GM and Chrysler merger?

[Christopherrr]

I was against it at first, but if it means survival...why not. Your thoughts please...

GM & Chrysler merger by FOXNews

[Steel2686]

I saw this over the weekend.

My take is it heavily depends on what GM plans on doing with the brands. One analyst had them getting rid of the Chrysler name all together and keeping Dodge. Getting rid of the slumping Pontiac brand and possibly Buick and GMC. They would later look for buyers of the Saab and Hummer brands.

That would leave:
Chevrolet
Dodge
Cadillac
Saturn

It's interesting, and I have no real problem with it other than being sad to see Pontiac go if that's the case. As you stated, Chris... If it means survival, I'm all for it. I've been one of the bigger critics of GM on these boards lately, but I'm still a huge fan of the brand which is why I tend to critisize them. I don't want to see them fail.

[3800_Firebird]

Nah, let Chrysler go, GM. It's not good to get onboard a sinking ship from one that's just taking on a bit of water.

These companies have had to realize that there are consequences for bad product moves. The big automakers invested too much in trucks/SUV's and neglected designing good cars and now are paying for it. All the mergers in the world won't save them now, imo. The current economic circumstances coupled with increased effective competition is killing them.

I gotta say that I like Chrysler, GM and Ford but the more brands you lop off of legendary companies, the worse they tend to do.

That's just my opinion, pessimistic as it may be.

[Dave-S]

Read this http://www.autoextremist.com/current/

[slowbird]

lets talk merger...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwzcBZrM3Js

[Trash man]

hmmm the new 2011 Chevrolet Challenger and the new 2011 Dodge Camaro! eh dont fit

GM just needs to tweak the cars a lil. my lil cav is alot better then civics ive seen.

[Christopherrr]

GM is really trying to push it through!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081028/...us_chrysler_gm

[Christopherrr]

more reading

http://blogs.motortrend.com/6319636/...ors/index.html

[markd79ta]

Dodge and especially Jeep are good. The Chrysler name plate isn't worth much.

A company with

Chevrolet
Dodge
Jeep
Cadillac

would do fairly well with two dealerships (Chevy/Dodge) and (Cadillac/Jeep). Pontiac, GMC, Buick, Chrysler, Hummer, Saab, and Saturn are pretty much worthless. One of the big three is going down during this recession. I personally like this merger, but then again I like the Dodge/Jeep vehicles more then the GM vehicles right now. I am not too disappointed about Pontiac; the division ended in '79 as far as I am concerned. GM, Jeep, and Dodge could refine their product offerings to a few things they do extremely well. However, I would be concerned on the truck front. I would hate to loose the Dodge line and be stuck with a Ford. GM's trucks have been worthless as work trucks since '87 and they are still worthless for anything but highway use.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

A friend of mine worked at a Jeep dealership. He spent all day replacing brakes at 30k miles, heater cores every 3-4 years, and rebuilding front and rear differentials on Cherokees and Grand Cherokees. Every one of them will have an HVAC fault code if it was built before 2005. We walked out to borrow one off the lot to move a trailer and he punched a couple of buttons on the HVAC panel and sure enough it had a fault code for the dampener. He said it's about $1500 to fix it so must people just live with a marginally working system. Every car has its list of quirky problems. Lord knows the C5 does. My horn switch just died. How embarrassing. I hope GM stays around to keep building the Vette. I don’t want to ever drive anything else. 

[markd79ta]

A friend of mine worked at a Jeep dealership. He spent all day replacing brakes at 30k miles, heater cores every 3-4 years, and rebuilding front and rear differentials on Cherokees and Grand Cherokees. Every one of them will have an HVAC fault code if it was built before 2005. We walked out to borrow one off the lot to move a trailer and he punched a couple of buttons on the HVAC panel and sure enough it had a fault code for the dampener. He said it's about $1500 to fix it so must people just live with a marginally working system. Every car has its list of quirky problems. Lord knows the C5 does. My horn switch just died. How embarrassing. I hope GM stays around to keep building the Vette. I don’t want to ever drive anything else. 

