Democrats at work to tap bailout for automakers

[deepsepia]

Originally Posted by Meursault

That is only partly correct. Take Opel/Vauxhall for example. GM nearly ruined these two brands by forcing them to use technology from US GM models and to reduce their proprietary R&D departments, so the cars became so crappy that even the longstanding renown of the brands didn't keep sales from falling.

Darned facts!

Still . . . its curious, that Ford & GM's international operations are profitable, far moreso than their domestic ones. I think its the fact that they've always been in competition overseas, whereas the US was a de facto monopoly for many years. The bad labor and business practices that they have in the US are a legacy of having had no one to compete with (they didn't really compete with each other).

[Meursault]

Originally Posted by AnthemZ

Here in Switzerland, people love their Opel's! My father in law swears by them, that's all he'll buy!

If he was lucky enough not to buy one of the crap vintages, I can see the reason for that.

Originally Posted by deepsepia

Darned facts!

Still . . . its curious, that Ford & GM's international operations are profitable, far moreso than their domestic ones. I think its the fact that they've always been in competition overseas, whereas the US was a de facto monopoly for many years. The bad labor and business practices that they have in the US are a legacy of having had no one to compete with (they didn't really compete with each other).

That is quite probably the decisive difference.