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TheDude
Expert
Joined: Apr 06, 2006
Posts: 2862
Location: 3 miles NW of Champoeg, Republic of Cascadia
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 Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 5:20 pm Post subject: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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AFP
| Quote: | DETROIT (AFP) — Depending on who's counting, sales of new vehicles in the United States are now at the lowest ebb in 15 years and nobody is quite sure when they will begin to recover.
Officials from Honda Motor Co. said Thursday they have ordered production cuts. "We are taking three days of production out of the schedule at the Marysville plant," said spokesman Ed Miller.
The Marysville plant builds the Honda Accord, one of the most popular cars sold in the United States. "We're have an 80 day supply of Accords right. Normally we wouldn't do anything but there is a lot of uncertainty right now," he said.
The first down time is slated to occur with the Memorial Day Holiday next month and the second slot is scheduled to coincide with the Fourth of July holiday.
Toyota and Nissan also announced production cuts last month and it is the first time in several years that all three big Japanese automakers, which build substantial number of vehicles in the US have cut production at the same time.
J.D. Power & Associates now estimates that light-duty car and truck sales will slip to only 14.9 million units in 2008, the lowest level since the Gulf War in the early 1990s when the US slipped into a recession.
"The structural adjustments in the auto sector are slowing, but now the major car companies must adjust to a cyclical downturn in light vehicle sales," said Dana Johnson, the chief economist for Comerica Bank of Dallas, which has long cultivated close ties to car makers and their suppliers. |
 
Car Shopping in a Recession - Business Week
| Quote: | The current U.S. economic slowdown is kicking the Big Three right where it hurts—and when they were already down.
High gas prices, low consumer confidence, a shaky economy, and the housing and credit crisis have car buyers holding on to their wallets, entering the third year in a row of weaker auto sales. First-quarter sales this year were the worst since 2002, and 8% behind the year-ago quarter. Unless the automakers revert to their old form and dramatically cut prices—which they swear they won't do—2008 sales look to be the worst in at least a decade (BusinessWeek.com, 4/1/0 .
Worst of all, big pickup trucks and big SUVs are off the most, hurting General Motors (GM), Ford Motor (F), and Chrysler in both profit and volume. For every big truck that doesn't sell, the domestic brands are forced to try and make up for it. They are doing so by cutting costs on one hand, and on the other trying to sell more small cars and crossovers—categories that have been dominated in recent years by imports such as Toyota Motor (TM) and Honda Motor (HMC). |
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BigTex
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Joined: Aug 03, 2006
Posts: 4054
Location: Gathering
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 5:31 pm Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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But you know what, and this may sound stupid, but think about it:
Aren't there going to be a lot of new car purchases when the super-efficient cars of the future arrive?
Maybe now is a good time to buy automakers' stock.
I look at Ford from time to time (the stock), but just can't get over all the bad things that could happen to a company like that (more bad things than have already happened to it, anyway).
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zberry
Heavy Crude
Joined: Mar 21, 2006
Posts: 133
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:04 pm Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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I went to the SmartCar dealership in Albuquerque and paid $99 to enter their reservation program.
It is approximately 1-year wait. So the demand is there. Once again, Detroit has totally Fu** up and has none of the cars that Americans actually want to buy at this moment in time.
SmartCar |
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mos6507
Fission
Joined: Aug 03, 2007
Posts: 2989
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:19 pm Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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| BigTex wrote: |
Aren't there going to be a lot of new car purchases when the super-efficient cars of the future arrive?
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All those people who ruined their credit in a foreclosure are going to have trouble clearing an auto loan. |
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BigTex
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Joined: Aug 03, 2006
Posts: 4054
Location: Gathering
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 7:34 pm Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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| mos6507 wrote: | | BigTex wrote: |
Aren't there going to be a lot of new car purchases when the super-efficient cars of the future arrive?
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All those people who ruined their credit in a foreclosure are going to have trouble clearing an auto loan. |
They will just have to set up a special lease program for them.
They can call it the "DumbBuy" program.
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Johnston
Tar Sands
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Joined: Sep 17, 2006
Posts: 60
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:19 pm Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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| zberry wrote: | I went to the SmartCar dealership in Albuquerque and paid $99 to enter their reservation program.
