How would you save the auto industry?

Lorin Crandall believes America's Big Three automakers need to accelerate plans to slash the number of vehicle models they make and equip the nation with cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars if they are to survive.

"They should reduce to maybe a dozen or less vehicles," said Crandall, of St. Louis. "This will allow for the engineering, manufacturing and retooling process to be simplified. Since the engineering process will be focused on less vehicles, the quality of engineering can improve as well as quality of manufacturing."

Crandall is among hundreds of readers who sent msnbc.com their suggestions on what a plan to rescue the auto industry should look like.

Some expressed compassion and sympathy for the reeling industry, but they also offered painful solutions, including cutting executive pay by 90 percent, capping employee salaries at $40,000 and closing overseas plants. Other readers were outraged by the industry's dire situation and said the automakers shouldn't be spared.

"Let them die," wrote Mary McMyne. When contacted by telephone at her home LaFayette, La., her pleasant conversational tone belied her disdain.

"I'm disgusted, and we've been heading down this track for a long time. ... I feel bad for the employees," she said. "There are stand-up companies out there that are trying to make it work, and trying to save the Big Three is making a big mistake."

But doing nothing is worse, said Bill Rustic, a retired GM employee of 30 years. For Rustic, who lives in Viera, Fla., "accountability is key."

His rescue plan includes reductions in wages and elimination of bonuses until 2010. He also said an independent, non-government firm should audit auto company budgets and that union benefits should be halted if a plant were shut down or temporarily idled.

'A level playing field'
Detroit’s automakers, making a second bid for more than $25 billion in federal help, have presented Congress with plans to restructure their companies. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler LLC say they would refinance debt, cut executive pay and seek concessions from workers.

The United Auto Workers union said it was open to contract changes to help the struggling industry.

Some readers, like Tom Daiek of Auburn Hills, Mich., like what they have heard so far.

"I believe that given a level playing field the Big Three can compete with any foreign manufacturer," Daiek said. "As a country we need to put tariffs on goods coming into our country the same as we are taxed by countries we export to."

Crandal spoke for many when he said the industry needs to go green.

"From an ecological standpoint, the idea that our cars last five to seven years and then we're ready for a new one is very troubling," said Crandall, a former St. Louis urban planner and landscape architect. "This is why we should make cars that are designed to last for much longer and have interchangeable or modular upgrades ... to help them keep up with new technology."

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