R.I.P. General Motors (1931-2006)

Still having problems with your math, I see. Three tenths of one percent
would be 49,500 vehicles. That's a far cry from the "distant fourth" that
you claimed. Why do you need to skew the facts to try and make your point ?

 

I wish I never heard the name now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roy

 

The people who were paid $100k/yr to not work for GM were certainly
overpaid.

 

Naw, it just means that it takes the three of them to outdo one
Japanese auto maker. (Though I understand that there are no longer any
"american" or "japanese" brands -- the difference is who runs the
company, the suits or the engineers.)

 

Don't forget to subtract the fleet sales from those big 3 total truck sales.
After you do that, you basically have the (1) "I only buy American" owners,
and (2) the owners lured by the steep roll backs in price and employee
incentive programs. Hands down, Honda and Toyota have a much better product.
It's amazing because Ford and GM have been building pickups since the "40s
and you think they'd have got it right by now.

If you are in one of these two pre-mentioned categories, please take your
comments about Ford, GM or Chrysler products elsewhere, because you will
never convince a Honda or Toyota owner that the big 3's products are better.

 

For sake of argument suppose the air quality is dirty in your area and the
cause is from motor vehicles. Well, we all have to breathe but it's unfair
to make everyone pay to clean it up because not everyone drives. Yes it
would be nice to spread the cost but I think enough people are fed up paying
for services a few want. So the alternative is to put the necessary
technology into the vehicles.
I see the local fire departments may adopt a similar strategy by whacking
those they have to respond to with fees and fines because if they don't, the
increase cost will have to be spread over the whole community. Good
incentive to lose weight and not call the fire department to help get you
off the toilet.LOL!!! The home owners insurance company will be billed and I
hope the insurance company considers them a risk and raises their rate than
to spread it out otherwise the whole idea would be a waste.

mark_

 

No need to do that, simply use the figures reported by the Commerce
Department of the total sales in 2005.


No mater how some like to spin it, no Japanese company outsold any domestic
company.


mike hunt

 

That's almost always going to be the case for people who drive only
10K/year, but people who travel 3-4 times that much can come out ahead,
as some NYC cabbies have.

I wouldn't assume EPA mileage numbers for either hybrids or IC-only
cars, but Consumer Reports numbers have been realistic, and my Prius
got very close to their 35/50. I didn't buy it for the savings or
ecological purposes but for the same reason exterminators often drive
Beetles with toilet seats on the roof to represent mouse ears --
advertising.

 

Don't need to, nor am I trying to, simply posting the fact that more
buyers choose GM, Ford, Chrysler and even Toyota over Honda in 2005 when it
came time to buy the vehicle THEY thought was better. Obviously you though
Honda was better if that is what you bought . That is your privilege, just
as it is for every other buyer but you are in a minority. Besides what
difference does it make why one buys what they buy, it only maters that they
did.



mike hunt

 

SS has been doomed by demographics since it's inception. The 1939 act
that allowed the government to spend the surplus and put an IOU in the
box hastened the demise and the 1968 act that allowed these funds to
balance the budget put the last nail in the coffin. The ONLY president
who seriously addressed the SS problem was Barry Goldwater, in 1964,
when it could have been fixed. If we had taken his advice and set up
real retirement plans for the boomers then, we would have real assets
in the box, instead of IOUs that depend on taxes to pay them back,
The first crunch will come in a few years when the SURPLUS goes away
and the government has to look somewhere else for that money.
It is down hill from there.
BTW the default of the US government on it's bonds is not that
unlikely. The US is the only G8 country that hasn't defaulted on a
bond and most have had serious currency failures in the last century.
Fiscal survival is the exception, not the rule.

 

Mike,
I doubt if you have ever taken a course in college statistics. Even if you
are 100% right, it means nothing in relation to what is referred to as the
bottom line e.g. (profit vs loss). GM (according to the news media) may go
bankrupt in the near future. Honda and Toyata are not having any problems
related to the bottom line. Their profits are in the black. GM's profits
are in the red.
Also--what's the total number of models made by GM?
What's the total number of models made by Honda?

