I have worked in a GM dealership for over 40 years and been the general Manager for the last 20 so I have watched this situation with great personal interest. The problems with the American Manufactures shouldn't all be blamed on the unions, management gave them those contracts knowing that they were just postponing disaster. In 2007/2008 disaster struck in the form of an economic crisis that cut vehicle sales and the snowball effect started. Although the new contracts have some negative effects on the existing UAW worker, it is a whole new ball game with the new hires and the big 3 can be completive with anyone going forward. If you look at some of the new vehicles we are producing, the Equinox and the Cruze, these are great vehicles at completive prices. GM dealers have never had a compact car that could go head to head with anyone like the Cruze. I believe the American automotive industry is on the upswing and that they can compete with anyone. At the dealership level we sold more Cruzes last month than Cobalts in the last 2 years.
I hope I am right because without a strong manufacturing base our economy will never totally rebound. We need to keep pounding that message to our politicians and business leaders to do everything they can do to create manufacturing in this country and reverse the last 30 years of so called "free trade". Chum Nault _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tony Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 8:30 AM To: The Chevelle Mailing List Subject: Re: [Chevelle-list] New Ford Plant Couldn't have said it better myself. Your spot on Bill. ----- Original Message ----- From: Bill <mailto:[email protected]> Vander Werf To: 'The <mailto:[email protected]> Chevelle Mailing List' Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 7:27 AM Subject: Re: [Chevelle-list] New Ford Plant The jobs went away because of the UAW. Unions were a good thing at their inception, but they have completely outlived their usefulness. As a business owner, I understand that you need to constantly cut costs to be competitive. In manufacturing, labor is a huge part of the cost of production. Labor costs have to be passed on to the consumer. Union greed and an ever-increasing entitlement mentality are the things killing manufacturing in this country, not the manufacturers or the government. Bill Vander Werf _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Terry S Hodges Sent: Monday, December 13, 2010 8:20 PM To: The Chevelle Mailing List Subject: Re: [Chevelle-list] New Ford Plant Toyota's are built in Georgetown Ky Nissan's are built in Smyrna Tn On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 6:38 PM, Dan Rachlin <[email protected]> wrote: Strange how "Buy American" now means Toyota's that are built in Tennessee.?? On Mon, Dec 13, 2010 at 5:09 PM, Rich Pruett <[email protected]> wrote: This is fascinating. If you watch, listen to the very last couple of sentences. This is a short video of a new Ford plant in Brazil . One look at this and you will be able to understand why there will probably never be another assembly plant built in the USA. It will also point out why more assembly plants will go offshore. You won't doubt that Ford, GM, and Chrysler are destined to go under, after watching this video. They will survive, but their assembly operations in the U.S. likely won't, whether we have provided a bailout or not (listen closely at the end for the reason why ). <http://apps.detnews.com/apps/multimedia/player/index.php?id=1189> http://apps.detnews.com/apps/multimedia/player/index.php?id=1189 And we wonder where the jobs go. This should help with the explanation!!!!! _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1170 / Virus Database: 426/3315 - Release Date: 12/14/10
