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Everytime the car has a problem, your purchase price is reduced via a rebate. Everytime it has another problem, the rebate is increased more and more at a good clip or exponential rate. You will not be inconvenienced with unexpected costs, so a rental/loaner will be provided everytime free of charge. Tow trucks will be covered for 100,000 miles or at least 7 years. The purchase price will be reasonable enough that depreciation isn't horrible and is in line with reality (shouldn't need huge incentives, price it right in the first place!).
In this way with this program, if someone received a car as bad as the one Chrysler sold me, they will essentially get it for free in the long run, which is as it should be.
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
2025 Ram 1500 Laramie 4x4 / 2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Icon I6L Golf Cart
No, the Ford plant in Brazil is state of the art. :shades:
Mr. Whitacre, ARE YOU LISTENING? :confuse:
Regards,
OW
No talk just action backed by real-life skin in the game.
Like I said, you can't just talk quality into your products.
Regards,
OW
By BROOKE DONALD
FREMONT, Calif. (AP) - California's sole auto plant shut down Thursday as the last car rolled off the assembly line and thousands of now unemployed workers walked out the doors, some crying.
A Toyota Corolla was the final vehicle to move through production at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., known as Nummi, and a throng of workers accompanied it on the final leg of the line.
"I saw a whole lotta men crying in there when things started going quiet and we said our goodbyes. It made me choke up," said David Guerra, who has worked at Nummi for 25 years - as long as the plant's been open. He also worked at the site for 14 1/2 years before that, when it was a General Motors Co. plant.
The Nummi plant, established in 1984 as a joint venture between GM and Toyota Motors Corp., employed 4,700 workers. GM made the Pontiac Vibe there but decided to withdraw from the alliance last year after filing for bankruptcy protection; the Detroit automaker is now liquidating its stake in the factory.
Toyota made the Corolla sedan and Tacoma pickup at the plant but said in August that without GM, it could not sustain the factory and would halt production April 1.
There have been no announcements of what will become of the sprawling property that covers more than half a square mile near the southern tip of San Francisco Bay.
Many of the employees were members of the United Auto Workers, and most are due to receive a minimum payout of $21,175 each, adjusted for years of service and other factors. The UAW represents the Nummi workers because of its history with GM. The union doesn't represent any other Toyota workers in the U.S.
For the past several weeks, state and local officials have appealed to Toyota to keep the factory open - both in an effort to save jobs and as a way to raise the Japanese automaker's standing following a string of massive safety recalls.
The pleas didn't stop, even as workers trickled out of the factory and into job centers across the street.
A group of clergy from CLUE - Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice - held a service outside the plant Thursday. The Rev. Carol Been said the group was sending a letter to Toyota asking the car maker to reopen the plant.
"We want to bring the moral authority of religious leaders to call them back to their way, a better way, the Toyota way," she said. "We think the closure is penny-wise and pound foolish."
Job centers were set up nearby to provide counseling. Workers also filled out forms to collect benefits.
State officials also were pursuing federal grants to help those impacted by the closure. A recent report prepared for a commission set up by State Treasurer Bill Lockyer to study the issue said about 25,000 people, including parts suppliers, could lose their jobs as a result of the plant closing.
Vonda Jones, 44, of Brentwood, who worked on the Tacomas that stopped rolling off the assembly line last week, said adjusting to her new reality has been difficult.
"My alarm went off last Monday and I didn't know what to do. It was like, 'Wow, it's really over,'" she said.
I don't think so. The program would have no costs to the company if they designed vehicles like Toyota and Honda do. Then you don't need warranty services, and like Lemko said, the visits and costs are zero on both sides. Everyone's happy if they make a quality product that doesn't require the "use" of my program. My program simply punishes and penalizes companies that use huge warranty budgets to cover their quality problems.
Unfortunately GM was only willing to stand behind their products half as much as Hyundai was willing to do (10 years vs. 5!!!).
I love pointing that out, why does GM let me? Fix it! :sick:
Not necessarily true. Go look at a year old used Hyundai (there are plenty of rental returns). Where's the 10/100? GONE!!! NOT TRANSFERRABLE.