My '06 Liberty CRD w/ 50K on the clock is flawless. Maybe I was lucky. It is an incredible 4x4 that regularly gives us 25mpg. I absolutely love the Wrangler 2 door and 4 door and my version of the Liberty. Then again, I live at 8,900ft and most of the people where I live either drive Subaru(s) or Jeeps. My neighbor just turned 200,000K on his '01 Wrangler. I here that the Cherokees are often problematic. However, I think the new Cherokee, Liberty, Patriot, and Campus vehicles are a joke.

[MN6WS6]

What I'm hearing is what a bunch of you are hearing and reading, that GM wants the money and Cerebus wants GMAC.

But...

GM wants to shutter everything but the Jeeps and the Caravan/Town and Country. EVERYTHING. They already have a GM vehicle in every other class that Chrysler has, but the Caravan/T&C have HEAVY market share and they want those customers. Also, it'll hurt Mitsubishi by taking away their midsize truck (based on Dakota) and it will kill off Nissan's Titan/Ram agreement for 2010. That will leave Chevy, Ford, and Toyota in the big trucks and create a gap for Mitsubishi with no bigger truck and make Nissan invest heavy in a new truck quickly, continue with the old truck, or pull out altogether. That hurts two foreign competitors, gives them a bunch of cash, and eliminates one of their top competitors. All while putting tens of thousands of people out of work to suck on the government boob that Barack plans on handing out to everybody IF he wins. That's a bunch of wins for GM.

[markd79ta]

What I'm hearing is what a bunch of you are hearing and reading, that GM wants the money and Cerebus wants GMAC.

But...

GM wants to shutter everything but the Jeeps and the Caravan/Town and Country. EVERYTHING. They already have a GM vehicle in every other class that Chrysler has, but the Caravan/T&C have HEAVY market share and they want those customers. Also, it'll hurt Mitsubishi by taking away their midsize truck (based on Dakota) and it will kill off Nissan's Titan/Ram agreement for 2010. That will leave Chevy, Ford, and Toyota in the big trucks and create a gap for Mitsubishi with no bigger truck and make Nissan invest heavy in a new truck quickly, continue with the old truck, or pull out altogether. That hurts two foreign competitors, gives them a bunch of cash, and eliminates one of their top competitors. All while putting tens of thousands of people out of work to suck on the government boob that Barack plans on handing out to everybody IF he wins. That's a bunch of wins for GM.

It would really suck to see Chrysler divested to that extent. I can't see GM being successful cutting this many jobs while securing public funding. However, there really is no way Chrysler will survive on their own. Furthermore, they do not have the cash to retool their cars for the upcoming CAFE restrictions or hybrid/electric technology. We are definitely heading toward dark times in the auto industry.

[Steel2686]

I'm still skeptical of the whole idea. We're talking about two struggling companies. Chrysler is definitely worse off than GM, but neither is in good shape right now. I'm not 100% sure Gm buying Chrysler will do anything for either company.

It's like the Andrea Doria rescuing passengers of the Titanic. They're both sinking ships.

[Wild Willy]

Wow, I hadn't thought about Chrysler's relationship with Mitsubishi- I could see GM using that a conduit to sell GM vehicles world-wide re-badged as Mitsu- sort of like how they sell Subaru's re-badged as Saabs- or you can buy a Suzuki badged as a chevy Aveo.

Ford seems to be standing strong right now, while GM and Chrysler struggle. Not too long ago GM was number one in the world- says something about their management team that they have slipped so far- Yes, all auto manufacturers are struggling, but GM has lost their game, it seems. Too bad, I continue to cheer for them, but they keep killing off cars I love, have bought, and probably would continue to buy- full-sized V8 powered RWD sedans (like I can still buy at Ford) or V8 RWD sporty cars (that I can also get at Ford.... see a trend here?) They make good FWD transportation appliances, very competitive with Honda and Toyota, but not something I would drive for enjoyment-

I hope they can figure it out- I like Chrysler, too- Owned a big-block New Yorker and two Dodge trucks- If they can keep the name plate alive and viable, more power to them.