Well said Bill, that is the great thing about Capitalism, they get better or
they get out. Harley Davidson sure learned that lesson.
Rascal
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net
[mailto:owner-dakota-truck@bent.twistedbits.net] On Behalf Of Bill Pitz
Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 12:07 AM
To: dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net
Subject: Re: DML: OT: Drive a Ford or get off the lot.
Rick Barnes wrote:
> Quality has definitely gone up, thank goodness for capitalism that has
> driven them to do a better job, it's just that they thumbed their noses at
> the public for many years. The unions are what are killing our automakers
> and adding so much cost to a car that there may be no hope for the big 3
or
> at least the big 2.
The interesting part (to me) is that the overall quality of many German
vehicles has actually been declining in recent years. It seems to take
them a while to work out the kinks on their new models.
I do agree that quality is a major issue for American car companies.
Even if they have improved quality in the last 5-10 years, they still
have to deal with market perceptions that they build garbage that
doesn't last. I have definitely seen that quality has gone up in most
American cars recently, but I'm still not entirely comfortable with
them. When we were recently looking for a new car for my other half, we
looked at over 30 different cars (many American) and eventually we
decided hands down on a Honda.
I for one hope that the current trends in the auto market continue so
that only those who really deserve a place in the market will make it.
If Ford, GM, and DC can't figure out how to build products that meet the
market's demands, they deserve to go out of business. It's a shame that
all of those people will be out of work, but why should they have any
more job security than the rest of us? It even goes beyond quality.
Build something that people don't want to buy and you'll have a hard
time selling it. Build a quality product that people want and you won't
be able to keep it on the lot.
Hopefully some of the American automakers will figure out how to do this
and evolve as stronger organizations as a result.
-Bill
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Mar 20 2006 - 10:38:58 EST