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Automotive News & Views Does America Even Need Its Own Automakers?
1788 messages, Last post on Mar 03, 2009 at 2:18 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: lemko (Nov 15, 2008 8:36 am) I think more truth than fiction. I don't see much pride taken in the Japanese sedans around here anyway. Just an appliance to fight the traffic to and from work. Here in So Cal the Big PU trucks and SUVs get all the attention and Bling. The Buicks and Caddies are driven by retired military. Easy to tell by all the insignias and personalized plates. |
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Replying to: jeffyscott (Nov 15, 2008 7:03 am) LEMKO -- but that's the whole point. You didn't buy a Cimarron, or a '76 Eldosaurus, or an Olds Diesel, or a Citation---but a lot of people did, and they got so burned they never, ever forgot it. You also came in when Cadillac didn't have to deal with a brand called Lexus (1990)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Nov 15, 2008 8:59 am) True. My wife bought one of the first LS400s sold in 1989. Sold a Mercedes 300D and has driven the Lexus ever since. It already has 95,000 miles and still running well. I would not expect any new vehicle to last that long. Too many expensive electronic sensors to screw up. Disposable high mileage cars are the norm. |
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Replying to: lemko (Nov 15, 2008 8:36 am) Buy an old phone truck, and you can drive anywhere you want- no one will bother you. What hun??? Take out the garbage???? Can't you see I'm scrubbing my whitewalls??? How are you gonna get to those car shows w/o being jealous and wanting a car WORTH HAVING???? |
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Replying to: lemko (Nov 15, 2008 8:36 am)
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Replying to: jeffyscott (Nov 15, 2008 10:54 am) Another Wrinkle -- Some forms of US government intervention may very well collide with rules and regs of the World Trade Organization and have global implications for this country.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Nov 15, 2008 11:08 am) Very good point. We make a big fuss or should when governments subsidize industries that we compete with. Aircraft comes to mind. Do we really think we can compete with China if the Chinese government puts subsidies on what they sell US. I know they have done some currency manipulation to protect their industries. I think the G20 are meeting in Washington today. They may have something to say about the situation. Any kind of bailout is anti capitalistic.
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Replying to: gagrice (Nov 15, 2008 11:16 am) Then, if true, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. |
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hold that El-train for me, buddy! I'm pedalin' as fast as I can. Took me a while to catch up...my favorite car websites can have some long-winded..umm...I mean real interesting writers to keep up on and keep up with. If I get even two days behind I'm having to do the Evelyn Woodhead School of Speed Readin' thing to catch up. Add this post to that sort of list.  Any how, did you see this pic I put up on Edmunds a few days ago. I have the Pinanfarina-Bollore website saved to my faves at home but here at work I don't. I searched on Google for it and got two sites, one has my post here on Edmunds with the picture! Whoo-hoo! Here the little beast is:  This thing will have underneath and balanced placement of it's battery pack(Bollore made, I need to access that website to get the particulars on the battery packs)for better handling, about a 200 mile range, a top speed of 85 mph and a charge-up time of 7-8 hours on a common 120-volt socket at your American homes. The hinge-point in my research on this little car is whether or not Pinanfarina-Bollore will import this little monster to the U.S. I will go research when I get home some more and bring some more venison to this table for y'all. I am certainly interested in this car...my '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS is currently sitting at about 29,235 miles, getting set to get it's 30,000 mile service soon. So there's really not a screaming need for a 2010 Mitsubishi i-MIEV or a 2010 Pinanfarina-Bollore super-mini in my SE Arizona driveway. But, gagrice, you may have read my Edmund's posts of several months ago where I stated my thoughts on "green" technology vehicles. I have firmly planted my foot in the shipbeds of manufacturers who are working on bringing these types of vehicles to our fine shores. Mitsubishi has won me over, as a lot of you know I have been an ardent Kia fan for years. I still believe Kia is here(West Point, GA, USA)and is in S.Korea to stay. I have stated this fact for years, a lot of times to hoots and catcalls. But Kia is lagging a bit, both with a sporty 4-door sedan that I longed for, and with an all-EV