In the Driver's Seat

Yes yhere is lots written down here A szar? every one is for sale so this not going to work they give him same money under the table ,corruption is well alive in this country we all know that I should say. Giving the people that go out the door a year of full pay ???? How more ridiculous can it get there in Detroit. The auto makers went down because of the demands from the unions for higher and higher wages and perks for unskild labor,including the CEO,s and managers were going away with murder. Now the competition is over the cars can be made overseas for a fraction of what it will cost here,They did it to demself the greed brought them down and I don't feel sorry for them when I get layed off I have to go and try to find something else. These people have been spoiled for the last 30 years and it's time to stop this.

We are not bailing out the automakers we are bailing out UAW. UAW has over a billion dollars where is their money. Mora Jasckson has no right waiting around getting paid to not have a job. That;s why the automakers can't compete. The Unions have been overpaid for years. I have a college education and no one pays me 70,000 a year to do nothing. My advice to Mora is get an education and find a real job like the rest of us.

These bailouts are communist acts period czars are communist positions created by socialist communist governments people in Amerika need to wake up to the fact that we do not live in a free country anymore. If you think your free your fooling yourself. Welcome to the USSA

Keep investing in China and India, and all of us will be unemployed! No work? No payement! So no shopping! No taxes...bankrupcy for sure!

gcv1 and others here make some good points. the problems of the auto industry began long ago, and were exacerbated signficantly during the first oil embargo in early 70s and have continued since. A better Car Czar would be someone who has done it already- someone who turned around inefficient GM plants in the 70s, helped turn Chrysler around in the 80s, and who bought a failing division of GM and turned it around in the 90s- Richard Dauch in Detroit.

For the record, Toyota only recently began making full-size pick ups in Texas.. and that plant is idled or operating at reduced capacity. Nissan is dropping its full size pick up (Titan) and returning to market with a rebadged Dodge. Toyota, now about to surmount GM as the world's largest (volume in a year) automaker churns out big SUV's and big luxury cars of its own. They aren't hybrid only angels. Sure they have the Lexus LS400 hybrid, but Cadillac has their Escalade Hybrid.

The foreign makers producing in the US also received many concessions from both governments (municipalities, state and federal) and labor. It's an unlevel playing field. Not to forget that the world markets are not completlely open for US cars.. .a condition which should be reciprocal.

For the record, Toyota only recently began making full-size pick ups in Texas.. and that plant is idled or operating at reduced capacity. Nissan is dropping its full size pick up (Titan) and going in as a rebadged Dodge. Toyota, now about to surmount GM as the world's largest (volume in a year) automaker churns out big SUV's and big luxury cars of its own.

The foreign makers producing in the US also received many concessions from both governments (municipalities, state and federal) and labor. It's an unlevel playing field. Also the world markets are not completlely open which should be reciprocal.

I don't know, maybe she can go get a different job. Heck, it's been a year already. Capitalism works when government gets out of the way. Let car companies make the cars Americans want, not the cars global warming idiots want. Get rid of CAFE requirements and the auto industry will take off. Toyota made 30 billion last year making cars in Texas. If Ford doesn't need money because the ran the company effectively, shouldn't they take over after the others go bankrupt

Keith,
You make several good points here, but your comments on the flexibility of U.S. Big Three's assembly lines, adversarial labor-management relations, and restrictive union work rules are a bit out of date. I'd encourage you to visit GM's Lansing Grand River assembly plant which builds three distinct Cadillac models - CTS, SRX and STS. LGR's "team concept" - every person in a 5-6 worker team - can do everyone else's job - has resulted in high quality and productivity. Management actively seeks input and ideas from hourly workers, and hourly workers freely take their ideas to management.

Also, if the foreign automakers can respond so quickly to the ever-changing whims of the marketplace, why did Toyota have to idle its brand new assembly plant in San Antonio when sales of its Tundra big pickup truck tanked?

As I said, a number of good points in this piece, but I do think you're guilty of perpetuating several outmoded stereotypes here.

I think three things are getting confused into one problem. First of all, we are suffering a crisis of confidence in America. The war in Iraq, the endless war in Congress (it's gone on longer than Iraq), and the tabloidization of the press have taught us to distrust and criticize all things American - and that goes for the US auto industry.

Second, after a few years of steep price increases and the idealization of the populace by the "global warming" lobby, we have come to criticize Detroit for selling us the cars we want (big thirsty low tech beasts) rather than the cars we should be buying (lean, mean sipping machines). Part of that is like criticizing the candy industry because I can't stick to a diet and lose a few pounds. In the end it is the choices I make that should matter - I need to not blame others for my weakness. But related to that is the little problem that the new technologies we seem to be demanding aren't quite there yet. Ethanol proved to be a dud. Hydrogen fuel cells are all very well, but where are we going to mine the hydrogen - in the end we will get it from fossil fuels and the switch over will require trillions of dollars in new investments - so again its not a solution. And third, going to electricity sounds all well and good, except that battery technology is nowhere close to being acceptable and we again don't answer the question of where the clean electricity is going to come from. Around me, we already don't have enough power plants.

Third, the life-or-death situation that the automakers face is here-and-now and is being caused by the consumer sharply curtailing big purchases over fear created by all the reporting over the credit crunch. It is this fear that is creating the problem.

