truth about domestics

Some might see this list and say, “that’s why I refuse to buy American!”  However, when I look at this list created by Forbes, I see two things.  The first thing I see is that the article is totally biased in the fact that it fails to mention that 4 of the top 10 dirtiest vehicles are from German manufacturers.  The second thing I notice when looking at this list is that it appears that the Domestic 3 are learning.  Of the 6 American made vehicles on the list, 3 are out of production, another 1 is nearing its end and the other 2 are being substantially reworked to put them among the best in their class for fuel efficiency.  The list is below, along with the air pollution / greenhouse gas scores next to each vehicle.

1. Jeep Grand Cherokee (3/1)
2. BMW M5 (6/0)
3. BMW M6 (6/0)
4. Chevrolet Trailblazer (6/0)
5. Mercedes-Benz CL600
6. Mercedes-Benz S600
7. Chrysler Aspen (6/1)
8. Dodge Dakota (6/1)
9. Dodge Ram 1500 (6/1)
10. Dodge Durango (6/1)

The other small annoyance to me is the fact that the Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango showed up on the list even though they are basically the same vehicle and received the same score.  I know it’s not good to have a vehicle fall on this list, but the American 3 are making a comeback in this area with vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt and Ford Fusion hybrid.  (Note: vehicles in red are out of production/nearing the end of production, vehicles in blue are up for significant updates.)

 Edmunds Inside Line has decided to pit the 2010 Ford Taurus SHO against the 2009 Infinity G37 sedan.  To get right down to it, the Infinity won the test based on 0-60, quarter mile, skid pad and braking performance.  Right where most people really decide a 5 passenger sedan purchase…riiight.  The SHO features more power, AWD, which was not on the Infinity in this test, heated AND cooled front seats (plus heated rear seats,) 20 inch wheels to the 17′s on the G37, plus many other features not even available on the Infinity.  Then they go on to say about the lack of the $995 Performance Package available on the SHO,

“It would’ve been nice had Ford included all these performance features on its “premium performance sedan,” especially one headed for a track test.”

Yea it would have been nice if Ford had given them a SHO with the Performance Package for this test, but it wasn’t available yet.  So Inside Line decides to knock Ford for not having a new optional package ready in time for their test?  Maybe they should have waited a few more weeks for the package to become available and then run their test.

They state that the two cars have a wheelbase that’s within 1 inch of each other, and then complain about how heavy the Taurus is compared to the Infinity.  Maybe it has something to do with the Taurus being almost 7 inches wider, 16 inches longer, having nearly 4 inches more rear seat leg room, 2 inches more shoulder room front and rear, and the extra 6.6 cubic feet of cargo volume, accessible not with a pass-through like on the Infinity, but seat backs that fold down nearly flat.  Yea, those are numbers no one cares about when they buy a 5 passenger sedan.  Customers who buy these cars still care about a fun ride, but they also want something that’s practical.  If you want a sports car, get a Mustang/370Z.  Alright, enough of this garbage, my hair is turning white fast enough as it is…

Gm / Chrysler logos (Motor Trend)

According to a story in the Detroit Newsby David Shepardson, GM and Chrysler will be getting additional loans from the Federal government in the near term.  The amounts?  General Motors will reportedly receive $5 billion and Chrysler LLC around $500 million.  These amounts were released in a 250-page government report.

Also included in the report is that the Obama administration plans to set aside $1.25 billion to pay for warranty programs should either automaker go under.  In my opinion, this is yet another example that Washington does not know what the heck it is doing when it comes to the auto industry.  Sure, I don’t have the exact numbers, but I used to work in a quality department, and I know that GM and Chrysler’s warranty costs per year greatly exceed that number.  The government would have to cover the warranty on millions of cars sold within the last 5 years or so that had any warranty left.  Maybe the government should have focused on protecting the manufacturing base in this country so that we would have never ended up in this mess…oh well, wishful thinking right?  It’s way too early for me to be this worked out…*deep breaths…1…2…3…4…*

GM auto show display (AP)

A New York Times article has brought something to my attention.  Before I share with you what that “thing” is, I must explain myself first.  I am not an angry person.  I try to be as calm as possible, so that I don’t die prematurely of a heart attack.  However, upon reading this article, I suddenly realized: the vast majority of people in this country are stupid!  No, beyond stupid, they’re idiots, uninformed, bumbling idiots.  I would say much worse, but I’m trying my best to keep this site PG-ish.  Whatever.

