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Automotive News & Views Do You Favor A Government Loan To The Detroit 3?
3958 messages, Last post on Oct 02, 2009 at 4:52 PM
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Readily available oil is less than $2 a gallon for 95 of the last 100 years. After a hundred and 20 years over which the ICE has been developed and perfected, we now have hundreds of powertrains to choose from. What if the $3-4 gas was part scam, part wake up call. Look at the aftermath around the world. The people behind it probably lost more than they made, when you look at the last 3 and next 3 years in total. Even the guy who still has a V8 is driving it less and will continue some habits formed over the last 8 months. Most people have needs that an electric vehicle will not fulfill. When will we have a serious selection of electric vehicles that can tow boats, haul 1000 load 1000 miles each way in a day or two, and double as a daily commuter. I find it hard to believe that even $10 a day is a catastrophe in fuel costs for the average working family. An ICE will get the job done. An electric car will be expensive to launch. The gas price that makes electric cars seem affordable have been shown to sink the entire world, economically. The "Fit is Go" is still hard to argue with. The wake up call is to keep spending R&D to bring down the cost of the electric car, but competing with $1.75 gas for a new $17,000 34 mpg ICE car is tough. Nobody's going to 'make' money doing it. |
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Nov 28, 2008 3:33 am) I can only guess, but these are the likely reasons : 1. Gas prices are high in Japan, parking is cramped, and the roads are usually narrow and twisty (due to mountainous terrain). So smaller cars are more popular. 2. Japan is very strong in small cars, so hard for other countries to compete. Inside Japan we even have 600cc cars, which very few countries make. And the price points are very competitive (so hard to import such a low price car and compete). I guess if the "market share" at the high end is calculated, the imports would have a much bigger market share. For instance, Lexus is still way below BMW. You can see the inordinately high percentage of Hummers in the total GM sales in Japan.....
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Replying to: manegi (Nov 28, 2008 2:52 pm) Bermuda has the same type of roads you speak of for Japan, except I don't think Hamilton is any more congested than say Boston downtown, yet the variety of cars driven there would make your head spin. You'd be hard pressed to convince me that the Japanese government doesn't have the heaviest hand in the low number of imported cars. |
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Replying to: tlong (Nov 28, 2008 11:53 am) All circles back to not supporting America for whatever reason, now including $1,88 a month in gas costs by not getting over 30 mpg. |
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Replying to: dave8697 (Nov 28, 2008 3:37 pm) I say let GM DIE and the sooner the better. There are companies building good vehicles in the USA that are quiet when cruising down the highway.
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Replying to: dave8697 (Nov 28, 2008 3:37 pm) Mine was wanting an AWD mid-size sedan (mazdaspeed6), w/270hp 4-cyl, stability control, Bose stereo and Xenon headlights, and temp. control for an OTD price of $22,200 after rebates. Mazda had it; the Big3 had nothing comparable. |
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Replying to: elroy5 (Nov 26, 2008 10:15 pm) What's wrong with that? I still do! I have no problem with either my 1988 Buick Park Avenue and 1989 Cadillac Brougham! I know somebody on Edmunds who still drives cars with 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s technology. 
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Replying to: maple2 (Nov 27, 2008 5:20 pm) GM could build a small car for the Japanese market that makes a Corolla or a Civic look like a 1948 Crosley assembled at the Zastava works, and they'd still be forbidden to sell it in Japan or it would be tariffed so high that the average Japanese might as well spend the money on an S-Class Mercedes.
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Replying to: tlong (Nov 27, 2008 6:16 pm) |
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Replying to: cooterbfd (Nov 27, 2008 6:59 pm) 
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