 ColorBASIC8-bit FunPremium
join:2006-12-29
Corona, CA
4 edits | reply to NOCMan
Re: Getting rid of the unions would be a good thing! A lot of GM's and Ford's cars and light trucks are available with flexfuel (E85) engines. Problem is you can't get E85 anywhere other than the plain-states so they aren't going to put them in their smaller vehicles. So for now FFV is marketed primarily to fleet owners (who don't buy or use small cars). They both make tons of CNG vehicles for fleet use as well. For the masses Ford was first to market with a hybrid SUV and Chevrolet the first to market with a hybrid full size truck and hybrid full size SUV. Saturn will be first to market with a hybrid cross-over SUV. But you'll never see media coverage of this stuff. The oil argument doesn't fly as GM puts out more models that get better than 30 MPG than ANY other car maker. However people still see GM as the gas guzzler maker.
As far as vehicles people don't want, this is contradicted by sales numbers. US small truck sales alone are about the same as the next 7 top cars combined. In 2006 Ford sold more F-Series trucks than Toyota sold Camrys, Solaras and Corolla's combined. So it's not volume that is hurting the industry and it's not the product they make.
I do agree it's the labor costs that are hurting these companies, moreover it's legacy labor costs. It's the money being spent on laborers who no longer produce anything.
If you think American cars suck, that's a different argument. I'm just looking at the numbers which clearly say American vehicles are selling well, there's just no margin in them because of these legacy costs.
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Macintosh Users Group Serving the Inland Empire |
| "GM puts out more models that get better than 30 MPG than ANY other car maker. However people still see GM as the gas guzzler maker."
lmao that's the same stuff that they say on their commercials ahahahahhaah...are you sure you don't work for GM?
Even IF GM does have more models that get 30 mpg, how many models do they have that don't? And GM owns several companies, including: chevy, saturn, pontiac, buick, GMC, cadillac, hummer, opel, saab, vauxhall, and daewoo. Of course they are going to have more MODELS that have 30 mpg, when they own 11 different branches! They put the same engine in different lineups of cars to sell them as luxury, affordable, economy etc. American car manufacturers have ALWAYS been inferior compared to their Japenese brethren. 30 years ago american car manufacturers only competed with other american car manufacturers. The short, sweet success that they experienced, they thought would last forever. Hence the broken promises of today. They simply can't compete on cost, value, mileage, etc. |