In this article, the writer points out how GM and Chrysler have made considerable cuts to their auto show displays in light of the fact that they’re losing money by the billions and have had to take government loans just to stay in business.  So they made cuts to just about every area of the business, including marketing, which means auto show displays are less fancy then they have been in years past.

Well auto-show-goers have started taking out their frustrations on the presenters at the shows.  They are often women, usually younger, who are hired by an outside firm to stand around the vehicles and answer questions about them.  So what in the world would drive someone to make a statement like this:

One G.M. presenter said a woman told her the company was responsible for the death of American soldiers in Iraq. The logic went like this: if G.M. made more fuel-efficient cars, the country would not need so much oil, and if the country did not need oil, United States troops would never have invaded.

Are you freaking kidding me?  GM is responsible for the war in Iraq?  Are they the only company on the planet that makes cars that run on gas?  NO!  What’s even more sad is that GM produces cars that are as fuel efficient or more in most cases than similar products from Toyota and Honda.  Just more proof that people in this country have no clue what they’re talking about.

This has to be one of my favorites though:

“You know how they say, ‘Never buy a car made on a Monday or a Friday?’ ” he said, getting comfortable in the passenger seat. “It’s because the people building the cars aren’t focused on the job. Well, how well do you think they’re focused today, with all this talk about how they’re going to lose their jobs?”

This comment was made by Kurt Moore, an electrician from Pleasant Valley, N.Y., as he sat in a Toyota Highlander.  What a genius!  Making fun of the union workers.  Oh wait, don’t most electricians belong to unions as well?  So should we hate all unions, or just the ones that make cars?  And if he’s not in a union, then he must be jealous of the fact that he’s doing the same job as someone else, but making way less money at it.  Mr. Moore, it’s OK, I understand that idiots like you want everyone in this country to eventually make minimum wage and buy everything from China, but it’s just not a good idea.  The race to the bottom is going to get us nowhere. 

Plus, how will the US automakers ever improve if no one will buy their new vehicles that are on par with the foreign car makers?  You can’t improve for free, it costs billions in this industry!  If people won’t acknowledge the fact that the US automakers have improved and at least consider their vehicles, then the billions of dollars of taxpayer money that they have been given will be for nothing!  So you idiots keep on spouting your garbage, and watch as we sink deeper into a recession.

2009 Nissan GT-R (Nissan)

Ordinarily I wouldn’t waste my time writing a post about something from Japan, but I have to point this out.  It’s necessary that everyone realize what a huge pile of crap the Nissan GT-R is.  First came all the awards from the press, the car won tons of them.  Then the car was actually sold to customers and that’s when the complaints started flowing in.  On the 2008 model, it was the issue with launch control.  You turn off the feature while driving your car, you voided the warranty.  Oh and using it just a few times could cause your $20,000 transmission to explode (not a typo.)  So for 2009 Nissan updated the car, removing the launch control feature and replacing it with a more updated program that would protect the transmission.

Well the 2010 GT-R is getting ready to hit the road and surprise, surprise, it’s got a huge list of disclaimers!  You can’t drive the car on a track, or at an airstrip.  You can’t run it on a dyno for performance testing.  You can’t even disconnect any on board computer or deny access to the data on the car’s event data recorder (known as the black box.)  So basically, this car is meant to be driven slowly around town.  Head on over to Jalopnik to read more.

I’m waiting for someone to take a GT-R and a Corvette ZR1 to the track and see which one wins in a race.  Wait, don’t even bother pulling the two cars together, I can already tell you how it will end.  Scenario 1, the GT-R can’t complete a single lap because then it’s warranty is void.  Scenario 2, the GT-R finishes two laps, and then drops out of the race due to mechanical issues.  Who would spend $80,000 plus on a “super car” that can’t be driven like a super car?  It makes no sense.  Why do people continue to believe that the foreign car makers build high quality vehicles?  This is a clear example of how they try and out-perform the American companies and fail miserably!

