whos to blame for the demise of the US auto industry....unions, or the higher-ups that ignored the market?

Question

i laugh at those who blame unions......what is the best innovation out of the US auto market in the past twenty years?...cupholders?

face it,,,,americans refuse to buy american cars because they are a bad investment, not because union workers get healthcare

Answer 1

In the 1980's, Japan was able sell expensive cars at HALF their prices in the U.S.. That destroyed the U.S. auto industry. And Reagan did nothing to stop it. Reagan allowed Japan to trade its yen at 250 yen to one dollar. Currently, it is 115 yen to a dollar.

Japan still devalues their currency and that allows Japanese products to be sold for less in the U.S.. China does the same thing. China is the worst offender ever for devaluing its currency.

Answer 2

The US auto industry is in the crapper because THEY design and build crappy cars. That is the whole thing in a nutshell. The unions aren't the only ones getting big benefits, the white collar employees do too. How do I know? Work for Ford. Every employee and higher up at the US auto industries have been sucking the milk off of the big ugly SUV tit for years and now it has run dry. Let them go out of business just the same way that Packard, Studebaker and all of the others that went out of business before them because they did not build and design cars that people wanted to buy!

Answer 3

There are a lot of factors.

The execs just sat around on their behinds and enjoyed success instead of developing better vehicles.

The government let foriegn car makers import cars with less than 10% of the tarrifs that the foriegn countries put on our cars.

The unions asked for to much in wages and health care.

American cars are better now than they where 10 years ago, but they now will have to take the market back from the foriegn producers. That is a big uphill battle now that Honda, Toyota, and Mitsubishi are makeing cars here.

I work for a joint venture between U.S.Steel and Kobe Steel (Japans largest steel company)that produces outerskin sheet metal for the auto industry. In the last 5 years our business plan has changed from 75% for the big 3 to 75% for Honda and Toyota.

I wish all the U.S. auto workers well and hope they rebound, but half the steel we produce for G.M. and Ford gets sent to Mexico.

Answer 4

Do some research about a Dr. William Edwards Deming. You will find that what he taught the Japanese auto industry was a significant factor in them wiping us all over the map in automobiles.

If the US had listened to him instead of forcing him to leave the country, we would be number one, instead of them. No one in the US would listen to Dr. Deming and look what a mess we are in for it.

Also, the fact that the US put more effort into rebuilding Japan's industry than it did in improving it's own. What a totally stupid thing to do.

Unions were formed to protect workers who were being killed, literally and figuratively, by employers in order to keep wages down. Since those days, some unions have grown to be as bad as what they were fighting against.

Unions, like companies, countries, and individual people, can be bad or good. Most often they are a combination of both.

Answer 5

I don't think unions helped but the failure rest at the top. It is sad that more Toyotas are built in the US than Ford or Chevy, both of which have moved their plants outside the US. A lot of these vehicles now are either made in Mexico or Canada. They kept the image that most people want to spend big and now they have to face the fact people cannot afford what they are selling.

Answer 6

It's all about the bad decisions made at the top of management. They failed to follow trends and listen to consumers. They also failed to get in bed with their oil buddies, in order to keep their engine and car designs in step with the price of gasoline. How can you fault the union members? They only build the autos that the higher-ups select and order built.

Answer 7

Both. The unions were too short sighted and self serving to act progressively with regard to foreign competition. On the company side, if they would have taken serious regard to product quality and improvements, Toyota would be half the size it is today.

Answer 8

Who is to blame? Big Oil, of course. Big Oil is the death of this country as we know it. Do they care a jot about the FACT that we should have been researching and pursuing alternative energy for the past thirty years?

Of course not. They have posted the biggest profits of ANY AMERICAN COMPANY EVER, EVER, EVER in 2005 and 2006.

And the "leadership" (cough, cough) of this country is in bed with Big Oil.


Hhhhmmmmmm.......

Answer 9

It's both.

But I blame management for bending over, not the unions for screwing them. And I blame the boards for letting management do this, just like I blame the boards for overpriced CEOs, which is why I don't buy stock in companies that overpay their CEOs.

Answer 10

I'm pisst,I spent $24,000 of my blood money on a new GM Buick,piece of crap,had a defective engine.Did GM fix it,nope.I then sent it off to the scrap yard.Won't happen again with my money.