Right now, the industry needs help dealing with the fear described in my third point. The issues of the second point need to be addressed, but they are long term issues - they will take 5-10 years to really address. The issues of the first post is the job for the new President. Our current president has left us feeling bad about ourselves - and that bad attitude becomes destructive. President Obama needs to focus on inspiring us to overcome our fears and obstacles. He should leave it to the press to point out the peril that lies all around us.

Finally, we cannot lose the automobile industry - manugacturing generates wealth and is a crucial part of any sustainable economy. Service industries shuffle wealth. Without manufacturing, we become a land of consumption and our wealth slowly dwindles until there is none. We absolutely must save Detroit.

Mora-Jackson's collecting unemployment AND money from UAW safety net AND working at her hubby's business?! How the heck did she swing that scam? Does the Unemployment dept know all this? Why is she behind, if she's got income coming from 3 places?

'If we want Detroit's automakers to be viable and self-sustaining, we can't force them to sell cars that lose money.' - well said, but I don't agree that there should be one lab to develop 'hybrids' - please, let the market determine the technology - people are so hung up on this stop-gap hybrid technology that they don't know what's really down the road and is being worked on already. The big 3 passed on it b/c they have better things in the works. The Prius has been out for 6 years with major investment from the government of Japan to their automakers, it wasn't just a trickle up front. Also, where's the outrage of the public of advertised fuel economy vs. actual - a big part of the real story lies there.

Please look a little closer at Toyota's line-up. Lots of SUV's in there too, and building 7 cars off the same platform is no different than GM does, it's just that GM brands them separately, one as a Chevy, one a Buick, etc. Thanks for writing the article.

Car czar needs to consolidate the number of models available.
Also needs to reduce costs maybe by subleasing some of those
elaborate office buildings they built for themselves. In addition,
healthcare costs need to be taken out of the price of a car and
people can get affordable healthcare outside their company.

@ MacAdvisor. The dealership closures helps as there's costs for the Automakers to ship and deliver those new cars to each dealership, fees associated with then retrieving those unsold models (dealers pay a fee based on the length of time a car sits on a lot), and other items associated with supplying a dealership with automobiles, promotions, accessories, branding and marketing items, etc. This is relation strictly to certified dealerships though, not used car lots.

How does closing dealerships help? The producers don't operate the dealerships, so there isn't any savings to them if the dealership closes. The dealerships aren't retail outlets owned by the manufacturers, a la the Apple Store, so how does having fewer places sell the product help? I'd much rather my book was in more bookstores, not fewer? This advice is in most articles on this subject without any explanation of how closing someone else's business helps the auto producers.

The 'SUV era' was a result of low gas prices ($1.00 to $2.00 per gal) and it made money for the big 3. The demand for 'green" (low mileage) cars was created by the high gas prices recently experienced. The big 3's 'green' cars sell well in Europe where gas is $7.00 to $9.00 per gal and they can be sold at a profit. In the US, the demand for low mileage cars was created by high gas prices, thus, until the gas prices again go up, there will be little demand for these cars and even less profit for the big 3 ,if or when they do convert to making them. Suggest that as a part of any congressional loan to the big 3, congress consider a gas tax to keep gas from selling below $3.00 to #3.50 per gal. This would be the start of creating a demand for the 'green' cars and would be a means of financing the long range plans of the new administration.

How does reducing the number of dealers help the automotive producers? They don't pay the cost of operating a dealership, so there isn't any cost savings to them by having dealerships close. This isn't as if the dealerships were retail outlets operated by the manufactures, a la the Apple Stores. Dealerships are separate companies. How does having fewer people selling the manufacturer's cars save them money? I'd rather my book was sold in more bookstores, not fewer. This idea is in most articles I've read and I don't see how it helps.

I don't believe the Czar should be a car guy, but he needs to listen to them. Good cars will save Detroit, not the good intentions of some political insider.

Have to say, this article did not endear me to Ms. Jackson or any of her Detroit brethren.

I've been a registered nurse for 29 years, with a 4-yr college degree, and I don't make anywhere close to $28/hour. I work harder, in tougher conditions, with a lot more responsiblity for people's lives than anyone on an assembly line. The only thing I have right now that they don't is job security - assuming I can handle the rigors of the job, a big 'if' at my age.

I live in North Carolina - there was no 'czar' for the thousands of people who lost their jobs when the furniture, textile and tobacco industries went bust. The state planned as best it could, invested in biotech and education, but there are still too many people and communties in this state that have never recovered. And in our right-to-work state, there are no unions, so there is no such thing as being paid full time - for a year! - while waiting to be re-assigned to a job.

As a 'car czar' the first thing that would be gone are the heads of GM and Chrysler. Period. There is absolutely no reason to reward bad behavior. The other ideas mentioned - fixing the dealerships, product lines, restructuring the contracts - they're all good ideas, are necessary, and will probably occur.

But don't blame the rest of us if we have sour tastes in our mouths about the whole thing, and don't expect us to feel too badly for some of the people involved - they're getting more of a break in their industry than many of the rest of us, and they started out with better wages, better benefits, and more advocates in Washington than the rest of us.

In a down economy like this one, we need to resist the temptation to turn on each other. Articles like this one, trying to evoke sympathy for someone who is losing their security when so many of us have already lost ours, or never had it in the first place, are NOT helpful.