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Chrysler's cutbacks another blow to Magna

GREG KEENAN

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 4:46 PM EST 02/07/08

Company trims production of pickup trucks, closes a Missouri minivan plant indefinitely ...Read the full article

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  1. One Eye Open from Canada writes: Well at least the workers in Canada were spared there jobs for now.
  2. Gardiner Westbound from Canada writes:
    Toyota/Lexus, Honda, Subaru, Nissan, Hyundai and Mercedes Benz all reported record Canadian sales in May. Maybe it has something to do with quality.
  3. D JL from Canada writes: The N.A. auto makers missed the boat. They are so far behind in development, I don't see how they catch up to Asia & Europe. & If oil/gas prices drop, I would almost expect them to start up production again on the trucks.....

    And they have no innovations.
  4. JD Smith from Canada writes: Finally.... a Japanese company (Genepax) introduces H2O powered vehicle in Osaka... and this is announced in Reuters today.

    The oil companies will have difficulty killing this technology.

    http://uk.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=84561
    .
  5. Hydro Glen from United States writes: Yes Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are experiencing record sales of their trucks and behemoth vehicles such as the Sequoia, Ridgeline, Tundra, Pilot, RDX, Armada, and Titan. Their truck, SUV, and van plants have experienced such extreme demand that they are sending their workers in Indiana, Texas, and Alabama home for well deserved unpaid or involuntary rests while the assembly lines cool down from such overuse. Happy customers across North America are turning their large rebate checks back in to these farsighted companies in gratitude for the chance to drive fuel efficient products that said companies wisely invested millions to produce. When Hyundai fired its chief executive because he could not sell 500,000 of its quality cars annually in North America, I was so inspired that I bought five Elantras; just to be sure in case one would grow needy of the parts of the other four. I for one welcome these champions of greenness and quality as exemplars of the modern industrial age.
  6. JD Smith from Canada writes:
    H2O Powered Vehicle by Genepax English website in Japan:

    http://www.genepax.co.jp/en/index.html
  7. A A from Canada writes: Waiting for this news to come.
  8. jack sprat from Canada writes: It does have to do with quality...and Magna is at the center of that. Time they exited.
  9. Dennis sinneD from Canada writes: H2O car? I'm in... of course, soon water will be way to expensive to power your car.
  10. Johnathyn Winters from Canada writes: Good for Magna.

    They hold tool and die business owners at ransoms when jobs are done withholding payments.

    Hope they fall flat like thier stock price is going.
  11. RS IslandReader from Canada writes: Late 70’s should have been a wakeup call. Chrysler barely made it. Nearly 30 years later seems like deja vu. Let the prehistoric animals become extinct.
  12. JD Smith from Canada writes: H20... I understand that you can use 'shower water' and 'salt water'. I am looking forward to driving past the Oil Companies ATMs, otherwise known as gas stations.

    Maybe fewer wars, if we use 'rain water' to power generators to heat and light our homes.
  13. James James from Canada writes: Honestly, I'm still surprised why not more cars (or at least parts of the cars) are made in China...
  14. D Mores from GTA, Canada writes: It is interesting that LaSorda is the spokesperson for Chrysler. What happened to Robert Nardelli?

    First off Nardelli's career is finished. I thought that was the case when he buggered up Home Depot. But private equity group Cerebus had the "brilliance" to hire him. Now Nardelli is going to flame out two for two.

    The problem with the North American automakers is that they continue to have mediocre managers running the business and mediocre industry leaders. I have personally seen leaders shrug off foreign competition from China and India, never mind the competition from Toyota, Honda, Hyundai...

    These competitors are going to eat their lunch - and more!

    Pitty the employees who lose their jobs. These same managers have made enough to retire comfortably, but their children - hah, they will see the same fate in their generation.
  15. Stude Ham from Canada writes:

    on this water run auto... from the absurdly complex diagram shown on the website (conveniently labelled in some oriental language script) it appears that water is being decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen... thereby implying the need for some kind of battery to generate the electricity to split the hydrogen from the oxygen. this process is taught in most elementary chemistry classes...

    this process is therefore far less efficient than battery driven cars.
    and very hardly innovative (other than in telemarketing spin).
  16. Paul Bowler from Canberra, Australia writes: From the share-price graph for FORD, which accompanied this story, extrapolation shows that FORD shares will be worth $0.00 this side of Christmas this year!(and GM and Chrysler will not be far behind!!).
    And these companies are talking bravely about 2010 models? Will the last person leaving Head Office in Detroit please turn off the lights!!
  17. Bobby Culture from Canada writes: Stude Ham from Canada writes: ... on this water run auto... from the absurdly complex diagram shown on the website (conveniently labelled in some oriental language script) ...
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Maybe you should go to an oriental language school to better yourself. A little knowledge is the most dangerous thing to possess.
  18. Patriots in 2008 from Toronto, Canada writes: Cerberus' financial target was to lose $700 million in Chrysler and they're celebrating that they're ONLY going to lose $300 million? It sounds to me as though they set the bar REALLY LOW. Of course, none of these figures can be confirmed now that Chrysler is a private company. Still, if any American management team can possibly turn Chrysler around, it will be private equity wizards.
    I have yet to see Chrysler release any new products that I'm interested in buying, though. I wonder if any of the Cerberus management team are driving Chrysler products? I somehow doubt that even they are willing to give up their BMWs and Bentleys.
  19. Joseph Whistle from Canada writes: Only ignorant people will ever believe you can run a car on water. You can separate water, H20, in to Hydrogen and Oxygen, which takes energy. You can do that with electricity. Then you have a couple of option. You could explode that Hydrogen in a cylinder and you end up with an internal combustion engine, which is very inefficient and similar what we have now, which sucks.
    Or, you can run it through a fuel-cell which turns it back in to electricity which you use do drive an electric motor - much more efficient.
    In the end one thing is for absolute sure - we must and shall do away with internal combustion engines, at least, for normal passenger cars.
    Electric motors are by far the best option. The trick now is where to get that electricity from, and how to bring as much electricity with you in a battery.
    They should never have called that car H2O powered, because there is no such thing and there never will such a thing. It's telling everything that my current car is foot powered, because it's my foot that pressed the gas pedal and makes the car move. So stupid.
  20. CallofDuty . from Toronto, Canada writes: Dennis sinneD from Canada writes: H2O car? I'm in... of course, soon water will be way to expensive to power your car.
    ------------------
    Keep laughing while the Japanese figure that out:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrxfMz2eDME

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