Canada as car builder losing lustre

CAW another union wasteland..they could all get jobs at Toyota!

maybe if the former"big 3" would build something other than gas guzzlers they wouldn't need government bail outs

Unlike European unions who consider themselves a partner with management, the North American unions are adversarial and resistant to changes that ensure a quality product is produced.

Instead, the unions go on strike when the companies turn a profit in order to demand more money than they had agreed to in good faith negotiations, they act to prevent the termination of employees who richly deserve to be terminated, they adamantly resist individual accountability for quality control, and the net result is that the unions end up with no one to blame but themselves when their firms lose business to foreign firms such as Mercedes, Toyota, Volvo, and etc. who employ strict quality control measures.

The unions end up being their own worst enemies.

Were they more interested in the ongoing employment of their members and less concerned with the political power of their pension funds the current currency issues would be offset by unions that would be flexible enough to act responsibly.

Give it 30 years and a North American made car will be a rarity.

I'm hoping in 30 years North American unions will be a rarity

In 30 years we will all be driving Toyotas and yes Buzz they will still be made in Canada and the US.

I'm hoping in 30 years North American unions will be a rarity

That's happening, too.

Believe it or not, I'm actually pro-union. I believe there is a constructive place for organized labor in the economy and in society. My problem is with the unions that are no longer representing the real interests of their rank and file members.

How does it serve the autoworkers union to oppose quality controls to keep their employers competitive and then they cause those employers to lose market share to foreign firms that have no such union constraints?

Ultimately, modern day unions are hurting their own members the most by directly participating in the demise of the auto industry the same way they killed the North American steel industries (which caused the iron ore and coal mining industries to collapse), the North American shipbuilding industries, the North American textile industries, and etc.

Consequently, union membership has dropped precipitously in the private sector because the kinds of industries where collective bargaining is most effective have all but disappeared in our nations.

Unions themselves are now the worst enemies of union members.

"Gas Guzzlers"? How do you figure that? My Canadian built 4 door V-8 Ford(s) get great gas millage, better than many Toyotas. My one with 310 HP, gets about 8.5L/100km on the highway. The other one gets 8.4 l/100km combined city&highway, real world fuel economy. (~29MPG).

What does Toyota have in the 5 passenger range to compare? A Corolla only gets 31MPG combined, and would you want to sit in one for 5 hours at a stretch?

"Gas Guzzlers"? How do you figure that? My Canadian built 4 door V-8 Ford(s) get great gas millage, better than many Toyotas. My one with 310 HP, gets about 8.5L/100km on the highway. The other one gets 8.4 l/100km combined city&highway, real world fuel economy. (~29MPG).

What does Toyota have in the 5 passenger range to compare? A Corolla only gets 31MPG combined, and would you want to sit in one for 5 hours at a stretch?What exactly are you driving??

"Gas Guzzlers"? How do you figure that? My Canadian built 4 door V-8 Ford(s) get great gas millage, better than many Toyotas. My one with 310 HP, gets about 8.5L/100km on the highway. The other one gets 8.4 l/100km combined city&highway, real world fuel economy. (~29MPG).

What does Toyota have in the 5 passenger range to compare? A Corolla only gets 31MPG combined, and would you want to sit in one for 5 hours at a stretch?

The big "3" only make money off trucks a dying market....BTW a Corolla gets a hell of a lot more than 31mpg combined where the fuck did you get that stat from. I have one. try 37 city and 48 highway minimum. A 5 speed Corolla even qualifies for the gov't 1000 rebate.

I also have a Honda element that gets over 31 on the highway and it's a friggen box!

And are you talking American Gallons? Then it would be 28 mpg. If you're in Canada, you're talking 33.6 mpg. I'm not accusing you of anything, but, my 2005 chevy malibu (v6) gets 9L/100km... That's with big knobby winter tires on the front... it will get 8.7 with the summer tires.

"Gas Guzzlers"? How do you figure that? My Canadian built 4 door V-8 Ford(s) get great gas millage, better than many Toyotas. My one with 310 HP, gets about 8.5L/100km on the highway. The other one gets 8.4 l/100km combined city&highway, real world fuel economy. (~29MPG).

?

Yeah what the hell are you driving and I think you flunked math

"Gas Guzzlers"? How do you figure that? My Canadian built 4 door V-8 Ford(s) get great gas millage, better than many Toyotas. My one with 310 HP, gets about 8.5L/100km on the highway. The other one gets 8.4 l/100km combined city&highway, real world fuel economy. (~29MPG).

What does Toyota have in the 5 passenger range to compare? A Corolla only gets 31MPG combined, and would you want to sit in one for 5 hours at a stretch?

The big V-8s with all their torque can get pretty decent mileage when they're properly tuned, getting enough air, and when you're not being a lead foot.

The problem with getting good mileage on them is that the smog equipment on a V-8 typically messes up the performance which means you use more gas to do the same thing as a V-8 without those additions.

I know this from intimate experience.

I once had a 1972 Ford LTD (four door) with the 429ci Cobra Jet. It came with a crappy little two barrel carburetor, a smog pump, a single exhaust with an exhaust rebreather and it got about 6/7MPG.

I neutralized the smog equipment while leaving it on the engine for inspection reasons (it always passed, too!), replaced the 2bbl with a Holley 4bbl 750cfm dual feed with vacuum secondaries, installed a Mallory Unilite distributor with a 100,000 volt Blaster coil, installed SplitFire plugs, added an MSD, installed 3-inch dual exhaust with a crossover, and then advanced the cam 3 degrees.

Thereafter it got about 18MPG around town and up to 24 and 26MPG on the freeway ( it would do 24MPG at 55mph - the legal speed limit at the time - and 26MPG about 65MPH ).

The dynomometer horsepower rating went from 300 something to close to 500.

I can't speak to the new V-8s with all the BS on them, but the old ones can be made to get decent mileage but you just have to work on the performance. See, the more torque the engine can develop then the less gas you need to get it to do what you need it to do.

Ford should stop testing their big crewcab powerstrokes in Cali and then trying to sell them to Canadians as a "tough work truck". Sorry Ford but your gas front shocks all died after -30,your heaters wont clear the windshield past -15 and your air filters clog solid within ten minutes of driving in drifting snow. I had the pleasure of driving a half a dozen new ones straight off the barge the last month,the boys are modifying,thats what our auto industry consists of. Taking someones idea and making it work for here.

Cheaper that way.

And evidently you haven't seen the new Malibu. GM has turned the corner (Saturn is evidence of this) and while it may not be yet on par with Honda/Acura or Toyota (which, by the way has seen its reliability slip)/Lexus, it's certainly competitive with Nissan/Infiniti and other brands. Give GM a chance. And if Ford can figure out what's going on at Mazda, they might see the light eventually too.

If toyota ever smartens up and puts a diesel in their tundra they will get a huge share of the Alberta market.