Auto Bailout 2: The Search for More Money

breakdown more often, get bought more often is what he is going for, in my opinion.

here's my two cents. eventually this was bound to happen. if you put out a good product, year after year, eventually people will stop buying as much. it was bound to happen, thats just the way things work. i drive a 1993 mercury cougar. i've put maybe $150 in repairs into it since i've had it (i've had it for 3 years). i don't have a reason to buy a new car, so i won't. car makers don't understand that concept. they assume if they keep mass producing it people will keep buying it. thats just not how it works.
 
[quote name='perdition(troy']breakdown more often, get bought more often is what he is going for, in my opinion.

here's my two cents. eventually this was bound to happen. if you put out a good product, year after year, eventually people will stop buying as much. it was bound to happen, thats just the way things work. i drive a 1993 mercury cougar. i've put maybe $150 in repairs into it since i've had it (i've had it for 3 years). i don't have a reason to buy a new car, so i won't. car makers don't understand that concept. they assume if they keep mass producing it people will keep buying it. thats just not how it works.[/QUOTE]

If something made by company A breaks down more often than a similar product from company B, why the hell would you buy the product made by company A after getting burned? Unless you are one of those people who bought 6 Playstations and 8 Playstation 2s.
 
[quote name='elprincipe']If something made by company A breaks down more often than a similar product from company B, why the hell would you buy the product made by company A after getting burned? Unless you are one of those people who bought 6 Playstations and 8 Playstation 2s.[/QUOTE]

Or the schmucks on this site who have had 6 Xbox 360s. You know who you are. ;)
 
Haha great last comment DoK. Frankly this issue wouldn't have come up to begin with if GM would've cut the shit and started selling real hybrids all over instead of the SUV crap. The same goes for Crystler.
 
i really dont think you can pin this on the SUV craze. i mean the fact of the matter is people wanted them, and people bought them. my guess is, (and im not checking the numbers because im at work right now), is that SUVs outsell hybrids, by a lot, every year.
 
With the consoles the reason to come back is the games. Some games you just can't play anywhere else. In addition, consoles only cost 100-300 dollars. A car costs tens of thousands.

After reading your post again, I think I'm agreeing with you... :lol:

Irrelevant, but:
I've never had (or known anyone who has) had problems with a Playstation that wasn't fixed by just dusting off the laser.
The 360 on the other hand...


[quote name='elprincipe']If something made by company A breaks down more often than a similar product from company B, why the hell would you buy the product made by company A after getting burned? Unless you are one of those people who bought 6 Playstations and 8 Playstation 2s.[/quote]
 
That's one of those things where government regulation is actually a good thing. They need to outlaw 15mpg hogs (which they kinda did... 20 years from now you have to kinda be thinking about it...) and mandate alternative/hybrid fuel vehicles.

As a rule, my mom would let me spend my money on whatever I wanted. However, when she knew something was a cheap piece of shit that was a waste of my money, she'd put her foot down. I'd bitch and I'd cry, but now I realized now that I really didn't need... what ever the fuck was so important that I can't remember it now. Some times the government should say, "No, you can't buy that garbage." Hard part is to say what and when.

I really don't think anyone has a right to drive a vehicle that's engineered to maximize profit margins for oil companies.

[quote name='RAMSTORIA']i really dont think you can pin this on the SUV craze. i mean the fact of the matter is people wanted them, and people bought them. my guess is, (and im not checking the numbers because im at work right now), is that SUVs outsell hybrids, by a lot, every year.[/quote]
 
[quote name='elprincipe']If something made by company A breaks down more often than a similar product from company B, why the hell would you buy the product made by company A after getting burned? Unless you are one of those people who bought 6 Playstations and 8 Playstation 2s.[/quote]

I'm not saying they should make a shitty product in order to sell more. I am saying they are not selling as many cars as they used to because they are doing the complete opposite. They are not selling as many cars because they are putting out good products, ones that last long enough that it is causing the amount of cars sold in the US to go down.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']Or the schmucks on this site who have had 6 Xbox 360s. You know who you are. ;)[/QUOTE]

Quite true. The 360 is this generation's PS2 in that regard.

