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Comments
Just thinking again about that name "Enclave." Isn't that the hidey-hole into which Cheney disappears for weeks at a time? :P
I still think Buick should have resurrected "Electra."
-Rocky
***
Sometimes though, if there is a situation where one side is dumping goods on the other, you need to throw in a penalty. That's the difference between fair trade and free trade. Fair trade is like a compromise in that nobody wins at the expense of the other and everyone gives up something as well, but both parties come out a little more ahead than they would have otherwise.
What we have now is do whatever you want. And the poisoned and contaminated food from China is just the tip of the iceberg. Wait until airplanes start falling out of the sky due to cheap recycled steel parts and our computers fall apart because nobody can make a decent power supply anymore and...
I'd rather have half the standard of living I have now, but it all be top-notch quality that lasts 10-20 years instead of having a bunch of crap that breaks in a year or two.(and, no, short of insane prices, there are no U.S. made TVs or simmilar anymore, so crap is all we have left so it seems.)
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070509/AUTO01/705090383/1148-
Well at least they are being conservative on the cash on the hood offers.
-Rocky
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070509/AUTO01/705090373/1148-
-Rocky
Now some of the cheap lamps and such are very questionable indeed. I wonder about fire danger on some of those cheap products. And yes, the food supply needs more regulation. I don't buy dishes made in certain countries, as I wonder if they contain lead. Dang it if even the plastics, like those unbreakable plates and cups made by Rubbermaid have been replaced by China ones due to Kmarts and WalMarts making another buck on those -- what to do? I got a knock-off rubber mat which was suppose to be just like a Rubbermaid for the bathtub. Well it slipped, and I could have taken a tumble. I told WalMart about why I was returning it and wanted my Rubbermaid product instead. Not sure, but they may stock it again. I hope they care to have customers live to buy again. :mad: I usually buy from Target or Costco first, then on to WalMart to buy things not found in the other two big box stores. Of course some things can be found at Sears, Kolhs, Staples, and other places, but a lot of items are just not found anywhere else. The local stores have little or do not even exist which would carry a lot of the items. The day when the big box totally moved out the competition seems to have arrived a decade or so ago. If the big box lowered prices on quality products by way of larger buying power and efficiency, that is one thing, but forcing the price too low, as in buying junk which looks close and is throw-a-way quality from China, is yet another thing. What ever happened to the All American company? Guess they became the all for the dollar, and the heck with the quality, and don't worry about tomorrow company. I shop price to a degree, but want good solid product. So I do much less shopping at the worlds largest big box and shop the others first.
I would not be too quick to assume everything made in any country is going to junk however. China has both good and bad. Sorting it out is the hardest part. I got a fan made there which has lasted some 20 years. Got another brand which did not last but 20 months. But they can make good product like any other company. Which again makes one wonder how long until the day comes when GM imports whole cars from China. And what would the acceptance be? Chevy cars / Chevy trucks / baseball,hot dogs, apple pie and that good stuff, then...... well it would just be so much an about-face.
Loren
jae5, have you heard anything yet on Delphi ????
-Rocky
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070508/AUTO01/705080338/1148-
-Rocky
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070507/AUTO01/705070308/1148- - /AUTO01
If I ever had to drive one of these cracker boxes, sardine cans, soup cans, cigarette tins, VCR on Wheels, Tinaments Arghhhhhaaaaa :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Somebody please shoot me !!!!! :sick:
This is what the GW whack jobs want us to drive an it just ain't merican' :mad:
-Rocky
I think you are off by about $15,000.
Alpha Cadillac
Google it and you will find it is the midsize Zeta that Holden is working on.
But I know what you mean...the base engine should be the 300hp version of the 3.6L V6 (without price increases); its a Cadillac and it should meet or best everything else out there.
In april small cars down 5%, SUV's up 1%, Biggest SUV's up 13%, Hybrids up from last year but down from March.
People who buy small cars are sitting on the sideline because they are unsure of the economy and are a bit reluctant to spend the little money they have. Those who buy SUV's need them to pull their boats or for business and the gas prices do not effect them because it is a small portion of their spendable income. Midsize SUV's are probably down because the crossovers are taking over that market and the larger SUV's are so much better now (MPG).