 

In Sweden ecocarsales increased 540% in march

http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=678&a=534192&previousRenderType=6

They are now 15% of the total carsales

 

Actually from its inception long before 1939 the funds, by law, could only
be invested in US government bonds on which they taxed YOU to pay the
interest.

As President Reagan said on many occasions, if you give your money to the
government, the government will find ways to spend it. The thing we need to
do is stop giving the government more money then it needs.

When they added second and third wives as beneficiary to one mans
contribution and when they added 'Free' Medicare, the FICA was never raised
enough to cover the increased spending. Now the feds are giving us 'Free'
drugs without taking in the funds needed to cover that as well. Over and
over we allow, even insist, the government give us more 'Free' stuff.
Personally I can't afford any more of this 'Free' stuff. Folks, you will
not be able to afford 'Free' national healthcare for everyone if it ever
becomes law in the US


mike hunt

 

Björn, that's like saying that ecocarsales went from 5 units to 27
units in March. Big deal! Was that year over year? Month over month? Be
more specific.

Sadly, not all of us can read the Swedish or Icelandic languages, so
for your comment to be meaningful, you would have to provide more
specific information.

They who? Worldwide? In Sweden? In Iceland? Japan? North America? That
means nothing if overall car sales are down, say 30% over the period
under comparison. Please provide further details, so we can form a
reasoned opinion.

 

I can't afford all the "Free" stuff either. I wish I could opt out on a
lot of that "free " stuff and pay my own way instead.
Scott

 

Uh Mike. . .Toyota and Honda are clearly a distant fourth and fifth to
GM. You printed the numbers yourself. GM had 26.8% , while Toyota and
Honda had 13.7% and 8.9% respectively. I'd certainly call that a
distant fourth and fifth! Neither English nor Math must be your forte'
or you'd know that Toyota and Honda should be compared to the leader,
not the 3rd place manufacturer.

 

Miljöbilarna slår nytt rekord
ecocars make new records

Miljöbilarna svarade för hela 15 procent av registreringarna i mars,
ecocars counted for 15% of registration in march

nytt rekord. Det framgår av en särredovisning av statistiken som Bil
Sweden gjort.
new record. This is according to statistics from Bil Sweden

Totalt såldes 3.845 miljöbilar. Det var en ökning med hela 540
procent jämfört med mars
Total sales 3.845 ecocars. That is increase by 540% compared with march

i fjol. Alla typer av miljöbilar, etanol, gas, hybrid och extremt
snåla bensin- och
last year. All types of ecocars, etanol, gas, hybrid and especially
effective besin and

dieselbilar ökade.
diesel cars increased

Saab 9-5 Biopower blev den i särklass mest sålda miljöbilen i mars
med 1.531
Saab 9-5 Biopower was the most sold ecocar in march with 1.531

registreringar. På andra plats kom Ford Focus Fleifuel och på tredje
plats Volvo V50
registrations. Second place Ford Focus Fleifuel and third place Volvo
V50

Flexifuel.
Flexifuel.

 

Toyotas last so long they could get a good used one that better fits
their budget.
By the way I'm very saddened by this GM mess. I used to buy GM products
as did my family, but I left them in the 80s for better products from
Chrysler.
Now Chrysler is a "foreign" manufacturer as is Toyota.

 

Volume has nothing to do with quality or value.
Watch the sales trend, GM is sinking fast and Toyota is rising fast.

Toyota just expanded a second new factory in Canada before they started
construction. That factory will also ship it's modest sized SUV model
to Japan.
The Toyota engine plant in WV is continually expanding and I believe
they are now up to 10 factories in the USA.

 

You are right there. GM's importing of foreign built products is a
reflection of their reaching the bottom.
Save the company, to hell with the local workers society.