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It is 1943 in the US auto industry...

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Bushman

Bushman

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Marketwatch - today:

The greatest laggard among the blue chips was battered General Motors Corp. off 13.1% after hitting lows not seen since 1943 amid concerns the automaker might burn through its remaining cash before the end of the year.


1943 ... wow. Nothing left to say apart from hang on to your Holden!
 
I heard on a radio discussion this morning, that 10% of US jobs are related to the auto industry and are therefore in jeopardy.

If this is true and the US auto industry isn't bailed out, it could be what tips the US economy into a depression. :2twocents

What implications does GM liquidating have on our auto industry?
 
The situation is dire but I don't know if pumping more money consistently into Detroit's Big three will help.

A shakeup of their set-up to make them more nimble against foreign car manufacturers may be inevitable.
 
jeflin said:
The situation is dire but I don't know if pumping more money consistently into Detroit's Big three will help.

A shakeup of their set-up to make them more nimble against foreign car manufacturers may be inevitable.
Click to expand...

I would have thought consolidation amongst the 'Big Three' is inevtable now. Given they are Dems in power now, maybe a return to tariffs on imported vehicles. Obama won Ohio and Indiana - he has to save the auto industry!

As for Australia, well K Rudd has stumped up $6.2b to fund R&D in the industry. They are pushing hard to save those jobs.

Also there are billions of dollars of GM & Ford bonds out in circulation - imagine the CDS exposure amongst that lot.

Are we about to enter phase three, and the most dangerous phase, of this metastising liquidity monster unleashed on us by the self-titled 'Master of the Universe'?

Insolvency Phases (as I see them):
Phase 1 'Cowboys' - Bear Stearns
Phase 2 'Growth Orientated Blue Chips' - Lehmanns, AIG, WaMu
Phase 3 'Real Economy Consumer Finance' - GM, Ford, American Express.
 
hey

i own a 1943 GM

has been a fully working truck up till 2001 (for Transfield)

is a WW2 GMC CCKW 353, 6 wheel drive

as seen in "Saving Private Ryan" and countless other war films and docos

now on Vintage plates.

was years ahead of its time technologically, and they were the backbone of the trucking industry for many years after the war, especially off-road construction
 
i get the idea auto industry workers are highly paid for factory workers. probably due to their industry being high profile in the political sphere.

if their products cant compete then reduce wages down to normal!

instead they get a handout.. give my employer a handout and double my wage while your at it..

:banghead:
 
jonnycage said:
bye bye holden
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Holden are actually doing pretty well. One of the few arms of GM making money.

That said, both GM & Ford deserve to be where they are. How a companies that are so backwards in their thinking could have got this far is beyond me. Americans put up with such cr@ppy cars for so long and finally, when oil prices rose (still nowhere near where the ret of the world pays) where forced to say "enough".

Anyone who doesn't agree with me, take a look at "who killed the electric car". GM ditched the electric car and then built a hydrogen powered car. Which is great in theory, except is takes about a "bajillion" watts of electricity to make the stuff.

My 2c
 
awg said:
i own a 1943 GM

has been a fully working truck up till 2001 (for Transfield)

is a WW2 GMC CCKW 353, 6 wheel drive

as seen in "Saving Private Ryan
Click to expand...
Here's a quirkie You Tube vid : out today on the fabulous Mark Felton Productions , called " Saving Private Ryan's 'Fake' German Vehicles " . Good fun .
 
here's a fabulous fact from 1943
  • The Soviet Union did not receive significant Lend-Lease support until 1943, but shipments in 1942 were timely and welcomed.
  • What it provided
    The United States provided the Soviet Union with war materials, including ammunition, tanks, airplanes, and trucks, as well as food and other raw materials.
... turned the war.
 
Yeah , especially the trucks. That really made the difference for the later rapid advance of the Red Army .
Just astonishing , too : the variety of materiel and raw materials the Yanks did provide .
The Brits sent light tanks , too . Rather than waste these in battle , the Ruskies found them to be more reliable than their own short -lived , rough- as- guts T- 34's , for training their equally short-lived tank crews !
 
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