General Motors Is Headed For Bankruptcy -- Again

[natty bumppo 297]

I'd prefer one of these.

here ya go ..... link to order form:

you can have a new one ... built to your specs

and ....

Home page for Fords

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

How droll to see people ache to hasten on the demise of the American automotive industry.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I haven't driven a Mustang since I worked for Ford as a mechanic in the 80's. My buddy and I also used to race a Shelby GT at New England Dragway during that time, lot's of fun. I still think they make one of the better vehicles around. I own 2, an F150 and a Edge, both drive nice and cause little to no problems in the repair department.

Agree with you. I've owned two Fords -- one lost to divorce, another to a driver ploughing into me as he made an illegal left turn -- and they were solid, dependable cars that needed little repair. One was a Mustang and I miss it terribly. I'm impressed with the build quality at the lower end of price points in comparison to Asian cars of roughly equivalent spec.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Wow you got lucky. I have had nothing but trouble with Ford (and GMC). As a result I can only trust Japanese vehicles now.

Luck is definitely a factor in purchasing most any vehicle, you can get a lemon in any make. Japanese vehicles were superior to most American made vehicles in the 70's and 80's, but the American brand has been catching up. Nowadays there are no vehicles made solely in America, they all have some Japanese workmanship in them. I also worked for Jaguar for a few years, they're electrical systems were atrocious, but that 12 cylinder XJS would go like a bat out of hell.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

General Motors Is Headed For Bankruptcy -- Again

President Obama is proud of his bailout of General Motors. That's good, because, if he wins a second term, he is probably going to have to bail GM out again. The company is once again losing market share, and it seems unable to develop products that are truly competitive in the U.S. market.

Right now, the federal government owns 500,000,000 shares of GM, or about 26% of the company. It would need to get about $53.00/share for these to break even on the bailout, but the stock closed at only $20.21/share on Tuesday. This left the government holding $10.1 billion worth of stock, and sitting on an unrealized loss of $16.4 billion.

Right now, the government's GM stock is worth about 39% less than it was on November 17, 2010, when the company went public at $33.00/share. However, during the intervening time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has risen by almost 20%, so GM shares have lost 49% of their value relative to the Dow.

It's doubtful that the Obama administration would attempt to sell off the government's massive position in GM while the stock price is falling. It would be too embarrassing politically. Accordingly, if GM shares continue to decline, it is likely that Obama would ride the stock down to zero.

GM is unlikely to hit the wall before the election, but, given current trends, the company could easily do so again before the end of a second Obama term.

In the 1960s, GM averaged a 48.3% share of the U.S. car and truck market. For the first 7 months of 2012, their market share was 18.0%, down from 20.0% for the same period in 2011. With a loss of market share comes a loss of relative cost-competitiveness. There is only so much market share that GM can lose before it would no longer have the resources to attempt to recover.

To help understand why GM keeps losing market share, let's look at the saga of the Chevy Malibu.

The Malibu is GM's entry in the automobile market's "D-Segment". The D-Segment comprises mid-size, popularly priced, family sedans, like the Toyota Camry and the Honda Accord. The D-Segment accounted for 14.7% of the total U.S. vehicle market in 2011, and 21.3% during the first 7 months of 2012.

Because the D-Segment is the highest volume single vehicle class in the U.S., and the U.S. is GM's home market, it is difficult to imagine how GM could survive long term unless it can profitably develop, manufacture, and market a vehicle that can hold its own in the D-Segment. This is true not only because of the revenue potential of the D-Segment, but also because of what an also-ran Malibu would say about GM's ability to execute at this time in its history.

GM is in the process of introducing a totally redesigned 2013 Chevy Malibu. It will compete in the D-Segment with, among others, the following: the Ford Fusion (totally redesigned for 2013); the Honda Accord (totally redesigned for 2013); the Hyundai Sonata (totally redesigned for 2011); the Nissan Altima (totally redesigned for 2013); the Toyota Camry (refreshed for 2013); and the Volkswagen Passat (totally redesigned for 2012).

