Can we talk about the big three and how they have held up over the years? What was the cause of their decline?

Can we talk about the big three and how they have held up over the years? What was the cause of their decline?

GM and Ford are still big all over the world
Chrysler had tons of neat thing going g for it before the Daimler fuck up where they were picked dry

Daimler raped Chrysler for everything they were worth. In the same era, GM and Ford both had the issue of piss-poor interiors (for the most part) compared to their Euro and Jap competition. 90s-00s were a rough time for all 3 and hurt their reputations. And all had pretty poor management strategies.

Really, I think the structural problems with the big 3 still originate from the 1970s. Prior to that, American autos were essentially unmatched in production volume and quality - perhaps not Individual quality in the cars, not in the modern sense, but rather in standardization and ease of maintenance. During the 1970s, both Japanese and European auto manufacturers had to struggle to innovate - the Japanese generally did it by improving their quality control, while the Europeans did it by increasing performance. Both also experimented with smaller cars, realizing that not everyone needed or wanted the American-style landyachts that were prevalent in the 1950s and 1960s.

The first bailouts in the 1970s and 1980s set a really bad precedent of the big 3 being "too big to fail," so they were able to coast along on inertia (aided by lower gas prices) until 2009. Even though they got bailed out again, the damage to the companies reputations was so severe that they realized they weren't going to be able to count on another bailout if shit goes south again, which is why Ford and new GM have (mostly) cleaned up their act in terms of car design. Chrysler's still struggling, since they had their own issues with the Daimler merger/demeger and the new merger with Fiat. Then again, Jeep is doing well and Dodge is doing ok, so maybe it's more a matter of the Chrysler brand not knowing what it should be aiming for.

>What was the cause of their decline
They use shitty materials like plastic in places it shouldn't be in. They rust like nothing else. bailouts up the ass and foreign companies started owning them.

trips of truth.
there was also the increase of car prices brought on partially by the new technology related to emissions, and the demand for stricter fuel economy. this raised car prices, and to compensate, corners were cut, resulting in cheap materials and poor quality.

while at the same time, they were simply unable to compete with Japanese cars.

Honestly, AMC is the only company of what used to be "the big 3 + AMC" that managed to do relatively well in those circumstances, with shit like the Pacer, which was probably the only compact car being made by the US manufacturers

AMC was better.

Cause of decline:
>GM
Stretched themselves too thin. Their products weren't competitive enough.
>Chrysler
Bad customer reports in reliability. Their products weren't competitive enough.
>Ford
>stretched themselves too thin. Mismanagement. Dated styling. Products weren't competitive enough.

The Japanese offered a more reliable and better equipped product for similar or lower prices.

How they've held up
>GM
Is doing the best they've done in some time.
>Chrysler
Still struggling from bad consumer reports. For... reliability... again.
>Ford
Best lineup of vehicles they've ever had in my lifetime. Fords doing it right.

Ford and GM are doing fine.

What should happen is (in america) Dodge should reabsorb RAM and Jeep and break off from Fiat/Chrysler. Fiat is an unknown brand to the majority of America, and Chrysler has fallen so far that none of their cars are even remarkable besides the 300. Jeep, Ram, and Dodge however are brands in America that have a legacy that they still hold up and hold up well.

They should do the retro thing but with their 80s cars, imagine a modern turbo Omni GLH

As someone who owns a dodge with 190kms and one with 215kms and hasnt blown the tranny/engine in either of them. I think the consumer is more at fault for vehicles failing rather than the components.

Its like people who just floor it and take their foot off the gas and wonder why they blow a tranny. People are just retards and unfortunately the company who makes relatively cheap cars with decent power it attracts alot of really dumb people.

Honestly the cause of their decline comes with the fact that if you have to commute to work its not economical to have a big sedan with a big engine over having some tiny 4-cyl. But shitty wages and cost of living increases harmed them more than anything.

As much as Ford gets too much shit, I'll say that they are doing OK. Not bad, not good but just OK.

My biggest problem with them personally is that they're pushing that stupid twin turbo engine on everybody in almost all their vehicles. Sure, it can out preform a 8-cyl V8 both in towing and has better specs, but it isn't as reliable as many thought it would be.

GM on the other hand, well they haven't changed a bit over the years. I was hoping they turned a new leaf after their bankruptcy.

This

I’m glad we can all admit that Ford is getting better gradually. GM is pretty much staying exactly the same and isn’t really improving their vehicles or business practices. Maybe the Mid engine Vette will be a sign of better things to come, though.

Chrysler needs to just disappear already.

Chrysler just needs help... and LOTS of it. I agree though, they should pull the plug on theirselves but another part of me wants to see them improve.

>Best lineup of vehicles they've ever had in my lifetime.
>literally every single car that they make is nothing more than just "a car" except the mustang

>6.7 seconds 0-60

Fordcucks will defend this

All 3 are probably the MOST dysfunctional/backwards run/wasteful multi-nationals in the world. So so so many corporate retards working at both. So so so many execs who do not give one fuck about the future of the company. All 3 are far worse than you could ever possibly imagine.

FCA is basically bankrupt. Everyone there with talent is on the phone with headhunters and friends at other automakers/suppliers looking for a lateral move.

Cadillac still employing that fraud Johan De Nysschen, while he blows hundreds of millions in MANHATTAN shows you what a joke GM still is.

Ford is currently being run by a boomer, former furniture exec, whose claim to fame was outsourcing all their furniture assembly to Mexico. Brilliant.

