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Just Like Gm Builds Em'
ZTWsquared Offline
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#14
05-26-2009, 03:00 AM
darkpuppet,May 25 2009, 11:58 AM Wrote:
reldridge,May 20 2009, 12:31 PM Wrote:
ZTWsquared,May 19 2009, 03:47 PM Wrote:the blame rests solely on management

QFT!

If the Big Three would have made a more competitive product over the years, the import brands wouldn't have the market share they have now, and they wouldn't be in this mess.

Well, at least Chrysler and GM. Ford seems to have restructured in time to weather some of the storm...
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Ford has done a great job in restructuring.. and last time I heard, I thought they had even passed the handling of the pension to the Union -- a brilliant move IMO.

GM has been too cocky -- the problem with GM has always been 100% management -- and it's similar across the automotive industry.

On the other hand, I think the American car makers were looking at the union troubles in British Layland and wanted to avoid being put out of business from union job action. The unions didn't do many favours by threatening to strike.... in the end, there was a certain lack of common sense on both ends, but eventually management should have done the right thing instead of the easy thing.
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Ford of Canada started restructuring literally 10 years ago when they dropped the Mercury franchise here and started closing dealerships. In addition to that they undertook an independant third-party market review to determine exactly how many dealerships they really needed and where - and dealerships were closed as a result of that too.

These were very controversial decisions - especially at a time of record-breaking auto sales - and moreover they were the subject of dozens of of lawsuits including a class action ... Ford eventually lost that suit, but the benefits of those decisions are being reaped now.

In 1999 Ford Canada had 730 dealerships ... today, they have barely 400. And their head office and sales organizations are equally lean.

That's how I know that the management at GM and Chrysler could have avoided the mess they're in now ... because the signs that caused Ford to act in 1999 were evident to all - they just chose to ignore them.
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Messages In This Thread
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - NikiterZTS - 05-16-2009, 12:49 PM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - OAC_Sparky - 05-17-2009, 12:03 AM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - NikiterZTS - 05-17-2009, 02:11 AM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - Spinal - 05-17-2009, 03:56 AM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - StreetEdition - 05-19-2009, 07:04 PM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - imack - 05-19-2009, 07:44 PM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - OAC_Sparky - 05-19-2009, 11:30 PM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - meford4u - 05-20-2009, 12:45 AM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - NefCanuck - 05-20-2009, 04:11 AM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - NOS2Go4Me - 05-20-2009, 05:14 AM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - ZTWsquared - 05-20-2009, 05:47 AM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - reldridge - 05-21-2009, 02:31 AM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - darkpuppet - 05-26-2009, 01:58 AM
Just Like Gm Builds Em' - ZTWsquared - 05-26-2009, 03:00 AM

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