I gotta jump in on this one, if mainly to rebuke the flag waving racists masquerading as 'pro-american' and telling us to avoid Japanese products. You people, are *ignorant* and are a big reason for the debacle..
I come from a family of auto workers, and I also work for a company that supplies parts to the big three. From our point of view, the problems with the American auto industry are obvious.
1 - Thank the big three for helping create a blue collar culture of overpaid 'good old boy' types who expect to make $25 an hour with no HS diploma, an I.Q of 90, and expect gold level health care and free pensions for life. Unlike most modern countries, the U.S. seems to celebrate poorly educated factory workers by paying them double what a recent college graduate typically makes and providing them insane benefits. *That* is absurd, and embarrasing. You are a factory worker because you don't have ambition to do anything else, or simply aren't smart enough. The high wages you are accustomed to making have no benefit other than to contribute to our economic cash flow. You *are* over-paid, the fat lady has come home to sing, and your job will be moved to Mexico or China where somebody that can't even speak English is both more efficient and intelligent than you are. I have seen countless statistics that show as college educations go up, the increasing tendency is for that person not to buy an American vehicle. Go figure.
2 - The big three have historically paid their own workers massive incentives to buy their own products, while those same workers yell at everybody else that they should buy American. This has created an artificial market for the auto-industry, and sucked valuable capital away from R&D that would have allowed the big three to compete with Japan. Now that many of those worker's jobs are being displaced to foreign countries, there is a corresponding loss of market. Boo-Hoo. I guess you'll have to come up with a down payment like everybody else and not have Uncle Earl who works at Ford co-sign on the car loan so you don't need a dime to to drive it off the lot. Boo-Hoo
3 - The big three build *inferior* cars to Japan - get over it. Every survey, every poll, avery long term study shows Honda and Toyota making U.S. cars look like junk. The most fuel efficient cars are Japanese, the most reliable are Japanse, the most satisfied customers are Import owners. All the domestic automakers seem to know how to build are gas guzzling SUV's with crappy resale, and treating the fuel efficient compact market like a waste of time. The Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Nissan Sentra are among the most durable and reliable cars on the road. The domestic equivelants depreciate 50% after they are driven off the lot. The problem here is that big three engineers are brainwashed that the 'muscle car revolution' is just around the corner, and that 20yr old somethings need big cars to fuel their self esteem because they'll have the discretionary income to do so. [Buzzzz] ..I guess that halucination is over.
4 - The big three are more Anti-American than Japan. My Altima is made in Tenn, but right now were getting bombarded by Ford and GM demanding we look to move our production to Mexico to save *them* costs. I'd rather buy a Japanese car from a Japanse company that's investing in the U.S. vs pay GM/Ford/Chrysler money to invest in pushing production to Mexico. Big fat irony, isn't it?