[NTBKtrader]

Ford has 300,000 Full Time Employees

GM has 335,000 Full Time Employees.

and they are laying off 60k combined? It appears that they have a ways to go. However, maybe Japanese autos will be hiring since they are fast gaining market share?

Job losses will also be in the slowing real estate, construction, and service sectors. I'd be extremely surprised if the unemployment rate doesn't spike soon.

[NTBKtrader]

Even the Japanese gains aren't helping overall auto sales in the US.

Overall, 1.49 million vehicles were sold last month, a 17.4 percent decrease from July 2005.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ ... TE=DEFAULT

[NTBKtrader]

Some important facts:

Situation
1. Analysts predict Ford Credit sale, in part or whole, if liquidity crisis worsens

2. Ford Credit earnings fall 45% in 2nd Q to $441M, from $740 year ago

3. Ford has burned $1.5B cash through 2nd Q, warns rate will increase for rest of year

4. At same time, Ford may want to consider alliance from among global automakers

5. Possibilities: Hyundai, VW, Honda, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler, Chery, Renault-Nissan


Significant Points
1. Proposed sale of 51% of GMAC by GM seen as boost to pressure on Ford for Ford Credit

2. Large automakers must have adequate cash flow to meet expenses, $7B for new products

3. Credit rating decline into junk status, declining market share present gloomy outlook

4. Ford CEO Bill Ford has said he is open to talks forming alliance like GM considers

5. Ford alliance w/ Mazda called snag to linkup w/ another Japanese brand

[Eli]

NTB

The thing is they did those lay offs before all these sales reports started to come out. They do indeed have a long way to go.

Just imagine what 4.00 dollars a gallon will do to SUV sales.
Ford and GM are toast.

They once again have placed themselves in the uncomfortable position of selling cars no one wants.

[vision-master]

Didn't the 3 big automakers learn anything from all those cripple ships they made in the 70's?[s] Guess not![/s]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

[catbox]

I was floored when the dealership said they would happily by our second car from us. We wanted to go down to one car and what we thought was going to be a hassle, was simple. When we stated why...after he asked...I did not get to into PO all that much but just said we don't need two vehicles in Eugene due to being cyclists who can commute just as easy for harldy nothing. The guy bought the car, after we sighned the papers he asked if we were intersted in another. HA HA! I felt so victorious.
The car we sold this dealer still sits on the lot 2 months now, it's a good car, Mitsubishi Lancer 2003...gets great mileage...and was in great shape.

Glad to be down to one!

cb

[o2ny]

well, they did make gobs of cash selling SUV's in the 90's and early 00s. The bigger, the better, they couldn't make them fast enough. Times have now changed. But GM and Ford are just such huge, bloated blimps with corporate entrenched bureaucracies and backward-ass conservative thinking, they have no ability to change their course. No business agility. It takes years to get that ship going in a different direction... and even then it may not be the right one.

[coyote]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'D')idn't the 3 big automakers learn anything from all those cripple ships they made in the 70's?[s] Guess not![/s]

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

[mekrob]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '4'). Ford CEO Bill Ford has said he is open to talks forming alliance like GM considers

[ohanian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '4'). Ford CEO Bill Ford has said he is open to talks forming alliance like GM considers

[alpha480v]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ohanian', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mekrob', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '4'). Ford CEO Bill Ford has said he is open to talks forming alliance like GM considers

[ohanian]

I'll buy that for a dollar !



Slang phrase for "I'll accept that gladly" from the movie Robocop.

Derived from a slang phrase in a famous science fiction story "The Marching Morons" by C.M.Kornbluth, in which a popular catchphrase for asking 'would you believe it?' was "Would you buy it for a quarter?". In the intervening years, inflation must has been occurring.

[TommyJefferson]

I am part of the reason Nissan sales were down.

Two months ago I showed up at the local Nissan dealership, checkbook in hand, ready to purchase a Frontier pickup. I was shocked at how BIG and crappy they were. I did not purchase.

I want a small pickup truck. The best a Nissan Frontier can do is 22mpg highway. Owners tell me they get far worse in town. Also, new Nissans feel cheap and flimsy like GM products, not solid and durable like old Nissan trucks.

Screw them. Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, and Mitsubishi have all been ballooning up their "small" trucks over the past 3 years.

I won't buy one until they revert to making them SMALL like they used to.

[TommyJefferson]

I know what you mean. It's just seems stupid that my 1978 Monte Carlo with a 305 cubic inch V-8 could get 21mpg, but these new vehicles with less powerful engines can barely break 20mpg.

I heard it was because of weight. My old Monte Carlo didn't have 900 pounds of OBD-II sensors and associated wiring.

[emersonbiggins]

Sorry, Tommy, I deleted my post because I felt like I was off topic. I agree that cars have far too much bloat these days, and GM's strategy has been marketing that bloat over opting for a better build quality, which has only hurt themselves in the long run. Getting GM or Ford to even admit worries about fuel economy is a recent revelation; Rick Waggoner was adamant about it "not being a concern" just last year.

[JoeCoal]

I find it amusing that EVERY car commercial I see is now flogging gas mileage, gas mileage, and more gas mileage, like they flipped a switch back in the ad-copy room. Too little, too late, like usual. It's the 70's all over again. (Where'd I put those bell-bottoms...?)

[Waterthrush]

Yes, and when you hear the top execs of the auto companies on business shows in the media, they look extremely dour and stumble over their words when talking about mileage. Rich Waggoner would rather talk about anything else! Because, remember, the "redesigned full size SUVs" were going to be the savior of GM. To see or hear him rush through his sentences about gas mileage - well, it's amusing.

Why, why, why these companies could not offer even 1 hybrid for ten years is beyond me. Smug and stupid. And, once they finsh cutting their workers down to small hourly wages and few benefits, I will never buy one of their products again (which, essentially, means never).

Because, I purchased my most recent car in 2003 with the intention of its lasting 10-12 years. I look at it now and wonder, will this be my last car, period.

[Eli]

They really deserve to go under.

After the oil embargoes back in the 70s they should have always had a plan B ready to go in case there was another oil crisis.

The fact that they are once again caught totally flat footed by rising fuel costs is completely unacceptable. It proves how obtuse and short sided upper management in US companies can think, all they think about is what is going to happen in the next quarter. While the Japanese have 5 year 10 year and 25 year plans.

[kuatolives]

I remember seeing an interview with Richard Branson and he was griping about the bankruptcy law in the US (as it applied to the airline industry) and it was his contention that the current bankruptcy law was hurting the US because it didnt allow these financially troubled companies to just collapse and die.

Instead you get this restructure, chapter 11, restructure, chapter 11 cycle..... where if you just let these companies die a horrible screaming death, someone else is is presumably not an idiot, will fill the market niche and things will be rosy afterwards.

[mekrob]

Shouldn't be too long now before we get to do this:



Just thinking about it makes me happy.