Interesting you should mention Dodge in the good category. I remember my dad bought a brand new(at the time)1998 Dodge Ram 2500. Before the warranty ran out we put 3 transmissions in that truck. I had an old square body 1500 once. Drove it 30 minutes and the break system failed and locked completely down. I've always been a Ford guy. My grandfather raised me that way. I've had good luck with them for the most part but there's good and bad in all
Right I hear that point but my visual cravings are more machinery than body and styling.
I can totally relate to the "valvetrain design as artistry" appreciation you express.
But as I mentioned in another reply to this thread, it's "big two" when it comes to ownership. "Chrysler" and it's brands have not been "US owned" for a very long time now. Daimler...Fiat...Stelantis...
Yes, first from driving trucks and operating heavy machinery, but I was very entertained to read the manual and see how one of our cars wants owners to pay attention to oil temp with it right in middle of gauge cluster.
It's been big two in my mind for a while. My loyalty is to a combo of good products above all and then good employers. As said in another post I worked at a supplier that made parts that went into US made Hondas when then big 3 were still not really out of their SFQ/malaise era.
Yeah, I have heard Dodge trucks are problematic, especially trannies. My nephew had the same issues. Of the big 3, my money is on Ford also , at least lately.
Sorry, yes... middle management. I worked in research lab and middle management consisted of bench level scientists that had no idea how to manage people. I am guessing someplace like GM would hire people with management degrees, which probably was the correct thing to do. I assumed middle manageent was bad everywhere. My bad.
Yes, that is what I mean in the OP. GM went through a big reorg after 2008. Ford did not. Just wondering how that effected the cars. Perhaps bankruptcy pushed everyone at GM to be on the same page.
Yes, I will agree it can be poor in some lab firms having done contracts in some and knowing the careers of friends. Smart with STEM and management skills are different. I live in a significant biotech and Pharma area with scientist friends both pleased and upset now with their firms hiring more people with management skills and training vs the culture that was promote good scientists.
Recent generation RAM (not Dodge) use ZF transmissions as do most "Chrysler" brand vehicle models. They are used by other manufacturers, too. Some come out of the ZF manufacturing in Germany and some are build by "Chrysler" under license.
Yes, a few manufacturers and licensed designs are used across brands like a few firms make or design a lot for the whole industry such as interiors. That makes Tesla different from some competition but it doesn't appear Tesla's or others going more vertical is same as classic days of Ford Rouge complex. GM just investing in US mining reminded me of earlier times but that was iron more than rare earth metals.
I think that GM has figured out that there is way to be very profitable that is very different from what US automakers did from the 1950s through the early 2000s. Consumers are too well informed to fall for the old "badge engineering" that took a Chevy and made it into a Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and a Cadillac with just a pile of various cosmetic parts. They have learned that sophisticated buyers will pay $100,000+ (or $300,000+ for the Celestiq???) for a high quality Cadillac that competes with the best luxury brand names in the world, and the profit margins on those expensive cars are huge. To earn back the credibility that they lost over the past 60 years, Cadillac now offers performance that meets or exceeds that of its major foreign competitors, interiors that no longer look like an upscale Chevy (you should see my ELR), and technology that isn't even offered by other luxury brands (Super Cruise, which notably is better than Tesla's Auto Pilot). The interior of the new Lyriq EV is unique and draws little if anything from other GM vehicles, and at its price point its only real competition comes from Genesis (another brand that is doing things right).
Yup...Honda will be releasing a midsize EV SUV that pretty much a Chevy Blazer EV next year. Toyota's first EV, the BX4x is also shared by Subaru (Solterra) and Lexus (RZ). Etc.
Yes. I hope with some new models they pull off how well some makers use shared platforms and parts but also give a doesn't feel cheap impression. They will need that to get someone who went to or has only known modest vehicles like a Camry, Golf or similar.
