<VV> End of the line for Corvair Axle Plant (No Corvair)

[Craig Nicol]

Yes, the situation of US auto makers, including our beloved GM, is dire.
But the volume of domestic production of automobiles hasn't changed all that
much. Somewhere between 25 and 30 NEW auto plants have been built in this
country in the last 20 years, along with new supplier companies for them. I
can't think of a single new factory that's US owned though and the U.S.
owned suppliers are collapsing too since the US automakers tried to make the
suppliers take up the slack in the automakers cost problem.  The good news:
all the workers and most of the management for these new factories and
suppliers are American.  What's happened is more of a shift than a downsize.


U.S. automaker management and design has failed to provide the right product
and their efforts were complicated by a one monopoly supplier that squeezed
them too many times. (Which supplier? It's the labor unions, they were a
monopoly supplier of workers).  The greed model (what's in it for me) that
drives US management and the labor union thinking has been replaced by a "do
better for the customer and profits will come" model promoted by the
newcomers. The sad part is that these management failures all fall on the
backs of the hard-working American worker who is displaced, set back, and
sometimes wiped-out in the process.  Shame on the management (labor bosses
and automaker) for failing their workers and customers.
Geez! What an upbeat post. (NOT)
Craig Nicol