Posted by
Jay R on Sunday, December 07, 2008 1:24:45 AM
December 7, 2008
Right up front, as a long time member of the CSEA, I do not wish to ever write commentary that would compromise the livelihood and benefits of any union members in our country. I purchased 100 shares in Ford at $5 because I thought at the time several months ago that I was buying an international conglomerate on a song. Ford has a plan to bring to America European style vehicles that have good mileage, are smaller in size and will have that international flair that Americans seem to go for. It may take two years to get this strategy going here in the USA. But we never bring up the fact that the auto buyers might be in the mood for something new and especially at lower price points and with equal mileage advantages as compared to the Japanese and Korean models. That would eventually swallow up so much market share that there would be nothing left for the Big 3 to achieve as far as a sensible profit. Car buyers anywhere lose their patriotism at the door when faced with a $10,000 savings, equal packages and much more reliability and sexy styling; you can imagine why the foreign cars sell better. I must complement GM on the Buick line which from day 1 has always served us well. The days of Americans being able to afford the Le Sabres, Customs and Park Avenues are not here today in this economic environment. The same goes for Lincoln Mercury from Ford, which I would buy (Mercury Marquis is a fabulous vehicle) today if I could afford it. I drive a Honda Civic, the MRSP under$18,000. Compacts today are much roomier for bigger men like me (190 lbs) so there is my opportunity to sit comfortably in a cheaper car than being forced to move up to a mid-size years ago because I was driving then with my left side against the door. Honda is an iconic engineering company with exceptional quality control. I have owned Camrys, Accords, Hyundai Elantra and now the Civic continuously since 1986 with only one minor part failure between all of them. My wife always drove Olds which I thought was a great division but I guess GM thought the group was old hat and closed it. They should know that our Cutlass Ciera was better than any car from anywhere but can we achieve a complement in 2008 like that one? I wish I could buy a Cadillac, that division is doing well with the country club set and the vehicles are high quality. In summation, I believe that Ford will prevail in this tent of speculation. The Big 3 has to figure out how to snare buyers like myself in the $18,000 range who are getting a substantial amount of amenities and good reliability histories for a lot less than equivalent American models. Look, the bail out had to happen because obviously, losing 3 million jobs at the juncture we are residing in now cannot be realized without Dante's Inferno catching up to us. The only caveat in my disposition is that
my union always was there for me so I will defer to others concerning opinions regarding unionization. This whole subject does remind me of my trips to Las Vegas thirty five years ago before I got married but I hope this bailout will turn out minus the empty pockets I came home with then.
Jay R