GM retail up in April. GM is #1 in China and Latin America and are #1 or #2 everywhere else. Outside US GM is doing great.
Next midsize pick up truck to be engineered in Brazil.
Big breakthrus in Volt battery and program going well.
Diesels will become very expensive. Current BluTec will meet BIN 5 Tier 2 regulations but will not meet next generation regulations w/o a huge technology/cost increase.
With the new rules look to small engines with torque sensitive turbochargers.
New CAFE: some confusion here. All makers in same boat. 30% increase is not increase for each makers total average fuel economy but 30% increase in each segment. So even if a maker has all fuel efficient cars they still have to increase that segment 30%.
GM residuals now in high 40's, were mid 30's.
One of the media stated that all the other non domestic manufacturers only build vehicles in the US that make money, yet GM is going to continue to build compacts here. Why?
His answer was basically that the union would not allow the importing of vehicles in numbers.
There are two links. The first was on TV, the 2nd continued after the show.
http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/autoline/archives.php
Americans increasingly prefer the more expensive imports.
Very true. Overall the average ATP keeps going up. People want the toys and leasing makes it very easy to add on costs yet keep the payment down. We used to all pay cash so when $5000 came out of your pocket at one time you thought about it. Now another $50 a month-who cares?
80? Do you want him to be blown off the road by the passing vehicles? :P
Ford and Chrysler are throwing their vehicles into daily rental fleets now. Huge percentage to keep their numbers up and plants running. They are also putting big incentives on their vehicles.
Chrysler is for sale and they do not care what happens next year.
Lutz just said that there is no market for mini cars here in any numbers at this time. But there is in other countries so look to see them elsewhere and available here if needed.
perhaps if gas hits $6? Doubt it then also.
I am waiting to see the price delta between the engines. How expensive is this DI anyway?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOHC#Double_overhead_camshafts
It does confirm some of my comments.
Honda "actually" has been doing things to help environment. For example, Honda developed and produced clean engines for its cars that met emissions laws without the use of catalytic converter.
GM, through its promotion of gigantic gas burning SUVs through the years, did not help the environment.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Rocky, you need to buy one to keep you under 100 MPH :sick:
Loren
What a stupid statement. GM cannot control what customers buy. GM did not force one single person to buy an SUV just as Toyota doesnt force people to buy 14mpg Sequoias. I get so sick of import worshippers making ridiculous statements that blame GM for America's buying habits. If a buyer walks into a chevy dealership they have the option of buying a Aveo, CObalt or Malibu 4 cylinder if they are turned off by the mileage of the Tahoe or Silverado. How hard is it to understand such a simple concept? Americans are always so quick to absolve themselves of responsibility and blame someone else. Instead of saying "Americans like SUVS and crossovers and chose to buy them" you say " Greedy GM is forcing gas guzzlers down our throats instead of offering us more efficient alternatives". This is nonsense.
What in the world is Honda really doing for the enviroment when they are about to cancel their Accord Hybrid and they are making V6 SUVs and Pickups that get 16mpg?
The Aveo is the vehicle that competes with the above class of vehicles and have been sold here for a couple years before the above showed up.
the three show cars were from an even smaller mini segment that I believe has no volume here except perhaps for the Smart.
We have a Smart car running around here. At least it looks like one. Must be a test car. Guess it would not be too frightful around town, though I for one would look out for large SUVs and trucks in town. On the freeway, it must be scary. But then again, I drove a Miata on the freeway, and they do ride motorcycles there too. The brave, the foolish, and the Smart -- on the freeways of America. Wonder if they will actually sell those golf carts? Hey steel frame on the little guys, so some safety considerations cooked in.
Loren
Loren
??? Is that why large SUV's are up 13% in April? People want to buy them and they are.
The Aveo is the vehicle that competes with the above class of vehicles and have been sold here for a couple years before the above showed up."
What above class of vehicles? you mean Cobalt?
I can guarantee that the production Malibus won't have paint as nice as the concept making the car show rounds. Heck, the BMW's, Benzes, and even the Maybach at the auto show didn't have paint as nice as the concept Malibu on display!
Aveo is in the running but not the best in segment in sales
Corolla/Matrix.120,400
Civic...........97,000
Cobalt..........57,000
yaris...........26,418
Versa...........21,200
Aveo............20,000
Fit.............12,800
xA................6800
toyota is doing pretty darn well.
