The email continued on to mention a financing offer.

=D~

Don’t bet anything you can’t afford to lose. Toyota owners aren’t going to flock to GM for anything. People who buy $30K cars don’t suddenly start buying $40K cars; they buy another $30K car, unless their financial circumstances improve significantly. And the median price for a new vehicle is a lot closer to $20K than $30K.

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#228, DonC, #243, statik,

I’m more inclined to believe in a Ford BEV than a GM RE-EV because Ford has a winning track record with HEVs. Their Fusion established a new standard for conventional mid-size fuel economy; they got the better of Toyota on that.

We’ve got clear evidence Ford’s engineers AND marketers are up to the task. GM’s hybrids might be well engineered but their production costs are far too high and GM’s marketers must have been smoking dope when they signed on to the idea of a hybrid that doubles as a gas guzzler, costs $15K more than the non-hybrid vehicle and is aimed squarely at people who don’t prize good fuel eocnomy.

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#250, Larry McFall, “OK! Now that I understand that the Union is raising hell because GM wants to make the toy car, “The Spark” in China. It appears that the US Government is flexing their muscles in favor of the union. A little polictiking versus using the head.”

I’d like to know what purpose it serves to bail out GM if not to save some actual jobs IN THE US. I’m not happy about bailing out GM (I’d much rather see Henderson in a bread line) but I’m far less unhappy about that than I would be if I was propping up jobs in China.

Let the toy be made in China and the hell with what the Union wants. However, get the Volt solidfied right here in the USA and why, would any American that would be interested in buying an economy car buy a “Spark” when they could put their money in a “VOLT”?

If the Union doesn’t get their way with what they want, they will tell Daddy Government and get their way, Right! The Union don’t always make good decisions for their workers and of course, neither does the company but, the “Spark” is not going to be any great GM car that’s going to be in demand. I believe the VOLTEC is going to be the Key for GM success not the “Spark”.

If GM employee’s want to keep their jobs, they have to work for a company that makes a product that the public wants and can use. The VOLTEC concept is the future!! The Union is only looking at jobs and not long range security.

How well it is built is related to how well it is backed.
Backed by the OEM warranties on the new and established systems.

This is it.
If you ask about the warranty on a new kind of vehicle, and, the sales person starts talking about the 80,000 mile warranty on the Michelins, then you have to press the salesperson for a copy of the warranty in writing.
If you are told that you can only “look at it” without bringing a copy home, then bring someone like me along. I’ll be glad to discern the omissions regarding any “left out” components.
I really mean this.
I don’t have to be there in Hawaii or Maine. Just post something right here, and, I will go to the local OEM dealership and study the warranty with you on my cellphone.
I once spent an hour and forty-five minutes in a local dealership, where, they graciously helped and handed me two 7 inch thick manuals on the hybrid drive electric air conditioning system they built. I quickly comprehended it in that time, and, was easily able to answer a question regarding that system for someone, so that they would not have made a mistake attempting to do something they should not have.
All these systems are complex to the extreme. No owner servicing would be appropriate whatsoever.
But, the main way to know that the new technologies are extremely well built is to know that they are also extremely well backed by the warranties. We have 17 more months to become more savvy.
Dan Petit Austin TX

Thanks for the thoughtful and informative comment. Especially the bit about the UAW and the 160K small cars. I would be very interested in a GM car the size of the Spark, but not from China OR Korea, so it is very good news for me.

As to GM’s being forced to make environmentally friendly cars turning out to be an advantage, I quite agree. I have said here many times that anyone who cannot meet the new CAFE numbers will be put out of business by the marketplace long before they are by the Feds. 87 octane is now $2.65 at the cheapest station I can find here, and going up fast. Wait for it!

BTW, there is a very interesting article in the new Automobile magazine comparing the gas mileage of the 2010 Honda Insight vs. the 1985 CRX HF.

CRX: EPA mileage 40city/48hwy, weight 1713#

Insight: EPA mileage 40city/43hwy, weight 2723#

The final sentence of the article reads: “Honda’s tiny, featherweight hatchback may be where we’ve been, but it’s also where we need to be going.”

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2348060,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03069TX1K0001121

=D~

Statik #103

No commentary, or did you feel the comments were too precious on their own?
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I just thought it was news and people can take it for whatever they want, lol. It is a done deal, and I guess it is…what it is.

The only thing of interest to me is if this opens the door for more foreign automakers (namely the Chinese) to bring other products…like a EV to North America. But that seems pretty ‘pie in the sky’ at the moment, so I didn’t bother….until now apparently, (=

Sidenote (since you brought it up, lol): It is curious to me that in the press release, “G.M. said the deal would save about 3,000 jobs in the United States”. Not sure how that is possible, HUMMER only sold 5,113 vehicles for the first 5 months.

That works out to be about 12,000 a year, so that means there is enough margin to pay a full employee in every 4 cars? What is the average wage? 30K? Thats $7,500 a HUMMER. Then, they still have to build the actual vehicle and pay commissions? Not to mention 4,200 of the 5,113 where also the lesser priced H3….of which the average selling price is low-mid 30s (before considering massive rebates ($3,000 and up) and the cost of financing…they currently have 0% for 60 months on them)