Kayden - had a co-worker back in 2001 who went through 6 PS2s in 8 months, and I'm not exaggerating (!).
 
That's ridiculous. That has to be either neglect, incompetence or some kind of power issue. The chance of one person getting that many issues...

[quote name='elprincipe']Quite true. The 360 is this generation's PS2 in that regard.

Kayden - had a co-worker back in 2001 who went through 6 PS2s in 8 months, and I'm not exaggerating (!).[/quote]
 
GM has killed its performance division. The base Corvette and Z06 appear to unaffected by this move but all the SS models, the new ZR1 and the Cadillac CTS V are all basically dead after their current production runs. This move also puts the future of the still unreleased Camaro in doubt. There will be a V6 and at least one model year of V8 but after that who knows where the car will end up.

This is actually a shame because GM was finally putting out some really high quality products in their performance division. The ZR1 is a monster and the CTSV can easily go head to head with the likes of BMW, Mercedes and Audi in terms of both overall quality and performance, while undercutting them on price. Also, these relatively low volume, higher margin cars were actually profitable.

Going back to the Camaro though, a perfect example of GM's failure to execute. The car was introduced as a concept over 3 years ago and will finally release this summer. 3 years from concept to production.......that is just horrible. The Japanese automakers constantly go from concept to production in 12-18 months and even Ford has been known to go from concept to production in the 12-18 month timeframe.
 
If GM ever wants to turn a profit again, their best bet is to cut ties with the UAW. That's the reason they're in this mess. Oh, and tons of Government regulations.
 
[quote name='Kayden']That's ridiculous. That has to be either neglect, incompetence or some kind of power issue. The chance of one person getting that many issues...[/QUOTE]

I could scarcely believe it myself, but I did see the broken machines. I can't say whether it was neglect or not, but I wouldn't be shocked if that was at least partly to blame. But the bottom line is that PS1s and PS2s are pieces of shit in terms of reliability (thankfully Sony seems to have corrected this with PS3).
 
^My PS2 still works, it's the only one I've owned too.

[quote name='BillyBob29']This is actually a shame because GM was finally putting out some really high quality products in their performance division. [/quote]

I saw the CTS-V at a car show, I was impressed. That didn't erase the fact that it was a car most people wouldn't waste their time on. If it wasn't the sticker price it was probably the retarded gas mileage.
 
[quote name='VipFREAK']^My PS2 still works, it's the only one I've owned too.



I saw the CTS-V at a car show, I was impressed. That didn't erase the fact that it was a car most people wouldn't waste their time on. If it wasn't the sticker price it was probably the retarded gas mileage.[/QUOTE]

That's why it is a low production car. It isn't designed for average Joe-Bob consumer. The point is that GM was finally getting to the area when they could compete directly with the higher quality builders, and do so at better prices.
 
Yeah, but that's it... in the mean time it's sitting their sucking MORE money out of GM which they really can't afford to begin with.
 
It uses existing production lines and is built with off the self parts from other autos. It is basically a CTS + Z06 in terms of parts. That is why it is actually a profitable specialty auto. There is no inventory backlog because they are all pre-sold to dealers before they go into actual production. With these cars there is actually very little risk and these cars actually command a market premium.

What these cars are actually doing is using production capacity that GM has basically already committed resources to due to UAW contracts to create low volume production autos that do actually return profits on a per auto basis. If they weren't making these cars, GM would be doing one of 2 things, making even more of the regular versions of the CTS that are sitting on dealer lots or paying not building anything but still paying the UAW workers their contract rates. In this case, I see the production of cars like the ZR1 and CTSV as a pretty attractive alternative.
 
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