Ford says bail out money not needed. It looks like Ford is trying to set themselves apart from the other two American auto giants.
Ford Bailout Money Unnecessary, Company Says
Ford Bailout Money Unnecessary, Company Says
Chrysler Pullout from Canada? Make a homegrown car
- Thread starter dumpthemonarchy
- Start date
It's clever marketing. Ford is saying to the consumer: "Are you willing to purchase a vehicle from the two weaklings down the street who may go belly up and not support your purchase?"
Exactly. GM and Chrysler's sales will be affected for years by just that kind of strategy. Ford started getting rid of debt and financial liabilities five years ago. They eliminated 50 thousand jobs with buy outs and early retirements. Right now they are in the process of selling Volvo.
It seems to depend on who you ask.
Ford's debt-restructuring praised | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
Not really, still borrowing from Peter to pay Paul as was indicated in the first article you posted. I noticed their credit rating still stands, probably due to the amount of derivatives written on their debt. Ford was thick in the sub-prime, asset backed securities debacle, too.
Is that the way you read it? They've sold off Rover, Jaguar, and they had a stock issue that raised some money to pay off some debt. They are trying to sell Volvo. This is just my read and I am no expert. I didn't know Ford was into the sub-prime scandal.
Sub-prime auto loans, repackaged and sold as asset backed securities, same as mortgages. Ford did the same thing as mortgage brokers, only with auto loans - it is (was) an important way of raising funds. Ford Credit has or at least had subsidiaries, too.
Sub-prime credit extends to just about every consumer industry.
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If the governments of Ontario and Canada and the state and federal governments of the USA want to blame someone for the state of the auto industry they just have to look in the mirror. How much government (Taxpayer money) went in to encouraging offshore manufacturers to set up shop here? Adding more capacity to an underutilized factory inventory is a death blow for an industry not just the Big Three. Those foreign manufacturers like KIA and Hyundai have not made money for years but keep their economy flowing through state support and wreck our North American market with goods produced below cost of production and shipping. The regulations that car makers must adhere too vary from country to country and soon state to state are very costly. With 7% of a car made in North America comprising of assembly wages the CAW and UAW working for free won't help. Ford is pushing for a retire your car get a cash bonus system. This makes sense - takes older cars off the road - newer cars have better emission controls and fuel economy and provinces could likely justify taking emission testing off the cost of ownership to help car owners. Eliminating the PST and GST on new cars would also be the equivelant or more of the assembly labour costs. Then there are cars that are made in Canada - full electrics with new capacitator charging systems (ZENN) made in Quebec that can't be driven on the roads in Ontario due to Federal and Provincial foot dragging. Cars are likely the second biggest government tax grab after income tax - In Ontario you pay GST and PST on a new car and PST again when you buy that same car used. If you buy it from a dealer you add GST on top. That's 2600 bucks on a $20,000 used vehicle - If that vehicle was $30,000 new someone else paid 3900 bucks - If you drive it for 5 years and sell it for $10,000 the new owner pays $1300 - All told it is a $7800 windfall for the government - add the $200 air conditioner tax when new - $8,000 not including taxes on gas - repairs etc. And yet the governments want to spend more money in money losing transit systems where a municipal bus driver in Ottawa can make $100,000/yr - HMMM- There are many things that need fixing - Rick Wagoner is probably glad to be out of the business - likely sipping on a Scotch wondering what to do with his $26 million exit package.
Want to know what is really holding back electric vehicles and hybrids? ROAD TAX! How do you calculate energy produced and consumed through say, dynamic braking?
It is illegal to make your own bio-diesel because there is no ROAD TAX.
It is more than just the oil lobby. Our bureaucracy is too confusing to figure out on how tax a driver for using roadways with energy they produced for free.
It is illegal to make your own bio-diesel because there is no ROAD TAX.
It is more than just the oil lobby. Our bureaucracy is too confusing to figure out on how tax a driver for using roadways with energy they produced for free.
Mussolini tried economic autarchy when he'd launched the battle for wheat.
When he'd first too power, Italy was dependent on wheat imports, which it paid for through valuable exports of other high-quality agricultural products. As it turned out, Italy was making more money from the exports than it was losing through the imports.
Once he'd taken the reins of power, he'd launched the batle for wheat, whereby farmers were to stop producing their highly valued cash crops and plant less profitable wheat instead. He did win the battle for wheat, and Italy did become its 'own country' on that front, so to speak. But considering that it had to become poorer to achieve this, was it all really worh it? Why not produce what the Italian farmer could do best and then import cheap wheat and still come out on top? Sure htey'd be more interdependent, but I'm sure that when it came down to the bottom line, the Italian farmer would rather be interdenpendent and rich than independent and poor. What do you think?
So no, I'm not in favour of autarchy at all. Let Canada do what it does best and import what others do best. Let's learn from the Italian farmers.
I could agree with that overall.
Details aside, I can agree with your general thrust here.
If we want a profitable trans-Canadian rail system, we'll have no choice but to increase immigration drastically.
Ford is the dominant dominant auto maker. If they play their cards right, they could become the only U.S. auto maker inside twenty years.
Ford to cover car payments if buyer is laid off. This won't help GM or Chrysler..
reportonbusiness.com: Ford, GM to cover U.S. car payments if buyer laid off
reportonbusiness.com: Ford, GM to cover U.S. car payments if buyer laid off
This plan is is no fascist autarky modeled on Italy almost a century ago. Plenty of countries make their own cars. Korea protects its market and its consumers pay too much for cars because few imports are allowed into the country. Korea and Japan are culturally closed countries.
We have the American mentality that colonizes us that says, unless we're HUGE like the Americans, we'll fail. Gee, giant GM is almost RIP.
To me, we'll can see how competitive Cdn business really is as Chrysler teeters on the brink. Will they be tough vultures aggressively picking over a rich carcass to diversify the Cdn industrial infrastructure? Or will they nudge nudge, wink wink, and say "We feel your pain," and suckhole to Uncle Sam for later favours.
This could be a real Cdn economic stimulus plan with a long term future.
A new Cdn car might have to be done. Why would foreign automakers have factories in Canada if there is no competition here? They can easily manufacture enough cars in Italy, Japan etc and ship them over the ocean. They build factories here because they have to, not because they want to. They lose billions in export sales and thousands of jobs by manufacturing cars in Canada. They would stop in a minute if they could.
We have the American mentality that colonizes us that says, unless we're HUGE like the Americans, we'll fail. Gee, giant GM is almost RIP.
To me, we'll can see how competitive Cdn business really is as Chrysler teeters on the brink. Will they be tough vultures aggressively picking over a rich carcass to diversify the Cdn industrial infrastructure? Or will they nudge nudge, wink wink, and say "We feel your pain," and suckhole to Uncle Sam for later favours.
This could be a real Cdn economic stimulus plan with a long term future.
A new Cdn car might have to be done. Why would foreign automakers have factories in Canada if there is no competition here? They can easily manufacture enough cars in Italy, Japan etc and ship them over the ocean. They build factories here because they have to, not because they want to. They lose billions in export sales and thousands of jobs by manufacturing cars in Canada. They would stop in a minute if they could.