And the burn starts- adios Chrysler

[Quick Orange]

Chrysler shuts down all production - Dec. 17, 2008

Chrysler LLC announced late Wednesday that it is stopping all vehicle production in the United States for at least a month.

Now's the time to buy a Dodge if you're looking. I hear some dealers are practically giving them away! I wish that had happened when I bought my Caliber!

Feel free to discuss anything about Chrysler, Cerberus Group, or the Big 3.

[nun2sharp]

Lets hope its only a month!God help us!

[Philadelph]

Not commenting on whether this is a good or a bad thing, but it's about time certain companies start learning from their mistakes. I read a great chainletter (I know right- a great chainletter is something that I thought didn't exist) recently about this whole state of affairs and I agreed wholeheartedly with it. If anyone cares to read it I will post. It's lengthy though!

[Quick Orange]

Go for it

[Bruno]

I can only hope that this is grave enough to convince the companies that change is needed, and the unions that they need to stop playing the entitlement game. This is not a time for them to start moaning, but instead seeing the big picture. If they throw a spanner in the wheels now instead of doing their best to help things turn around, Chrysler will indeed go the way of the dodo. That would be very bad indeed.

[Philadelph]

Here is the letter as promised. The first letter is 'supposedly' from the President of GM followed by an amazing response from whoever the person is- who knows if he's even real. Regardless, he nails it...

Abridged letter from Troy Clarke, President of General Motors:

Dear Employee, Next week, Congress and the current Administration will determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis......................As an employee, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.Troy Clarke
President
General Motors North America~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Gregory Knox:

In response to your request to call legislators and ask for a bailout for the United States automakers please consider the following, and please also pass this onto Troy Clarke, the president of General Motors North America for me. You are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has bred like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping the nation, awaiting our new "messiah" to wave his magical wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream"…

The dream is over! The dream that we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for these atrocities…and that still the masses will line up to buy our products Don't tell me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's and Tier ones for 3 decades now throughout the Midwest and what I've seen over the years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.

Mr Clarke, the president of General Motors, states:There is widespread sentiment in this country, our government and especially in the media that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management. It is not…

You're right – it's not JUST management…how about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass…so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time…for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour week How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics…for putting out too many parts on a shift…and for being too productive (mustn't expose the lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?) Do you really not know about this stuff?!? How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea:over the last few years …we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors. What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!? Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them?

The K car vs. the Accord?
The Pinto vs. the Civic?!?
Do I need to go on? We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades. Time to pay for your sins, Detroit. I attended an economic summit last week where a brilliant economist, AlanBeaulieu surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money". Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems, but despite what people like George Bush and Troy Clarke would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day… and something else would happen… where there had been greedy and sloppy banks new efficient ones would pop up… that is how a free market system works… it does work… if we would let it work…

But for some reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn't work – that we need the government to step in and "save us"…save us, hell – we're nationalizing…and unfortunately too many of this once fine nations citizens don't even have a clue that this is what's really happening…but they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams…yeah – like THAT'S important… Does it occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades now in this country?...How can that be??? Let's see…Fuel efficient… Listening to customers… Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul… Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr W Edwards Deming 4 decades ago Ever increased productivity through quality, lean and six sigma plans… Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the enemy"… Efficient front and back offices…Non union environment… Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone anything they really don't already know in their hearts I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into – my children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did at their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) – I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work them through. Radical concept, huh…? Am I there for them in the wings? Of course – but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government. Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins. Bad news people – it's coming whether we like it or not The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away" I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after the vote count was tallied…"we might not do it in a year…or in four…" where was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for the office Stop trying to put off the inevitable … That house in Florida really isn't worth $750,000…Invaders who jump across a border really don't deserve free health care benefits… That job driving that forklift for the big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year… We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe… That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home… Let the market correct itself people – it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it is a nation that appreciates what is has…and doesn't live beyond its means…and gets back to basics…and redevelops the work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world…Sorry – don't cut my head off, I'm just the messenger sharing with you the "bad news"

[spanx]

Teriffic letter.

[LX_Emergency]

We really shouldn't allow Wal-Mart to stock their shelves with products acquired from a country that unfairly manipulates their currency and has the most atrocious human rights infractions on the face of the globe…

this is the only part I didn't agree with. If it's a free market it's a free market and you shouldn't block products based on how it was produced. You should let the market run it's course, make the production methods known and let the company die.

[Bruno]

Indeed. Sheltering the companies from competition is the root cause of the problem.
Instead of being angry at people who drive japanese cars and keying their cars (something that is apparently perfectly acceptable in detroit), people should be angry at gm, ford and chrysler, demanding they make better cars.

[LX_Emergency]

Very true. Stop whining and improve your own game instead of telling people that it's "not fair because they're better"