What Would Change If Chrysler Was The Only One Left Standing In 2009?

It's fun to play "what if," but this is stupid. It's not going to happen. I know the US government may seem slightly aloof; however, there is no way that they'd let 2 of the top employers just fall off the planet.

Yes I agree. The US Gov will say NO a couple times to show us that he's being strict and then end up saying YES later so we'd feel a lil better about it.

I agree that it ain't gonna happen but to answer the "what if", with only Chrysler left to produce Detroit iron, the lack of competition in the domestic industry would allow Chrysler to produce crap for the sake of higher profit and result in customers flocking to better quality imports.

I can't even fathom this scenario. I can't even wrap my mind around this to even play with the idea. But I'll try anyway. IF this did happen then the government probably would have bigger issues to worry about. Namely, if they let GM and Ford go under, what happened to the state of our economy that they couldn't bail them out too? We would see a complete economic breakdown and the country would become someplace you wouldn't like very much. Not to mention all the other auto makers and the parts suppliers would suffer and be crippled as well. It would be one big catastrophic domino effect on the idustry and not just the country, but the global economy.

Ok throw this factor in there:

If one of two of the Detroit three go under....

Will is pull down the supply chain with it? Everybody is dependent on this supply chain and can if it goes down the whole system may be paralysed.

So for augmentative sake what if GM or Ford or both went under?

augmentative? eh?

You get the point... discuss

If GM or Ford collapsed, I think Chysler would also collapse because they have the worst product of the 3.
Also, other companies like Toyota and Honda would break down in this "damaged-goods" market.

We would become like some third world country where used cars are imported into for consumption.

Bye-bye American pie...

Sort of like color televisons?

The US invented them but no longer makes them.

to bimmerfan25 obama is already backpeddeling. what are you going to do when the problems of the world still exist and you dont have geroge bush to blame ? Seems to me you wont have anyway reason to respond anymore

bimmerfan25- Actually GM was warned about 20 years ago, when Ross Perot told the directors to look at the crap they are producing. He told them then that in 20 years you won't be around. Their answer to the criticism was to buy him out at the cost of $700M.

20 Years later...well he was right.

So while Bush didn't help, he can't be blamed for this totally. Remeber there is more than one person in Washington.

Shit, I think I actually agree with something a bimmerfan said.
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Yeah, right... and Obama is going to carry Florida, Pennsylvania, AND Ohio...

oh wait...nevermind!

....and Indiana and North Carolina :)

byahhhhhh

It is right to fault the US auto culture. Ross Perot was right. The Bush administration needs to take blame,some democrats in congress as well as republicans need to take blame,the mortgage companies and banks need to take blame. There is a lot of blame to go around. If the government continues to bail out industries and invests in some yes it will smack of socialism. The bottom line it no longer matters. The government must do everything in it's power to stop a major depression. Some say we need to go into one to clean out all the bad facets of our economy. I say the net result will be a 10 fold increase in crime as peoples lives unravel. Further a US great depression will lead to a world depression. A world depression will lead to armed conflicts between countries and perhaps a world war.It's happened before it could happen again. The difference this time could be far worse as weapon technology and radar technology have come a long way. The result lots of death famine and disease on a mega scale. Yes I'm sounding a little doomsday.

I think this is actually very possible, and even if the government does step in it will be limited and these companies might not turn profits for 5-10 years. With that being said, if Ford and GM collapse and Ceberus really does it right, Chrysler will be the new American Car Company. Yes, the cars are fugly, but if Ford and Gm close Chrysler will have their pick of top car designers, engineers, plants, banks, and negotiating power with the unions which would improve their product asethetically, mechanically and in their pockets.
I think we also have to watch out for companies like Tesla. we have a new president, whose top 3 things include reduction of dependancy on oil. Talk about govt. funding, Tesla and others could see the govt. decide they are the future, not GM and Ford. Think about that for a second. they get a 2 for 1 with those companies. Just because Ford and GM have been around the block the longest, doesn't mean their the smartest investment now. Look at Lehman Brothers. Oldest finacial investment firm and the govt. let it go. Don't be so surprised.

Not a chance!

Correct.

Yes, let's have the government pour billions into an ailing industry to help them build more products that nobody is buying for one reason or another! Let's face it the world is a different place now than it was in the fifties and sixties 'american auto heyday'...no one took those little foreign cars seriously then...how the tables have turned. The seventies and eighties saw the decline in north american auto quality, reliability and originality. It wasn't until the mid-nineties that n.a. car manufacturers suddenly started to play 'catch-up' (of course by then it was too little, too late). The n.a. products are finally better and prices are levelling out but it's too late. Another problem is that the younger generation is no longer enthused with the big three, 'brand loyalty' went out the window a generation ago. We have trucks, SUV's large and small and crossovers galore but not much in the way of sensible transport compared to the cars from foreign shores. You can't simply point the finger at government either, the blame also lies with the auto companies and the unions that drove the price of labour and their products up and up and up with little attention paid to overall quality and reliability. No doubt we will see an amalgamation of sorts amongst one or two of the big three in order to survive. The financial crisis?...all part of the plan...welcome to the New World Order!

Damicko,

I think you're missing the point. General Motors used to be much larger than Toyota. It used to be the largest company in the world. And it made money too.

However, GM has lost so much market share in recent years that Toyota is now the world's largest car manufacturer. To make matters even worse, Toyota has not piled up the staggering losses over the years that GM has.

Why this reversal of fortune for GM and other American automakers? Basically, the American companies lost contact with their customers and with reality. The Big Three, in their quest for short-term profits, decided to cede the market for standard passenger cars to the Asian and European manufacturers, deciding instead to concentrate on gas-guzzling, air-polluting SUVs and pickup trucks. SUVs and pickups were quite profitable as long as gasoline remained cheap. The Big Three failed to plan for a future with high gasoline prices. The UAW management, with their ignorance of economics and their antiquated concepts of labor-management relations, made the situation even worse.

