No $25-billion bailout package for automakers - Senate vote canceled

already the quality of the Americans car is low and after the canceling the bailout package they going cut her and there to save money and the quality going lower

best cars in the next 20 years are Germans and japans

Die baby die. Greedy bastard. GM, Ford and Chrysler are just pure greedy. They just want a freebies. Freed hand out from tax payers. Why don't they sells all of their assets.

Yeah or even better: make cars that people actually want to buy.

that's what happens if your making junk cars

Japanese cars are much more better in term of quality , reliability and value for money

and the germans are much better than the americans in terms of drivability and luxury. that pretty much covers all aspects of cars, so what do american cars have as an advantage? nothing. give them the bailout to avoid a depression, then charge them for the bailout and let them die when the economic crisis is over.

Its not that the cars were so bad, its that they unlearnt the lessons of the 70s and placed all their profitability on one style of car, that could only have a limited life. Things changed and yet again they just couldn't turn things around in time. Now it probably wouldn't matter what they were selling, everyones broke and not buying.

As I am tired of bipartisan infinate battles and true inaccuracies of people judging without knowing.

Here is a bit of the other point of view. Just remember that execs could get out and still live properly; but 3 millions of men and women working just to make a living don't have that choice.

At least before any judgments, try to have both points of view and accurate facts (JD Power is an independent agency giving rankings on car industry based on what customers rank, say and want! It is worth looking at the figures!!)

And for your information, here is a reaction explaining a bit of the "dark side" like some of you are thinking...

"New Detroit vs. Old Detroit in Washington. By Peter M. De Lorenzo

Detroit. In the last week I have done several live and taped radio interviews across the country and with the BBC in London, a spirited interview with Diane Tucker appearing in The Huffington Post entitled, “Journalist to GOP: You're 100 Percent Wrong About U.S. Automakers,” and I have several national and international TV appearances slated for the next few days too. The subject? The looming implosion of Detroit, of course. People want to know the who, what, when, where, why of this whole thing, and they want to know about the cost, both in terms of taxpayer money needed and the real cost to the economy if the Detroit automakers don’t receive these bridge loans.

The din out there in the media right now is so anti-Detroit, anti-“bailout” that I welcome the opportunity to present the other side of the debate, even if it appears with each passing day that Detroit is running out of time and unable to break through the negative media clutter that envelopes the industry at every turn. And after that death march of a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee yesterday, I’m even more pessimistic.

When Alan Mulally, Rick Wagoner, Bob Nardelli and Ron Gettelfinger sat down in front of the microphones, I knew it wasn’t going to be good, especially when Peter Morici – the relentlessly self-promoting economics professor from the University of Maryland – sat down next to them (more on him in “On The Table” this week – ed). Which Senator was responsible for inviting him is anyone’s guess, but it was clear that this was a setup from the get go.

We then had to watch as each of these U.S. Senators spewed their particular brand of inaccuracies and flat-out misconceptions about the automobile industry in their opening statements. A very few were actually worth listening to – and I mean like two - while most of the others were so blatantly self-serving and out of touch with reality that it was painful to watch. And then some acted like they were just hatched yesterday and were so resolute in their lack of awareness about what was going on and why they had to be there in the first place that it was simply appalling .

I can’t help but think that when enlightened Americans watched these people in action – the people who were actually elected by us to be in office – that they recoiled in horror at the absolutely stunning lack of knowledge, awareness, sense of place, sense of well, anything that was displayed by these Senators yesterday. Is this really the best we can do? I certainly hope not.

At any rate, the message in that hearing room was clear: Detroit put itself in the shape it finds itself in by building bad, low-tech cars that nobody wants. That they were regurgitating the now-obligatory woeful misperception of Detroit that has spread across the country - a Detroit that hasn’t existed for the better part of a decade, by the way - was obvious. The fact that these Senators weren’t aware of the kind of ultra-competitive products that these companies have out now was predictable. And the fact that they weren’t aware of the kind of leading edge technological development that Detroit is actively engaged in was predictable too.

Being clueless in Washington isn’t all that uncommon, unfortunately, but when misconceptions, half-truths and flat-out lies get hoisted up the flagpole as Fact, then it’s no wonder that the leaders of these Detroit car companies were on the defensive and unable to score points with the judges.