Now, look at the used GM cars. ALL have the balance of the 5/100 left on them, as the warranty is transferrable.
Yeah I'm sure that Toyota's recall and warranty costs are really low.
The millions of vehicles recalled for Sudden Acceleration and brake
issues was a trivial cost. Along with the buying back of their Tacomas
and Tundras for hopelessly rusted frames so they would not get sued
if a gas tank fell off of one of them and caused injury or death to someone
following behind. That doesn't add up to much money. Oh and replacing
whole frames on later model trucks at over $10,000 per vehicle is a drop
in the bucket for Toyota. I wonder how many frames GM has replaced
on their trucks under warranty. I haven't heard of one. I know a couple
of people personally who have had the Tacoma frame replacement.
Good luck to the people who bought these trucks in the last few years
thinking that the issue is solved. Every year that goes by more dangerously
rusted frames appear. Toyota does not know how to build a durable
steel truck frame.
So the moral of the story is buy your Hyundai's new, and buy your GM's used. I'm not sure NEW GM car dealerships like that fact.
What's more, The Sonata will offer A 2.0L turbo version with best in class power (276hp), while delivering 32+ highway mpg. There will also be a hybrid.
Is this information actually available in annual/public reports somewhere?
It is hard to find though. I've only ran into the published reports one time. I don't have time to do a google search and browse right now.
IMO, those powertrain warranty's past the 36k bumper to bumper don't mean a whole lot. Lots of wholes in the coverage. Sure, if the engine throws a rod or the trans falls out your covered, but lots of things are not which are also expensive.
I had a coil pack die on my Expedition at 56k and it was not covered under the 60k powertrain warranty. The whole ordeal led to over $1k out of my pocket on a vehicle that was still covered under warranty.
It is hard to find though. I've only ran into the published reports one time. I don't have time to do a google search and browse right now.
I've seen those reports from time to time too. I've seen reports from some warranty company or something, and everyone has shown the D3 spend a lot more on warranty costs per vehicle than the Japan manufacturers. I haven't seen anything lately, but I'd think the gas should be closing. The one area that can really skew them is trucks. Those diesel 3/4 and 1 tons can really rack up the warranty costs and the Japanese manufacturers don't have that issue.
http://www.minyanville.com/businessmarkets/articles/chevy-volt-chevy-volt-toyota- -honda/4/1/2010/id/27590
What GM needs is something like the wow of the '64 Mustang. They need something that is revolutionary and will sell like bread.
Yeah, it wouldn't be a benefit to me either. My wife and I drive each of our vehicles about 7,000 miles/year. So most of the warranty is useless to me. A 10 year/100K miles warranty is much more attractive.
And yes it is a very unpleasant experience to learn that not everything on the engine or transmission is covered, or that you've voided the warranty because you've lost 3rd party maintenance records, ... I find cruise-lines to have the same marketing attitude which PO's their customers, by nickel-and-diming them for things not included. BMW has the right idea, that everything is free for the 1st 4years, all maintenance, wear, and breakdowns; no ifs, ands or buts if you just bring it in for maintenance near when they recommend.
I'd rather have the manufacturer subtract the cost of those long warranties from the vehicle, and offer a lower price. Make the extended warranties optional.
Correct, but that is industry wide.
Increasing Incentives at Toyota were inevitable. To expect otherwise would've been foolish. They had Government Motors and others offering up "conquest cash" while feeding the hysteria with displays of wrecked Toyotas so what were they to do, just give in and abandon those sales?
And where the spin doctors and doomsdayers where predicting (and hoping) an implosion at Toyota city and dancing on Toyotas grave, it turns out that all the efforts made to "spread the hate" and propoganda did very little to affect Toyota in the end as they still managed to trounce Ford and come within spitting distance of a fleet heavy (up 64%) Government Motors.
In '99 when we replaced the Voyager, Nissan had the longest powertrain warranty at 5/60. The identical Mercury van just went to 3/36. That tipped the scales. Didn't need it but a longer factory warranty is a buying factor for some of us.
I'd love to see GM match Hyundai.
Nevertheless, Toymotor's is going in the wrong direction while GM's is going in the right direction. Even Automotive News pointed this out 2 weeks ago.
