Back to the original topic:
All of the US automakers are in trouble due to their obsolete thinking.
They signed expensive labor contracts that are pulling them under. Some of these go back to the days of Alfred Sloan at GM in the 1940's. I believe that it costs GM around $1500 per car just for employee medical benefits. Plus they have billions of unfunded pension liability and have been legally bound to fund some of the pensions for their now- bankrupt Adelphi former division.
The Wall Street Journal writers last week now estimate that there's a
40% chance of GM going into bankruptcy within 2 years, around a 25% chance for Ford. Daimler Chrysler can not be far behind... However, the merger with Daimler has probably diversified the corporate business base to allow for some saftey margins.
Meanwhile the Japanese auto makers are increasing their market share and the Chinese auto industry is about ready to introduce cars into the USA. Their is a vast amount of excess auto assembly capacity around the world. That can only drive profitability down and worsen the situation for USA makers.
Other posters on here have cited Chrystler's pressure on suppliers to cut costs. Yet, many of the Japanese companies are using the same parts suppliers. As a matter of fact the domestic content of several Toyota, Nissan and Honda models is higher than some so-called domestic models. Yet, the Japanese makers have still maintained a quality edge over Detroit. How do they do that? By using long range thinking.
One poster quoted the known sway bar bushing problems on the Chrysler mini-vans.I've experienced this first hand, having had to replace the busings three times within 70K miles in my 2002 Caravan.
Not doing a redesign has cost them more in terms of warranty claims and lost customer faith than the redesign would have cost. It's that type of reluctance to rectify problems that is costing Detroit market share. They are penny wise and pound foolish, to use an old quote.
I'm not optimistic that the U.S. makers will survive in their present form. Their only hope is to follow the airline industry: declare bankruptcy, void past labor contracts and reorganize without their current debt. Of course, there will then be political hell to pay...
Doug