It is approximately 1-year wait. So the demand is there. Once again, Detroit has totally Fu** up and has none of the cars that Americans actually want to buy at this moment in time.
SmartCar |
I was just having a look at the Smart website, and watching some of the ads they have there.
I was reminded of the movie "who killed the electric car", where they raised the possibility that the advertising of those cars was secretly designed to make people not want the car - to make sure that the product failed.
I wonder if those Smart car ads are the same? |
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Gandalf_the_White
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Nov 21, 2007
Posts: 511
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:53 pm Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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15 year ebbs happen all the time, it's called the business cycle. Detroit may look like something out of an Omega Man clip but don't count the motor city out yet. MoTown has still got the funk! I'm expecting anytime soon another news blurb where Iacocca flames out the industry execs after the yearly strip club outing.
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nocar
Intermediate Crude
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| Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 10:57 pm Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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Gandalf, I was rejoicing over the good news that fewer cars are being made - good for environement, good for our (=humanity, the high resource using segment) big task of powering down.
Then you point out that this is just business as usual. May I still hope that it is not? That this time it is the beginning of real change?
nocar |
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AirlinePilot
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Joined: Apr 05, 2005
Posts: 2359
Location: South of Atlanta
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| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:24 am Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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Why would anyone buy the crippled fuel mileage of the US based Smart car when you can have a Toyota Yaris, a Honda Civic, or similar regular sized car for just a bit more money and get THE SAME FUEL MILEAGE?
I predict it will not be a success in the US. I'd buy one If it got 80mpg. The US versions will be lucky to get 40mpg with all the crap our stupid system adds to them. Hell my Accord gets 25mpg avg right now! |
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frankthetank
Fusion
Joined: Sep 16, 2004
Posts: 4248
Location: Southwest WI
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| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:36 am Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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Yaris can get in the 40's...the Honda Fit can get near 40... The Yaris Sedan is a sharp looking little car. Then again, a Cavalier will pull down upper 30's with a stick and has 140hp... I use to drive a escort with theh zetec and 5sp, during summer i could get mid 30's and once avg over 40 on a highway trip. TDI Jetta also comes to mind.
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vision-master
Fusion
Joined: May 18, 2006
Posts: 3918
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:48 am Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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| zberry wrote: | I went to the SmartCar dealership in Albuquerque and paid $99 to enter their reservation program.
It is approximately 1-year wait. So the demand is there. Once again, Detroit has totally Fu** up and has none of the cars that Americans actually want to buy at this moment in time.
SmartCar |
The USA version only gets about 35 mpg city. Not very good considering how small it is.
| Quote: | | Hell my Accord gets 25mpg avg right now! |
My Monte Carlo SS gets an easy 24 mpg city. |
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dorlomin
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Aug 05, 2007
Posts: 974
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| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:36 am Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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| How are bycicle sales or is that just too far fetched? |
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Gandalf_the_White
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Nov 21, 2007
Posts: 511
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| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 9:44 pm Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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| vision-master wrote: | | zberry wrote: | I went to the SmartCar dealership in Albuquerque and paid $99 to enter their reservation program.
It is approximately 1-year wait. So the demand is there. Once again, Detroit has totally Fu** up and has none of the cars that Americans actually want to buy at this moment in time.
SmartCar |
The USA version only gets about 35 mpg city. Not very good considering how small it is.
| Quote: | | Hell my Accord gets 25mpg avg right now! |
My Monte Carlo SS gets an easy 24 mpg city. |
Yeah the regulators had them back-end-gineer the smart car for the American market.
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Rabbit
Heavy Crude
Joined: Aug 30, 2005
Posts: 116
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| Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:19 pm Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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| dorlomin wrote: | | How are bycicle sales or is that just too far fetched? |
Last weekend I purchased a new bike for the wife. I asked the shop owner how business was and he said everything was normal, not up or down.
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emersonbiggins
Moderator
Joined: Jul 10, 2005
Posts: 4868
Location: Dallas
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| Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:25 pm Post subject: Re: US new auto sales hit 15-year low |
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I went to the Dallas Auto Show this weekend, to check out the Smart car, Audi RS8 , and the VWs.
I discovered that the new Jetta TDI (Fall 2008?) is going to get mid-40s city/mid-50s hwy (MPG).
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