Automobile technology is progressing so fast that the best vehicle in a given segment is usually just the newest design in that segment. Accordingly, if a car company comes out with a new, completely redesigned vehicle, it had better be superior to the older models being offered by its competitors. If it is not, the company will spend the next five years (the usual time between major redesigns in this segment) losing market share and/or offering costly "incentives" to "move the metal".

For more

Let them fail. No more bailouts. They are saddled with a union noose around their necks among other problems. I love my Gt Mustang

[Teddy B 17,252]

here ya go ..... link to order form:

you can have a new one ... built to your specs

and ....

Home page for Fords

Nice!

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

I also worked for Jaguar for a few years, they're electrical systems were atrocious, but that 12 cylinder XJS would go like a bat out of hell.

We had an XJ6, terrific fun and classy as all get out but oy, the wiring. Having had a couple of British cars over the years, it's par for the course.

[Teddy B 17,252]

We had an XJ6, terrific fun and classy as all get out but oy, the wiring. Having had a couple of British cars over the years, it's par for the course.

The Jaguar engines were rock solid for the most part, they used to be made to the same specs as their small airplane engines, but the electrical systems were positive grounded rather than negative grounded, everything was wired "backwards", with fuses that constantly blew, hidden everywhere you could imagine.

The saying we had at the Jag dealership was, "If you own a Jag, you'd better have a Mercedes for back up". lol

Edited August 17, 2012 by Teddy B

[X Factor 1,112]

Let them fail. No more bailouts. They are saddled with a union noose around their necks among other problems. I love my Gt Mustang

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Let them fail. No more bailouts. They are saddled with a union noose around their necks among other problems. I love my Gt Mustang

Don't love that Mustang too much. The UAW hand it's hands in making it. They're around Ford's neck, too, you know?

[jimnlena 8]

Wow you got lucky. I have had nothing but trouble with Ford (and GMC). As a result I can only trust Japanese vehicles now.

Wow hard to believe you had such bad luck with ford, I put 225,000 on my 90 f150 with never a engine or transmission issue, 111,000 miles on my 91 cougar "wish I had kept it actually" 100,000 on my 02 Focus, and now at 125,000 on my 08 fusion, in all these miles only stranded once, last year with a dead battery! In same time all GM and Chrysler vehicles I have owned have not made it past 60,000 miles without major repairs. I must add my Hyundai Sante Fe is at 130,000 with no issue's also. I do a LOT OF DRIVING in Texas heat!!

[rocks 494]

Wow hard to believe you had such bad luck with ford, I put 225,000 on my 90 f150 with never a engine or transmission issue, 111,000 miles on my 91 cougar "wish I had kept it actually" 100,000 on my 02 Focus, and now at 125,000 on my 08 fusion, in all these miles only stranded once, last year with a dead battery! In same time all GM and Chrysler vehicles I have owned have not made it past 60,000 miles without major repairs. I must add my Hyundai Sante Fe is at 130,000 with no issue's also. I do a LOT OF DRIVING in Texas heat!!

Yeah, I just got unlucky with the Fords. Each time it was a result of them using cheap plastic parts.

[X Factor 1,112]

[rocks 494]

Luck is definitely a factor in purchasing most any vehicle, you can get a lemon in any make. Japanese vehicles were superior to most American made vehicles in the 70's and 80's, but the American brand has been catching up. Nowadays there are no vehicles made solely in America, they all have some Japanese workmanship in them. I also worked for Jaguar for a few years, they're electrical systems were atrocious, but that 12 cylinder XJS would go like a bat out of hell.

Luck also comes in with mechanics too (as I'm sure you know ). I will never ever go to a Firestone again!

I love old cars, we have a huge classic/antique/hot rod/etc car show here in the fall. It's great to see the classics being cherished by their owners, even the box Caprices on 24's that will fill the streets. They don't make em like they used to.

[Ban Hammer 13,558]

i like my gm vehicles to begin with a "2" on the vin.

they seem to be more reliable