and what comes to mind? Family cars like the Chevy Impala, Ford Taurus and the Dodge Avenger, cars that Dad can take Mom and the kids to the mall on Sunday in. As the following list shows, Think American Car is a Truck! The top selling vehicles in America are the Ford F-Series , Chevy Silverado and the Toyota Camry.
Car Sales October 2008 (Carsdotcom)
- Ford F-Series 43,324
- Chevy Silverado 31,684
- Toyota Camry 30,556
- Toyota Corolla 27,386
- Chevy Impala 22,107
- Honda Accord 19,783
- Honda Civic 18,582
- Dodge Ram 17,626
- Nissan Altima, 17,753
- Honda Cr-V 13,169
Now that Detroit's Big Three Automakers, as they referred to by the broadcast, print and Internet media are asking for another $50 billion from the Federal Government to allow them to finance ongoing production and sales of vehicles (after receiving $25 billion in loan guarantees) during the Lame Duck Congressional Session before Barack Obama takes the Oath of Office in January, there has been reactions from both dominant political parties.
The Republicans are upset (many of them were against the $700 billion dollars being used by the US Treasury to invest in the biggest banks) and are invoking their "free market" principles saying that the automakers should file for bankruptcy, allowing them to shed their expensive labor contracts.
The Democrats are willing to give the automakers the additional $50 billion but want to increase fuel mileage standards and build more green cars.
Looking at the number one and two results above we can see that many Americans prefer to drive large, full-sized trucks for their "family cars." So if the Democratic Congress is successful in passing the $50 billion in aid for the Big Three will it mean that it will require them to design and build vehicles that the majority of Americans will be uncomfortable in because they are too small? (Either because Americans are larger physically than people in Japan, or they don't feel safe driving small cars.)
The Republicans have a point about "Free Markets," car buyers make their purchasing decisions based on getting in-and-out of cars in the dealers showrooms. The sales figures above show that Americans preference is for larger vehicles no matter what it costs to drive them. (In spite of high gasoline prices.)
According to the broadcast, print and Internet media vehicle sales in the US are virtually nonexistent due to the Credit Crisis, that is, the banks on every corner that just received hundreds of billions of dollars from the US Government aren't making car loans. Obviously, from the sales figures above, some financial institutions are making "consumer loans.
Another myth the broadcast, print and Internet media is promulgating is that Americans want to drive small cars. As the recent sales figures above show Americans prefer to drive "full size" cars and trucks. The smallest cars, with the best fuel economy, are shown down the list in bold letters.
Once Hot Hybrids Gathering Sunlight
In December of 2007 (gasoline was at $3.59 a gallon) 31,000 Hybrid (gasoline/battery-electric motorvated) cars were purchased by Americans willing to wait a few years to "break-even" on gasoline costs verses the thousands of dollars "hybrid premium" that the cars sell for over the gasoline motorvated models. In February 2009 15,000 of the silent-running cars were sold.
In July of 2008 (Gasoline was $4.11 a gallon) Toyota Prius dealers were charging thousands of dollars above the "sticker price," and drivers were on waiting lists, now the dealers lots have a 80 day supply and there is a $500 dollar "factory rebate" that is applied to each sale.
The Detroit Automakers now have to satisfy Congressional politicians that vote for "bailout billions" that are demanding they build fuel efficient "Green Cars and Trucks." Hybrid cars are 2% of US vehicle sales.
In December Toyota cancelled plans to build the prius in a $1,300,000,000 plant it built in Mississippi and Chrysler closed it's only hybrid-producing factory.
The Cadillac Escalade Hybrid sells for $74,000 (Fox's Sean Hannity drives one) and the Lexus LS 600h costs only $106,000 and both get 21 miles-per-gallon.
Ford has a 41 MPG Fusion Hybrid that will cost $8,000 above the gasoline version and the company plans on building 20,000 of them (about 1% of Ford's total production.) All the Fusions will be built in Hermosillo, Mexico, another example of how Americans benefit from the NAFTA "free trade agreement."
President Obama's Economic Recovery Plan it is predicted, will create 3 million new "Green Jobs", Click Underlined Link:
http://www.communati.com/steve-lee/think-innovation
Barack Obama is the first Internet President, Click:
http://www.communati.com/steve-lee/think-obamadotcom
A sample page from obamadotcom, Click:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stevelectric/gGxqtq
New commentary that will make you:
http://www.communati.com/steve-lee/think-democracy
Think American Car is a Truck! Copyright 2008 Steve Lee All rights reserved
Barack Obama is the first Internet President Copyright 2008 Steve Lee All rights reserved
(Dwight Eisenhower was the first television president- that's where the "I Like Ike" slogan came from.) Copyright 2008 Steve Lee All rights reserved
motorvated Copyright 2008 Steve Lee All rights reserved
What I find weird about this whole car industry thing is that here in Canada, there is a big push to buy domestic and not imports. However, from the best of my knowledge, there are no Canadian cars produced and that all brands (Ford, Chrysler, GM, Toyota, Honda, etc) are imports.
Yes, we do have a huge employment industry built around building American car parts; however, while the American car production slows down, the "import" car production goes up. Toyota and Honda are building plants and adding jobs all the time, providing jobs for those who lose them at GM and the likes. Yet, I don't hear Toyota or Honda asking for government bailouts in the news.
I suspect that much of the hype is because the unions are threatened, as Honda and Toyota are non unionized environments with happy employees, with job stability. However, it is the unions that have forced the "big three" into tough times. Being forced to pay unskilled labourers incomes much higher than necessary, it was only a matter of time before layoffs and plant shut downs occur.
I recommend that before any goverment puts one penny into the car industry, everyone who works for these companies and makes more than $100,000 pool their money together and invest themselves. It seems rediculous that the goverment put millions of dollars in, when there are those who are making annual salaries of $27,000,000.
So, until their salaries are cut down to a reasonable amount...or, at the very least, reinvested into the corporation. I don't see any need for a government bailout at all.
The first instance of Globalization was initiated by the US Auto Industry to cooordinate auto production between the Us and Canada in the 1960's.
In the 1970''s with increasing imports Congress was making proposals to limit the number of imported cars, so the foreign manufacturers started building assembly plants in the US.
The states started bidding against one another with "consessions' (tax-payer funded giveaways to the "transpalnts") and that created the situation we are in today.
To read more about the current state of government involvement in the US Auto Industry:
http://www.communati.com/steve-lee/think-republican
Electric Cars are going to be available for American's to drive, Click:
http://www.communati.com/steve-lee/think-electric
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