The Big 3 Continue to Fall

Apparently Chrysler is fighting off rumors of bankruptcy. I find this big news. Maybe I'm over reacting, but a "Big 3" auto maker going belly up makes me wonder if GM isn't right around the corner.

http://in.reuters.com/article/governmentFilingsNews/idINN2630646320080626

 

I don't think you can overstate this. It is big, Pete.

 

The auto industry isn't flexible enough to react to fast changes in the economy. One year ago, they were still putting gas guzzlers into the production pipeline. Hell, the Prius was a laughingstock to the Big 3. Now, they're all scrambling to create their own versions of it.

 

I thought this thread would be about the Celtics facing injuries with Pierce, Garnett and Allen.

 

The auto companies going belly up would be a human catastrophe for this country. The industry has been making missteps for decades now, so the coups de grace would be largely self-inflicted.

 

I expect Ford to go bankrupt before Chrysler. The blue oval is much more dependent on truck sales.

 

I disagree in that pick-ups are still doing well enough. Chrysler just makes poor cars.

Their best brand is Jeep and they can't even give those away right now. The cars suck gas like there is no tomorrow.

As much as I believe the American auto industry needs to remain, I understand fully how much they fucked themselves over the last several decades.

 

They need to produce cars sufficient numbers of people will want, at a price people will be willing to pay. And they need to do it damn fast.

Good luck, with that.

 

If Chrysler goes TU does that mean I don't have to pay them for the loan on my minivan?

 

It's all the unions' fault!

 

Chrysler was in Chapter 11 more than 25 years ago and emerged as a healthy company - - under the guidance of Lee Iacocca. So a Big 3 bankruptcy is not unthinkable.

The unions and management share the blame for the sorry state of US auto manufacturing. Neither side can project with any degree of honesty that it was "the other guys" who drove this industry into the ground. There is plenty of blame to go around.

 

Chrysler does have a loan department ... http://www.chryslerfinancial.com/

I almost went to work for them right out of college. But I turned it down, because I didn't want to move to Detroit. Dad, a Dodge/Jeep dealer, was heartbroken.