truth about domestics

UAW’s newest President, Bob King, recently reiterated the ban on foreign vehicles in UAW parking lots. King’s comments were in response to a reporter who got kicked out of a UAW parking lot for driving a Toyota Camry. King’s reasoning is that “Foreign automakers accept U.S taxpayer’s dollars in incentives to build assembly plants in the United States, jeopardizing the future of middle-class workers in the domestic auto industry.”

Although I will be one of the first to preach the importance of protecting the domestic industries, I completely disagree with UAW’s policy. Unions came about for good reasons, such as improving working conditions, creating the 8 hour work day and 5 day work week, fair wages, etc. But, this policy goes opposite of what the UAW is “supposed” to stand for – pro-American. This is actually, quite un-American. Competition leads to better innovation and better products, not bullying.

So is this what UAW leadership is paid to accomplish – create stupid policies? I thought it was to stand up for their workers. Maybe it would be more beneficial to work on helping make the domestic companies more efficient and cost effective. Or, how about working on changing our trade policies with other nations and make it fair to sell our products overseas.

Oh, by the way, I’ve been reading article after article about this story, along with people’s comments, and I’ve noticed something interesting – many people state that this worsens their perception of the UAW (as if it’s not bad enough), and worsens their perception of UAW built cars. So how about that, people won’t buy domestic cars because of this! Thanks Bob.

Source: The Detroit News

Check out the features that the Fiesta has…that even spaceships don’t have!

Well, sort of – check out this hilariously awesome video of a comparison of the Ford Fiesta and a Lamborghini.

Ford has finally begun production of the highly acclaimed Fiesta B-car in its Cuautitlán, Mexico assembly plant. The car will be available in June and is expected to compete with the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris.

News courtesy of USA Today.

Ford Motor Company just released its quarterly earning results, and the results are sweet! Ford posted a $2.1 billion profit, or 50 cents a share, compared to a loss of 60 cents a share during the same time period a year ago. Revenue was also up to $28.1 billion from $24.4 billion a year earlier. Ford also boosted its outlook by increasing production by 30,000 vehicles and now expects to build 625,000 vehicles in the second quarter of this year.

Ford’s success can be attributed to numerous factors, the most important of which are the amazing new products and the greatly increased quality of its vehicles. Way to go Ford!

Read more at The Wall Street Journal.

GM has formed a new division.  The purpose of this group of 50 or so employees is to search the internet for complaints about GM products and do everything they can to rectify the situation.  Say a customer posts on Facebook that they are having transmission issues with their 2010 Cadillac.  This newly formed group at GM will find the complaint, and then try to contact that customer and get them hooked up with a service rep so that they can have the issue fixed.  I think this is another great example of how the culture at GM is changing for the better.  They are thinking ahead, trying to please customers again, and responding in a short and timely manner.  Maybe Toyota and Honda should try something like this…

For more details, head on over to Autoblog.

(Image source: GM)

So I don’t have a pretty chart like the gang over at Autoblog, but that’s OK.  The story here is that September was another rough month for the auto industry, particularly at General Motors and Chrysler.  Sales were down 44.89% and 42.06% respectively, while Ford posted a less severe 5.08% decrease over the same period last year.  However, that drop was better than the Japanese competition at -7.00% (Nissan), -12.65% (Toyota), and -20.07% (Honda.)  Hopefully the fact that nine brands saw an increase in sales means that the auto industry is picking up, but only time will tell for sure if the worst is behind us…

(Image source: Minnesota Public Radio)

Edmunds Inside Line recently did a comparison test of the brand new 2010 Ford Taurus and a 2009 Honda Accord, and let me begin by stating: what a terrible review! Can you make this shit any more biased? Keep reading to find out why.

The review starts out by listing off the features that each car has and finally naming the price of each vehicle.  The Taurus has loads and loads of features; features that even the reviewer states are simply not available on the Accord.  Those features include massaging seats, a blind spot information system, adaptive cruise control, Sony sound system, optional all-wheel drive and automatic high-beams.  After listing all the features that the Taurus has and the Accord does not, the reviewer says that you can save $3,575 if you go with the Accord. Duh! I wonder why!?  They optioned out the Taurus with items the Accord can only dream of having and then wonder why it’s so expensive.  If you step down into a lower trim level on the Taurus, you still get more features than on the Accord and at a lower price, which would then make the Taurus the better buy, but the author fails to mention that of course!

