Jim Hossack Quotations

Nasser discouraged or drove out a lot of talented people by focusing on short-term profits at the expense of long-term investment in cars and trucks. He made a lot of people think that the best contribution they could make to Ford was to stay home.

I suspect it will be Mexico and not be a UAW facility. The UAW won't like it, but Ford doesn't have a choice. Manufacturing has to go where it's most efficient and low-cost.

Television advertising is very expensive, and with hundreds more television channels there is concern about a message actually getting across. Most car companies have agreed to put less money into television and are looking at alternatives, whether that's vehicle placement in movies, or events where people get to drive vehicles, motor sports. There are hundreds of different opportunities and everyone is trying to find a more productive mix than the one they currently have.

This is good news because while BMW has been an industry leader in diesel and hydrogen technology, it hasn't been a factor in hybrids. No one knows for sure which technology is going to win for the future, but BMW can't afford not to look at other choices to learn which is the most economic and cost-efficient.

In my eye, Lincolns are big, heavy, powerful, American V-8s.

I'm seeing minivan sales chugging along just fine. A lot of people find they suit their needs really well, but they can't stand their image.

The new Beetle never would have gotten approved for production if it hadn't gotten rave reviews at the (Detroit) show from the public and the press, which stopped in its tracks when they saw it. That message quickly got back to Volkswagen that people thought it was cool and wanted VW to build it.

It's very influential, no question. In consumer focus groups, when you ask what influences them, Consumer Reports comes up frequently.

The full-sized half-ton truck universe is 2 million pieces (per year), so Toyota going from 100,000 to 250,000 units is doable.

Everyone is looking for a unique selling point. Sometimes small touches make an amazing difference.

They know, make cars of higher quality, but often that higher quality costs more money, the price in the market doesn't go up, but the costs do, they can't afford it, but the competition can.

I don't see the whole picture yet, and I'm not sure GM does either. If they do, they certainly have not announced it. I'm not sure they've got a plan all together yet. But it's clear they've concluded that this plan isn't going to work and they need a better idea.