Silly time … If I remember properly, wasn’t it a movie actor, now governor, who sued GM to purchase a hummer initally. “He needed it to support his image”. Now his state and GM are both a fiscal mess.
Agree with the general theme of the cartoon, but Detroit automakers were selling people the things they wanted until fairly recently… I doubt if people would have bought many little cars a couple of years ago.
chromosome, I think there’s a lot of people that would have bought a quality “green” fuel-efficient car and an American-made one at that … US automakers didn’t put their ingenuity into making one. And as another poster said on another tune, they started messing with one of their best brands — Saturn — that had a loyal and dedicated following built over the years and started losing them
Humphs, though the state he governs is most definitely one huge disaster, the former actor turned Governor actually converted his Hummer to run on vegetable oil, so I have no criticism of his choice of vehicles once I found that out
Humphs, ‘tis true … vegetable oil … my nephew bought a converted hummer that runs on vegetable oil, drove it cross country, stopping at restaurants, etc., for “fuel” … there’s a new market niche there cuz nephew discovered the oil needed to be filtered or it might blow the engine, which happened to him
chromosome says: “Agree with the general theme of the cartoon, but Detroit automakers were selling people the things they wanted until fairly recently… I doubt if people would have bought many little cars a couple of years ago.”
Not so fast. What people wanted was high quality small and midsized vehicles that were comfortable and/or fun to drive and/or easy on gas.
When Detroit built small and midsized cars they cheap and none of the above.
Consider A Toyota Avalon or any Lexus. The best Cadillac can seem to do is build huge, boxy square things stuck all over with chrome that are about as sexy as your grandma’s stained underwear.
For what it’s worth, I drive a Smart, and it’s a really fun car. Mileage is great but not as good as I’d like – the European models get much better mileage, but US regs don’t allow them. US models are 300 pounds heavier and 7 inches longer. Still, it’s a great car and a great conversation starter.
Because I live in the Detroit area and have family who work at GM, I asked them why Detroit doesn’t build neat, small cars like the Japanese do. They told me people wanted big SUVs and big cars. I never wanted big cars, actually wanted a Toyota, but knew that would start a firestorm in my family. I decided on Saturns, and had a SWII for awhile. When I needed a new car I was disappointed there wasn’t a comfortable, economical car made by US carmakers. I needed a bit bigger car to accomodate my father’s walker and other things so went for a VUE (though I knew I could do better on gas mileage and emissions with a Toyota CUV).
In addition to the above, I have heard that the big problem is vigorous advertising pushed public demand for the big cars, which have a larger profit margin than the smaller ones. It still translated into a larger public demand, at least around here, until fairly recently :P
Detroit also got massive tax breaks on the SUVs, so their profit margins were much higher. They also got a multiply-renewed exemption to gas-efficiency standards.
It really steams me when people say “forcing them to increase efficiency standards will kill Detroit!!” Yeah, well, don’t you have faith in American ingenuity? I still do, despite so much evidence to the contrary in the auto industry.
motivemagus, I agree with you. I’m hoping some of that ingenuity will be used in adjusting to the cafe standards we really need as well as building the cars we really need.
HUMPHRIES about 15 years ago
-Oh-Boy-
believecommonsense about 15 years ago
and speaks the truth … quality really did slip hey Humphs, haven’t traded quips or dittos with you lately … hello
HUMPHRIES about 15 years ago
Dub bend slowed don wid a code BCS gib me a daze or too. But ben here n’ thear…
Motivemagus about 15 years ago
Near us is a SmartCar dealership, right next to a Hummer dealership. As my kids say when we pass it - there’s the Smart car, and the Dumb(er) car!
claudermilk about 15 years ago
The truth hurts.
HUMPHRIES about 15 years ago
Silly time … If I remember properly, wasn’t it a movie actor, now governor, who sued GM to purchase a hummer initally. “He needed it to support his image”. Now his state and GM are both a fiscal mess.
chromosome Premium Member about 15 years ago
Agree with the general theme of the cartoon, but Detroit automakers were selling people the things they wanted until fairly recently… I doubt if people would have bought many little cars a couple of years ago.
believecommonsense about 15 years ago
chromosome, I think there’s a lot of people that would have bought a quality “green” fuel-efficient car and an American-made one at that … US automakers didn’t put their ingenuity into making one. And as another poster said on another tune, they started messing with one of their best brands — Saturn — that had a loyal and dedicated following built over the years and started losing them
believecommonsense about 15 years ago
Humphs, though the state he governs is most definitely one huge disaster, the former actor turned Governor actually converted his Hummer to run on vegetable oil, so I have no criticism of his choice of vehicles once I found that out
CorosiveFrog Premium Member about 15 years ago
Who needs a tank to drive around Montreal or New-York? Afraid of the big, evil homeless?
HUMPHRIES about 15 years ago
BCS, Vegetable Oil ! You’re not spinning my fan belt now are you?
believecommonsense about 15 years ago
Humphs, ‘tis true … vegetable oil … my nephew bought a converted hummer that runs on vegetable oil, drove it cross country, stopping at restaurants, etc., for “fuel” … there’s a new market niche there cuz nephew discovered the oil needed to be filtered or it might blow the engine, which happened to him
ledgreen about 15 years ago
chromosome says: “Agree with the general theme of the cartoon, but Detroit automakers were selling people the things they wanted until fairly recently… I doubt if people would have bought many little cars a couple of years ago.”
Not so fast. What people wanted was high quality small and midsized vehicles that were comfortable and/or fun to drive and/or easy on gas.
When Detroit built small and midsized cars they cheap and none of the above.
Consider A Toyota Avalon or any Lexus. The best Cadillac can seem to do is build huge, boxy square things stuck all over with chrome that are about as sexy as your grandma’s stained underwear.
cdward about 15 years ago
For what it’s worth, I drive a Smart, and it’s a really fun car. Mileage is great but not as good as I’d like – the European models get much better mileage, but US regs don’t allow them. US models are 300 pounds heavier and 7 inches longer. Still, it’s a great car and a great conversation starter.
chromosome Premium Member about 15 years ago
Because I live in the Detroit area and have family who work at GM, I asked them why Detroit doesn’t build neat, small cars like the Japanese do. They told me people wanted big SUVs and big cars. I never wanted big cars, actually wanted a Toyota, but knew that would start a firestorm in my family. I decided on Saturns, and had a SWII for awhile. When I needed a new car I was disappointed there wasn’t a comfortable, economical car made by US carmakers. I needed a bit bigger car to accomodate my father’s walker and other things so went for a VUE (though I knew I could do better on gas mileage and emissions with a Toyota CUV).
chromosome Premium Member about 15 years ago
In addition to the above, I have heard that the big problem is vigorous advertising pushed public demand for the big cars, which have a larger profit margin than the smaller ones. It still translated into a larger public demand, at least around here, until fairly recently :P
Motivemagus about 15 years ago
Detroit also got massive tax breaks on the SUVs, so their profit margins were much higher. They also got a multiply-renewed exemption to gas-efficiency standards. It really steams me when people say “forcing them to increase efficiency standards will kill Detroit!!” Yeah, well, don’t you have faith in American ingenuity? I still do, despite so much evidence to the contrary in the auto industry.
chromosome Premium Member about 15 years ago
motivemagus, I agree with you. I’m hoping some of that ingenuity will be used in adjusting to the cafe standards we really need as well as building the cars we really need.