Is anyone's glass half full?

[FL Buckeye]

I don't know enough about the business to comment (at least intelligently) but I have appreciated Chrysler's innovation.
.

I too have liked Chrysler's designs and new models. Years ago it excited me to see the new year's models come out but not much going on for a long time. "Body by Fisher" used to mean a great style on a GM. Yes, I like cars.

The media is making a big deal out of the shutdowns, which is probably what the big three wanted. They always used to shut down for a short time when inventory got too large, or for retooling and at holidays. This time inventory is large but the timing will put pressure on getting a bailout. I hate to think of all the jobs that could actually be lost, including support industries, but when is enough enough? We, as individuals have to balance a budget, but the gov doesn't. On second thought, I'm wrong about that too. After reading of the average credit card debt balance, and the low amount people put in savings, I'm not surprised of the shape we're in.

[JoeyGee]

Suddenly the "lifetime" warranty we have on our Chrysler Town and Country doesn't seem nearly as valuable as it did a short time ago.

Or the $1.99 gas for a few years that a lot of people bought .

[massanutten]

Doesn’t Chrysler normally shut down for two weeks for Christmas? This sounds like its really a 2 week shut down?

Good grief, No bailout for any of them.

[Wood_workur]

Good grief, No bailout for any of them.

The thing about the bailouts is:
1) The banks brought it upon them selves, so there should not have been one in the first place. Its like me claiming insurance after totaling my car playing chicken.

2) If the auto industry gets one, what is gonna stop everyone and their extended families?

3) This problem could be solved in three seconds be eliminating the unions. You can't pay your blue collared workers lump sums of money and expect your cars to sell at ridiculously high prices over cheaper imports.

4) If the cars were designed as well as the foreign cars (not attacking anyone here who works for the auto industry, but the one thing I think America has excelled at is big trucks and full size sedans- foreign compact cars are better IMHO) they would sell just as well.

[dkerfoot]

Excuse me, but.....

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Yeah, I know and point well taken. I did not mean the world's first small van, but rather the first vehicle that was officially dubbed a "minivan." The vehicle for which the now ubiquitous term was coined. Of course it is a little ridiculous to call my Town & Country a "mini-van" but that has become the term...

[DaveS]

Excuse me, but.....

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I was under the impression that to be considered a "minivan", it must have at least 1 cup holder (preferably 72 of them).

Being as this picture is a VW, designed and built in Germany, we know that it has zero cup holders.

Therefore, it is not a minivan.

[dbhost]

I am an engineer at Ford and things are pretty ugly...

Ford is dumping another 2200 engineers in January and it will be far from the last of the cuts. We have had six rounds of white collar cuts in the last three years with no end in sight. GM and Chrysler started their cuts much later, but they will be forced to catch up quickly for any chance of survival. Hopefully, I still have a job next month.

Speaking as an owner of a 2004 F150 5.4L 3V, I can't say I have much sympathy for Ford, neither can a friend of mine with a 2003 F150 4.6L, his spits spark plugs out, mine won't let go of them. Guess what? We blame the engineers, AND Ford management. The cylinder head designs on these engines are full of stupid mistakes. The 5.4 3v has a recess the plug snout sits in that fills with carbon and locks it in place. You would think the engineers would have caught that, or at least when the Ford dealer breaks the dumb things during removal THEY would make things right, but no.... the customer typically gets shafted with it. The 5.6L simply doesn't have enough thread surface, and the plug bores strip out and spit the plugs out... Again, Ford does nothing to support their owners...

Nope, no sympathy here, aside from the guys that really are trying to make right and keep getting shafted by the idiots in charge... I mean I feel for anyone losing their job, and I hope you are not one of the Ford Engineers that was responsible for my engine, and we are not even going to talk about the first Generation Focus, A.K.A. the modern Pinto.... My wife has one that has been in and out of the shop since her and I started dating.... We leave it at her brothers shop now for over the last year. I'd sell it, but even in this market of people snatching up high MPG cars, the Focus is a plague...

My family and I have had Fords as long as I can remember, and I don't mean to attack anyone, but this current batch of stupid design problems on Fords is one thing, but Ford has a history of failing to stand up and do right by their customers, and now they come to us asking to bail them out?