Comments on: The End of the World

By: oyster

oyster — Tue, 08 May 2007 08:27:23 +0000

Perhap government regulations and incentives be part of a conversion program.
Many countries have started on a rebate or incentive program to own a hybrid or green car.
this should be globally discussed as a concerted effort and strategy.
Then it will materialize and help in the recovery process.
otherwise, not only we suffer under the oligopoly of oil prices but also fumes, pollution and global warming.

By: CTX

CTX — Tue, 08 May 2007 03:58:27 +0000

Heh... I can easily go 35 MPG with my Renault Laguna 1.8 RT without breaking a sweat.
But honestly I'm very concerned about the prices of gasoline. See, here in Finland the prices are much bigger than in the U.S. Because taxes for it are 70% for beeing exact.
In our gasoline there is ethanol additives also so it is a little bit greener not much but it's a start.

If you'd like to fill-up an average 68 liter tank
you'd have to pay the following: 94.00 EUR which is = 127.89 USD!!!

*waiting for some plug-in hybrids and EV's :]*

By: AP

AP — Fri, 04 May 2007 21:58:39 +0000

Did anyone notice that GM handily outsells Toyota in the US?

That a Tundra uses more fuel than GM's trucks (and Toyota brags about how big and tough they are)?

That the number of recalls at Toyota is way up, and the press has ignored it?

By: DaveM

DaveM — Fri, 04 May 2007 14:36:38 +0000

not listening to the marketplace and even not understand how consumer images are created is how GM lost the market and continues to lose ground.

Want to know why GM and Ford will still lose market share? Its pretty damn simple: The image of quality people carry around with them is NOT with the high end, high price tag models. It is with the entry-level cars. Buyer loyalty is created when someone buys their very first, low budget new car. You make or break right there.

That is also why Korea keeps gaining ground. They figured it out. As long as the Big 3 ignore the cheap car market or produce clearly inferior models, they will lose ground.

It's not the labor, its not the unions, it is not "unfair advantage of competitors" its the leadership and they choose to invest their engineering and design expertise.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 04 May 2007 13:09:57 +0000

"War Zones" - The city of Detroit is in bad shape due to tough social transitions during the civil rights movement of the '60s. Polarization along racial lines happened, unfortunately having a negative economic impact but it wasn't plant closings.

As for GM's slow decline, they've been behind on key automotive concepts for decades. It began with manufacturing quality. Japanese manufacturers revolutionized this concept and Detroit took too long to respond. As a result they started losing market share. Where did they turn to stem the tide? They turned to mini-vans, trucks and SUVs.

Now with the focus on fuel economy and climate change, they find themselves again behind the curve. This is nothing new, just more of the same starting 25 years ago.

This is simply creative destruction in the marketplace and GM is not on the creative side.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 04 May 2007 03:42:57 +0000

Okay some of the comments so far are accurate and some are not. I personally work in sales and it’s always a price vs condition question. Those that can not afford the hybrids, will buy the pure gasoline cars. The market will force those cars to the lower end buyers, which by the way will always be there.
What we are seeing is a market in transition(SP?). Toyota and Honda are growing Ford and GM shrinking. Markets like this are always difficult to predict. I will be very interested to watch US makers stock price, product price, product offerings and market share over the next 12 months. like or not it all comes down to money.

By: FLORIAN

FLORIAN — Wed, 02 May 2007 02:54:49 +0000

first of all the statement of the loss of work by bad "american management" is not correct...

i live in mexico and a bunch of "american" cars are made here....(ESCALADE PICK UP AND AVALANCHE about 25 miles off my door..)

the best selling car (not truck) of the usa is produced where??

i believe to know the toyota camry plant is in kentucky...??

about "war zones" and so on...

actually i was negatively impressed by what i had to look in detroit in december 2006...

on the other hand,
if you read the consumer report magazine about cars,
you will propbably realize what the us car makers made wrong:
they believe they live on an island...so far my opinion

best wishes

FLORIAN

By: RichardT

RichardT — Tue, 01 May 2007 17:41:35 +0000

The sad thing is that I really think Lutz believes what he is saying. I looked for a long time for some…ANY…American car that gave superior gas mileage with decent comfort and options. Do the execs at GM truly believe that Toyota is now number one because they DON’T know how to make quality cars that people want? I bought a Prius for the simple reason that there is nothing made in its class in the U.S. that can comptete with it.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:05:37 +0000

I would like to see where those so called war zone are? Many statements made on the internet are false and by people who really know nothing about towns in Michigan. Get the facts don’t just talk about what you know nothing about.

By: Gerald Shields

Gerald Shields — Tue, 01 May 2007 02:49:51 +0000

When the “market” buys cars that GM can’t (or won’t) make, it hurts a lot of American autoworkers. Plants close and jobs get outsourced to other countries and soon there’s little middle-class folks. There are towns in Michigan that look like war zones because of the plant closings. Simply put, GM is hurting Americans by their profane inepitude. That must stop. They simply must redouble their efforts to design, build and market the vehicles we NEED and stop penalizing their workers because of their stupidity.