An interesting commentary...You might find this of interest:
'CNN Headline News did a short news listing regarding Ford and GM's c ontri butions to the relief and recovery efforts in New York and Washington .
The findings are as follows.....
1. Ford- $10 million to American Red Cross matching employee contributions of the same number plus 10 Excursions to NY Fire Dept. The company also offered ER response team services and office space to displaced government employees.
2. GM- $10 million to American Red Cross matching employee contributions of the sam e number and a fleet of vans, suv's, and trucks.
3. Daimler Chrysler- $10 million to support of the children and victims of the Sept. 11 attack.
4. Harley Davidson motorcycles- $1 million and 30 new motorcycles to the New YorkPolice Dept.
5. Volkswagen-Employees and management created a Sept 11 Foundation, funded initial with $2 million, for the assistance of the children and victims of the WTC.
6. Hyundai- $300,000 to the American Red Cross.
7. Audi-Nothing.
8. BMW-Nothing.
9. Daewoo- Nothing.
10. Fiat-Nothing.
11. Honda- Nothing despite boasting of second best sales month ever in August 2001
12. Isuzu- Nothing.
13. Mitsubishi-Nothing..
14. Nissan-Nothing.
15. Porsche-Nothing. Press release with condolences via the Porsche website.
16. Subaru- Nothing.
17. Suzuki- Nothing.
18. Toyota-Nothing despite claims of high sales in July and August 2001. Condolences posted on the website
Whenever the time may be for you to purchase or lease a new vehicle, keep this information in mind. You might want to give more consideration to a car manufactured by an American-owned and / or American based company. Apart from Hyundai and Volkswagen, the foreign car companies contributed nothing at all to the citizens of the United States ... I believe we should not forget things like this. Say thank you in a way that gets their attention..
If that is actually true ( I haven't given it the "snopes" test) that is sad. To think that anyone could buy anything but domestic after that is amazing.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I got the email too. So much stuff going around it's hard to determine what's real and what isn't. I got lots of nasty Oboma emails before the election.
I hate to say it, although I wish it wasn't true. It doesn't matter how much a company donates to some benevolent cause to the average consumer. They still have to make a better product, of better quality, for a fair price in order to compete with their competitors. That is why the big three are failing nationally and internationally. If they actually built their cars with the innovation they had in the 50s, they would still be able to compete. Poor quality, combined with bad luck in choosing the wrong product at the wrong time (SUVs), combined with the cost of wages, hiked by over-zealous unions, makes it almost impossible to compete with foreign companies. Many foreign companies make too good of a product, for less money.
If the big three are to survive, let alone compete, they're going to have to come up with some actual innovations and technologies which make their product better, more dependable and most of all, more affordable in these bad ecomonic times.
Simply put, it's all about supply and demand. The big three are supplying something which there is no demand for, especially now.
The big three are going under, if they don't get a bailout from the US federal government. Even then, that may not be enough. Yesterday the heads of the big three pleaded for the bailout in Washington, while Toyota just opened a plant in Woodstock (supplying stable jobs by the way).
Sad to say, but you're right 427strato! To start another idea, why do all the cars today have to look so much alike. That is why I love the 50's and 60' cars so much! They actually are worth looking at. The more old cars I see, the more I want to fix them all up and drive them!
i would think the profit would eventually make it to japn ... ........... after paying the overhead : ie utilities , payroll , rent , etc etc .... if i recall that new plant wasnt the cheapest thing to build (union built , in canada buy canadians ? ) i imagine the electric bill is pretty high ( hydro one - canadian owned & operated ?) plus the heating bill ( hydro one / union gas - again canadian companies ?) payroll for 1200 + employees ( mostly canadian workforce w/benefits we should all wish we had )
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2ner was here - Londons newest Porsche Tech
67 cutlass s
03 corolla le 01 vw passat wgn 09 RED LAMBO CAR BED
nice to have, all that spin off. Probably the same affect, as GM in Oshawa.. And the Billions left over, go to Japan
