Lets Start some Trouble

A little old (Dec 15th issue) but I just read an article in Time about the big 3. It has a lot of very interesting info but I thought this quote was great:

John MacDuffie said:
Of all Detroit's failures - the failure to master small cars, failure to cut costs, failure to get tough with the UAW, failure to improve fuel efficiency - the failure to learn is perhaps the worst sin
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One more thing from the article: Toyota and GM had a joint venture in '84. Toyota would use a GM plant in Fremont, CA using a Toyota production system and UAW workers already there. It had been one of GM's worst plants - Toyota made it one of GM's best.

The technology wasn't that innovative - it seems what Toyota did was make the workforce integral to improving the system and "relied on contributions from employees". So bottom up management vs. top down that the Big 3 have been so used to.
 
GM And Toyota still build cars together. GM builds the Toyota Corolla still and sells it as the Pontiac Vibe (Toyota Matrix aka Corolla hatchback) Before the Vibe it was the Geo Prism.
OMG stuipid GM made an ENTIRE CAR COMPANY devoted to small fuel efficient cars, It failed because nobody wanted them. Stupid GM

Geo_Logo.jpg


GM was also building the early Honda SUV's

Dodge is building the full size nissan Pickup

And like I said earlier, Ford builds or designs all of Mazda's FWD offerings.
 
gtluke said:
GM And Toyota still build cars together. GM builds the Toyota Corolla still and sells it as the Pontiac Vibe (Toyota Matrix aka Corolla hatchback) Before the Vibe it was the Geo Prism.
OMG stuipid GM made an ENTIRE CAR COMPANY devoted to small fuel efficient cars, It failed because nobody wanted them. Stupid GM

Geo_Logo.jpg


GM was also building the early Honda SUV's

Dodge is building the full size nissan Pickup

And like I said earlier, Ford builds or designs all of Mazda's FWD offerings.
Click to expand...

Remember the metro got 52mpg! Nothing could touch those cars for MPG at that time and nearly still today. However, nobody cared in 1990
 
I love when people complain that the US doesn't have an adequate rail system.
There is more railroad track in the United States than in the rest of the WORLD COMBINED.

Who wroat that caroon, Lyndon LaRouche?
haha
 
the us may or may not have more rail track than the rest of the world; i haven't checked the veracity of that claim. however, being a daily commuter and having ridden amtrak in the us and the bullet trains in both europe and japan, i can say it is no way adequate.
 
Something is wrong with that list, like it isn't including private freight and subway or something.
Actually the total amount of private freight lines I got from one source is 226,112 km, which coiincidentally is the same number on that CIA list.
 
I've read a couple of Kunstler's books. He has some pretty radical ideas but some of them had the logical part of my brain saying: "he's got a pretty good point" One thing he's talked a lot about is the US rail system.

Here's a piece he wrote on rails earlier this year when fuel was a little more than it is now: http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/2008/04/blind-spot.html

This past September I was in Italy for a week. While most of it was spent in small towns on the coast, we had to get from Naples to Rome and went by train. I have to say, the experience was very nice. No lines like the airport, plenty of room, nice small snack and coffee.

gtluke - there might be more actual rails in the US but how much of it has public transportation.

I do love cars and driving for the most part but trips more than an hour start to get boring. Add some traffic and it gets effin fustrating real quick. I wouldn't mind seeing a nice and fast rail system that goes along the east coast. If you could set it up like a ferry where you could park your car for the trip that would be even better. Trips up to Vermont for my family and me would be a lot more enjoyable.

One more thing to mention, over the years we have set up our towns and cities to work so well with autos. We don't drive to the town center, park and hit up the stores we need to walking to each one and then finally to our car. We park do our thing, drive to the next stop, do our thing, drive, stop, etc. Even when those stops are quicker to walk to. But you ever try walking to from one store to the next in some parts of NJ?
 
don said:
gtluke - there might be more actual rails in the US but how much of it has public transportation.

... I wouldn't mind seeing a nice and fast rail system that goes along the east coast.
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isn't that what amtrack acela was "supposed" to do? expensive and not so fast!
 
gtluke said:
Something is wrong with that list, like it isn't including private freight and subway or something.
Actually the total amount of private freight lines I got from one source is 226,112 km, which coiincidentally is the same number on that CIA list.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with the list, it just counts the EU as one entity where it never used to. The pertinent figure (to me) is miles of railway as compared to total area:

EU: 4,324,782 SQ KM
US: 9,826,630 SQ KM

That makes the amount of US railways even less impressive. It's still impressive, but as many who live in the most densely populated state in the US know, if you're not taking the train to NYC, might as well try to take a train to Kuwait. I also don't think our country is setup to be navigable by rail.

I go to Chicago for travel occasionally. I looked into taking a train. Aside from the fact it takes in the realm of 24 hours, it was as expensive (or more) than a plane. That's a bit ridiculous, no?
 
I have have spent the last 3 years commuting to NYC/Long Island City from New Brunswick and can say that NJ Transit is possibly the worst transit system of any I have used in the world.

Other countries have the whole urban/suburban mass transit problem solved, where as here we get to ride an antiquated fleet of rail cars that are consistently late (but not dependably late). It is pretty much a sure thing that every train one takes here will have an issue with a door not closing. And it is a sure thing that the elevators will either be broken or running in the wrong direction once you arrive at Penn Station.

I would bike from Penn Station to LIC but you can only bring bikes on the train if you are not working or working some graveyard shift.

The Subways of NY are pretty damn good, they have improved dramatically in the 20 years I have been using them. But NJ Transit is the worst. (those double decker cars are pretty good I must admit.)

As for the big three...Detroit as an actual city is a myth...there is nothing there. It is a bombed out shell of a city. The big three killed that place years ago. It is worth checking out as a ruin only. My friend bought 3 houses last year for 500$ each. I think he paid too much.

I visited the F150 plant there last month and it was cranking out trucks (900 a day) but no one was smiling in there. I also visited the Dodge Viper plant which was shut down because a supplier was owed money and refused to deliver parts. They hand assemble those cars. They had about 50 mid-life crisis specials (red convertibles) sitting in the back waiting to be paid for. 3 maintenance guys hanging out waiting for something to change...

The big three will survive, hand outs or not but they will eliminate most brands and models and only hang on to the real sellers, the ones like the F150 that have track records of sales regardless of quality.

I don't even think the term 'foreign car' really applies anymore. True value and perceived value are more pertinent now.
 
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