Making Automobile Americans Actually Want

You are right on. They have been making the cars we wanted to buy. We WANTED the big SUVs and trucks. It is the labor cost. I read somewhere recently and posted it here on myLot somewhere, that the average yearly income for a factory worker at the big three is somewhere around $150,000. In a similar factory here is the US run by Toyota or Honda, the average wage is around $75,000. Now these numbers are coming from my memory and are not exact but they are close. So let's do the math: 1500 workers per factory time $75,000 = $112,500,000 Times let's say 10 factories = $1,125,000,000 just in factory wages. Add to that benefits, payroll taxes etc and that number gets huge. Let's not forget the huge bonuses the executives get even if they don't turn a profit. It's a combination of the corporate culture and the UAW contracts that are killing the auto industry. Not the cars they are making.

I think they want to buy suvs and automobiles that are easy on gas, hybrids, and carry more than two emaciated people. They also want them strong enough to not get folded like an accordian in accidents. Since the economy, people want to be able to carry things like furniture, computers, etc. in the trunk so they do not have to pay for delivery. So they are making the right kind of vehicle, but if the cost of labor and the legacy makes the price of the vehicles too high, no one will buy them. Automakers need to make a decent wage, and get medical and dental insurance, holiday pay, but not to break the bank. And those who have skill should get paid more. If someone who just puts a screw in gets the same as someone who designs or someone who puts the motor inside, that is not fair.

I've always liked Chevy. My 2004 Impala gets 34 mpg highway and about 23 mpg city. It is a regular gas v-6. No hybrid required with a Chevy to get pretty good milage.

Isn't it funny that the left doesn't seem to complain about foriegn SUVs, just those made in the USA.. telling. It isn't the product that is killing the Big 3 (although they could improve the product greatly)... it is massive mismanagement and unreasonable demands from an oppressive government and unions.

Americans are going to have no choice but lower their sights a little on the American made cars. The big 3 have got to get the mileage up on their cars and the only way to do that is to stop moving so much weight. Gasoline is down right now but it will go back up and when it does it will probably go well above $4 a gallon. Wages are going to drop for the average working family and they are going to need something cheaper to buy and drive. Plug in electric is the way to go for people that just drive a short distance to work and back. Hybrids will work for people that must drive farther if they will get the price of them down. The days of the $20,000 to $30,000 cars and pickups is past and people may as well admit it and then get on with it. A lot of the junk that is put on cars now must go. Especially anything that uses electricity. The engine pulling a 100 amp alternator is eating up the gas mileage. The 4 stroke combustion engine needs to go period. A very small percentage of the energy you out into the 4 stroke engine ever reaches the drive wheels. The gasoline you use in a 4 stroke engine not only has to power the car down the road but it also has to power one h*ll of a large high pressure, high volume air compressor. The compression stroke is the compressor. There is a a lot we can do to our cars to improve the quality and the gas mileage. The engineers of the big 3 need to get off their buts and get it done. GM is struggling for only one reason. That is the cost of operation.