26th Jul 2011, 19:47
I was excited to read that Chevy is coming out with a diesel model of the Cruze that will top the complicated and expensive Prius hybrid in mileage. GM is leading the world in building affordable and reliable vehicles that beat hybrids in fuel mileage, without the short-lived and expensive battery packs that pose a huge hazard to the ecology. $3000 battery packs every few years offset any fuel savings a hybrid gets anyway.
27th Jul 2011, 12:33
"I personally do not spend my car-buying dollars on foreign-made products."
Then you should not buy the following made in Canada cars:
Chrysler: Town & Country, Caravan, 300 series, Charger, Challenger.
Ford: Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, Edge, Fiesta, MKX, Flex, Escape.
GM: Camaro, Impala, Allure, Lacrosse, Equinox, Torrent.
And don't buy these cars as they are made in Mexico:
GM: Sunfire/Cavalier.
Ford: Fusion, Milan.
And don't buy the Buick Regal, it's made in Germany.
And don't even dream of owning a Porsche or Ferrari or Lamborghini either, they are equally foreign.
And don't buy that foreign oil that is refined to produce gasoline for your car either.
5th Aug 2011, 18:32
It was exciting to read today that domestic automakers continued their huge sales gains through July while Toyota and Honda suffered 20+% losses (again). It was also encouraging to read that American buyers made this GM's 6th straight high-profit quarter in a row. They made 2.5 billion dollars in profits this quarter. GM continues to increase its sales lead over all Japanese cars. It has sold over twice as many cars in the U.S. as Honda and Toyota for months on end now. And before import fans start screaming "tsunami" again (for the 5th straight month), they need to look on Toyota lots. There are hundreds of cars sitting there.
6th Aug 2011, 16:03
Government Motors doesn't have to make a profit because it can screw up, as they did for 25 years, because the government will bail them out. They're not really a capitalist company. Also, it is COMMON KNOWLEDGE that Japan's unfortunate earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor problems have affected their car sales. Just because you don't see empty lots on Nissan, Toyota, and Honda dealerships does not mean they have not been affected. It's more complicated than you think.
Also, this area was originally for the Chevrolet Cruze. The Cruze has roots in Daewoo, and Daewoo is 'foreign.' So was the sub standard Aveo, which was produced in South Korea for seven years. Car production is global.
6th Aug 2011, 17:24
Once more - Toyota, Honda, and the other Japanese automakers lost sales because their production was cut due to the Tsunami. That's it.
7th Aug 2011, 07:33
Good point about the batteries, good point!
I wish more people understood this issue better!
7th Aug 2011, 12:08
For the 13 billion dollars the U.S. government gave up to help GM, it has received over 100 billion dollars in increased tax revenue, tens of thousands of new jobs for U.S. citizens, and several new plants built on U.S. soil. This had to be the biggest bargain of the century for the U.S. Getting nearly a ten-fold profit on your investment is pretty darn good.
8th Aug 2011, 06:57
The last time I looked, every car dealer, regardless of manufacturer, had cars sitting in their lots, they are there for the purpose of sales.
8th Aug 2011, 12:45
If dealers have hundreds of cars sitting on their lots waiting to be sold, how has the tsunami (of 6 months ago) kept their sales low? This sounds like a pretty unconvincing argument to me.
8th Aug 2011, 17:38
Sure, supporting a company that can't compete is great business. No wonder the U.S. is struggling. They reward failure. Maybe more U.S. businesses should apply for bankruptcy.
9th Aug 2011, 17:50
Yeah, that's right, a massive earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor problems should have absolutely %100 no effect on a country's industry or ability to maintain exactly the same product sales before these horrible events occurred. All problems should be solved in a few months. This is the same logic that says 'how come GM still sold cars if they were losing billions, and going through bankruptcy?'
9th Aug 2011, 20:13
For the ump-teenth time YES, the Tsunami affected Toyota's sales... globally and anecdotal evidence of car lots with cars for sale doesn't indicate anything. I think anyone with even a very basic comprehension of elementary economics knows that if you're Company A and you suddenly have less products to sell because you made less of them, then your total sales will diminish. It's befuddling as to why this extremely simple concept is so difficult to understand. It's also key to note that this affected global sales, not just in the USA. That's all there is to it!
9th Aug 2011, 22:40
Someone apparently didn't read comment 12:08. For the 13 billion dollars the U.S. government was out to help GM, it has received over 100 billion in tax revenue they otherwise would have lost. 100,000 new jobs have been created, and three new plants have been opened on U.S. soil, employing Americans. GM has turned huge profits for the past six quarters, including a record-setting 2.5 billion dollar profit last quarter.
At present GM is the number one selling car maker in the world (VW is second and Toyota has plunged to third). For the first half of 2011, GM has outsold disgraced Toyota by a margin of better than two to one in the U.S. If the government had not helped GM, we would have lost hundreds of thousands of jobs, hundreds of billions in tax revenue, and the recession would likely have worsened to a depression. Getting a nearly 8-fold return on its investment has got to be one of the best business deals our government has ever made.
10th Aug 2011, 13:01
Sure - Toyota and Honda sales are down for reasons I won't even mention because it's too obvious to everyone. At least it should be. But it's not because people stopped buying them. Nuff said about that subject.
But getting back to this anti-import rhetoric, for starters its old-fashioned and outdated to ignore the realities of the global automotive industry. Pop the hood of any car today - regardless of where it came from - and the components all come from a variety of global suppliers. For example, Bosch and Denso are both major parts suppliers, and you'll find parts from these manufacturers in a huge variety of cars. Both foreign and domestic. These parts are made in many countries.
All car makers at this point have design, engineering, testing, marketing, and manufacturing plants all over the world. Toyota, Honda, Ford, GM, and Chrysler all have plants making cars - sometimes models only sold in those markets - in many different countries. A car's label also has nothing to do with how American or Japanese it is. Ironically, topping the list of the most "American" cars - as in how much of that car is actually made in the USA is the Camry, Accord, and Tundra. All with percentages ranging from 70-85% total per vehicle. Those cars were in some cases designed, engineered, tested, and built in the US using American parts, engineers, marketing and management personal, and assemblers at US factories. Thus an argument that these aren't American cars will fall flat because they are in fact... American cars.
It's a global world out there. Get used to it.
7th Jul 2011, 13:32
Actually the Chevy Cruze outsold every car in the U.S. in June. In fact, GM had 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place in sales. As usual, the Ford F-150 was the top seller, followed by the Chevy Silverado, then the Cruze, and then the new Camry-killer Malibu. The fact that trucks are once again on top in sales is a good sign for our economy. It means more people are buying work vehicles. Another encouraging sign for the U.S. economy is that only one Japanese car maker (Toyota) even scored in the top 10 in U.S. sales, and it was way down the list. We are doing more to support our own industries.