your correct in your argument some what here is the problem I see. you mention Ford allot which is the only one of the big 3 that is nowhere near bankruptcy hell they didn't even take any bail out money why ... because they were doing some thing right. The other 2 were not and they built shit vehicle (especially Chrysler) name me one innovative product from Chrysler in the last 20 years (and the prowler doesn't count it was a limited production vehicle ) and none of the technology from the viper ever trickled down to the rest of the line up. And the astro was not a work van it was a family van that was also made with out windows for a small segment of the market...

 

Basically the Big 3 are just guilty of indulging in the American spending orgy of the late 90's to 06. You can't really argue with giving people what they wanted - but the problem is, they had NO foresight. They focused on the US, and ignoring the rest of the world. This is why when our economy hit the crapper, they had very little exports to sell elsewhere in developing markets. Consistently, the Big 3 lived very much "in the now" and are now scrambling to catch up to a vastly different car buying market. Perfect example? While flying their private jets to Congress to ask for bail out money and gas was hovering in the 4 dollar area, Dodge rolled out a new truck when no one was buying trucks. Nissan, on the other hand, found a way to make its base model Versa even cheaper by stripping out optional things. To me and to many others, the Chrysler and GM seem very much out of touch with the car buying public, and if it weren't for fleet sales, they both would probably have been broken up and sold off to their competitors a long time ago.

 

dodge came out with the 1995 dodge ram that was way ahead of anyone else. i couldn't believe how nice it drove and handled. ride in a pre 1995 truck and you'll know what i mean.
dodge has been coming out with a lot of new stuff over the years.

yes, dodge rolled out a new truck that it's very nice and they dropped the price big time. i believe it's about 8-10,000 cheaper than the 2008's. they where making big bucks off the trucks. so i believe there still making money even after dropping the price 8-10,000.

the big problem was they didn't foresee what F&F would do to you younger guys. come on after you guys watch that movie. you guy wouldn't want any thing other than a honda or import

 

Yes F&F is what made Toyota and Honda the top car companies...

 

I disagree. Dodge Made lots of nice cars that were for the younger crowed.
The caliber, avenger, neon, nitro. Dodge to me was trying their hardest.

Edit: I used to talk to the old timers at my old job before joining the military They all owned dodge and 99% of them were Trucks and one of the things they used to talk about was how many times they changed out the tranny in their dodge trucks. Maybe that might be one of the reasons people were scared to purchase a Dodge. Sometimes people don't let go of what happend in the past. I like dodge. I think they make beautiful looking cars compared to Ford.


They had oportunities since 2004 and also since Gas started to rise dramatically. Toyota/honda had way more cars that were gas savers compared to what the 3 were putting out. Plus if you look at honda and toyota they were changing the way their cars looked inside and out more often then what the Big three were doing.

Ford came out with the cougar which is basically a rebadged probe. and it had nothing but electrical problems out the yingyang. They had bad alternator problems, transmission problems, Fuel return line problems, fuel pump problems, The Sunroof, and the infamous, 1-2 bang shift problem.. IVAC, IMRC problems. It had so many bad reviews with the customers. They only made the N.E.C.O for 3 years.

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It's like having a job where you do so much good, always pleasing the damn boss/company, but that one mistake that you do, or some1 you pissed off, They fucking forget everything you did for the past for the damn boss/company and just remember that one fucking bad day you had... This might have the same effect with the car companies. IMO

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Ford bought the British luxury brand Jaguar in 1990, when all three Detroit automakers were seeking ways to expand their global reach. Eventually, Ford decided to build an entry-level Jaguar starting at around $30,000 for people looking to move up from, say, a Mercury Marquis. The down-market move "represented everything that Jaguar is not," says Libby of J. D. Power. The X-Type was built on an ordinary sedan platform from elsewhere in Ford's lineup, and the front-wheel-drive system underwhelmed enthusiasts used to rear-drive European makes. Jag purists were horrified, and aspiring luxury buyers shunned the X-Type in favor of BMWs, Lexuses, and Acuras. After fumbling the luxury brand for nearly two decades, Ford sold Jaguar to an Indian conglomerate in 2008.


Don't get me wrong. But if GM rebounds from this my next brand new car purchase or semi brand new will be a GM. I fell out of love with the Big three with all my bad experiences owning an american car besides the Ford Taurus and the Ford Aspire (but the aspire was my sisters car till she bought a new corolla) I used the aspire when gas was very expensive. Those two were very very reliable. The only car I would ever own by ford right now would be a Taurus also Dodge is making some nice cars that I would love to own one day. Like the Charger, and the challenger, Also I like the neon. My friend has a neon and the only problem he ever had with it was normal wear and tear and changed the alternator twice on it (One was defected) and its a 2003. Beautiful car (79,000) miles.

 

I can't even believe that the original article even sited the X-type as a major fault with Ford/Jaguar. Thats a bunch of bullshit there. The X-type was and still is a fine car. Funny how Audi can source VW's platform for an A4, and its a front driver, underpowered and has a premium MSRP and no one gives a crap. The Lexus ES300 was a rebadged and prettied up Camry with a fat price tag, but no one blinks an eye at that.

But Ford sources the European Ford Mondeo (itself a very good car) offers it as the Jaguar X-Type. Gives it classic styling cues, a great powerplant (230HP 2.5 liter duratec V6) and All Wheel Drive, all the upscale appointments you'd expect, plus the heritage of Jaguar (if you cared) for around $30K.
Its a better value than Audi, Lexus, Acura, BMW, etc were offering for that price point. Its only "flaw" was that it's a Ford?
That's just auto-motive ignorance. There was nothing wrong with the Mondeo, It was/is a great car and so what if it underpinned the baby Jag.
Ford/Jaguar was trying to reach that growing near-luxury market and it seemed like a logical option. Who would guess that the American buying public would be stupid enough to loathe the X-type but praise overstuffed A4's and ES300's instead.

 

I agree with what others said about Dodge trying to stay with the times more so than the other American car companies..They have a pretty decent lineup and proablly the best overall lineup imo.

 

The caliber and nitro were just introduced this last couple years at the onslaught of the down fall... the avenger was underpowered and heavy and unreliable (I worked at a dodge dealer at the time of there peak) plus no young people came in looking for a avenger... The only neon worth anything to the young enthusiast crowed was the ACR and RT neons, and later the srt4. The rest were bottom of the barell econo shit boxes. There were used 3-5 year old honda' civic's selling for the same price as a brand new neon at the time ....

 

No offense but if im buying a Jaguar, the last thing I want to see is the same damn motor that comes in the Cougar, mystic, contour, etc.. etc.. Maybe all car companies do the same but Im not popping my hood and bragging that I got the same motor as a cougar , mystic or contour.

 

I didn't mean to name the Avenger. I was in the hipe of naming dodge vehicles and avenger poped in my head. So that i will apologize for. hehe.. But still What cars does Ford or GM have to appeal to the younger crowed ?? A focus ?? No way in hell. My cousin owned a focus yes its a good car, but To me it doesn't have any type of young appeal, and the same for the cobalt. Dodge has some nice cars that can appeal to the younger crowd, as of the other two I don't see any car new off the lot. Camaro is too expensive, Corvette is way too expensive, Ford Mustang is semi expensive unless Mom and dad help out. But the same could be said about the civic, tsx,rsx, etc..etc.. those are pretty pricey for some teen to go out and purchase unless they have some sort of help, or have been saving up for a while.