10 cars that sank Detroit.

btw the taurus-500-taurus name change is one of the biggest joke.. also replacing freestyle with "taurus X"... :crazy:

 

I would agree, this is the funniest thing ever.

 

I am not sure how the Ford Explorer was bad. It is one of the best selling SUV ever. It turned a huge profit for GM. Then again it also started the deadly snowball effect..till this day.

so yeah. Let's hope GM pulls out of this one, would hate to see them go. For the most part I like GM products, they just need to get with the times.

 

I'm not sure how it made much money for GM, but Ford did sell a lot of them.

As an Explorer owner, I would say that it was a good product for its intended use (all around SUV with good off-road and bad weather capability) but dangerous when driven incorrectly. Its not a sports car, and it shouldn't be driven like one.

It has a bad reputation due to the Firestone tire fiasco, which Ford was also partly to blame for by specifying low inflation pressures to help with the ride. In addition, it is a fairly heavy vehicle, especially in 4wd trim, which means it gets horrific gas mileage.

Mine has been pretty reliable with 119k miles, but they also have a reputation (well earned) for having early transmission failures.

 

I was at the Seattle Auto Show last weekend, and noticed that people were flocking to all the foreign auto makers (from Kia to Mercedes), while the American manufacturers hardly had any attention, even with all the new models on display. I sat in the Malibu hybrid and was pretty disappointed. Due to the low window line, I (and others) bumped my head entering the car.

 

The author's point wasn't that the Explorer was bad, just as the Taurus was not bad. The problem was that Ford did nothing to improve these vehicles after their initial success, but instead milked them for all they were worth until they became outdated and obsolete. I believe the author was suggesting that some of the profits should have been used for R&D, instead of big bonuses and dividends.

Tom

 

Re comments on all the model names & changes: the oldest business ploy in the world - if something is a piece of junk, don't fix it - just rename it.

Only US car I ever loved - my '64 Dodge Dart with the slant 6 engine. I recently saw one of these parked behind a pharmacy. I waited in hopes of talking to the owner, but had to leave. I was amazed at how BIG that car was - when we bought it, we thought it was a small car. In fact, I even thought that car could have been mine (although purchased in California, we had traded the car in here in Wisconsin & the color was right) but mine had a snazzy black side molding & a lovely little fender skirt crease that I put in it & these were missing.

And I had to laugh in one of the responses to the article where the poster talked about only seeing American cars at antique auto shows (he was talking about 20 year old cars). My first thought was that a lot of 20-year old foreign cars are still on the road and not "antiques".

 

I can't wait to dance on the graves of the big 3 in Detroit. Oh I can't wait!

 

Derek, I hope your feelings about this are based on your own disappointments not on what America needs to do. As a 25 + years Toyota buyer I would never want our country to give up in the auto industry. We invented the auto and our country united in WWII to stop producing cars to manufacture military cars and tanks for a just military cause.
Believe me, I am not a flag waver but I believe we need profound changes producing cars...the right way....look no farther than Toyota and Honda as the model.
BTW, American workers give us a great Camry. The problem is management. We do not need to give up, we need to change the corporate mismanagement in the american auto industry and produce quality cars in this country. I would gladly buy one when that occurs.

 

+1

 

also the author said it was the success of the first "SUV" that kicked off the craze in the first place which was in retrospect, a mis-step from hip all the way down to the pinkie toe.

 

Seems like the end for these US auto manufacturers because the bail out was/wont be passed. Lots of thoughts concerning this and quite a bit of mixed feelings. Could the answer be Chapter 11?

These are unique and morbid economic times indeed. In the wise words of an associate, "learn the balance between FEAR & GREED"

When others are fearful, BE GREEDY.

When others are greedy, BE FEARFUL

It will be an interesting roll of the dice to see how this story unfolds.

 

So the previous isn't true or this is wrong then?
Who invented the automobile?

In: Cars and Vehicles, Inventions, Chevrolet
[Edit]


[Edit]
Inventor of Automobile


Easy: Karl Benz
In 1885 German mechanical engineer, Karl Benz designed and built the world's first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine. On January 29, 1886, Benz received the first patent (DRP No. 37435) for a gas-fueled car.





Or did he move to the USA just before?

 

i think downsizing and combining the best of the 3 into one company with a completely new direction is what we need.

there is no law that requires that companies last forever no matter what... if they can not change to fit their customer needs they become a burden, not an asset. it is simply time for these people to go away.

 

Funnily enough, I once had a girlfriend tell me that to my face

 

I am a loyal buyer of both Toyota and Honda products myself. I don't respect any type of company that produces a sub-par quality product. Why would I take pride in something like that? That's for the birds. Companies (no matter how big) that are mismanaged and fail because of it, should be allowed to do so. Plain and simple.

 

It was both their salvation and their death nail. Like a pint of blood to a bleeding victim.

 

The Prius made it. I just laughed after reading that "hybrids didn't make economic sense and that only environmentalists would buy them".