draftermatt Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 Read this topic first: Click Me As most of you probably know, all three (General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and the Chrysler Corp) are in trouble. Daimler is selling Chrysler, so who knows what will happen there. What do you all think the American car companies will do, or should do to right themselves. Or do you think it's pointless? There was speculation that Ford and Toyota would merge months ago, but both companies said it was crap. But maybe the market is headed that way. Ford-Toyota? GM-Honda? The American car companies are finally realizing it's better to build a few cars really well (which also lowers overhead) then build a lot of so-so cars. Ford: They already have Land Rover and Jaguar up for sale after recently selling off Aston Martin. Ford hopes they can hold on to Volvo, since it's the only one of their foriegn based companies that is making money. I think you will see Mercury getting cut soon too. Mercury is supposed to be mid range cars. (Between Lincoln & Ford). Recently they have been more "sporty". Problem is, they are just rebadged Fords. Why not just buy a more expensive model of Ford, or just go for a Lincoln? Ford should cut Mercury and work more to make a Lincoln a Lincoln, instead of a Ford with extra crap. Most people buy Lincoln for the name or status, not for the craftsmanship like our Grandfather's and Great-Grandfather's Lincolns. Ford also needs to get Volvo's engineers (especially the safety guys) into the Ford-Lincoln fold. under my ideas Ford would be left with Ford, Lincoln & Volvo GM: In my opinion, GM needs to get rid of (defunct) Buick and Saturn for sure. Saturn has never made money (they just suck) and Buick is the same as Mercury in my mind. Except old people buy them. But really, if you can afford a Buick, you can probably afford a Cadillac, or at least a nicer Chevy. GMC needs to go too. GMC's are just trucks, and they are the same as Chevy. What the hell is the point of that? I've never understood that part. Pontiac I don't know what to say about. GM could make Pontiac for cars only and carve out a niche of the market. under my ideas GM would be left with Chevrolet, Cadillac, Pontiac, Hummer, Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Saab & Vauxhall Chrysler: Has been making good strides. The 300-Charger are sweet cars. Jeep has more models than ever, and as long as they don't change the Wrangler too much (leave it with solid axels) they won't completley alienate their most hardcore fans, the offroaders. These guys weren't happy when the Liberty replaced the Cherokee, and when the Grand Cherokee kept getting softer. But they still have the Wrangler. With the upcoming sale of Chyrsler, Dodge, and Jeep by Daimler, we will have to see what is in store for these guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbanoutlaw Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 The sale of Chrysler is a done deal - http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/busi...icle1786611.ece I had hoped things w/ Daimler/Chrysler would have worked out better. I remember a different time, when Chrysler build a decent car, reliable & easy to work on. Cool, too. Then they started building K-cars & crap wagon minivans & forgot how to build decent cars. Their quality went down the toilet & the only thing they had going for them was the Viper. The rest of their "performance' models were mostly Mitsubishis (no knock on Mitsubishi, they just weren't really the Mopars we grew up w/). I thought the merger w/ Daimler put new life into the company, their products were better for it. They resurrected the Hemi, built the new 300 & were moving ahead w/ the Challenger. I just hope the sale of Chrysler doesn't end in the company being liquidated or just making minivans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Righty Posted June 24, 2007 Share Posted June 24, 2007 I agree you with Chrysler's quality, or lack of. I have seen some pretty bad Chrysler vehicles lately. Chrysler or Dodge doesn't have any vehicles that appeal to me at the moment. The Magnum isn't a bad design, it's actually somewhat decent. The dodge trucks have the Cummins, which I think is the best diesel out there in pickups - Cummins > Powerstroke > Duramax. Mercury doesn't seem to be upscale more, but it seems to be more marketed to members of the female species ... don't know why, but it just seems that way. Would it keep me from driving a Mercury - no. If I could get the same exact vehicle with a Mercury badge for less than the Ford equivalent, I would go with the Mercury. GM isn't my favorite, but they do have a few vehicles that I do like. Buick LuCerne and LaCrosse, Impala SS, Tahoe and Suburban ... their trucks since around 00 never impressed me, the quality went down. I can't really rant on Ford ... yes Ford does build bland vehicles, but I like bland vehicles somewhat. I am not happy that the Expedition has a 4 wheel independent suspension (at least the Tahoe and Suburban have a solid axle - a MUST in any sort of truck/SUV application), and the same goes for the Explorer and Sport Trac. The Ranger is due for an update, but it is a cheap and proven design. A ranger with the 3.0 Vulcan V6 will run for a couple hundred thousand miles provided it doesn't have an early death (wreck, rust) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbanoutlaw Posted June 27, 2007 Share Posted June 27, 2007 My "bland" Fords always get me home. Is the Chrysler Crossfire even in production anymore? I'd buy one of those if I had the cash, they were sweet. I thought the cars Daimler/Chrysler showed a lot of promise but that's a moot point now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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