How To Save A Major Automobile Company

[babsbunny]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/neil-young/how-to-save-a-major-autom_b_143749.html

Neil Young
Posted November 13, 2008 | 07:57 PM (EST)

Find a new ownership group. The culture must change. It is time to turn the page. In the high technology sector there are several candidates for ownership of a major car and truck manufacturer. We need forward looking people who are not restricted by the existing culture in Detroit. We need visionary people now with business sense to create automobiles that do not contribute to global warming.

It is time to change and our problems can facilitate our solutions. We can no longer afford to continue down Detroit's old road. The people have spoken. They do not want gas guzzlers (although they still like big cars and trucks). It is possible to build large long-range vehicles that are very efficient. People will buy those vehicles because they represent real change and a solution that we can live with.

[BeFree]

1. Afterwards

With national health care, the health care obligations of those companies would be taken up by the whole of society.

Yes, more socialism.

In the meantime, building a standardized fleet of clean and efficient vehicles that every government group from the white house to the local courthouse could use for everyday driving, would go a long way to keeping workers busy. And reduce consumption and pollution.

[99th_Monkey]

2. I say use bailout $$ to leverage worker-buyouts. The workers then hire management

more in step with the consuming public, that's ready for CHANGE to maximize fuel-efficiency,
and retooling for electric and hybrid autos.

[99th_Monkey]

3. My candidate for "new ownership" is UAW. Use any Fed. Funds to leverage worker-buyout by UAW.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4287246
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/dward/classes/powpart/benellomondragon.html

[dysfunctional press]

4. considering gm's market cap on friday- i'd like to see warren buffet buy it.

or even bill gates...
and then open it up to honest innovation, and make the vehicles americans have now decided they might possibly want.

[kentuck]

5. They are already making fuel efficient cars...

I heard it reported by Senator Levin that Detroit is making 2 times more cars that get over 30 mpg than the foreign car makers. I think most of the present problem is with the economy, not the cars that GM and the Big Three are presently making. They are making good cars.

[Thegonagle]

6. They've largely turned their products around, quality-wise, but

they still have to turn their reputations back around, and they still have to sell more cars that people really want to buy.

Honestly, 30 MPG on the highway isn't that difficult, and it isn't that great. Compared to 20-25 MPG mid-sized sedans, it's relatively good, but where is the hybrid technology? (Toyota has been building the 60 MPG Prius for almost a decade now.) How much longer will Americans have to wait to buy a domestic model with a clean diesel? (BMW and Mercedes have them now, and Honda is bringing one to our shores for the 2010 Accord.)

My 10 year old Honda Accord gets 36 MPG at 60 MPH and 32-33 MPG at 70. (Mine does particularly well because it has a manual transmission. It should also be noted that Accords built for North America have actually become less efficient since the 98-2002 models, because they've become larger, with a slightly larger engine to match.)