So, what happens on April 5th, when all these incentives run out? In spite of these incentives, GM's sales have increased last month as well. I'll bet GM's sales increase next month too.
The 230,048 GM vehicles sold in March in China set a record for the 15th straight month, the company said Friday. (Comparing to 188,011 sold in the US in the same month).
Sales in the first quarter surged 71 percent to 623,546 units, GM said in a statement.
Rank Company YTD 2010 % change Market share
1 General Motors 475,861 16% 18.7%
2 Ford Motor Co. 441,708 37% 17.4%
3 Toyota 385,686 7% 15.1%
4 Honda (American) 256,412 11% 10.1%
5 Chrysler Group LLC 234,215 -5% 9.2%
6 Nissan 228,229 31% 9.0%
7 Hyundai Group 188,205 14% 7.4%
8 VW 79,909 37% 3.1%
9 Subaru 57,494 38% 2.3%
10 Mazda 55,941 4% 2.2%
11 BMW Group 55,129 7% 2.2%
12 Daimler AG 51,996 15% 2.0%
13 Mitsubishi 13,623 -2% 0.5%
14 Jaguar Land Rover 9,091 6% 0.4%
15 Suzuki 5,661 -63% 0.2%
16 Porsche 5,222 6% 0.2%
17 Other (estimate) 882 -4% 0.0%
18 Maserati 394 44% 0.0%
19 Saab Spyker 133 0.0%
20 Isuzu -100% 0.0%
TOTAL 2,545,791 15%
Note that the GM and Ford's YTD growth are both higher than the market average (15%); while Toyota and Honda are both lower than market average.
In Mar, even with desperate incentives, Toyota' growth (40%) is still behind GM and Ford's 43% each (core brands). Let's see how long Toyota's incentives can last and what happens after that.
The measure of a good company is does it make Profit. profit will weigh everything you do - the good, the average, and the bad, and tell you overall how your product, service, and reputation is.
GM failed to make profit and went bankrupt, regardless of their market-share, and various ways they claimed to be good in this-or-that.
Let's all say together - Profit is the measure of a well run company. When GM can make profit without being given bailout $ or loans, then GM is a success.
Regards,
OW
Let me know when that changes....I'm taking a break from GM for a decade or so.
Regards,
OW
And they have for awhile. What would be interesting to see is what models have more cash on the hood, against what models have less. Trucks still make up a decent portion of GM's sales, and generally they have the bigger incentives (as well as profits).
What you fail to mention is that fleet sales are up because companies are buying the cars, and not because they are dumping them. Also, what are they moving?? If it is Fusions and MKZ's and Lacrosses and CTS', that's not good. But if it's the DTS, Impala, Panther platforms, that's better, as these cars are outdated and due for a revamping.
BTW, if market share means diddly, then Hundee ain't the shing star everybody thinks they are. They are rental whores too.
OK, Mr. Whitacre...your move.
May the best car win. Period. The END. :shades:
Regards,
OW
Toyota up 40% GM up 22% for March will turn to Toyota up 10% over GM in April. You're on!!
Remember, the incentives WILL continue in April, typically a slow month. GM needs to pay back it's bailout loan. Toyota doesn't!
May the Best Car Win.
Regards,
OW
Regards,
OW
However, their marketing decisions simply obliterate GM in the last 12 months. When their quality improved and their prices CONTINUE to beat the General Morons, then they will continue to gain customers....lease or consumer.
Regards,
OW
However, their marketing decisions simply obliterate GM in the last 12 months.
Did you see that they are providing the owner's manual of new Equus sedans on Apple iPads? Brilliant! Hyundai's marketing department is really earning their salaries!
Where is GM's innovation in marketing? For such a large company they really have lousy marketing. I can't think of any slogans or advertising differentiators for their divisions, other than Caddy. The ones that I can think of are decades old.
Seriously, High Undie's gonna rule. The '11 Sonata BLOWS AWAY the Ford and Chevy offerings in looks....price...desirability...
May the Best Car Win!
Regards,
OW
On paper it looks impressive. The turbo 4 offering 274hp and 34mpg hwy is indeed impressive. Plus a hybrid model. Hyundai seems to be on a roll.