well as the UAW. And without Golden Parachutes.
Let's hope the US bites the bullet and a new and efficient US auto industry can grow from the mess. Certainly people might be reluctant to buy from a bankrupt dealer at full price, but offer people a "going broke" clearance sale and watch them jump in to grab a bargain. Stock could be cleared rapidly. In Australia I think both Ford and Holden would benefit from the lifting of the "dead hand"of Detroit. |
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13 Dec 2008, 22:26 (Ref:2354412) | #54 | |||
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George W an unlikely hero for the UAW
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more torque than a climate change conference |
14 Dec 2008, 05:56 (Ref:2354516) | #55 | |||
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http://www.news.com.au/business/stor...27-462,00.html |
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ยินดีที่ได้รู้จัก |
25 Apr 2009, 08:25 (Ref:2449062) | #56 | ||
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Go woke, Go broke… #CANCERSUCKS #GOCHIKO Here’s hoping a random universe works out in your favour… The meaning of life… ENJOYING THE PASSAGE OF TIME! |
25 Apr 2009, 09:31 (Ref:2449095) | #57 | |||
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Those companies that have no money are going to be that way for years to come (probably decades) as the interest on borrowed funds accumulates even in bad times . Probably the only company with the nous and resources to buy Opel is Volkswagen - and if they were to, there would be lots of jobs shed because to many models are in competition with each other same as with Fiat. In all it looks to be a pretty bloody grim future for the car industry as a whole for some time to come . |
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25 Apr 2009, 15:16 (Ref:2449302) | #58 | ||
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GM is shutting it's factories in the USA for nine weeks this summer. Here in the USA car dealerships are closing all over the place. I've driven past quite a few empty and closed ones recently. And the ones that are open are jammed with cars. I believe in 2010 you will still be able to purchase a new 2008 model, there is so much excess inventory. I think it is inevitable that a bankruptcy with GM is gonna happen. However I don't believe it will be liquidation rather reorganization which is essential. GM has extensive foreign holdings so how much a bankruptcy here is going to affect overseas operations it's not clear yet. |
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25 Apr 2009, 17:03 (Ref:2449363) | #59 | |||
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Marbot : "Ironically, the main difference between a Red Bull and a Virgin is that Red Bull can make parts of its car smaller and floppier." |
25 Apr 2009, 20:03 (Ref:2449455) | #60 | ||
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1. Too many legacy health care and pension costs. Giving people pensions for 40 years for only working 20 years, well even a third grader can do that math. Viagra for instance costs GM about $18 million a year. 2. Too many dealers. GM sells the same # of cars in the USA as Toyota. Toyota has around 1300 dealers, GM 6000 dealers. 3. Too many brands and duplication. Chevy truck and a GMC truck, what's the difference? Almost none. 4. Quality sucked for too long. When you **** customers off over a generation when quality is poor compared to competition, people are not going to come back to you. 5. Too much junk. If the quality wasn't bad enough, building uncompetitive cars doesn't help either. 6. The united auto workers union. Once a upon a time when society was less mobile and working conditions poor, unions made sense. Now unions like the UAW are bureaucratic organizations that exist for their own profitable benefit to support their own bureaucracy. |
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25 Apr 2009, 20:13 (Ref:2449461) | #61 | |
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25 Apr 2009, 21:36 (Ref:2449521) | #62 | |||
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1) AUstralian Automovie engineering doesn't get shown to the world 2) Not only GMH people out of work, but supporing industries that supply are also lost. 3) It may well impact across the whole Auto industry in Aust. SOme people will think this is great , but look further than the Brand, Both the FG and Ve are can mix it it on the world stage, yet the parent company's activities make it hard. In the end, it will be AUstralians out of work due to decisions from O/seas. not the best thing for us |
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25 Apr 2009, 21:57 (Ref:2449533) | #63 | |
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On a brighter note......on page 38 of todays Sun-Herald Ford have announced a better than expected result and may even show a slight profit in 2011.
