How could anyone be offended…Detroit does build 2nd rate cars and this ad hits it right on target.

It’s not as if only Germany and Japan are the only nations who can make a good automobile…it’s that Detroit settled long ago for a calculated mediocrity.

There’s a GM plant and a Ford plant in the city I live in. I’d hate to see workers lose their jobs. But on the other hand, these companies have been spewing forth awful product for so long- it’s time for them to get their act together or kiss it goodbye.

That is hillarious!

They deserve as many kicks as possible for complacency and letting “American car quality” become an oxymoron. How many people have lost their jobs over the last few decades simply because Detroit couldn’t get its act together?

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

If anyone’s offended, they need to remove the sticks from their asses and laugh a little.

@Gragop:
I think I would too, but the car would really have to be excellent and well though-out all-around. Hopefully they’d clean up their reputation too, so we’re not representing incumbent failure as well as new growth.

But was that the same thing, really, back in that previous century? The only american car that can be paralleled with BMW is… maybe Duesenberg?

Their manufacturing domination in the ~50s led to the complacency as well as silly games with the oil industry, tire industry and meddling in politics. That’s the notion I have about it, anyway.

*sigh* I had a lengthy reply about this but the computer lost it. lol. I’ll make it short: I gave GM a chance 2 years ago after years of BMWs and Lexus and MB ownership. Bought an Escalade. 6 months and weather stripping fell off the door. Bad switches… and the many spring-loaded stuff inside. They must’ve done cost-cutting on springs! The major components work fine, but it’s the little things that make you feel like the car is falling apart and is made poorly. And that was in a Cadillac!

Let them go bankrupt. Start a new company from scratch with new ideas and new direction, rehire the workers under new contract (so we don’t have to worry about 2-million-plus unemployed people), disband the UAW, and make them wear UNIFORM for god’s sake. It irks me everytime they show the factory workers wearing t-shirts and shorts of all colors of a rainbow, and some even look like pajamas! Yes I know they get dirty, I don’t expect them to have white crisp overalls, but damn, can’t they at least wear company-color t-shirts and shorts and look a touch more professional.

Aside from the slow server connection and frustrating constant MySQL server errors this BMWblog site is starting to loose substance. if i wanna laugh i go to comic strip blog sites. i’m bitter today – i just lost a bunch of colleagues in a layoff. i hope the The Big Three go bankrupt! I’m not offended by this and yes I did laugh a little.

this ad is disguisting!!! There is nothing to smile about in this ad. These three companies are good examples of corporate failure due to poor management and planning. Now they want to come with this arrogant advert! What the government should do is let private companies stay private. They cannot management a company properly, they fall and that’s it.

Their downfall will automatically create opportunities for someone else. Those CEO’s begging for bailout and taking $1 salary should actually be kicked out of the companies nevermind giving them $1 because clearly they are useless. Employes should actually fight for new and better management as their future are in those few people’s hands.

Sheer arrogance here! In fact real men have brains and will not buy rubbish like these. If they did, your cars will be even worse because you think we are idiots that buy anything that’s local!

LOL @ Lee. You’re a mess…..

@Gragop:
Oooooooh, snap! Yo mamma so fat, she stepped on a rainbow and made Skittles*!

@Gil:
I’m a mess? How so? Because I didn’t iron my shirt today? I know it’s a little wrinkled on the back, but I’ve been wearing my jacket most of the day so how the hell would you notice? I’m trying my best, dammit, but sometimes when I didn’t sleep well because I had nightmares about Gragop stalking me, I wake up late and don’t have time to iron. Cut me some slack!

*Skittles is a registered trademark of Mars, Incorporated.

@Horatiu B.:
Just joking around, Horatiu.

@Gragop:
I wish I had a comeback for that, but I’m laughing too damn hard to think of one.

@Lee:

Keeping things on edge isn’t completely childish…I don’t feel horrible about it…we keeps it clean, baby!

@Horatiu B.:

The UAW is helping to severely de-rail the Big 3. I understand that the purpose behind the union is to aide the working class guy and make sure he’s fairly represented and cared for instead of being a cog in the machine but the UAW has hardballed the Big 3 so much over the years for stuff that “concessions” they try to make now are for nought, far too late. I’d hope a corporate restructuring would allow for a drastic renegotiation of the UAW contract with the Big 3, does the UAW realize that without the Big 3 they’re dead in the water too?!

What really gets me is that as a contigency people have discussed handing over significant interest(http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/11/a_suggestion_for_big_three_and.html) to the UAW in the Big 3. I just don’t see how that can get the Big 3 back into the black – why hand the same people who’ve helped bleed these companies dry for years the damn keys to the building and plants?! That’s far more distressing than executives using private jets to travel – which was blown way out of proportion.

@clara:

I don’t know if they have any stake in the Big 3 right now, aside from job security. I just think it’s asinine to continue to have the UAW function in it’s current capacity. Give the Big 3 time to restructure and some breathing room with labor relations? Allow them the opportunity to provide competitive benefits and wages without unionization of workers like some European companies. BMW doesn’t have unionized workers in the US and it seems to work pretty well.

This also will reduce the profit margins eaten up by legacy costs in current Big 3 models. Mitt Romney (yeah, I know he flip flops on this) does have a good point that if you consider that about $2,000 of the cost of a Big 3 car is already tied up in overheard/legacy costs then that’s $2,000 less in quality, development, and amenities that you’ll lose right off the top before the car even hits the market. No wonder the Japanese and Europeans are more competitive in terms of pricing – $2,000 per model is a huge chunk of the cost that the American manufacturers are basically eating and passing onto the consumer through less amenities and cheaper parts.

It’s vicious circle with the UAW in the picture.