GM Going Down in Flames!

[bulldog-yota]

True, but remember that profits still go to Japan...therefore, i would still consider them as "foreign". Just like BMW or MB building their cars in the states...it's still foreign. That's the way i see it...i am not sure if it's right or not.

Form a strict corporate sense your reasoning is correct, however that is not the real concern or why people are crying about the decline of the US auto industry. The problem is macro economical impact of manufacturing jobs. Whomever gets the manufacturing jobs in their country creates the biggest slice of the pie in their local economy, the final net profits are only a small piece (if any profit at all) in the auto industry. For every manufacturing job they estimate it creates at least 2.8 jobs (on last data I saw) in the local economy for other services around it. That is why closure of plans is destroying the Detroit economy. Also the reason why we always get these senators fighting about armed forces basis getting closed or opened in their states, as it has a big effect on the local economy.

So now for the auto jumble puzzle of today. Renault owns a major portion of Nissan, so is Nissan Japanese or French?? GM used to own a major share of Subaru, now it seems Toyota are buying up some of it. Is Jeep German or US? All the brands Ford owns??

The US became a world power due to its sheer industrial growth and capability. This unfortunately has been declining since the early 70s, first to Japan and later to other Asian countries. China probably being the biggest growth factor lately.

Anyhow, back to topic. GM's management sucked at making the right decisions and now everybody is paying the price. Like than idiot Nasser that ran Ford into the ground, baby FOrd is still trying to dig them out of the mess.

 

[JB.]

True, but remember that profits still go to Japan...therefore, i would still consider them as "foreign". Just like BMW or MB building their cars in the states...it's still foreign. That's the way i see it...i am not sure if it's right or not.

Profits are owned by the shareholders, the majority of which are US citizens. (I was busy off-roading a Toyota over the last year, I should've been busy buyin' the stock). Granted, the most concentrated stock ownership in terms of individuals belongs to
Japanese founders, descendants, etc., but this represents only 17% of the company. The remaining 83% is owned by institutions and individual investors. The financial institutions are almost entirely US based and many people on this forum may have a stake in Toyota without even knowing it through Mutual Funds, etc. And as we know, more and more people in this country are earning incomes working for Toyota.

IMO, Toyota's success represents one of the ideas that makes the US great.

 

[Thai]

Well, i stand corrected. Ok, i am now on the bandwagon to bash GM!!

 

[Fourty-four]

Most SUVs nowadays have just become glorified station wagons.

If you really think about it, that has always been the case. What is an SUV, if not a glorified station wagon with a bit more ground clearnace, larger tires, and 4wd?

 

[Koz]

Looks like GM will have to recall 7.5 MILLION vehicles for wiper problems.

Koz

 

[RonMAIDEN]

If you really think about it, that has always been the case. What is an SUV, if not a glorified station wagon with a bit more ground clearnace, larger tires, and 4wd?

With those goodies you've removed it from being a station wagon and you have a lot more utility to them.