Comments on: “When Nissan sneezes, suppliers get pneumonia”

By: truthbetold37

truthbetold37 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 01:54:41 +0000

PK USA is a good company. They invested alot of money in the Canton area to support Nissan.

By: ihatetrees

ihatetrees — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:45:41 +0000

golden2huskey:
Maybe I am incorrect regarding the work force, but I would like to assume that they would prefer to be working and have a sense of security, rather than be in a job bank with an uncertain future.

The jobs bank is often a very nice paid vacation for those with the seniority and/or savings to take and/or afford it.

By: Alexdi

Alexdi — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:32:57 +0000

That’s astonishing. Market share drops, so they fire workers to maintain profitability. Is it cynical to see that as a breath of fresh air? Years of big-3 union stories must have me jaded.

By: BKW

BKW — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:44:24 +0000

The original breakeven point was 100,000 Titans a year. Nissan sold roughly 93,000 the first year (2004), sales have slide downhill every year since.

Blame the frogs (Renault), they have spent next to nothing on advertising it (most ppl think it’s made in Japan) and while the 2004’s had teething problems, Nissan corrected all of them by midyear 2005.

IMO, the Titan is a far better pickup than any thing else including the new Tundra.

If you look at the history of French cars sold in the US, you’ll quickly come to realize that they haven’t a clue how to market vehicles here.

My dad was the West Coast Citroen distributor for over 20 years, and had to deal with them on a daily basis. They were klewless then, and are klewless now….so I ain’t just whistling Dixie.

By: hwyhobo

hwyhobo — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:38:32 +0000

I foolishly turned down a 300 thousand dollar offer a few years ago. On second thought I do deserve the idiot label.

No, you don’t. I passed some buying opportunities long time ago that could have set me up. Things happen. You bought when the buying was good.

Also, think about the current downturn as a buying opportunity. Maybe not today, but soon. You bought in a great place. Tampa St.Pete area is good for business. Other parts of FL may linger, but Tampa will be strong.

By: Sherman Lin

Sherman Lin — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:37:20 +0000

Hwyhobo, my late brother bought his house in Fremont California for a million dollars in 1996. Its like 5 minutes from the NUMI plant off of the Dixon landing exit from the interstate. At the time, I thought, nice house, but a million dollars would have bought so much more in Tampa in 1996. Our housing market was dead from like 86 to 96 and didn’t budge until like 97 and then really started to move in 2000 and beyond.

By: Sherman Lin

Sherman Lin — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:29:11 +0000

Quasimondo the funny thing is I did buy it to make a quick buck, at the time I was flush from funds in the stock market and my friend told me he knew of a house on a double lot that was selling for 45,000 dollars that if we remodeled it and put in 10 grand we could sell for 65,000. I had money and I actually paid 42,000 for it. After we remodeled it, redid kitchen, redid bathroom, rewired whole house, new windows, doors etc, we couldn’t sell it in 97 for 65,000 dollars. We even argued with each other as to who should simply take 100% ownership and just pay 10 grand to the other. I did take full ownership and I let my friend live in it for a few years rent free in return.

By: Sherman Lin

Sherman Lin — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:09:12 +0000

That 45,000 dollar house that I bought in 1996 is in Tampa Florida right outside Macdill Airforce base. It was 5000 dollars more than the other houses because it had an extra lot of land. I now pay taxes on at an assessed value of 208,000 dollars. The funny thing is that my friend told me to buy every single piece of property I could in the area (They were all 40 to 50 thousand dollars) because property values were about to explode. My reply to him was I‘ve been hearing that for the past 10 years and nothing has happened. So I only bough1 1 house. I foolishly turned down a 300 thousand dollar offer a few years ago. On second thought I do deserve the idiot label.

By: hwyhobo

hwyhobo — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:50:40 +0000

This was in a time when people bought houses to live in them, not make a quick buck off of them.

In 1996? Housing run started much earlier. There was a significant wave in the late 90s brought about by the dot com boom, but it was nothing new as a phenomenon. Around here (Silicon Valley), even in 1996 $45K could barely do for a down payment.

By: quasimondo

quasimondo — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:15:34 +0000

Where do you people buy those houses? Inside an active volcano?

This was in a time when people bought houses to live in them, not make a quick buck off of them.

By: hwyhobo

hwyhobo — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:53:17 +0000

In 1996 I bought a house for 45,000 dollars

Where do you people buy those houses? Inside an active volcano?

