Can America's Auto Makers Survive?

Wall Street Journal ^ | 7 August 2008 | PAUL INGRASSIA

[jude24]

Who really wants to cram into an Aveo, anyway? Certainly not a family with 2+ kids.

I bought a Civic. Good fuel economy, and an ideal size for me. Most of the time anyway - right now, I'm waiting to get into my apartment this weekend so it is jammed full of stuff.

I don't get this idea that it is a virtue to use more gas than you need. If you aren't carrying more than 4 passengers, an SUV is really quite wasteful. The government shouldn't prevent you from buying it, but they certainly shouldn't encourage or subsidize it.

Did the foreign auto makers have higher mileage autos because they better forecasted the direction of oil? I don’t think so.

Toyota didn't. Honda did. Their Civics (hybrids and otherwise) are selling like hotcakes.

Then again, I'm a little biased. A brand-new Civic has been the car I wanted since high school.

[xzins]

I don't get this idea that it is a virtue to use more gas than you need.

We could all live in tents, too, but I don't really like it. (although I've done my share of it...:>)

Pray things are going well with you.

I turned down a Honda Pilot a few weeks back because of the price....30+ grand. Went with a used Suv instead at slightly over just a third of the cost. They're cheap like candy right now. Twenty thousand bucks will buy a lot of gas. 30 grand is enough in our area to buy small starter house to use as a rental.

[xzins]

No it isn’t. Their CUVs are probably among their best sellers right now.

Americans love large cars. Americans love high mileage.

Make a large car that gets high mileage and you’ll get rich.

Check out the Enclave/Acadia/Outlook by GM. Really nice large car with over 20+ mpg.

[dan1123]

Mazda had a wagon version of the Mazda 6 - the new model has no wagon version

The new Mazda "wagon" is the Mazda5. I use "wagon" in quotes because it resembles a minivan (but smaller) more than a station wagon.

[gogogodzilla]

Buy a station wagon, minivan, or full-size van?

(rolls eyes)

[Jacquerie]

The American automobile manufacturing model is based on a vibrant domestic post WWII economy when most of the industrialized world lay in ruins, and could afford the demands of labor unions, generous wages, and retirement packages. Times have changed.

Correctamundo! Only an industry so insulated could have come up with "planned obsolescence" in which they purposely designed autos to quickly wear out. I pity the affected workers and their families, but not the UAW and Big Three Management or Companies.

[P-Marlowe]

Then again, I'm a little biased. A brand-new Civic has been the car I wanted since high school.

My 240 HP V6 VTech Honda Accord probably gets about the same gas mileage as your 4Cyl Civic. Great Gas mileage and more power than my old 57 Plymouth Fury.

[jude24]

Went with a used Suv instead at slightly over just a third of the cost. They're cheap like candy right now. Twenty thousand bucks will buy a lot of gas.

LOL. That is certainly true.

Me, I was in the position of a worthless 2000 Malibu dying at a point when I had to drive from Georgia to Texas within a few weeks. At that point, a new car was essentially unavoidable - so I might as well get the most efficient vehicle I could afford.

[bert]

It would seem to me the solution is to purchase the SUV after the lease, the last available lease,expires.

[liberallarry]

From a review

This is no doubt designed to optimize fuel economy. The EPA estimates a front-drive Enclave will return 16 mpg city and 24 mpg highway. According to the vehicle's trip computer, our example averaged 16 mpg in mixed driving.

A pig-mobile. At 2 1/2 tons it's efficient but still a pig-mobile

[hunter112]

The American auto makers have foundered for one critical reason: absolute and total contempt for the people who buy their vehicles. They have failed to stand behind them in the areas of design, manufacture, and service, they literally depend on an American automobile to need expensive parts/repairs before the financing is complete, and when that day happens, they depend on the resultant vehicle to have no more than scrap value, which they artificially inflate when the poor sucker comes to get reamed again.

I have sworn off American manufacturers' vehicles for the last twenty years, and I have never regretted the decision. The Asian manufacturers have not expressed the same sort of contempt for me as a consumer, and will have my loyalty for the rest of my motor vehicle buying days.

[SpaceBar]

Much truth to what you say.

[Gamecock]

I am looking at buying a BMW 328i, which gets around 28mpg on the interstate. Here on the autobahn, it will no doubt get less.

I am interested in the BMW diesel, which I have heard gets about 40mpg and will throw you back in the seat when you romp down on the accelerator....

[eraser2005]

I agree that Toyota screwed up forecasting the price of oil as well. Kudos to Honda for being the only company not to jump whole-hog into massive trucks. However, they’ve made their share of mistakes as well. The “remarkably fuel efficient Honda Pilot”? The thing gets worse fuel economy than the slightly larger Ford Flex.

The Civic? Great looking vehicle, but the Civic at 31.3 / 34 mpg (auto/manual based on owner reports at fueleconomy.gov) doesn’t get any better mileage than a Focus at 32.5/33.5. And the Civic is slightly smaller (1.7 cu feet less) and considerably more expensive....

Oh, and then there is the ever-growing Accord. Frankly, that trend bugs me. We used to get our family of 4 into a 1987 Camry for trips. Now the Corolla is as big as that Camry was.

All manufacturers have made mistakes. Honda clearly has been the best prepared, IMO. Not because their products were vastly superior to the competition - but because they didn’t jump at huge vehicles to the same extent, and because their factories have been flexible enough to allow for quicker production shifts. You just don’t see the same speed of shift at Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota, or Nissan. They’re all in the 2010 timeframe before production shifts are complete....