Rick Wagoner (GM)

General Motor’s CEO, Rick Wagoner, has been asked to step down by the Automotive Task Force in Washington D.C.  For the full story, and Mr. Wagoner’s press release, head on over to Autoblog.

Now that I got the official business out of the way, it’s time for one of my legendary rants.  Sure someone needs to take the blame for GM’s current position.  I mean, Rick Wagoner should have seen this coming.  Not only is GM producing it’s highest quality line of vehicles ever, they’re also the most fuel efficient, safest and most technologically advanced.  Plus, I mean, it’s totally GM’s fault that the banks collapsed, people can’t get financing to buy vehicles, gas prices hit $4+ last summer and the housing market is in shambles, so might as well blame all that on Rick Wagoner too.  Hey, wait a second!  Wasn’t Rick Wagoner CEO during 9/11?  We might want to look into that, maybe we can blame that on him too.

Glad to see that Washington thinks that because the market sucks and people aren’t buying cars, that it’s all Rick Wagoner’s fault.  If it were true that GM isn’t doing anything right, then they wouldn’t outsell Toyota and Honda and Nissan in the United States.  They wouldn’t be the second largest automaker in the world.  They wouldn’t sell cars like the Chevrolet Cobalt that gets better fuel economy than the Honda Civic or the Toyota Corolla.  They wouldn’t propose an idea like the Chevrolet Volt, a car that is expected to average 100 mpg (energy equivalent) when it’s launched late in 2010.  Sure, Mr. Wagoner could have done more.  He could have cut more jobs, he could have made more production cuts.  I hear and read hundreds of comments like that every day.  All from people who are using what they know today to look back 3 years and cast judgement.  If you were the CEO back in 2007, would you have started cutting jobs when the company was starting to show signs of improvement?  Would you have cut new product plans because, 1 year down the road gas was going to skyrocket to more than double it’s price at the time?  To anyone who says yes, I say, “bullshit.”  There was no way anyone could have seen the market collapse coming, or the high gas prices, or the lack of credit from the banks.

Hopefully Obama doesn’t abandon the Domestic automakers to the point of bankruptcy.  It sure looks as though it’s headed that way.  Oh, and to anyone who still doesn’t think the auto industry affects them, check the stock market.  I don’t care if you don’t own a share of Ford, GM or Chrysler stock, look at the market.  Rick Wagoner steps down, analysts say GM and/or Chrylser could be headed for bankruptcy and boom, the market drops 250+ points.  Weird…I didn’t think the Domestic manufacturers mattered to this country…yet their negative news spread throughout the market, causing wide spread panic and more selling.  Maybe when GM and Chrysler said they support directly and indirectly over 1 million jobs, they were telling the truth!  Are investors worried that their collapse would cause other businesses to fail?  You’re damn right they are!  Now where’s my blood pressure medication…

Ford UAW employee (Bill Pugliano/Getty)

Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers (UAW) have reached an agreement that will reduce wages to $55 an hour for it’s workers, bringing labor costs more in line with it’s Japanese rivals.  The estimated cost savings associated with the concessions is $500 million.  This brings wages down a total of $15 per hour since the last contract negotiations two years ago, where pay levels were more than $70 per hour.  This figure is supposed to drop even further to somewhere around $50 an hour by 2011.

While labor costs only account for 10% of new vehicle costs, this will help Ford become more competitive, not only with transplant automakers, but also GM and Chrysler, who have made similar concessions with their UAW members.  For more, head on over to Reuters.