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25 Apr 2009, 21:59 (Ref:2449535) | #64 | ||
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In any case, the VE is sold as the Chevy Lumina in the middle east so I don't see the problem in selling the G8 as a Chevy in the USA. A number of police agencies have taken an interest in the G8 as a cop car as the Ford Crown Victoria is getting a bit long in the tooth. |
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25 Apr 2009, 22:20 (Ref:2449547) | #65 | ||
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There is also some pretty poor logic in the article. It says that Holden's total export scheme generates a billion in revenue but also claims that the supposed loss of Pontiac business will cut revenue by the same amount.
What about the Middle East exports - has the "journalist" forgotten them? I'm with Mountainstar - that is my understanding of the situation with Pontiac in the US. You would have to say that GMs most important "hero" car and image builder in the US right now is a toss up between the Volt (great green wise) and the Camaro (great excitement wise). The Camaro was fully developed in Australia off the Commodore platform & the G8 is already on sale there so GM in the US know that they have a great, ready made platform that they can use to bring cars to market very quickly at a relatively low development cost. Just what they need right now and when Holden are building Chevys for the Middle East already then why not for the US in niche markets like the police etc. The good thing about a relatively small player like Holden on the world scene is that they can move quickly and be adaptable - and their engineering is sound. |
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26 Apr 2009, 01:29 (Ref:2449608) | #66 | |||
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Volt could be a long term Saviour, Camaro has a limited market (like Monaro at home) and not much else really . |
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26 Apr 2009, 02:19 (Ref:2449624) | #67 | ||
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I'll give an example of how bad it is in the USA. Volkswagen wanted a piece of the minivan market in the USA so they partnered with Chrysler to badge the Chrysler minivan as the VW Routan. They made 30000 of them last year until this February. Only 3000 have sold. So the G8 isn't doing too bad. I'll give another example that is even starker. BMW in 2007/2008 sold around 1500 BMW 7 series a month in the USA. This February 2009, they sold 10. That's right 10 7 series for the whole USA. |
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26 Apr 2009, 04:27 (Ref:2449643) | #68 | |||
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26 Apr 2009, 04:38 (Ref:2449646) | #69 | ||
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And by the way the current V6 engine fitted to the Commodore is a FIAT design and the bigest outside purchaser of these engines is Alfa Romeo of Italy , the plot thickens....
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26 Apr 2009, 08:15 (Ref:2449703) | #70 | ||
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Alfa Romeo being a part of the Fiat organization takes what it's given engine and platform wise , Saab was also product sharing with Fiat in the eighties, the Saab 9000 , Fiat Croma, Lancia Thema and Alfa 164 are all pretty much the same vehicle , and not much good either
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26 Apr 2009, 08:26 (Ref:2449712) | #71 | ||
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[QUOTE=mountainstar;2449624]I'll give an example of how bad it is in the USA. Volkswagen wanted a piece of the minivan market in the USA so they partnered with Chrysler to badge the Chrysler minivan as the VW Routan. They made 30000 of them last year until this February. Only 3000 have sold.
So the G8 isn't doing too bad. QUOTE] On a slightly different slant , 30.000 units to VW is about .05 percent of their output , 25.000 units to Holden is almost a third of their output , and there lies the difference - VW is very close to displacing GM as the second largest vehicle manufacturer, they took third place off Ford in the past 2 years . |
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26 Apr 2009, 08:39 (Ref:2449715) | #72 | |
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26 Apr 2009, 11:32 (Ref:2449836) | #73 | ||
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Nah it is part of a complete modular family of engines designed over a five year period and announced in 2004.
The design was completely new but there were funding partners in the overall project for the whole family of engines, one of which was FIAT but it would be completely incorrect to suggest that the V6 is a FIAT design. Holden was one of only two plants in the world building the engines when the engine family was announced - they export them to many parts of the GM world and to Alfa. There were plans at the time to build a third plant but I'm not sure that this actually happened. |
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26 Apr 2009, 13:45 (Ref:2449884) | #74 | |
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26 Apr 2009, 13:49 (Ref:2449888) | #75 | ||
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[QUOTE=xrystl;2449712]
Quote:
The point is that selling over half the cars produced is good right now when some manufacturers are selling 10% of production of a certain model. In general vehicle sales in the USA on a monthly basis have been 50% off sales figures from the previous few years. |
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