Big Three Bail Out?

Sorry. Normally I try to write funny articles. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything funny about us tax payers having to bail out the big three auto makers.

As a person who has spent much of my life working with automobiles, I have a unique perspective on why Ford, G.M. and Chrysler are failing.

I will only address the failure as it relates to the quality of their vehicles.

Between 1971 and 2003 these companies produced inferior to outright junk that was passed off to the public as a motor vehicle!
When I opened my shop in 1989, if you got one hundred thousand miles out of your American built vehicle you had done good.

The main V8 motor Chevy used was first put into production in 1955 and they used it up until 2002. That’s forty seven years of using the same old design!

Toyota and Lexus would never do that! Every five to seven years they pull out a clean sheet of paper and completely redesign their motors. Even if the motor was a winner, they re-engineer it to make it even better.

The expense is huge to have to re-tool the factory every five to seven years but it has paid off. While the big three refused to spend money on developing a good product, Toyota and Lexus where seeking perfection.

It is no wonder Toyota has become the #1 auto maker in the world.

As long as routine maintenance is done, these cars seem to just keep going.

We have quite a few customers with over three hundred thousand miles on their vehicles, and they have the original motors and transmissions.

There is an old saying which is very appropriate for this tax payer sponsored bail-out “Don’t throw good money after bad”.

For the big three to show a profit and stay in business they need to follow the business model of Toyota.

Make product quality their main priority and build cars that the public wants to buy.

I hope you found this article interesting. I am Ken Levine, the owner of Ken’s Quality Auto Repair in Thousand Oaks, where we specialize in Lexus and Toyota vehicles. If you have any car questions please e-mail me at kq@verizon.net, visit www.kensqualityauto.com or call 805-494-4344