Rocky, you need to buy one to keep you under 100 MPH "
Put him in an Aveo. That'll sure keep him under 100 mph!
That's how my old Volvo 142 used to work. You didn't speed because if you did the noise it made would drive you nuts!
Not hard to imagine. Honda has some of the worst brakes in the industry. That according to my brake man at Firestone. He sees hundreds of every brand. Give your self plenty of stopping room.
I've always looked at mileage and to a degree practicality.
The market for big SUVs was indeed created by the big 3 but to a major extent that's irrelevant. As soon as one figured out how to get around CAFE rules by marketing trucks instead of big cars it was inevitable that the other would follow. They would lose market share otherwise.
Of course now they've lost market share by not looking at the other end of teh market where business continues to move.
I think that means that those buying small cars at a very low price see the Cobalt as a good value. Those looking between $15k and $20K did not even consider the Cobalt but there was a virtual tie between the Malibu/Civic/Mazda 3. Again the Malibu is seen as a smaller car, which of course the current one is smaller than the midsize Camry/Accord.
The Aura won the under $25k sedan award. If you really look at it GM was the big time winner in sedans at all price levels up to $45,000. (malibu was a tight tie) The only class it really lost was the under $30k where the Acura TSX won and it barely out ranked the Buick Lucerne.
http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/press/120636/article.html
http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/consumersmostwanted/2007/index.html
they also swept the trucks/SUV's except for the compact Pick up and under $25k SUV.
In fact it looks like GM won almost every category it competes in or came in a close 2nd/3rd.
Actually the government did this. They put in new rules that did not allow the public to buy the cars they wanted/needed. The domestics then found that the public was buying their SUV's and modified them to become more car like than the true work trucks they were.
Of course now they've lost market share by not looking at the other end of teh market where business continues to move.
Partly true. Trucks have reduced penetrations in this country only slightly in the last 5 years. In actuallity the issue is there is a lot more competition and the domestics are losing market share in most all segments. In fact GM has, due to it's new full size trucks, gained some market share at the expense of others.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Sales of full-size SUVs in the US continued their decline in February, dropping 14% to 103,566 units from 120,376 units sold in February 2005. For the combined first two months of the year, sales of full-size SUVs dropped 11% from 216,485 units to 192,810.
Within the shrinking segment, however, GM is dramatically increasing its marketshare. Although sales of GM’s full-size SUVs decreased in total by 2.1% February to February, its market share of the full size SUV segment increased from 49.5% to 56.3%.
For the combined first two months of the year, GM’s market share of the full-size segment increased from 50.2% to 57.1%.
GM’s results. The Tahoe is the clear leader.
Much of this gain is being driven by the success of the all-new Tahoe, the first of GM’s redesigned full-size SUVs to hit the market. Sales of the Tahoe in February shot up 42% from 10,481 to 15,431 units. The increase of 4,950 units represented by far the largest unit increase for any automaker’s full-size SUV during the month.
This is one year old data and GM has been eating up even more share since then. Yes sales are not increasing much but as the segment shrinks GM increases market share. I remember reading that they now have 65% of the large SUV segment but I cannot find a link. As much as some seem to think that the redoing large SUV's/pickups was stupid it is saving GM's butt in the short term. The other domestics are really hurting because their sales have dropped.
What is really funny is doing a google search and reading the comments from 1-2 years ago on this subject. Lots of experts proved themselves to not know what they were talking about.
Ford used to dominate with the Expedition, but it seems to have been hit especially hard. And I don't think the Armada and Sequoia ever became much more than niche vehicles in the first place.
Maybe we're starting to see a return to the old days, when big SUVs were a niche market that could only sustain one major player and a few bit ones? I'm thinking like the days when the Suburban dominated the market, but you had peripheral entries such as the International Travelall and the Jeep Wagoneer and such.
My question is what will Toyota do if they cannot keep their new plant full?
Big SUV's are hardly a niche market. Niche to me is under 25,000 units. Big volume players sell over 250,000 units. SUV's are still pretty darn big.
Convert some of the lines to make more Camrys. :P
It may be seen as a smaller car, yet all the specs are within 3 inches of one another. The Impala is 10 inches longer and about 300lbs heavier than a Camcord