Thread: I drive a GM car

How many of you so-called patriotic Americans are driving Japanese or European made cars? Probably most of you are. I find that it is predominently the right-wingers who think off-shore cars are the best.

The hypocrits wail and howl about their patriotism, froth at the mouth over a useless war and contribute to the destruction of the US auto industry.

I will never, repeat NEVER, own a car made by a non-American, non-UAW company

Congratulations and God Bless America !

I drive a Benz, I'll never own anything else. You have no argument to combat this statement: Autobahn tested. All it would take is one ride on the interstate with Beethoven cranked loud enough (on my jap stereo) to make your ears bleed to change your opinion.

Sparta,

Good boy...make sure you continue to support the GOP !

Originally Posted by Dogsbody

Sparta,

Good boy...make sure you continue to support the GOP !

And you continue to buy your inferrior autos from over seas.

GM plans to increase outsourcing
New work could move overseas to cut labor costs
GM report

An annual review of General Motors Corp. manufacturing organization obtained by The Detroit News lays out cost-cutting targets including:

Increasing the amount of new white-collar work sent outside the United States
Reducing total overtime by 15 percent
Slashing energy and water use
Buying more robots for manufacturing plants from a variety of sources worldwide
By Ed Garsten
Special to the State Journal

DETROIT - General Motors Corp.'s manufacturing arm plans to sharply increase the amount of new white-collar work it sends outside the United States this year as part of an overall effort to reduce costs, according to an internal report obtained by The Detroit News.

Shipping work to other nations where labor is cheaper - known as offshoring or outsourcing - has become a white-hot political issue in this presidential election year, with the United States continuing to lose high-paying manufacturing jobs because of rising productivity and growing pressure to cut costs.

"In 2003, we began offshoring activities moving $3.5 (million) of work to lower-cost locations," the GM report says, "and we are planning to increase that to $48 (million) in 2004."

The latest spending plan represents less than 1 percent of GM's global manufacturing budget, but the offshoring move highlights that GM is succumbing to increasing pressure to trim spending - even if it risks antagonizing the automaker's union and salaried work force.

The report, titled "2003 Vehicle Operations," is an annual review of GM's manufacturing organization by Gerald Elson, GM vice president and general manager of vehicle operations.

In it, Elson also lays out several other cost-cutting targets. They include reducing total overtime by 15 percent, slashing energy and water use and buying more robots for manufacturing plants from a variety of sources worldwide, resulting in an expected 42 percent reduction in costs.

The automaker also is saddled by what's known as "full utilization" at its plants.

When outside production workers are called in to perform work for which skilled trades employees are not trained, the GM employees must be paid anyway. The report called it a "$100 million-per-year burden that needs to be overcome."

The white-collar work that has been sent out of the country has gone primarily to Canada, with a small amount to India, about $200,000 last year, GM said. A good portion of the work also will go to Canada in 2004, with slightly more going to India. It is work - such as computer-aided planning of future factory layouts - that now is not performed by American workers. Some of the work includes fabrication of tools and equipment for the new plants, according to the sources.

While GM is looking at labor resources in other countries to perform some work, spokesman Dan Flores said it will be an insignificant amount and won't come at the expense of American jobs.

"The amount of work that is being considered to be moved represents a very small fraction of the total multibillion dollar operating budget," Flores said. "The work ... is not being done in the United States or done anywhere."

The moves are designed to help achieve three longtime GM goals: build vehicles in regions of the world where they are sold, address "significant cost pressure" by curbing expenses, and continue the company's commitment to North America.

While the amount of work outlined in Elson's report is small, the move is part of an aggressive ongoing effort to reduce costs in the auto industry in an era of high vehicle incentives and thin profit margins.

"Everybody is predicting another 17 million" car and truck sales year in 2004, said Sandy Munro, president of Troy-based automotive consultant Munro and Associates. "But nobody's making a profit. Everybody's starving to death surrounded by food."

Automakers and most major suppliers have established manufacturing or engineering facilities in foreign countries or set up joint ventures with foreign companies to take advantage of lower labor costs and availability to local markets.

"Offshoring is necessary, and it's not evil," Comerica Bank chief economist David Littmann said. "It's an absolute necessity if you're to serve a choice- and competitive-minded public, and without it, most of those auto companies would be gone."

Gov. Jennifer Granholm has made retaining U.S. manufacturing jobs a cause celebre, blaming the Bush administration for the loss of 2.7 million manufacturing jobs in the past four years.

"All the Bush administration can say is that shipping jobs overseas is a 'positive development,' " Gran-holm said Saturday in delivering the Democratic response to President Bush's weekly radio address.

David Cole, who heads the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, said the "real culprit" in the loss of manufacturing jobs is not offshoring, but a "changing business model with improved productivity, not just in manufacturing, but in engineering," meaning it simply takes fewer workers to get the job done.

You can reach Ed Garsten at (313)223-3217 or egarsten@detnews.com.

SPARTA,

Are you trying to justify your treasonous actions ? Pathetic.........

Originally Posted by Dogsbody

I will never, repeat NEVER, own a car made by a non-American, non-UAW company

And what about a TV set?

Originally Posted by Dogsbody

SPARTA,

Are you trying to justify your treasonous actions ? Pathetic.........

What's pathetic is you attempting to justify driving a piece of shit by pretending an American built it.

A motor car is a mechanical device. Where it is made is irrelevant. The only relevant thing is the quality of design and construction. At the present time, the general consensus of educated opinion is that the best designed and built cars come from Germany.

The Japanese are close in quality control, but generally make uninspired, rather derivate cars. Even the best, such as Lexus, will give more than a styling nod to last year's Mercedes-Benz.

If independent road testers and engineers are to be believed, possibly the worst designed and most shoddily built cars are from the American manufacturers.

For anyone who does not believe this, count the number of European cars on American roads, and then count the number of American cars on European roads.

Originally Posted by Dogsbody

How many of you so-called patriotic Americans are driving Japanese or European made cars? Probably most of you are. I find that it is predominently the right-wingers who think off-shore cars are the best.

The hypocrits wail and howl about their patriotism, froth at the mouth over a useless war and contribute to the destruction of the US auto industry.

I will never, repeat NEVER, own a car made by a non-American, non-UAW company

Congratulations and God Bless America !

Gosh, how freakin' patriotic You buy a stupid-ass American car. Whoopti-freakin'-doo. Thanks, but I'll keep my much better built Honda Civic.

Based on the initial feedback to this Thread it appears I was correct, as usual. You people drive FOREIGN made cars thereby contributing to the destruction of the US auto industry. You create unemployment and use feable excuses as justification.

Unpatriotic, treasonous, religious fanatics. Why don't you move to Asia because that's where you belong.