Erich Merkle Quotations

From a functional perspective, it does everything well. From an emotional perspective it does nothing. It looks like any other car on the road.

It certainly is a move in the right direction. (But) I still don't see it as a real competitor with other vehicles in the entry-level luxury segment.

Someone has to make sure Delphi's parts are not interrupted.

But nothing like what GM and Ford are going through. Long term, I think Chrysler's prospects look incredibly bright.

At this point, it doesn't seem like Suzuki can give General Motors anything that Daewoo can't.

(Crossovers) are putting a dent in demand for SUVs. The designs of these vehicles are fresh and something different and they are capturing consumer's attention.

There's more pressure to get components from offshore.

It would be devastating for Ford - they would lose money hand over fist. If they're not able to build F-Series, it would just strangle them.

This day of reckoning had to come. Hopefully they can get beyond this.

They understand that there's some shortcomings. It says they're addressing them.

There's a lot of things GM and Ford are still grappling with if they're going to adapt to these niche markets.

It's a little bit of puffery, to offset the bad news that's been out there the last three or four months. In automotive terms, it's pocket change. It's really not that much money in the scheme of things.

It's the 800-pound gorilla. No one seems able to stop them.

It's incredibly cyclical. It basically depends on business spending. If they're not spending money, that industry dries up real fast.

It's a matter of time before GM files for bankruptcy if these issues aren't addressed.

They've packaged it just slightly different enough so that it's more of a utility vehicle -- a smaller crossover. It represents a much better value than Neon ever did.

I never like to hear stories like this. But I don't really see it negatively impacting Toyota.

I'm not sure they can move away from Ford fast enough.

I think October was the bottom. It could pick up modestly in December.

If General Motors is going to survive, they have to be a smaller organization and get the cost structure under control. They've got to become lean, streamline their processes, get products to market faster and take more risks.

The Escalade is going to be pretty tough to beat. You're competing on performance. The real killer for Lincoln is going to be the horsepower, or lack thereof.

The light vehicle segment is so incredibly competitive. Whenever you have such high levels of competition, it has a tendency to drive prices down.