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Automotive News & Views Buying American Cars What Does It Mean?
7263 messages, Last post on May 27, 2009 at 4:31 AM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
With parts coming from everywhere, does "Buying American" have much meaning anymore? Is quality and price the bottom line?
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Replying to: grbeck (Sep 26, 2008 10:16 am) So now I understand where you got the idea that Accords are heavily discounted. Virtually ANY mid-sized car with a manual transmission will be heavily discounted (that is why GM, for example, doesn't even offer them). Most people shopping in this segment don't want a manual transmission. The fact that you got a $4,000 discount on a manual-equipped Accord is hardly a proof that Honda needs to offer whopping incentives to move all Accords. Actually, they were all the same price. They had a whole row of 2007 4 cyl Honda Accord EX 4 drs, a bunch of autos and 2 sticks, all the same discount. |
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Replying to: circlew (Sep 26, 2008 9:37 am) |
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Replying to: grbeck (Sep 26, 2008 10:28 am) It takes money to make money. I don't mean the "elite" as in American royalty such as the Kennedy (or Bush) clan, but in more of a self-titled definition. Those types aren't people I see in my daily life, but I do see many born into well-to-do situations that are anything but cynical, because they have little to worry about when it comes to a roof or an income. It's like they say, those who claim money doesn't buy happiness have never had money.
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Replying to: lilengineerboy (Sep 26, 2008 10:57 am) They come from fleetcentral.com. The statistics are the subject of threads on several automotive sites that must remain nameless, as per this site's policy. Fleetcentral.com features a chart listing a model's total sales, its total fleet sales, and how many fleet sales were to government and corporate customers, and how many went to rental car companies. It's worth noting that while Ford typically has the highest fleet sales as a percentage of total sales, its percentage of sales to rental car companies is the lowest among the domestics. |
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Replying to: fintail (Feb 29, 2008 8:02 am) Given that globalization started in Europe, and Europe through its colonization of other regions was practicing globalization before World War I, let alone World War II, the idea that Europe is victim of globalization forced on it by the U.S. is quite a stretch. Read accounts of Great Britain in the 1800s early 1900s - influences from India (when it was a British colony) were already filtering back to Great Britain during that time. Was that America's fault...? fintail: Birthrates dropped off the face of the planet after Europe was rebuilt in an American ideal simply as a matter of coincidence. That must be it. Birth rates in Europe had been dropping before World War II. Please note that American birth rates remain much higher than European birth rates, so the "American model" must not include low birth rates. Unless this is some sort of diabolical, neocon plot to wipe out Europeans by encouraging them to enact policies that discourage job growth and live in city apartments as oppposed to suburban developments, both of which have helped depress birth rates. Only problem is that Europeans have adopted those policies on their own... fintail: And the desire of leadership to submit to an immigration invasion certainly has nothing to do with being made to feel guilty about the past. The only country that has any reason to feel guilty about its recent past is Germany, and Germany allowed immigrants in to do menial labor as much as anything else. Same for France and Great Britain. The U.S. does not control European immigration policy. The home countries do and, in the case of Great Britain and France, it was one way to maintain ties with their former colonies. fintail: It takes money to make money. No, it takes gumption and smarts to truly make money. It takes money to buy nice things, but if you aren't making new money to replace what you spend, you will soon end up as one of the "genteel poor." And if you don't use inherited money wisely, you'll end up in the same place. Studies have been conducted that compared people from the same family who were basically handed money or other forms of assistance, and those who weren't. Those who were not given assistance the ones who were more likely to come out ahead... I see this up close. Two of my wife's close relatives have been given considerable financial assistance by their parents. We have received virtually nothing from our parents (aside from assistance with college and some help with wedding costs). But I'm willing to bet that, if our assets were totalled, we'd have more net worth. fintail: Those types aren't people I see in my daily life, but I do see many born into well-to-do situations that are anything but cynical, because they have little to worry about when it comes to a roof or an income. And many of the families of the children my wife teaches have the same attitude, and they basically live on public assistance or low-paying jobs (which makes them eligible for several welfare programs). Are they part of the inheritance elite, too? |
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Replying to: grbeck (Sep 26, 2008 12:31 pm) |
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Replying to: steve_ (Sep 26, 2008 12:34 pm)
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Replying to: grbeck (Sep 26, 2008 12:51 pm) Currently, American cars don't cut it. Trucks, OK, you would have a point. But cars, second rate at best. Period. The End. AMEN.  Now, add the virtually stopped credit market, and the nails are in the coffin. "The perfect storm has been brewing for a while. It has crystallized and it just continues to intensify," Barker said. "It's a very difficult time to have to restructure your business. This is a climate that is not conducive to restructuring costs." The end, he said, is uncertain and probably won't come until 2010. CSM has reduced its annual light vehicle sales forecast for this year to 13.9 million vehicles, and the company is predicting a further drop to 13.7 million next year. That's down from 17 million vehicles as recently as 2005. Here is the full text. I believe only after Chapter 11 will a new business model emerge that will be successful in providing cars that people will want to buy. link title Regards, OW |
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Replying to: grbeck (Sep 26, 2008 12:51 pm) 
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Replying to: grbeck (Sep 26, 2008 12:31 pm) "The only country that has any reason to feel guilty about its recent past is Germany" Ridiculous pile of manure. No point in debating further with another part of the public sector not able to face reality. The US rebuilt Europe in its own pseudo-democratic shadow, and has encouraged trends that cause the problems of today. "Studies have been conducted that compared people from the same family who were basically handed money " And I wager such studies can't be named/linked. All anecdotes aside...nothing was said about money surviving for more than a few generations anyway. If you don't have a little behind you to start with, chances are you won't end up with it. And if you do have a little aid, you have a greater chance at relative prosperity. This is simple logic. How many of those with even moderate wealth started out poor (not middle class where mom and dad can finance school, etc)? Really now. "And many of the families of the children my wife teaches have the same attitude, and they basically live on public assistance or low-paying jobs " Hold up...you first claimed those who are used to entitlements are cynical, now they are "anything but cynical" as I claimed? You can't have it both ways. |
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Automotive News & Views Buying American Cars What Does It Mean?
