Kasz216 said:
That in of itself is pretty unfair. The US Automakers were set for HUGE returns with well made cars. The problem was, those cars were SUV's and the SUV bubble burst due to all the crazy gas price increases. |
No, they were set up for solid returns with high-margian cars, which were SUV's and trucks. They weren't necessarily well-built, just people were willing to pay for them. And the bubble didn't burst so much as the whole market went into a 7-month black whole, and the US company business model was so poor that 2/3 couldn't survive it.
Decades ago my father worked for a steel company that supplied material for GM. GM specifically requested that the steel be made to corrode after 3 years so that the vehicles would need to be replaced. American car companies have come a long way since then, but at the point of the economic collapse they were still archaic in many aspects of their business. Redundent models, engines,... making no money off most of your vehicles and depending on big ticket items for profit. Poor quality entry-level products. Everything about the business practices were terrible. And this is coming from someone who likes American cars.
