on 12/15/06 12:33 PM, Donald Snook at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > "I disagree somewhat. American made CARS are crap. Trucks are a > different story." > > What are you basing this statement on? I agree that American cars > needed to improve and they did - dramatically. Maintenance costs have > dropped dramatically, fuel mileage has increased, reliability has > improved and resale is higher. Beginning in the mid 80's ALL American > cars improved. I agree with you that they are still behind the Japanese > and the Germans. But you must not have much REAL experience with > American cars if you believe they are crap.
Everyone's experience is subjective. For example, I was heavily biased against Saturn products for years. My wrench, however, has several customers who have put intergalactic mileages on them with virtually no shop time, other than consumable replacements. I still think that they are about as safe as a pup tent, but.... Now I see your comment on US cars and raise you by the experience of our local taxi fleets. For a long time the (verrry cheap) owners purchased whichever US car was cheapest to get at the time (mainly Luminas and Malibus and Transport/Montana minivans). Then a couple of years ago they picked up a few Camrys to try out. Now within the last few months you hardly see any of the old GM cars. Camrys rule. The older ones are now in the 400-500 km range with no major failures. Vis the Malibus, some of which were eating transmissions on an almost annual basis. One Transport van had two transmissions in 18 months and was markedly bad in other areas as well. The drivers are also happier as they find the Toyotas less tiring to spend a shift in. More comfortable seats (always a major GM weakness, in my books), better ergonomics, etc. The guy who had the lemon Transport van in fact now drives a Sienna and he's the very best salesman Toyota could ever hope for. I am not baiting you, Don, I recognize that our domestic auto industry is a huge part of the NA economy (actually in proportion, a MUCH bigger part of the Canadian economy than yours). So what I am getting at where GM is concerned is "too little, too late". In its heyday GM could have done its own moon mission, it had the resources and the people capable of it. It's been killed by a terrible management culture and a complete lack of vision at the top. I don't want to see us ending up like the Brits, with foreign companies owning our automakers, but that seems to be where we are headed. Mac
