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In the end, we went with a 2010 Altima V6 3.5 with the sports, audio and premium package. It just fit us better and was more fun for us to drive. Plan on getting 10+ years and will be back in about 3, when my husband gets new car fever again.
I'm sure I'll be at the Detroit Auto Show in 2010' love to see the cars coming up.
I'll report on our Nissan. Happy 2010 to all!
I'll check it out when I go to the Chicago auto show in about 6 weeks.
"The sleek new exterior design has consequences for backseat passenger space. While legroom is good — it's close to what you'll find in a Camry or Accord — there's not much extra headroom for taller adults, and those same people might find that they have to dip their head when exiting to avoid bumping it on the headliner."
Congrats!
http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2009/08/spy-photos-2011-kia-optima-gets- -eye-catching-new-design.html
Kia has had a pretty bad reputation in the USA, more so than Hyundai. Ironically, this is not the case in Europe where Kia is more accepted.
Both Hyundai and Kia are going to be a force to be reckoned with, and all those who've laughed at them in the recent past may have to reconsider their opinions. Their evolution into a quality product is really not that much different that the Japanese marques evolution through the '60s to the present. The South Koreans are just doing it in shorter time span.
Revenue, not profit. Revenue pays salaries of engineers and designers located in multiple locations. Buying an vehicle made by a "domestic" OEM supports engineering and design employees.
Agreed. My original response was because there was a post about buying American because the "profit goes to the US". I was pointing out how simplistic and incorrect that argument is.
I agree with your agreeing, especially since profits go to shareholders.
And yes, it IS a fun place to discuss cars, MOST of the time...
(Looks like I see the word "PROFIT" in this report)
Ford reported net income of $997 million, or 29 cents per share, an improvement of $1.2 billion from the third quarter of 2008. Pre-tax operating profit totaled $1.1 billion, an improvement of $3.9 billion from a year ago. It is Ford’s first pre-tax operating profit since the first quarter of 2008
•Ford North America posted a pre-tax operating profit of $357 million, its first profitable quarter since the first quarter of 2005
10% overall unemployment
16% including underemployment
36% unemployment among some minority groups
I recently heard on news that 48 consecutive months at adding 150,000 new jobs per month will reduce unemployment down to 9%.
Don't give me a sob story about lost jobs. Focus on what I want, & you might just get some of my money. It's that simple.
I won't spend my money on something that doesn't make me happy just to help someone 4 states away keep his/her job. That's not how free markets work.
So you are saying that even if this country can be more efficient, we should stay with the inefficiency because that will keep more jobs? :confuse:
That's just a great way for the US high labor costs to stay competitive in a world market, Yup, U.S. can stay #1 by trying to keep its factories inefficient. No quicker way to drive jobs overseas than that.
So perhaps GM should hire 5 million employees. They can each work 5 minutes a week -- sweet the floor a few times, or take out the trash. Or put a bolt on a new Malibu. Pay each one $50K/year. That would reduce unemployment even further. And the UAW would add 5 million to the membership. The rest of us would pay bigger taxes (our "fair share") to keep bailing GM, and the Malibu becomes the midsized car that supports US jobs!
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There's a lot of misinformation flying around. The current U.S. labor force is 150 million in round numbers. Adding or subtracting 1.5 million jobs would then raise or lower the unemployment rate 1%. If we add 150,000 jobs/months for 10 months the unemployment rate would drop to 9% (from it's currently reported 10%).
The problem is the "reported" number is about half of the actual number. Part-timers/temps/contract workers/day-laborers/etc are not being included (& haven't been included for nearly 30 years). Our real unemployment rate today is close to 20% and would be 17% under the reporting methods used in 1970's.
It's going to take 2-3 years to get back to a strong economy. It will happen but will take a good long while. In the mean-time hang in there and have a Merry Christmas!
If not, but you could have... which mid-sized sedan would it be?
Since I just got a "new" mid-sized sedan (new for me, anyway) last month, no car under the tree here. And Santa didn't have the 2011 Sonata in his stock yet. But that new Legacy looks like a nice ride, especially today with a blizzard raging outside. Or the Fulan and Kizashi come in AWD also.
One thing for sure... those looking for something in this class have lots of great choices.
I doubt it's because something is "wrong" with the car. It's been available in the ROK for several months. It's also possible HMA is waiting for the U.S.-built/U.S. spec cars to be available for the U.S. press to review.
Anyway, if we were experts in automotive marketing, we'd have fat jobs with an automaker, right?
From Toyota's financials.. a typical net profit is ~5%. However the Gross Margin runs about 15-20%. As you note one of the largest 'costs groups' is the expense to bring the vehicle from plant to buyer, it's about 20-25% of the MSRP.. This is almost all paid to US workers/companies.
Mexico of course is non-union in these plants so they might as well be in Peru or Thailand.
The big losers it seems are the Sebring and Accord.
The big winner(s) are the new Fusion and the Sonata. The latter is way up but it's gaining all the fleet sales that GM, Ford and Chrysler are walking away from.
The Camry and the Malibu are stable as is the Altima.
It appears to me that the Fusion's gains are the Accord's losses. Otherwise not much has changed.
At 20% of sales, no way Hyundai is picking up all the slack left from the other automakers in the fleet market. That's less than 100k total vehicles a year, just a fraction of the fleet market. When I go to a rental lot, I see about the same proportion of Sonatas and other Hyundais as I see makes like Nissan, Toyota, Chevy, and Ford. I see lots of Altimas, Camrys, Malibus, and Fusions in rental fleets, at least at airport rental lots. Some Sonatas and Optimas too, but no more than the others. About the only mid-sizer I don't see much of on rental lots is the Passat, and Accords are fairly rare also. I see fewer Mazda6's than I did before the redesign.
