GM could have learned from them.
Amid bankruptcies and forecasts of Detroit doom, one of the Big Three is hanging tough. Ford tough.
Once defined by the revolutionary Model T, Ford is motoring on without federal bailouts, Treasury-led restructurings or bankruptcy judges.
Ford Motor Co.’s U.S. market share grew last month, and sales surpassed even mighty Toyota’s. Ford’s shares have outperformed those of Honda and Toyota over the past year. Shares of archrival General Motors Corp., now in bankruptcy, are nearly worthless.
……Indeed, Ford’s U.S. market share in May reached its highest level since 2006, rising to 17.4 percent from 15.2 percent a year ago. But Ford spokesman Bill Collins said GM’s bankruptcy has not affected Ford’s plans.
……Ford’s domestic sales totaled 155,994 vehicles last month as its Fusion hybrid and Flex crossover models set sales records. Ford even outsold Japanese rival Toyota, which notched 135,661 U.S. sales. Ford’s May results were the best since July, when it sold 161,530 vehicles.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/08/ford-pulls-its-weight-without-bailout-funds/
GM is now owned by the government and Chrysler is now owned by Fiat. Even profitable GM dealers had the rug pulled out from under them thanks to the socialist takeover. When you accept a government bailout, you accept the government’s control of your business. By the way, the union didn’t do much for its members in this deal, although it brags about what it supposedly ‘accomplished’.
Kudos to Ford. Not only did the company tell the government where to stick its bailout, but it’s practicing free-market enterprise. What a concept.