Re: American Auto Industry

Posted by BH On 2008/10/12 9:13:37

HH56 -

That sounds almost like S-P all over again

However, while combining Studebaker and Packard product lines gave the appearance of broader market coverage (and might have worked if they had been able to move forward with the sahred-body/platform concept), all you have with GM-Chrysler is more product overlap and plant capacity - too much, in fact.

For that reason, I don't believe that Ford-Chrysler would work, either.

Unfortunately, I believe that Chrysler's best chance (and to get rid of Cerberus) is to be acquired by another foreign automaker whose product lines would be complemented by theirs. Then, pare down the Jeep line to just a few models, and make any overlapping models between the brands more distinctive.

Unless you clean house WRT to top management, I think GM could be a lost cause. It's a shame to see a company, with so many engineering resources and such a broad dealer network still at their disposal, produce such an overly-complicated, underwhelming, over-priced line-up of vehicles.