Ford and GM ran on ancient platforms of trying to build as many brands as possible and then proceed to make them related to each other with the same 50 main parts. Ford tried to run a tiered system with Ford < Mercury < Lincoln as a luxury tier. Obviously people got smart when they realized a Lincoln town car was a marked up Crown Vic. GM tried to own as many brands as possible because they could but didn't want to put any resources into any of them but Chevy, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac. So obviously a lot of their brands went under and defunct. Chrysler is just a dumpster fired held up by Dodge Ram and Jeep. Ford and GM aren't doing too bad these days, Chrysler needs to be shutdown. One thing that they always did well in is in Truck sales, some of their best engines and design were in 90s era pick up trucks.

>implying that a car brand needs to make exciting cars to be successful/relevant

The whole industry pushed towards dropping performance/exciting vehicles for making boring everyday "normie" vehicles. That's what Ford SHOULD do, take a page out of Toyota's book on that one. The only reason the Mustang exists is because there's a large amount of everyday drivers who would consider buying one to the point where its worth it to even manufacture.

Guys, guys, guys.

What if, hold on, what if ford, no, seriously, what if ford brought back...wait for it...wait for it... BROUGHT BACK THE TORINO LINE AND DID A ROOMIER MUSCLE CAR WITH A BIG BLOCK V8 AND ROOM FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY?

Also, it would need to have some better styling than these nast ass versions of old muscle cars that these companies seem to be pumping out.

Funnily enough, ford is cleaning up their act and getting the styling problems fixed as well (they're no longer as absurdly proportioned; for fucks sake the dodges look like those nasty hot wheels cars when they tried making them look cartoony)

But seriously though, a new line of torinos would be the tits.

Ford and GM are still into horsepower wars with the Mustang and Camaro but it's totally soulless compared to decades before. People just expect both cars to keep adding like 50 horsepower every year. Both of their basic bitch cars are boring but Ford's Fiesta ST and Focus ST/RS blow away GM who has nothing of the sort. GM's Corvette is still outdriving anything Ford has to offer, when it is actually driving and not being repaired of course.

Chrysler doesn't have shit anymore.

>What if, hold on, what if ford, no, seriously, what if ford brought back...wait for it...wait for it... BROUGHT BACK THE TORINO LINE AND DID A ROOMIER MUSCLE CAR WITH A BIG BLOCK V8 AND ROOM FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY?
Because only SUVs, utes and hatchbacks sell these days.
>Got 4 person family? You need an SUV
>But like to pretend to do outdoors stuff once a year? You need a 4wd ute
>Female/single and possibly gay? hatchback
Anything else doesn't sell

>can't have 4 door sedan version with a kickass engine

Come the fuck on. Why is the world so cruel?
All I want is a modern car with 68' Torino/'67 Fairlane styling. They're managing to go back in time with their mustangs...

What if they made it into a pseudo hatchback with the rear window as part of the trunk?

>literally every single car that they make is nothing more than just "a car" except the mustang
Because that's what sells.

>>can't have 4 door sedan version with a kickass engine
ctsv exists.

Sorry, I'm a dumbass. Can you type that again in non-carnerd? I'm still learning.

Wait a second. Never mind this. It's that nasty ass Cadillac.

Only old people and ghetto trash like and or drive those.
I'm neither.

Would the current gen Taurus be hated as much as it is if it was simply renamed the Galaxie 500?

It would still be ugly. Now if they upped the engine power a little and gave it the same treatment they've been giving their mustangs as far as modernizing the classic lines then yeah, it would be an instant classic.

What car companies have forgotten is that there are people who know nothing about cars except that "that ones looks cool, what's it called and who makes it?".

I will admit that I was one of those people.
Muscle cars are famous among even normies because they look cool, they're not in a sea of cars that all are so alike that they blur together.

A boat wouldn't sell like hot cakes. But it's not an unsafe bet to say that it would definitely sell well if it wasn't absolutely massive and had some fucking room and a good engine with a name that hardens to ye Olden days.

You have to go back

But I'm not from /r9k/.
I'm actually from /k/.

I'm willing to trade gun knowledge for car knowledge.
If it tells you anything I performed my first oil change on Monday.
I've already been lurking for about a year off and on, so I figured I could post a little even if I'd sound like a newfag.

>replaced the panther platform
>fwd
>has the taurus name for some reason
>has nothing memorable about it
a name change isn't going to help desu

abarth 500 definetly has that tiny stupidly quick car vibe going for it.
The raptor, focus RS, and the lincoln continental are all outstanding and special vehicles that will be future classics.

forgot too
>unibody

>Obviously people got smart when they realized a Lincoln town car was a marked up Crown Vic.
Except people still bought them in droves. Town Cars are still extremely popular as fleet cars and limos due to the ease of stretching them, and the Marquis outsold the Crown Vic in public sales for many years because people preferred its 'older' styling instead of the CV's aero appearance. The bulk of the CV's sales were all police and livery.

the current taurus was actually called the 500 for its first few years, wasn't it?

Dodge sort of did that with the Charger. Lots of trim levels to choose from.

You're a retarded bus rider.

The Cadillac CTSV destroys Ferraris and Lamborghinis on the track and the CTSV wagon is a God tier machine. You should actually lurk and do some research before posting bud.

Okay I should clarify that it destroys them based on the differences in the cars. The CTSV is also a hill climb machine and actually does destroy them there.

No one gives a shit where you came from out how long you've pretended to be here retard. Shut the fuck up and lurk more, it keeps you from spouting off more retarded, memetastic bullshit.

You want a sport oriented american wagon and all you can do is blabble about you're fucking wrong brand image. I already know what kind of gun owner you are you autisic fuck.

I'll say it again: you have to go back, it's your home whether you know it or not.