Anyway, that is probably short-lived (re Sonata sales to fleets), as HMA is trying to quickly get rid of the old-design 2010 Sonatas to make way for the 2011s. I doubt we'll see that many of the new cars going to fleets.
I agree that Hyundai is not picking up all that has been dropped by the domestics by any means but that 20% you mention may be a lot bigger chunk of the rental fleets if they are reducing their total numbers.
It also didn't hurt that she got an absolutely loaded one with all the safety features. So far, the blind spot monitoring has been her favorite, but it also has this "cross traffic alert" that uses the park aid sensors to look for traffic in a parking lot - helpful when backing out between two SUVs. My dad's favorite thing is the trip summary when you turn the car off - it tells you how much fuel you used on that trip and your mpg.
The car has 2 little computer screens on either side of the speedometer that have vehicle info. I am curious how fast she will learn how to work all that stuff, or if she even feels a need to in the first place.
She is pretty excited, after ~20 years of driving mini-vans she has a sedan again. I am pleased too as since the van is pretty much worthless monetarily, they are hanging on to it so we have something to drive when in town (no more constantly switching car seats between parent's/in-laws cars...and that Prius).
But overdoing it is risky. That remains to be seen.
I agree there are some positives to putting a car into fleets... exposure is one, and adding incremental profit is another. Also getting rid of an older model before the new one arrives, as I mentioned.
Not really. I'm just trying to clear up any misunderstanding that buying a Civic helps America.
If you are efficiently colonizing me, I still don't like it.
What I like most is a Honda in every other driveway and every 5th house to be occupied by unemployed people, don't you?
One day we will come to our senses. The nonsense that America should not build it's own cars is just that.
Just found out that a large pet dog has the same carbon footprint as a large SUV, and that if we in America all stopped driving for the next 20 years, the Earth's temperature would be kept from rising an additional by 1/17 th of one degree over those 20 years.
Back on subject. Wasn't the new Suzuki Kizashi supposed to be in dealers in December? Has anyone seen one up close and personal?
Luckily, our government is not (yet, anyway :sick: ) so dictatorial as to think this way.
The latter is way up but it's gaining all the fleet sales that GM, Ford and Chrysler are walking away from.
Obviously Hyundai is not gaining the fleet sales that the D3 are keeping.
No, not all the fleet sales nor all the fleet sales the other automakers have passed on, which is what you asserted earlier.
My point is that Hyundai could NOT be gaining all the fleet sales that GM, Ford, and Chrysler are walking away from, contrary to your statement. That's way too many cars for Hyundai to pick up the slack for, given Hyundai was already selling to fleets and their total fleet sales is about 20% now, and total annual US sales something under 500,000, so no way they could pick up that many more fleet sales. For example, if their total sales to fleets were 15% before, now 20%, that's less than 25,000 more sales to fleets. Add up the fleet sales GM, Ford, and Chrysler walked away from (probably moreso for GM and Ford than Chrysler). I'll bet it's a lot more than 25,000.
Luckily, our government is not (yet, anyway ) so dictatorial as to think this way.
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Of course, the U.S. doesn't make its own TVs or Computers anymore and very few people seem to be concerned any more about it.
We're getting a bit too far afield of our topic, midsize sedans. Let's refocus on the vehicles themselves, okay? There are topics on the Auto News board that cover the subjects under recent discussion.
Thanks!
I'm sure the Honda dealer, the mechanics, the advertising agency, the guy driving the Honda transport truck, the Honda assembly plant workers, the engine plant workers, the people at the electrical company supplying the plants, the trash men picking up trash from the plant, etc., etc,. etc., would be thrilled to not have Civics being sold. They don't need their jobs. Those jobs don't help America.
any type of sales. Hyundai USA with only 1 car plant in the US making only
Sonatas in the car class it would be a tough project. This is IMO. I'm not
very learned on the fleet sales. I think the Alabama plant is about at 100%
of production capability at this time.
Does the 2010 Tuscon get 32 MPG because it has a 4 cylinder engine in it?
Hyundai does have only one plant here for Hyundai models, http://www.hmmausa.com. Only the Santa Fe and Sonata are made here in the USA. The Tucson for the US market is made in Korea at this time. Hyundai does have a plant in Europe that will build the Tucson/ix35 there for the European market.
Kia is just bringing a new plant online now that will build the new 2011 Sorento and other models TBD. http://www.kmmgusa.com/index.aspx
Assembled in South Korea, the Tucson benefits from Hyundai’s newest “fluidic sculpture” design themes.
http://www.leftlanenews.com/hyundai-tucson.html
Now, Kia has a new factory in Georgia, which started production of the new Sorrento a few weeks ago. It might make other Kias later.
EDIT: Ha ha, I see someone else had the same info--posted as I was typing!
the mechanics.....who gets their Honda fixed? If they didn't have a Honda it would break less?
honda assy workers....you mean robots half the time
engine plant workers....5% of the car including materials. When will that become robotized? When 2-3% is worth going after...pretty soon.
Electric power plant employees....one person per state
trash men.....pollute our country for profits sent to Japan. This may be the Best part of Colonizing, aside from tax abatements followed by a recession to justify a much smaller training program.
advertising agency....at least somebody who went to college got a job, or does Japan own the advertising seller?
Madison County only lost 31,000 auto jobs. No pain from that.