What do you all think about this ?

http://articles.news.aol.com/business/_a/ford-gm-reportedly-discuss-merger/20060918062609990001?cid=403

Sad... :sad: Are we heading towards being a country that can only support one car manufacturer?? Depressing, how many successful manufacturers in Japan..3..4?? A Korean car company now selling cars like wildfire. Its very derpressing to see this while the pioneers of the automobile industry stumble and fall. And they do make some great vehicles!

It just might take something that drastic to keep both of them from going under...
But I really doubt that it will happen.

but think about the model names...

Mustmaro
Camstang
etc
etc

LOL

Don't believe the hype....We have worked together on several projects, 6 speed transmissions being one project, this is NOTHING new....but "Merger" is the current buzzword in order to get ratings and sell crappy newspapers...not even remotely factual. What passes for journalism today has devolved into a complete joke..devoid of ethics, morals and actual fact finding.

What does this do for UAW contracts and the pension issues?

if anything the two company will probably drop some models. if they could just drop their prices they coul,d become top dogs once again!:thumbsup:

What does this do for UAW contracts and the pension issues?

I would quess it does the same thing for them that happened to the rest of the real world several decades ago ...

It forces them to realize that their jobs aren't going to be 'guarantied' forever - just like mine.
I have to negotiate my salary, my benefits and my vacation as a condition of my employment. I have never had a guaranty that my job will be there in a year - or even the next day - that is just the reality of todays job market. I'm not saying it is right, I like it or think it should continue this way, but I don't see any changes in the near future.
I don't see any doomsday forcast in any of this. This is just the way the world economies are moving. If you think we (US workers) have it bad, you should look at the situation in some other countries. The UK workers are upset about imigration issues and job loss. The Japanise electronics and manufacturing workers are being reduced by offshoring of their production of many items - TV's are produced mostly in Mexio and Korea - Lots of auto production is gone - and they are losing Semi-conductor production to China and others at a steady pace that is closing plants I worked in over there almost monthly.

I hope we (the US) can continue to be innovative in the worlds market and continue to lead in the invention and initial production of products and services that the rest of world needs and wants - if not we just may end up delivering pizza to each other ...

Oh, the chances of a Furrolet or Chevord model being in my future is very slim - I don't see the two corporations ever being able to merge their infastructures together without major changes taking place.
Might they continue to cooperate in certain markets - maybe ...

As always JMHO's

Maybe they'll be NAM - North American Motors ;)

It'll be a cold day in hell when that happens, make sure and look me up when you get there..........:D

...dogs and cats, living together in sin...

The Japanese car companys share parts sourcing and raw materials sourcing. If you remember about 11 years ago when Kobe had a major earth quake all the manufactures there were shut down due to parts not being produced. They have for instance a manufacture that makes pistons for a all the brands for some engines. They have come quite good at distubuting the wealth and keeping prices low and profits high by working togehter. It's an entire different business culture that may or may not catch on here.

We have to do something though. I think ford and GM have transmissions they share to a certine extent?? I have heard rumors of the same happening with manufacturing tooling??

Joe

They must be worried about Toyota entering NASCAR...

Don't believe the hype....We have worked together on several projects, 6 speed transmissions being one project, this is NOTHING new....but "Merger" is the current buzzword in order to get ratings and sell crappy newspapers...not even remotely factual. What passes for journalism today has devolved into a complete joke..devoid of ethics, morals and actual fact finding.

well said.

Pretty soon, a person will be able to go into Autozone and simply say, "I have the blue model."

i think what's going to eventually happen is that cars will be like computers; All the components will be the same, including bodies, but every car maker (or assembler really) will put their name on the grill. Like Dell with computers.

Actually all those big class 8 highway trucks are already like this.


GM is dying.

Whats that saying ??

"keep your friends close and your enemies closer" :D