When will US auto manufacturers realize, by not paying now, they will certainly be paying much more in the future? Do Toyota and Honda ring a bell?

Screw Detroit, go Arnold!

The people who run Detroit can clearly not be trusted to do anything and, at this point, need to be given one last warning. They make terrible cars, they don't care about quality or the environment, and they totally abandoned their own city and made it the worst place in America. Shame shame shame.... Let me add however, that the unions are as much to blame as the management.

That is about time that we tell the car manufatcurers to do real efforts and stop delivering dinosaurs (especially he US auto makers do not seem to know how to make a sound car : with either European driving qualities or Japanese reliability).

The car makers will not move first.
The buyer will wait and see if things become right and they will surely not bug the car makers.
The weather patterns will continue to deteriorate will be ask what if all this is really true.

The government involvment is essential to solve this critical issue.

This should also be a real reason for international cooperation. We are at war with a real threat (far more destructive than any terrorist plot) and if we do not put all our efforts in, the really nasty problems will come soon. New Orleans was only a joke compared to what awaits us within the next 20 years.

Hence, with very strict regulations against pollution and greenhouse where even the rich cannot escape it. Fines are definitely not the way, since this does not prevent millionnaires to use their gaz guzzlers.

During rush hours, people with fossil fuel cars should be forbidden the access to any large city centers where the transit systems should be heavily subsidised during the same period. Hence, anyone entering a city center with his car or even worst 4X4 should have its vehicle taken away and removed from the road to be sold in an auction where the profit would go for health care or transit system investment.

That's the only way to get real results.

What can we do, each of us should write one message per week to all govenrments, car makers and any economical leaders to demand for immediate change.

The next big issue : hydrogen fuel in airplanes ? It does not seem that Boeing has continued its projects.

Wasn't Arnold responsible for popularizing Hummers? And doesn't he still drive one? It all seems a little hypocritical.

This is an over simplification. There is no direct correlation between CAFE and either volume of sales or profit, and Arnold is ignoring all of the many other factors that contribute to the financial troubles of "Michigan".

Honda has the best average fuel efficiency but doesn't make nearly the profit that Toytota does (much of Toyota's profit comes from pickup trucks, SUV's, and large sedans, not compacts or hybrids) and is fourth in sales volume in the US behind all of the domestics. Large pickups are still by far the best selling vehicles. Nearly twice as many F150's and Silverados were sold in 2006 as Camrys and Accords. (http://autos.msn.com/advice/article.aspx?contentid=4023925) And side-by-side, domestic vehicles are little or no less efficient than similar vehicles from foreign manufacturers.

The domestics' problems are a cycle of economics and politics. Their costs have been outpacing the rate of increase of vehicle prices for years. The minimum cost to produce a vehicle in the US under UAW contracts now exceeds the price of much of the smaller (more efficient) half of the market. Thus, the domestics only make profit off of the largest (less efficient) vehicles. The CAFE requirement forces manufacturers to push the prices of smaller vehicles lower and lower to drive sales, futher worsening the problem (compare prices of similar cars in Europe) while the market continues to fracture with the increase of manufactures and models. Costs for all other manufacturers, even those building vehicles in the US (non-UAW) are much lower - thousands of dollars per vehicle lower.

Unfortunately, the governement isn't likely to solve the problem. Politicians are just that - politicians, who rarely understand either the science or economics of these issues. They write well intentioned by horribly flawed environmental legislation that is economically and/or socially unsustainable and often ineffective.

Worse, statements like Arnold's could be self-fulfilling profit, further hurting domestic sales, reducing the revenue available to manufacturers to improve their vehicles.

The problem with domestic cars is that they aren't even trying. They consider small cars to be "crap that nobody wants anyway and only the poor gets stuck with", with few exceptions.

I could make a poster with all vehicles made by Toyota or Honda and throw a dart knowing that I'll probably be happy with whatever I get.

I couldn't do the same with GM, Ford or Chrysler's vehicle.

And yes, Toyota sells a lot of bigger vehicles in the US, but around the world their best sellers are smaller and more efficient cars. Most of the US models of cars can't even be sold elsewhere, and GM doesn't sell many of it's Opel cars in the US. Pretty sad..

Automakers in Detroit have been way behind for a while when it comes to adopting environmentally-friendly technologies, but they are slowly catching up.

http://www.gm.com/automotive/fuel_economy
http://www.ford.com/en/goodWorks/environment

The city of Detroit is in the early stages of a downtown revitlization so it is no longer the worst place in America and has not been for some time. They just need to shake the bad reputation from years past.

