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If you look back in history the American automobile was the king of the road for the 20th century. Ford,Chevy,AMC,Buick,Oldsmobile and others have made some of the most collectible cars in the world. The 40 Ford coupe,68 Roadrunner with a hemi, 66 Corvette, GTOs,Buick Gran National and you can go on and on with some of the greatest road machines ever built. Powerful and fast filled the bill for most Americans for at least 50 or 60 years. And not to slight the foreign automobiles such as Porche,Mercedes,BMW and some others made some fine automobiles and still do for that matter. But,nothing compares to a big block Chevy with about 500 horses,4 speed and posi-trac. I have a 89 Mustang with a 302,5 speed,4:10 gears,headers,aluminum heads,750 Holly double pumper and the car is a monster. When you kick the 4 barrel in and run it through the gears to about 100 MPH it gives me goose bumps. On the downside the Mustang gets about 7 or 8 miles to the gallon.
Times have changed and the American automobile manufactures haven't changed with the times. I am old enough to remember .25 cents a gallon gas. But that was close to forty years ago. Some of the foreign auto makers saw the light years before the used to be Big Three woke up. They made some attempts through the years. How many of you can remember the Chevetts,Pintos,Vegas and other attempts American auto makers made at fuel efficient autos back in the 70s. After the 70s and the gas shortages,American auto makers seemed to go back to the same mold as before.In the last 10 or 15 years GM and Fords biggest successes have been the Explorer,Silverado,dualies and crew cabs. None of these vehicles were made for fuel milage and now that we have $4 dollar a gallon gas,sales have died. A used gas guzzler is almost impossible to sale and when you can sell one you will lose 30 or 40% from what the vehicle was worth a few months ago.
So,who is at fault? The American driver has to bear some of the blame as they were buying these gas guzzlers. But the brunt of the fault lies with the American auto makers. It is part of any business to stay current and to try and forsee any changes coming or anything that may effect your business model in the future. Where was the management and designers for the used to be Big Three? They have been a sleep at the wheel and they have let the Toyotas,Kias and the other foreign auto makers leave them in their dust. I live a couple of hours from the Georgetown,Kentucky Toyota plant that makes the most popular car made for several years now the Toyota Camry. The Toyotas are built here with American labor and I would say they are some of the best designed and fuel efficient cars on the road.
In my article on Ford and the 50 million shares purchased by Kerkorian a month or two ago,I sais then that Ford and GM had better wake up GM today said the gas guzzlers aren't selling and they may have to make some changes. GM today hit I think a 28 year low for their stock and it isn't very hard to figure out why. The writing has been on the wall for many years now and are Ford and GM too late. Ford seems to be in better shape,but thats due to international sales. GM just had to deal with a UAW strike that cost them billions and UAW now will have several thousand less union members due to buyouts and the announced closing of 4 GM plants.
I assume both will survive and will turn things around sometime,but in the meantime I see no reason to buy their stock. Sorry Mr. Kerkorian
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