While I understand that the UAW members have made very good wages for awhile, this is just another example of how foreign companies are destroying the standard of living here in America.  Why did the D3 have to cut it’s employee’s wages?  It’s simple, the transplant automakers (Toyota, Honda, Kia, etc.) all pay their workers less.  If this battle keeps up, there won’t be any high paying jobs left in the country.  What will we do then?  Not everyone is cut out to do work at $10 an hour…

The Jonas brothers with a Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell vehicle

Ok, so I may not be a big fan, but I have to give them credit.  The Jonas brothers (well two of them at least) own American automobiles!  Hope fans of the boys aren’t environmentalists too, because one of them (Ricky or Derrick…ok so those aren’t their names…sue me) owns a Jeep Commander and another (probably Manuel) owns a good old Ford Mustang!  The third owns a motorcycle with a sidecar on it (that’s like training wheels isn’t it?)  He must be the least popular one, as he only needs room for one more (quick update, in the next post, a Forbes article revealed that Nick, the youngest brother, is only 15 but when he can drive, he plans to get a Chevrolet Tahoe 2-Mode Hybrid.) For proof…I guess, head over to WikiAnswers.

As you can see in the photo, the boys were snagged by GM to promote their fuel cell efforts by posing with a fuel cell Chevrolet Equinox.  As much as I want this technology to succeed, if there ever was a time for a catastrophic explosion, that would have been it.  I’m not saying I want harm to come to the Jonas brothers…I’m just saying it would prove to people once and for all that they are bad news.  If their presence near a fuel cell vehicle can make it explode…imagine what happens to your daughters when they go to their shows!!

Abandoned GM Plant

In a recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, 1 in 4 Americans say they are for continued government funding for the American automakers.  This is down from 61% approval found in December, before the government approved bridge loans for the Detroit 3.  According to Porter Stansberry, head of Stansberry & Associates Investment Research, the more people understand what is wrong with General Motors, the less willing they are to support more money from the government.

I see a major flaw in this reasoning, because from everything I read on the Internet, most Americans have no clue what is wrong at GM.  GM had 8 recommended buys from Consumer Reports this month, they have won tons of awards in the past few years.  Their quality, warranty, pricing and products are better than they have ever been.  I am constantly bombarded by people who say no one buys their vehicles, well GM still outsold Toyota last year in the U.S.  Toyota barely outsold GM throughout the world, so it’s a bit of a stretch to say that no one buys their vehicles.

Maybe people are against support because they don’t feel that it affects them.  I will be posting an article later today that outlines how GM is cutting back, starting with a $800 million cut back in their marketing budge.  Think about all of the marketing companies that will be affected, the empty billboards, cable providers will lose out on revenue, magazines and newspapers will lose out on missed ads as well.  The affect of people not supporting AMERICA and American businesses is starting to have an affect. 

In Japan, people fight to see Japan survive, and to see Japan do well.  It’s in their culture.  Toyota wants Honda to win, and to see Mazda succeed, because it’s in Japan’s best interest.  In America, it’s every man for himself.  If I can get ahead by putting you down, then I will do just that.  We should be pulling together and realizing that what happens to the Domestic 3, will affect us all.  It already has and it is going to get worse until people learn what the true problem is with GM and Chrysler…overall public stupidity.  People need to stop pushing the stereotypes that their cars are not competitive and take the time to read the facts.  They are safety leaders, fuel economy leaders, technology leaders, and besides that, they employ directly and indirectly, millions of people in this country.

2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid

Ordinarily I wouldn’t dream of putting anything Toyota related on the page, but there were several comments in here that caught my eye and I just couldn’t pass it up.  While reviewing the 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid, writer Sam Abuelsamid kept making comparisons to the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, and frankly the Toyota just falls short.  My favorite part is where Sam points out that he averaged 29 mpg during a week of driving (conservatively he adds) whereas the group at AutoblogGreen managed a whopping 43 mpg with the Fusion.  He mentions cold temps are the reason, but then states the cold saps about 4-5 mpg from a hybrid.  Lets see…29 mpg + 5 mpg = 34 mpg.  34 mpg < 43 mpg.  Or 43 mpg – 5 mpg = 38 mpg.  38 mpg > 34 mpg *sigh of relief* glad to see my engineering math skills are still in tact, and that the Ford Fusion Hybrid comes out on top.  Anyway, head on over to AutoblogGreen for the details.