Bravo Ahnold. I saw his speech on C-Span. He has greened all of his Hummers, and is pushing Detroit - and he is right.

Frank G said - "The domestics' problems are a cycle of economics and politics. Their costs have been outpacing the rate of increase of vehicle prices for years."

It is more than that. Detroit has been behind Japan on Car Tech for 30 years. Ford would not have a good Hybrid unless Toyota licensed it to them. GM's hybrids are mild hybrids, 10 years behing Japan. Detroit produces no clean diesels. And reliability, while better, still lags behind Japan.

The other day, I saw two car ads- A Dodge Avenger ad, bragging about it's heated cup holder, and an Audi ad, demonstrating a smart braking system for it's collision avoidance radar. That sums it up right there.

When was the last time Detroit put out a safety or environmental improcvement before anyone else, or before the governent forced them to?

Naul Samson says: They make terrible cars, they don't care about quality or the environment, and they totally abandoned their own city and made it the worst place in America. Shame shame shame.

Hey Naul, have you ever been to Detroit? I didn't think so, next time do a bit of research before trashing a whole city. I live in the Metro Detroit suburbs and spend plenty of time downtown. We have done a great job revitalizing the city and bringing people back. I have my problems with the Big 3, I hate the fact that we have no public transportation but keep the criticism where it belongs and not on the city itself. I would love to see the Big 3 change, I work for a supplier and my job may be affected with the Chrysler sale.

Rep Joe Knollenberg has a billboard attacking Arnold on the highway, contact his office and complain but lay off the city.

As for your comment regarding the UAW, yes they are partially to blame but they signed a great contract when the Big 3 were rolling in cash. Should they make concessions, some but they are not the ones designing the cars, they just put them together.

We have a Ford Focus and Dodge Caliber, both excellent small cars that get great mileage. The Caliber is by far the best US small car on the market, take one for a test drive....

My very conservative grandmother got angry at my mom for buying a Prius, when she found out the Prius is built in Asia. She said we should buy American, but the problem is that there's no American car that suits our needs quite like the Prius. American hybrids lack the millage and quality that makes the Prius our car of choice.

I think the truly American (I'm talking 50's, embrace the free market American) thing to do would be to buy products that best suit my family's needs and ethics. Yes, it does strain American companies, but American companies are under economic stress in the first place because they are out of touch with what America wants. If they improved, they'd get better sales.

I would gladly buy an American car if it were as good as the Prius, but that doesn't look like it will happen for a long time. The Chevy Volt looks interesting, but I have a feeling the 09 Prius with the uber-high millage and heavily rumored plug-in capabilities will steal its fire.

Didn’t we already play this game after the oil crises? Detroit protested against improving fuel economy instead of sending in engineers to solve the problem and as a result the already more efficient European and Japanese manufactures were able to gain ground. Its happening again and I don’t really see why shareholders in the big three don’t get together and tell them to read a little corporate history and make the right decision this time.

mardenhill - I've been to Detroit many times...The fact that you live in the 'burbs proves my point!

Detroit has improved slightly over the years, but it's still a smoking hole. Until suburbanites start returning to the city, tearing up freeways and rebuilding the place, it's a long way from "revitalized"...

There are many complex reasons for this, and all American cities suffered in the 60's till the late 80's, but nowhere did the phenomenon hit harder than Detroit and I think the Big 3 had a lot to do with it.

I applaud GM's return to the Ren Center, but that thing is like a fortress, it's hardly a part of the old city's fabric.

As for public transit, get those complacent slobs out in Pontiac and Auburn Hills to support regional rail and you'll start the soluiton. Sometimes, when I get conspiratorial, I come up with this theory -- The "people mover" in downtown detroit is pretty lame and useless right? It makes a joke out of public transit and makes people from the 'burbs think "man, I'm glad I don't have to ride public transit!" ... sometimes I think that thing was deliberately cooked up by th big 3 to make transit look like a joke....

ok i'm quickly digressing. But honestly, Detroit has a loooooooong way to go. And the power structure in the burbs has not been helping much! (the great exception to this is of course the little cearas's guys - if the car and other companies did half as much as those guys, the city could be back on its feet in no time!

Yes I live in the 'burbs' but spend more time downtown at clubs, restaurants, bars, festivals than most. I agree the people mover is a joke, it goes in a circle and is useless. The only time I use it is to avoid paying for parking by leaving my car in the casino and validating parking. The Woodward stretch from Jefferson up towards Wayne State has improved over the last 10 years. Condos, single family units and lofts are now on Woodward across from the stadiums and other developments are near Wayne State. All these options have brought more suburbanites back to the city. Its a far cry from Chicago, you don't head downtown shop for a while, hit a restaurant and a club, you go down and head back. Give it a few more years and I expect many more stores available for people. This of course is only the city center the neighborhoods still need plenty of work but there is no money.

