nytimes.com— Mr. Nardelli said, he can see a connection between housing woes and the automobile market. And apparently, making crappy cars has nothing to do with declining sales.
Sep 9, 2007View in Crawl 4
How about making cars that people can afford? Maybe that has something to do with it. I would love to have a new diesel truck, but 30-40 grand is freaking ridiculous.
Some seem to agree with this guy, but let me point one thing out. In a DIGG article just a few days ago, it was revealed that consumers with the worst credit get the best car deals.So if a family has horrible credit but can still afford a basic $400/mo (or less) car loan payment, they are likely to be able to get a car.Also note how Honda and Toyota sales remain relatively steady despite the housing market crash. Seems they make nice-looking, reliable, affordable, and gas-sipping cars. The new Honda Civic, for example, won a bunch of design awards, costs around $15k (for the coupe), gets like 25mpg city, and is as reliable as all Honda cars are. Chrysler, on the other hand, has the f**king PT Cruiser. Yeah, people bought it like crazy back in 2000 or whatever, but that fad has since faded and Chrysler has no sequel to speak of.When your company is on a constant decline and your profitability is tanking, it's easy to point fingers everywhere but inward. Maybe Chrysler should stop making s**tty cars?
And in other news...Chrysler as announced another round of layoffs, is closing a dozen plants in the midwest in order to move their operations to China and return the company to profitability.
If that is the case, Chrysler should be successful. The reality is that detroit on the whole has taken a huge beating from the japanese auto companies and now the koreans. Moreover, in terms of reliability, they have taken a huge beating with the exception of Saturn Aura(Which is a worthy challenger to CamryAccord)
mc88Sep 10, 2007
How about making cars that people can afford? Maybe that has something to do with it. I would love to have a new diesel truck, but 30-40 grand is freaking ridiculous.
liquisoftSep 10, 2007
Some seem to agree with this guy, but let me point one thing out. In a DIGG article just a few days ago, it was revealed that consumers with the worst credit get the best car deals.So if a family has horrible credit but can still afford a basic $400/mo (or less) car loan payment, they are likely to be able to get a car.Also note how Honda and Toyota sales remain relatively steady despite the housing market crash. Seems they make nice-looking, reliable, affordable, and gas-sipping cars. The new Honda Civic, for example, won a bunch of design awards, costs around $15k (for the coupe), gets like 25mpg city, and is as reliable as all Honda cars are. Chrysler, on the other hand, has the f**king PT Cruiser. Yeah, people bought it like crazy back in 2000 or whatever, but that fad has since faded and Chrysler has no sequel to speak of.When your company is on a constant decline and your profitability is tanking, it's easy to point fingers everywhere but inward. Maybe Chrysler should stop making s**tty cars?
beylanSep 10, 2007
And in other news...Chrysler as announced another round of layoffs, is closing a dozen plants in the midwest in order to move their operations to China and return the company to profitability.
sweetdealsSep 11, 2007
And some people say we're not heading for recession
Closed AccountSep 11, 2007
If that is the case, Chrysler should be successful. The reality is that detroit on the whole has taken a huge beating from the japanese auto companies and now the koreans. Moreover, in terms of reliability, they have taken a huge beating with the exception of Saturn Aura(Which is a worthy challenger to CamryAccord)
hondakitDec 21, 2007
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