or hybrid vehicle ready to buy at this time. They have now designed a new Kia Forte sedan and Koup that are real lookers. There's a great chance I would've traded the '01 Sportage 4X4 in on a Forte 4-door sedan if it were available in 2007. But it wasn't and the Sportage 4X4 had 130,000 miles on it, was meticulously maintained and was ready to trade. Avondale Mitsubishi treated me well in my trade-in for the '08 Lancer GTS. I made sure they did, the small SUV was very well cared for. BTW-Kia has apparently decided to retain the Spectra name for the new Forte that is coming here in 2009. It's a beautiful new car, body designed by Peter Schreyer, Kia's new Design Chief, wooed away from Audi Motors. Schreyer designed the Audi TT. So, long story somewhat shorter, I have a late-model Mitsubishi Lancer GTS that I love. I also have a yearning to drive an all-electric. gagrice, I'm all over this new i-MIEV from Mitsu like "white on rice." Tee-hee. I really am. I'm following the i-MIEV from Mitsu and the rig from Pinanfarina-Bollore like a hawk. Or perhaps a Seahawk. No, make that a hawk. If Misubishi is going to sell the tiny i-MIEV for only $24,000, then the $7,500 knockdown in price with the energy rebate would be a coup for us. It is quite likely an i-MIEV from Mitsubishi will be my next choice, however, when the Mrs. and I get wild hairs and want to go play in Tucson, 80 miles NW of us here, what will I do with an i-MIEV that only has a traveling range of 100 miles. Plug in somewhere's in fair Tucson? Maybe the only Mitsubishi dealer in Tucson, Wildcat Mitsubishi? Or at Ideal Mitsubishi in Sierra Vista, AZ, about 90 miles west of us here, located near Fort Huachuca. Remember, too, Mitsubishi offers a generous 10 year and 100,000 miles Warranty. That figures strongly in to this search result. These are by no means insurmountable problems here, gentlemen. An excited schoolboy with a chipped front tooth looking like Jim Carrey in 'Dumb and Dumber' going after Mary Swanson(OK, I'm not quite that excited for an all-EV  )on a mission will spare no prisoners and take no down-hearted souls' negative advice as he seeks out a viable energy-propulsion alternative. Foreign oil is vile...it's going bye-bye and it's old-hat. It's spittle in the dusty Arizona flutter-winds. It must pass on by me like Dennis Rodman into relative obscurity. Be gone with you, ghastly! gagrice, the Chevy Volt is not scratched off my list but it's beginning to fade. When they make comments like "we may not realize a decent profit pricing the 2010 Volt at $40,000" I look to the side, just as I would when Baw-bwa Wahh-Wah is ready to speak on "The View". Yikes, Barbara, has the word "retirement" ever entered your mind? You were never really that good and yet you intend on scouring our televisions endlessly? Enough already. So, it's the '08 Lancer GTS, the 2010 Mitsubishi i-MIEV and the 2010 Pinanfarina-Bollore(that may not ever be coming over here, anyway)that have my interest at this point, gagrice. The next purchase is really pointing towards an all-electric. As a side point to boot, BYD of China is building some hybrids and all-electrics, one all-electric is named the e6, with intentions of eventually importing to the U.S. with some of them. Keep an early eye out-they'll make it here. The e6 is a large crossover that BYD envisions selling for taxicabs(taken from one of their news releases)that is really not that homely looking at all, actually. It has a decent body design. It will sell for around $28,000USD. Range of 200 some miles, top speed of 85 mph and is another EV with a 8-10 hour 120-volt re-charge time. I would be remiss to cross the BYD e6 off of my list, but, the i-MIEV stands a sooner chance of landing on these U.S. shores. The Pinanfarina-Bollore is more of an idea of what I'm really more interested in at this time, but it's entirely possible that that train may have sailed before it even gets here. Over.. and, out. |
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considered the possibility that the domestics may just NEVER make it back to profitability? They have had a "great plan with a turnaround just around the corner" for soooo long. Why is anyone convinced that now is any different, even if the economy HADN'T tanked? Me, I don't think we need our own automakers if they are going to be perennially unprofitable. Better then just to leave automaking to companies that know how to do it and make money at the same time. As for the bailout, where was the steelworkers' bailout? The clothing manufacturers' bailout? If GM did liquidate, established automakers from all over would step into the void and buy up some of the brands and keep them running with all-new products uniquely their own, I'm convinced. If for no other reason than that large and established dealer network. INDIVIDUAL names and products at GM have cash value, the problem is just that the vast majority do not.
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