By: golden2husky

golden2husky — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:51:12 +0000

Assuming that’s not rhetorical, the Mississippi plant is only five-years-old, staffed by a non-union workforce.…

On the other hand, there is some blame to be laid at the domestics for making minimal investments in new or updated facilities during the times that they were flush with cash……

Maybe I am incorrect regarding the work force, but I would like to assume that they would prefer to be working and have a sense of security, rather than be in a job bank with an uncertain future. So I am assuming that the union would not stand in the way of a model changeover. Could be wrong, though.

If the plant is so limited in that it can’t have some degree of flexibility, well that is totally Ford’s fault and being an older plant is not an excuse. The facility could be modernized to be just as flexible as one built from scratch if Ford had invested the time and money to have done so. For their part, the F-150 has been the best selling vehicle for so many years they probably thought that there would never be a need to consider the day when the plant would be underutilized. Well, Oldsmobile was once a top selling namplate, too. Again, another problem rooted in poor decisions by management. And, as usual, the worker takes it on the chin.

By: dastanley

dastanley — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:21:15 +0000

What, no cheerleader in the photo? Damn!

By: Sherman Lin

Sherman Lin — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:12:45 +0000

Umm I disagree. I’m a professional cheapskate. In 1996 I bought a house for 45,000 dollars I was paying like 420 a month (its now 770 thanks to higher insurance and higher property taxes) and I bought an Xb in Dec 2005 for 14,400 plus tax tag. I put down a thousand dollars and my car payment was 330 a month I think. The car is now paid off and I rent out the house for 850 a month. I’m hardly an idiot. I have 3 paid off houses and a paid off car and tow other houses with modest mortgages. Anyway paying 350 a month on a car and 500 on a house does not qualify one for the idiot label. In fact if one is paying 500 a month on a house is it sounds extremely reasonable and 350 a month on a car is reasonable for a new car it means he financed around 17,000 dollars. That’s not exorbitant.

By: driving course

driving course — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 15:51:21 +0000

I have huge sympathy for anybody and everybody in such a position but ‘house note at $500 a month, car note at $350 a month’ – I know this is TTAC but nobody should be paying out 7/10 of their mortgage on car repayments.
I wish this stuff was taught in schools (in the US and the UK), and I’m aware the house market is screwed at the moment, but everybody should be taught the difference between borrowing to buy an appreciating asset – which is OK – and borrowing to buy a depreciating asset is financial folly.

By: mel23

mel23 — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:10:59 +0000

I think the keys must be age of plant and planning for flexibility when the plant was built. I’ve been through the TrailBlazer plant in Dayton, the Toyota plant in Georgetown and the Mercedes plant in Vance, AL. It is absolutely amazing to consider the planning needed to get an operation going. So many custom (I assume) machines to move components around the plants safely and timely. The Mercedes plant, although the newest, was the least efficiently designed. Don’t know whether this reflects the Euro mindset, lower production expectations, being unsure of the viability of US manufacture or what. I wonder if the Taurus plant at Atlanta would have been a better fit for the Focus; both products being unibody. Too late now I guess.

By: BuzzDog

BuzzDog — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:50:15 +0000

how come this facility can go from trucks to Altimas in such a short time while Ford could use more Focus production but they can’t switch over an F-150 plant…

Good point, but it probably has to do with the fact that Nissan’s plant is only five years old, while Ford’s truck plants were built decades ago. Newer plants are generally built to be more flexible in accommodating different production mixes.

On the other hand, there is some blame to be laid at the domestics for making minimal investments in new or updated facilities during the times that they were flush with cash…

By: RayH

RayH — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:48:55 +0000

I was impressed reading the article none of the displaced workers seemed not to blame others much. Not too long ago in our (Dayton, Ohio) paper did a profile/article on people working at one of the Delphi plants that shut down. Out of everyone I read about, I remember only one not blaming others. The rest blamed General Motors, Delphi, people not buying American (Delphi supplies A LOT of foreign nameplates with components), GWB, ect.
Automakers that can switch production between RWD/FWD and cars/trucks in a matter of weeks impress me.

By: Dimwit

Dimwit — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:46:22 +0000

Bah! Cry me a river. These guys should try out Detroit or now the GTA. Whole parts companies are going down.

If you’re a parts manufacturer and you’re not making stuff for something fuel efficient make sure your resume is updated. This going to get real ugly before it gets better.

By: Robert Farago

Robert Farago — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:45:56 +0000

golden2husky :

Assuming that’s not rhetorical, the Mississippi plant is only five-years-old, staffed by a non-union workforce.

By: golden2husky

golden2husky — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:23:34 +0000

An interesting question to ponder is how come this facility can go from trucks to Altimas in such a short time while Ford could use more Focus production but they can’t switch over an F-150 plant…