A little more on the features discussion: the reviewer also states that the Accord has the Acura navigation system that has been stripped of various features!? Why? I don’t know if the reviewers test vehicle had the Ford navigation system, but from what many reviews state, the Ford navigation system is one of the best (if not, the best) in the industry, even amongst luxury brands. It has features like sync, Bluetooth, USB connectivity, etc. Again, word of advice, option the vehicles similarly, and then compare them OBJECTIVELY! That is my understanding of what a proper review should be like.

Oh and lets not forget the section where the author goes on to say that the Taurus rides better, stops shorter, and has a quieter cabin than the Accord, but that’s not important.  What is important to the author is that the radio isn’t pixelated…  If the author had an ounce of sense in his head he would understand why that is.  The Accord had a navigation screen that is LCD based.  The Taurus in this case did not have a navigation system, so it has a standard LED display.  If they had bothered to get cars that were optioned similarly, the Taurus navigation system has a larger LCD screen, looks sharper, and is much more intuitive than that on the Accord.  If I had a nickle for every time the author disregards the Taurus’ strong points, I’d be able to retire.

Here comes the performance comparison. I won’t discuss the exact number here (you can read the review for that), but ultimately, the performance characteristics (times, speeds, etc.) were very similar for both vehicles. The Accord was a little quicker, with a 7.2 second 0-60, compared to Taurus’ 7.8 seconds. But in the end, the reviewer boldly states “it has no hope of catching the Accord.” What!? Clearly, both of these cars are not speed-racers, and I didn’t realize that full-size sedans were designed to be weekend track cars. And if you really wanted to get a performance full-size sedan, you do have the option of getting a 2010 Taurus SHO that has significantly more power, AWD, and ultimately will kill the Accord; but then it wouldn’t be a fair comparison.

Alright, my head is about to explode from all the stupid crap in this review. Long story short, the reviewer found issues with the Taurus and could not leave them alone. Common themes include the weight of the Taurus, the size of the Taurus, the price of the Taurus, the Taurus having too many features, more complaints about the weight of the Taurus, and more complaints about the size of the Taurus. Ultimately, the Accord wins. And not just any Accord, but the “Honda Accord EX-L with Navigation!” BAM! It’s got a navigation system! Game over baby!

Read the full craptastic review at Edmunds.

Peace.

Alex

For the first time in history, Ford has topped every other manufacturer, including Toyota, in an initial quality survey. According to a survey taken by the RDA Group of Bloomfield Hills, Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury cars and trucks had 1,185 issues per 1,000 vehicles, whereas Toyota had 1,215 problems and Honda had 1,291 problems. Also, according to the survey, Ford tied Toyota in customer satisfaction.

While I have never heard of the RDA Group, according to The Detroit News article, many foreign and domestic automakers use their research. Additionally, RDA’s research has proven to track very closely to other quality research firms, including J.D. Power and Associates.

Congratulations Ford! Keep on keeping on with the amazing job you are doing! Read the full article at The Detroit News.

Ford managed to sell 18,561 Fusions in the month of June, a 26% increase over the same month last year! That’s great news, especially in an economy where sales are severely depressed and Toyota and Honda are losing sales. While it’s still a ways off from the two leading competitors, Camry and Accord, Ford is making huge gains.

Read the full article at the Detroit Free Press.

ZipCar’s CEO, Scott Griffith was recently interviewed on a Squawk segment on CNBC. He was describing the nature of the car-sharing business and how it works. The business model is very interesting, allowing people to share vehicles by the day or even hour, instead of buying a vehicle.

Unfortunately, Griffith then goes on to state some very interesting “facts.” According to Griffith: “We are not buying GM or Chrysler cars; in fact we have never bought a GM or Chrysler product.”

That has got to be the biggest load of bull-crap that I have heard in a long time! Granted, there is no way of me knowing what kind of requests they get, that is extremely hard to believe because Griffith states that they have all sorts of vehicles in their fleet, including trucks and SUVs! Is he honestly going to tell everyone that when someone requests a truck or an SUV it’s a Toyota or Honda? Yes, he does mention they get requests for Ford vehicles, but as far as I know, GM still sells over half a million trucks every year. That means that they are POPULAR!

Of course there’s no one there to correct this fool. Griffith, I hope you get a chance to read this; I’d love to have a chat with you. You’re full of crap!

Peace,

Alex