General Motors, once the symbol of American industrial might, is now 1/25th the size of Toyota, and smaller than Bed Bath & Beyond.

The US is bankrupt but washington doesnt want to admit it. You cant get blood from a rock and you cant keep asking people to sacrifice and take their money, this is govntments fault. dont believe the hype there wasnt a surplus under clinton and bush spent like a mad man. taxes under obama will go up to try and pay for his spending plans health care will be socialized and destroyed and still no money in the US cause interest payments to china are just too high. you can blame peolsi reid and frank the bs with fannie and freddy. first was saving and loans in the 80s then the .com bust now housing and its us that have to pay for it. good luck obama its not happening and you people with the global warming just another way to milk people out of their hard earned money. If global warming is man made how did we get out of the ice age where the dinosours farting or driving suvs its called cycles. fact remains its just another scam lime y2k and others. pt barnum theres a sucker born every minute. all you green people ask yourselves why do others have to sacrifice while gore and the rich libs fly private jets. anyway hussain obama wont save you nor will the republicans gm ford will be bankrupt soon so lets see about the rest of the US do you just think 700 billion grows on trees? are we in the garden of eden?

The US is bankrupt but washington doesnt want to admit it. You cant get blood from a rock and you cant keep asking people to sacrifice and take their money, this is govntments fault. dont believe the hype there wasnt a surplus under clinton and bush spent like a mad man. taxes under obama will go up to try and pay for his spending plans health care will be socialized and destroyed and still no money in the US cause interest payments to china are just too high. you can blame peolsi reid and frank the bs with fannie and freddy. first was saving and loans in the 80s then the .com bust now housing and its us that have to pay for it. good luck obama its not happening and you people with the global warming just another way to milk people out of their hard earned money. If global warming is man made how did we get out of the ice age where the dinosours farting or driving suvs its called cycles. fact remains its just another scam lime y2k and others. pt barnum theres a sucker born every minute. all you green people ask yourselves why do others have to sacrifice while gore and the rich libs fly private jets. anyway hussain obama wont save you nor will the republicans gm ford will be bankrupt soon so lets see about the rest of the US do you just think 700 billion grows on trees? are we in the garden of eden?

Damicko,

You missed the point of my earlier comment. I realize that most car lines have SUVs and pickups in their model lineup, but a number of these marques (Audi, Mercedes, Honda, MINI, Volkswagen, Porsche) did not rely as heavily on such vehicles as did the American brands. Also, UP UNTIL A FEW YEARS AGO the Big Three did not make cars that were fully competitive with the best that Asia and Europe could offer. (I'm not talking about competing in terms of sales figures. I'm talking about competing in terms of quality, performance, engineering, fuel efficiency, etc.)

I know that the auto industry AS A WHOLE is reeling from high fuel prices and the troubled economy, but five marques - Audi, Honda, MINI, Porsche, and Volkswagen - have done fairly well so far this year in the U.S. market. The year-to-date U.S. unit sales of Audi, Honda and Volkswagen are down less than 5% from last year, while Mini and Porsche year-to-date sales have actually increased!

In spite of my handle, I am not an Audi fanboy. I currently lease an Audi, but I have owned a Mercedes, two BMWs, a Nissan, a Honda, a Plymouth, and a VW over the last 33 years.

The lease on my Audi expires in December, so I have been shopping for a new car. I also pleased to say that for the first time in 33 years I came very close to buying an American car - the new Cadillac CTS. I liked the car's styling, roomy interior, performance, build quality, ride, its (relatively) low price, the fact that it could run on regular gas, and the fact that it was designed and built in America.

(I would have bought the CTS except for one problem - I was too tall to fit in it comfortably. If the headrests on the front seats could have extended high enough to reach my head, everything would have been fine. But they didn't. Fully extended, the headrests jabbed me in the neck. Fully retracted, the headrests jabbed me in the back. I did not have this problem with the other cars I was considering - Audi A4, BMW 530i, and Jaguar XF. Thus I didn't buy the CTS. But I digress.)

The Caddy CTS and the Chevrolet Malibu are two of the handful of American cars that are fully competitive in their market segments. (I am talking about regular passenger cars - not SUVs, pickups, or minivans.) If the Big Three can turn out a few more vehicles as good as these two, there is hope for them yet.

I am also aware that newly-hired auto workers are not getting the generous fringe benefits that their more senior coworkers are getting. However, the more senior workers, who make up the vast majority of the workforce, still are getting the more expensive benefit package. And as the Big Three won't be hiring a lot of new workers any time soon, I don't see any fringe-benefit-cost relief for GM, Ford and Chrysler until several years in the future.

Chrysler is the only one who can survive this turmoil since they have cash on hand. GM and Ford don't have money anymore and are selling off assets just to have cash for operating cost which is to be lost eventually every passing month. How long do you think this can last?

Bread Lines and soup kitchens are next. Maybe tent city since people are losing thier homes and the shirts off thier backs.

My guess is the state governments will lay off next, since people are strapped for cash as unemployed people will find it difficult to pay thier Taxes for Schools, Roads and Local Government needs.

We may have to outsource work to Asian Labor to reduce State Labor costs and illiminate State Pensions and Health Care Costs.

If any of the big three were to survive it would be Ford. And if Chrysler were the last company standing I would be driving a dodge truck and a Honda car. And It would be doom and gloom! The competition would be gone and they could charge us anything!

Nice discussion here, but my first thought to the original question was "Stock prices on hard, unyielding plastics would skyrocket!"