The death of Detroit

[HardDrive]

This story is sickening.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_37/b4099060491065.htm?chan=autos_autos+--+lifestyle+subindex+page_top+stories

Ford won't import this car because they claim they cannot afford it. Anyone with an ***** lick of business sense would see that they can't afford NOT to import it.

And there it is, plain and simple. They are just going to wait around hoping for gas prices to drop (which they will), they will ride a little wave until the next down turn, then lay off thousands more workers when the next crisis hits...

It sickening. The 'Big Three' management should be forced to wear pink dresses to work that have 'I sold my nuts to get my golden parchute!' printed on the back.

[Racerbvd]

And it even looks pretty good
Close to double the gas mileage of the nearest competitor and they don't think people will spend, what 3% to get roughly 40% better mileage
I guess the mayor has been passing around the crack pipe

[ckissick]

VW just started to get their diesels here in the US, and my father's dealership is selling them as fast as they get them. VW is very upbeat on their American venture into diesels. So why not Ford?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Just another example of how our tax structure is killing our economy. The key statement in that article is that they won't bring it to the U.S. because the high cost of diesel fuel (because of taxes) makes diesel unpopular with U.S. buyers, which is a true statement.

[Pazuzu]

OK, riddle me this diesel gurus...

I thought that I learned YEARS ago, that there was a federal limit on diesel sales in the US. Something along the lines of "5% of total car sales or less". This was to suppress the Euro car sales in the 70s and support the domestic car sales. This was done with the Japanese SUV market around 1989/1990, for the same reason.

Did this ever exist, and if so, was it repealed?

[Mr.Puff]

Well, this affirms my hatred for Ford.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I don't know about federal limits, but there most definitely is a ban on diesel vehicles in the lovely, "free" state of Kalifornia. Want to buy an efficient, clean-burning VW diesel TDi here? Nope. Can't do it. However you can go out and buy a highly INefficient PowerStroke diesel pickup or a gigantic diesel-powered commercial truck rig. Go figure. Apparently the geniuses in Sacramento think that the average citizen won't pay enough in taxes to let them have the technology in the form of a passenger car, so it's restricted to "commercial use only". The only way to get a diesel car in here is as a "brought in" vehicle from another state (which you pay out the nose to the DMV for) and it has to have I think at least 4,000 miles on it before you can do this. Needless to say, the market for older diesel Mercedes is pretty hot right now and they command a premium price here.

Idiocy at its finest.

And then you go drive around behind 1960s-vintage school busses with NO "clean-burning" technology of any sort on them puking enormous black clouds of soot. "Exempt" from testing here.

Gotta' love this state sometimes...

[red-beard]

I understand not wanting to build a new engine plant in North America if you do not believe sales can support it. I also understand not wanting to import a whole car. What I do not understand is why they cannot import the engines from the UK and assemble them in North America.

[HardDrive]

Oh look! Now they want 50 BILLION of your tax dollars for 'retooling'. What a bunch of socialist BS. Why don't the big three get together and change their name to 'Autobus'. That way we can feel better about treating them like their government subsidized cousin Airbus.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26592074/

F responsibility, this is America! Max those credit cards, take out home loans for 100 times your net worth, make crap products for decades...No worries! The federal goverment will take care of your 'tiny mistake'. As long at the Red Chinese keep taking our IOUs, were all good!

[cab83_750]

So, would be spend $30K for the car ($27K + tax + license + etc)?

[berettafan]

is that article a thinly veiled threat aimed by Ford at uncle sam? 'we have the answer but the *******s in Washington won't help us get it to market'???

[Laneco]

Ford has a solid history of saving their best small car products for europe. For the life of me, I can't figure out why... In today's economical market, it seems like suicide.

With the deep factory discounts offered by the big three and incentive low financing, when you add it all up, they could actually afford to sell this car here provided they sell it at full price. I suspect it would sell at full price.

As for me, bring on the oil burners! I love diesels!

angela

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by cab83_750

So, would be spend $30K for the car ($27K + tax + license + etc)?

Yes. Look at the the Prius. Look at the Smart car. They sell like hot cakes.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Mr.Puff

Well, this affirms my hatred for Ford.

Perhaps you are directing your hatred to the wrong place. The same legislature that recently passed a law of Oregon mandating 10% ethanol in all automotive "gas" also passed the same smog laws as Californicate, which pretty much banned new diesel powered cars.

I'm not saying I would buy one of these if they became USA legal, but I can say I'd sure look at one.

[widgeon13]

And some Michigan mayor has come up w/ his own solution!!! Buy American or get out!

http://autos.aol.com/article/general/v2/_a/buy-american-cars-or-not/20080906161909990001

[Jim Richards]

What a wanker. Telling his employees what car they "have" to buy.

[speedracing944]

Originally Posted by Mr.Puff

Well, this affirms my hatred for Ford.

+1

keep offering bland crappy cars with automatic slush boxes with a life expectancy of 150K miles. Keep selling them guys. Keep building them Unions.

Why are the likes of Toyota and Honda gaining in popularity? Hmmm let me think for a minute...

Speedy

[jcommin]

I believe Ford will survive only because it is largely owned by the Ford family. I'm have my doubts about Chrysler - I don't think they make it. They have the wrong mix of product and I doubt the have the cash for product development. They won't totally disappear because of their parts business. GM makes it too but I expect to see several nameplates disappear.

The bigger tragedy is the loss of manufacturing in this country. Looking at history, the Country, Empire, etc who has/had the technological edge stays on top. We have convinced ourselves that cheap energy is a right, we are now very dependent on 3rd world countries having the largest oil reserves. This affects everything we do, buy and live. It has not stopped us from buying big cars - our legislation promoted it; gas tax dollars provide big pots of money for state and local governments. Some people belive we call drill our way out of it ( we consume 25% of the energy and have 3% of the worlds oil reserves - I don't know, you do the math). We are a product of the environment we created - and we are suffering for it.

It will probably take a generation to adjust to this enviroment; hopefully we develop a new energy resource and create industries that support it.

[legion]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Just another example of how our tax structure is killing our economy. The key statement in that article is that they won't bring it to the U.S. because the high cost of diesel fuel (because of taxes) makes diesel unpopular with U.S. buyers, which is a true statement.

Yep, a lot of people seem to have overlooked that and jumped straight to blaming Ford. It would be stupid of Ford to sell a car that they would lose money on every unit, or to sell a Fiesta that costs more than a decked-out F150.

[Jeff Higgins]

...says Sutter. "I wouldn't suppose there are a lot of Apple Computers being purchased in Redmond, Washington (home of Microsoft Corp.), either.

"Nothing wrong with that."

Maybe he should ask those of us living near Redmond, WA. I am forced to work on MS products all day long at work. I will never again own another one for my private, in home, personal use.

I see personal vehicle choices in the same light. This mayor can certainly purchase whatever he wants for the city's fleet, but there is no way in hell he can dictate what his employees drive otherwise. Maybe, if they have positive experiences driving the city's "American" cars, his employees would be persuaded to buy "American" for their personal vehicles. I suspect, however, that their experiences with "American" cars would not be positive enough to sway the ones who buy European or Japanese.

I can assure you, my experiences with MS products at work (and previously, here in my home) have been quite compelling, making my decision easy. I wouldn't own any of their products even if I worked for the place. I think I can say the same thing about Ford, GM, and Chrysler.