Proof of that was on display yesterday when the senators in that hearing room kept talking about restructuring, as if it was a new-fangled idea that these Detroit CEOs weren’t aware of. And they had to be reminded over and over again that Detroit has been restructuring and revamping since 2000, that Detroit hasn’t been operating in a vacuum, that Detroit does build competitive and class-leading products, that Detroit has pioneered new technologies, that Detroit is a viable, relevant, strategic industry that’s part of the crucial fabric of America’s manufacturing base, that the worst financial crisis in seven decades has wreaked havoc on their ability to do business, and on, and on, and on.

Back when things were booming for the domestic automobile industry, the importance of lobbying in Washington and having a consistent and focused image strategy that presented these companies’ positions and outlined their contributions to the American economy wasn’t a top priority. Now that it is, and the Detroit Three are playing catchup - while taking body blows and backed up against the ropes - the Old Detroit is still slamming the New Detroit to the ground.

The Perception Gap that exists out there for the Detroit automakers isn’t narrowing, it’s actually growing wider. Because when Americans get what minimal news they’re willing to digest – and only because it’s pre-packaged in carefully doled-out sound bites – then the Old Detroit will perennially overshadow the New Detroit, hands down.

Detroit may get help from Washington, but left to their own devices - and timetables - it’s looking like the politicians will come up with something that’s too little and too late to actually make a difference.

And that’s a giant bowl of Not Good.

Thanks for listening."

Stop being blind and judging on your own taste... Go check the CTS and MKZ, and honestly come back to me saying they're out of touch, not competitive and bad quality; I'll spank you... If you don't like them fine, it is matter of taste! I like German or Japanese cars but Americans aren't bad either... Old Detroit is gone, look at the new one god damn it... Stop that misperception by not knowing, be aware of facts before judging. We've been pushing the old folks out, the ones who did the mistakes in the 70's and 80's!!! I am 29 and i work my a.. off to make a living, create desirable cars... Things are changing, are you? And stop living in Gran Turismo 23 (nerd edition)...

I agree with you for the most part except for the truck thing. All the major car companies made full size SUVs based off trucks people just preferred the Detroit's over the Japanese's. Selling a ton of very profitable large SUVs is not why they are in the situation they are in now. Do you think Toyota would have preferred to sell as many Sequoias as GM did Tahoes?

I'm not a big fan of big government bailouts of corporations, or for that matter, the domestic car makers products. I haven't bought a domestic nameplate car in over 15 years, and that was a rebadged Japanese model. Did Detroit make stupid and short-sighted mistakes? You bet! None more stupid and short-sighted than selling oversized, inefficient truck-based SUV's as family passenger vehicles, because they had given up on being competitive in the car market. But to cut loose 10% of the US workforce who work for those companies and the other industries dependent on them is also incredibly stupid and short-sighted. Particularly, when GM and Ford (and maybe someday Chrysler) are already bringing fairly decent, well-built and competitive passenger cars back online. The Fusion, Malibu, CTS, and Astra, to name a few, are already worthy competitors, reliable and deliver decent value for dollar. Why cut them loose when Detroit is finally beginning to get things right?

Thats what I'm saying. Things are finally looking good product wise and its a real shame that the economy has to take a nose dive now. Horrible timing.

It always seems to me that american cars are sold too cheap... especially considering the wages in american. Car makers dont seem to have much trouble making profit outside of the USA.

All cars are sold very cheap in the USA compared to some other countries, Finland for example. Oh and perhaps it also has something to do with the fact that the cars are made in a cheap way...

i think letting the big3 face bankruptcy is better than bailing them out coz this way they might think about changing their bad habits in their corporation. i think there's gotta be something wrong with managing their company. i don't understand how GM and ford which are the top5 best selling car manufacturers can't make profit out of their huge sales while other smaller asian manufacturers like honda and hyundai don't seem to have a big problem with the crisis when they also have big market shares in the US as well. i think they need a COMPLETE MAKEOVER!!!

they need to be bailed out and then restructured; the problem is the current higher-ups are refusing to resign, thats way they voted against, and struggles in the automotive industry are very much related to the financial crisis because the big investors in those companies were financial firms, most of which went under; there needs to be some major restructuring in the senate because they do not know what they are talking about

Wow, Rick Wagoner must be feeling pretty good about cancelling GM's industry leading EV1 Hybrid 12 years ago to build Hummer - specific dealerships. Now GM's at the point of telling the public "Just hold on to your money, we've got the Volt coming in 2 years - please don't buy anything else in the interim!". He needs to be sacked in a big, big way (and take the responsibility for the millions of jobs that he's about to loose).