[MoparNorm]

Only if the aftermarket sees a profit in making these parts.

Part of the reason the aftermarket can make a profit, is it doesn't have to meet federal regs that pertain to the OEM's... and most of this stuff is imported from china, with dubious fit and quality issues.

 

[MoparNorm]

"strength" of the Australian Dollar??? It's fallen 15% in the last two months.
It makes much more sense to build in Australia, than to import against a strengthening dollar, which makes American goods more expensive to import.
Their timing is incredibly bad.

 

[MoparNorm]

Norm, I think they figure currency may go up or down, and they can't predict where it will be in three years.

I think they are looking at US monetary policy, which is now in an effort to weaken the dollar.
However other nations are also trying to devalue their currency at the same time and china is currently the best at it.

 

[MoparNorm]

True, … though they have agreed to start letting their currency move up, and have slowly been honoring that agreement (I think it's the first time the US has gotten a concession from China since Nixon showed up).

My point with GM was that rather than playing games with currency, they're making a decision based on how much money they are losing today, and how much they expect to lose tomorrow.

GM is a case study, independent from the currency discussion.
In spite of GM's recent stock price jump, they really are not exhibiting any reason for them, or their investors to be optimistic...in fact one thing I have noticed while following stocks, is that most stock investors are woefully ignorant of what is really happening in the auto world, witness both GM and Tesla prices vs. say Ford.

 

[MoparNorm]

I have never noticed any correlation between a company's value and its stock price… or between a company's actual long-term prospects and its stock price.

It speaks more to perception by the public...and it's simply a snapshot of that moment in time.
Google, is not really worth it's stock price and many of the non-brick and mortar businesses are only one step away from being the next AOL, which caught the excitement of the public, before it was figured out that they served no useful purpose and someone else could come by with a better idea.
Witness Blackberry.