{"id":467,"date":"2009-05-27T14:22:55","date_gmt":"2009-05-27T20:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/?p=467"},"modified":"2009-05-28T14:22:33","modified_gmt":"2009-05-28T20:22:33","slug":"is-fiat-repeating-gms-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/?p=467","title":{"rendered":"Is Fiat Repeating GM?s Mistakes?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"fcbkbttn_buttons_block\" id=\"fcbkbttn_left\"><div class=\"fcbkbttn_button\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/facebook-button-plugin\/images\/standard-facebook-ico.png\" alt=\"Fb-Button\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><div class=\"fcbkbttn_like \"><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/?p=467\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\" layout=\"standard\"  width=\"225px\" size=\"small\"><\/fb:like><\/div><\/div><p>by Lloyd Frazier<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\"><a href=\"http:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/fiatemblem.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"fiat emblem\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; display: inline; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"167\" alt=\"fiat emblem\" src=\"http:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/fiatemblem-thumb.jpg\" width=\"125\" align=\"left\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a> The last three months of reports coming out of the global auto industry has been full of wild speculation, some good news, and mostly bad.&#160; We are seeing the beginnings of a major realignment of this industry due to the global economic meltdown.&#160; The big question of the moment is why Fiat is so determined to follow in GM?s footsteps?and Ford?s for that matter.&#160; They seem to be on a crusade to rule the auto world.&#160; First they snag Chrysler, now they are after Opel and some others.&#160; Ford methodically shed Jaguar, Rover and Aston Martin last year, just ahead of when the major meltdown started materializing.&#160; That is why they are ahead of the curve in the global scheme of things.&#160; GM is still trying to slim down by dropping Opel, Saab, Saturn, Hummer, Vauxhall and some others.&#160; These domestics did what Fiat is now doing, gobbling up more than it can chew.&#160; And at the worst time in history.&#160; Or, do they know something that we industry observers are unaware of.&#160; Maybe this is the perfect time for bargain shopping.<\/p>\n<p> <!--more-->  <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">\n<p align=\"justify\">I just read an article about real estate and its valuation across different markets in the US.&#160; It appears the Denver\/Northern Colorado market is already in recovery mode ahead of the rest of the US.&#160; How fortuitous that I happen to live in Northern Colorado.&#160; Of course, our area was in a major real estate downturn since 2005\/2006.&#160; We had the most foreclosures prior to 2009.&#160; What goes down usually starts an upturn at some point.&#160; We now appear to be ahead of the curve in the US.&#160; Does the same go for auto manufacturing?&#160; Chrysler went bankrupt and GM will most likely follow next week since no agreements have been reached with bond holders.&#160; Does that give them an edge in the near future?&#160; The first to go bankrupt and first to come out lean and mean?&#160; Ford has avoided bankruptcy, so far.&#160; Alan Mulally has done an outstanding job at the helm.&#160; Ford is in the best shape out of most all world auto manufacturers.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">We are so focused on the Big Three that we forget that all the other manufacturers across the globe are starting to feel the pain.&#160; Porsche spent billions trying to takeover VW.&#160; Now, they are in talks about bankruptcy avoidance.&#160; Toyota is bleeding cash and seeking loans from their government.&#160; The pain has spread throughout the industry.&#160; It is going to be interesting to see what this industry looks like in two or three years.&#160; Who knows, maybe the Big Three will actually live up to our expectations.&#160; Happy days might be back again!<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Lloyd?signing out<\/p>\n<div class=\"wlWriterEditableSmartContent\" id=\"scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:96f2a011-efc4-4289-a18c-271cf420d8d0\" style=\"padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-top: 0px\">Technorati Tags: <a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tags\/Fiat\" rel=\"tag\">Fiat<\/a>,<a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tags\/GM\" rel=\"tag\">GM<\/a>,<a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tags\/Ford\" rel=\"tag\">Ford<\/a>,<a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tags\/Big+Three\" rel=\"tag\">Big Three<\/a>,<a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tags\/auto+manufacturers\" rel=\"tag\">auto manufacturers<\/a>,<a href=\"http:\/\/technorati.com\/tags\/bankruptcy\" rel=\"tag\">bankruptcy<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Lloyd Frazier The last three months of reports coming out of the global auto industry has been full of wild speculation, some good news, and mostly bad.&#160; We are seeing the beginnings of a major realignment of this industry due to the global economic meltdown.&#160; The big question of the moment is why Fiat &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/?p=467\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Is Fiat Repeating GM?s Mistakes?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19,20,18,15,17,16],"class_list":["post-467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything-else","tag-auto-manufacturers","tag-bankruptcy","tag-big-three","tag-fiat","tag-ford","tag-gm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autoramblings.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}