5th Dec 2008, 16:35

ALL the Big Three auto makers will, BY LAW, have to make provisions for both service AND warranty repairs for the FULL DURATION OF THE Warranty even if they DO go bankrupt. Refer to numerous articles in such publications as USA Today and other national papers regarding this. I just read an article on this very issue not an hour ago. Also, even if they DO go bankrupt, it DOES NOT mean they will no longer be building cars. It simply means they will be re-organized under more stringent rules governing retirement, benefits and worker pay.

Naturally import manufacturers will try to use scare tactics like those in comment 22:45 to try and make people think their warranties won't be honored. NOT SO. Check the FACTS before being misled yet again by unscrupulous tactics of Japanese companies itching to raise their prices through the roof. Of course, I'm not remotely worried, as no domestic vehicle I've ever driven has broken down before 100,000 miles anyway.

6th Dec 2008, 07:36

16:35 Well, you convinced me (that was a joke). I'm sure everyone will rush right out and buy crappy cars and trucks from a bankrupt company who's being forced to honor warranties when they don't even have money to operate...

I'm quite sure (especially now) people will continue to do what they have been doing and turn to imports for a quality vehicle. If you see a SINGLE person walking around on a GM, Ford, or Chrysler sales lot looking to buy, you should stop and talk to them, just for kicks, and ask what they could possibly be thinking.

7th Dec 2008, 09:30

I know dozens of people who are walking around on Ford, GM and Chrysler lots looking for good, reliable cars with a decent warranty. Something Japanese makers DON'T offer.

8th Dec 2008, 20:38

09:30 OK. You know DOZENS of people walking around on GM, Ford, and Chrysler lots. Tell all 36 of them that if they're looking for reliable cars, they better look elsewhere.

22nd Dec 2008, 12:20

My best friend just got back into town from a 6-month job abroad. He asked me to help him pick out a car for his son for Christmas. I agreed under the condition that it had to be a domestic vehicle. More and more people, especially at this time of giving and good will, are turning to American companies for their cars, appliances and electronics. I just visited our local GM dealership last week and was ecstatic to find that in just one day they had sold FIFTY-ONE new GM vehicles here in our relatively small city of 40,000. It isn't dozens of people shopping for domestics, it's hundreds of thousands.

23rd Dec 2008, 20:50

12:20 Yeah, sure, it's hundreds of thousands, GM is doing great. So are the rest of the big 3. Turn on the TV, pick up a newspaper; see how untrue your comments really are.

GM would be out of business TODAY if not for the government giving them a huge handout, which they will undoubtedly waste building even more cars that nobody wants, and be out of business. This'll just help them hang on a little longer.

I actually used to get worked up over the import-bashing, but GM is so pathetic, as are the other two of the "Big 3" (ironic) that it's just plain funny now that anybody would defend them.

If there is any kind of battle for supremacy between imported and domestic cars in this country, the imports have obviously won it. Most smart car buyers knew that a long time ago, which is why Toyota and Honda keep growing over the years and the Big 3 running on borrowed time and money.

26th Dec 2008, 21:09

The headlines in my newspaper a couple of days ago read "TOYOTA TAKES A LOSS". ALL auto makers are taking a beating now. Even HONDA is closing certain plants. Ford sales are down by less than Toyota's, Honda' and Nissan's.

GM will be around for decades to come, and Ford is doing just great (they REFUSED any financial help).

Sales has little to do with quality. If it did, Toyota would be out of business already. I lunched with a friend today, and he told me their Camry had gone through TWO engines in TWO years due to the sludging issue. So what does he do? He traded for a HONDA!! He left the "Engine of the Year" club and is now a member of the "Transmission of the Month Club". Some people never learn. They just listen to ad hype, start chanting "JAPANESE GOOD. AMERICAN BAD" and wander off to pay ridiculous prices for unreliable, poorly warranted vehicles.

28th Dec 2008, 07:52

21:09 Yeah, Toyota sales took a loss. However, that loss still leaves them with many billions of dollars, unlike the big 3 who have (and deserve) nothing, and are only in business this week because of a taxpayer handout, which amounts to just enough money to survive for a few months.

Oh, and by the way, more than half of taxpayers that were polled would have voted against saving these pathetic companies. More than 60%.

You people that try and condemn Toyota and Honda are only kidding yourselves. Everybody knows they're better automobiles and always have been.

In fact, I just helped a friend of mine buy a new car yesterday; an '09 Hyundai Accent. We drove right on past the Dodge and GM dealership without even turning our heads to look at their graveyard-quiet sales lot, and went straight to Hyundai, which was busy. You see, he was in the market for a compact car, is much younger than me, but already smart enough to know better than to bother even looking at a Ford or a Chevy.

So, you can keep spewing pointless opinion, but people know better. That's why Toyota and Honda only grow over the years, and the Big 3 have lost enough sales to make them just about out of business.

30th Dec 2008, 14:39

If you want to help people destroy the American economy by buying from foreign companies, no one can stop you. I just hope you enjoy the depression you, and people who think like you, are bringing on your own people by turning against American industry.

As for proof of superiority of cars built by foreign-owned companies, we've repeatedly asked for proof and received none. The highest rated car in the world is still a Ford.

1st Jan 2009, 07:19

14:39 I think the fact that my tax dollars, taken unwillingly from me by the government soon to help the Big 3 build more outdated, unreliable crap, is enough to help the economy. However, that's the only money any of the Big 3 will probably ever see from me.

The most reliable car surely isn't a Ford. It's a Lexus (Toyota) or a Honda. Everybody makes the occasional mistake, which happened when the Fusion was given a decent rating. They are normally right on, which would show Japanese car companies as the most reliable year after year, and still do show this.

Ford has a single car with a good rating. I am not impressed. What impresses me is something like Toyota taking the top spot for 14 straight years with it's Lexus division, the fact that they and Honda have been rated highest overall in quality and reliability for decades, the fact that Honda and Toyota have made the most fuel efficient cars in the world for decades, and the fact that studies show (here's your proof, AGAIN) that Toyota's and Honda's make less appearances in the garage than anything else. This IS your proof, by polls taken of original owners after a 3 year period of ownership: Toyota and Honda break down less and need fewer repairs than anything else. That is a fact.

And on the topic of Hyundai's, they long ago surpassed the quality of anything the Big 3 makes. My new Accent is proof enough of that for me.