Who awarded that to them?
I'm beginning to think that the worst thing that could have happened to GM and Chrysler is bankruptcy. I don't know that they'll be able to catch up product-wise. I thing GM will be hamstrung by the inability to attract talent. And as far as Chrysler- if the US needed Fiats, they'd have already been here.
I'd strongly beg to disagree.:USA:
I left Ford for a (better) job at GM Aug of 08. I am still happy with this move, despite all the constant internet ragging from armchair CEO's and right wing anti GM wack jobs.
The bankruptcy is terrible from a PR standpoint, and the fact the only way through it was with gov't funding is the worst aspect. If there had been any other available bank, the offer would have been taken. Unfortunately that wasn't the case at that time, and we are were we are.
However, there is not a tremendous amount of brain drain so far, and we are allowed to pay people competitively.
Further, our lineup is one of the reasons I came to GM. They had the better cars to me, and I still think that. If you look at the other finalists for COTY, the LaCrosse and Equinox could easily both have won. For truck of the year, the Transit is a silly choice. It's a low volume commercial van that's been around in Europe for years and gets mediocre milage, while being smaller than a real van (the Fusion hybrid is a great car though).
Check out the recent GM launches (LaCrosse, Equinox/Terrain, Camaro, CTS-V) and the upcoming ones shown at this autoshow (Regal, Cruze, Aveo - seriously). GM's lineup is not suffering because of the bankruptcy, and now the focus is even better after shedding brands. Ford does not have a single vehicle that we can not easily compete with (other than Fusion Hybrid actually) or exceed.
So, while Ford is doing pretty damn well, and is clearly the media darling these days (along with any Limbaugh type) they still have a ton of debt to overcome. GM does not have balance sheet problems and is launching hit after hit. I'd say GM will be more profitable in '10 than Ford.
Chrysler.....after seeing their Detroit Auto Show lineup, they really should have been liquidated. That volume disappearing would have greatly benefited Ford/GM.
Overall, Ford and GM leave no excuse for buying some boring Jap crap over the next several years.