GM removed the berms built as a result of the riots and is now more open. The style of the building does not blend with the old architecture but does compliment the new Compuware and investment firm next door.

I would love to see a transit line run down the middle of Woodward, it would be the perfect public transit for the suburbs. I live 11 milies out of the city and would take a train downtown in a heartbeat. We have the perfect infrastructure for one its just convincing the politicans to go for it. I do fault the Big 3 tho, its not in their best interest to do so since it could decrease car sales.

I lived a few years in Oregon and saw how public transportation does work. I moved back to MI in 2000 and have witnessed a huge change in the city. I remember the days of hanging out in sketchy areas worrying about your car but a lot of that is gone. Those parts still exist but are being pushed further and further out from the city center. Take Detroit circa '92 and now, its a big difference.

I have written Rep Joe Knollenberg and I recommend you do the same.

Thank you Governor! Keep pushing what has needed to be done for 20 years. Bring on the foreign cars! They know what direction to go.
I see cars being purchased that get 100 mpg in the next 5 years. I see electric and I see more responsible biofuel practices.

"Wasn't Arnold responsible for popularizing Hummers? And doesn't he still drive one? It all seems a little hypocritical"

Ahnold could sleep in an idling Hummer and still be one of the greatest forces for greening the planet in the world.

I'll admit that envisioning hydrogen-fueled Hummers is a bit deluded, but the guy has changed the political landscape by showing North Americans that green politics can be a winner. He is the man.

If you can cherry-pick examples, to make any point you want, it is meaningless. I notice that while everyone is throwing stones that the domestics, no one mentions Audi/VW, BMW, Hyundai/Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, and Subaru don't make hybrids either. Why isn't anyone angry with them?

John Flagge said, "It is more than that. Detroit has been behind Japan on Car Tech for 30 years.”

How about some facts? GM proposed hybrid technology in the 60's, but there was zero interest, so it died. I believe that they also built cars with airbags as early as the 70's but again, no one cared, so they disappeared. GM and Chrysler both have variable displacement, which Toyota does not. And Toyota's new gigantic gas-guzzling pickup is both less powerful and less efficient than the equivalent Chevy, but costs more.

JF: “Ford would not have a good Hybrid unless Toyota licensed it to them.”

You’re thinking of Nissan. Ford developed their own hybrid system but found later that some parts of their system were already patented by Toyota. Rather than redesigning it, they licensed the right to use the patented technology (less expensive).

JF: “GM's hybrids are mild hybrids, 10 years behing Japan.”

Actually, Honda’s hybrid is also Mild hybrid. Mild isn't "behind" full hybrid. It is a different philosophy that results in a lower cost system. GM’s approach was to make a lower cost hybrid vehicle with a larger potential market.

Regardless, hybrids still account for less than 1% of the vehicles manufactured and make no significant profit. Aside from the Prius, hybrids have been a huge flop in the market overall, and it only now barely breaks even after 7 years in production. All other hybrids lose money or do not return the cost to the consumer. Nissan's CEO said that they are only building a hybrid to have one, even though it will lose money.

JF: “Detroit produces no clean diesels.”

Neither do Honda or Toyota, and the cleanest of all diesels (Bluetec) has failed to meet its goal of 50 state compliance.

JF: “And reliability, while better, still lags behind Japan....”

Subaru, Nissan, Mazda, and Suzuki all rank below industry average in quality along with Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Volvo, Audi, Mini, Volkswagen, Kia, Saab, and Land Rover. Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Buick, Cadilla, and Oldsmobile all rank(http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.asp?ID=2006133).

But people like you will convince other people that the domestic manufacturers have nothing to offer and make the whole situation worse. So is it all "Detroits" fault?

Actually, Arnold now drives a blue hybrid hummer. Whats more, I don't give a $#%$# if US automakers loose money b/c California is instituting new fuel economy/emition standards. I can't wait until we have full electric cars, then we will see how much #$(#@# US automakers are loosing. When they can't charge us for oil for the engine or filters or all those additional and wasteful items that are required for petrol driven motors. The US automotive industry killed the electric car in the 1990s and they have majorly contributed to the pollution of our air, our play areas, our waterways... The US automotive industry has generally done its best to produced poor quality cars for their consumers. @Conan, the American automotive industry and several other groups killed the electric car http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F