Who should shoulder the blame for the collapse of the North American auto industry?
1) Unions: unsklled assembly workers getting $70000+ a year to do something a monkey could do. Theres your problem. How can any company survive with these greedy slackers?
Companies have been forced to put cheaper parts in their cars leading to a lower quality, just to finance these insane wages for a bunch of greedy unions.
2) Design: Concerntrating on SUV's and really doing nothing new with their car designs in the last 20 years has meant that N.A. auto manufacturers have no longer got the attention of car buyers. They seem boring.
3) Oil prices: Killed whatever buying of SUV's was keeping the companies afloat. Also increased their freight costs, their raw materials costs etc.
4) Import ingenuity: Lets face it; Toyota, Hyundai, Honda etc. have simply cut the fat, streamlined operations, designed well around consumer needs, and have great cars at a great price.
Answers:
I blame the Unions for striking over coffee breaks and an additional dollar and hour when they already make 30 bucks an hour to install the same bolt all day long. Also I blame our government for giving subsidies to any coporation. If corporations were allowed to fail, new and better ones would rise in their place to fill the void in the market. Michigan just paid Ford 300 million to not close down any plants this year. 300 million to not cloe for ONE YEAR! This is a joke and we need to let them fail. Same for the Airlines and the Oil companies. Its a corporation problem, not just an Auto problem.
I agree with your assumptions above, but you are missing a critical one:
What about the consumers? The average consumer still percieves American car companies as manufacturing low quality vehicles with poor fuel-efficiency. However, the majority of reports actually show that quality is better than most foreign manufacturers, and there are plenty of fuel-efficient vehicles on the market. Consumers rely on old data and probably previous poor experiences with American car manufacturers, and do not do their research to see that things have changed.
Of course, the American manufacturers also do a very poor job of changing their image when they do not market this information and instead focus on SUV and truck commercials.
I think you hit it on the head. With the unions being one of the biggest problems.
Let me just start by saying I know numerous people who work union jobs. Yes, some are lazy, but in general most work holidays, weekends and are working while you are sleeping. There's no tougher job than that. Unions are no longer greedy - they can't be. There are too many loopholes for companies to rid themselves of unions now.
I'd say to your original question, blame not only all of the factors above, but also yourself. No, I'm not saying you're the cause, but consumer demand for higher quality at affordable prices has a lot to do with it.
I think the only way America will return to a competitive place in the market is when other countries catch up economically. A level playing field will force all players to offer solid products. It's a win-win for us as consumers.
The answers post by the user, for information only, BAnswer.com does not guarantee the right.
More Related Questions and Answers...