Posted on 11/18/2009 12:24:56 AM PST by bruinbirdman
It's an economic contradiction to order the industry to build small cars but not encourage people to buy them.
The government is trying to push us into smaller, fuel-stingy vehicles. The plan is not working. Motorists don't seem excited by the small cars out there. They'll sit on their hands rather than buy. The end result is not so much fuel efficiency as depressed sales of new cars.
The top seller in the American market is still the big Ford f-150 pickup. Then comes the family-size car, the Toyota ( TM - news - people ) Camry, then the big Chevy Silverado pickup, then the family sedan Honda ( HMC - news - people ) Accord.
Honda's Insight, the smallest hybrid, has sold only 16,000 cars through September, maybe half what was expected. Sales of Toyota's Yaris, no hybrid but Toyota's smallest car here, are down 40% from last year. Chevy's Aveo, its small Korean-made car, is down 30%, and Hyundai's smallest, the Accent, is off 40%. The VW New Beetle is down 50%, and the Scion 1c is down 60%. Sales of all cars and trucks this year (through September) are down 27%.
To be sure, sales of big vehicles (pickups, SUVs, vans and large luxury cars) are also down sharply, and the smallest cars never sold that well here, anyway. But it is still worth noting what is selling well despite the general downturn: smaller crossover SUVs like the Honda CR-V and Pilot; the Toyota RAV 4 and Venza; the Ford Escape; the Chevy Equinox; and the Dodge Journey. Sales of this group are down only 10% for the year. The category even includes models from Saturn and Pontiac that have been discontinued.
This doesn't mean Americans don't want fuel economy; it may mean that vehicles that were
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
“The top seller in the American market is still the big Ford f-150 pickup”
You bet your ass it is. (proud F-150 owner)
Yaris is made exclusively in Japan.
Cheapest Toyota + “less than favorable” currency exchange rates...
However, Camry sales are so strong that Toyota took a Subaru plant in Lafayette, Indiana and converted the production line to produce more Toyota Camrys. Japan, Georgetown, KY, and now Indiana.
This is true, and it also proofs the Camry against getting screwed by US currency manipulation.
Oh, the Yaris is also made in Taiwan (to meet demand).
http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2549
Strangely, it is still better built than the crap GM shovels out.
Got a 1986 F-250 6.9 diesel with Banks Turbo to pull toys.
yitbos
Anyway, any Toyota Yaris destined for the US is built and assembled in Japan. How do I know? The VINs start with "J"
Still beating on my 98’ has over 140,000 miles ,XLT club cab, 4.6 trition V8....not bad on gas at all....but then again...my other car is a 73’ pontiac lemans with a 350ci in it...
My pontiac weighs just more than my f-150...
Both are tanks...urban assault vehicles...
*grin*
The Peel is the only car you can drive through your office. Jeremy Clarkson did that on Top Gear..
However, Nissan's current Sentra is abysmal.
But it’s racist to buy big cars....what about the planet?
Yeah, but if demand picks up, they’d ship in some from Taiwan.
It’s no worse than some others in the class... but then again, the Sentra has never exactly been brilliant, either.
The research that I have done says that the Toyota Belta (Yaris abroad) is made in Japan and Thailand. Taiwan is mostly known for it's semiconductor fabs and foundries.
The Nissan Versa’s a better car in that class.
As for the trucks... you’d buy a Government Motors vehicle?? (The Silverado?) Traitor.
Big old cars are better for the environment and Mother Gaia than building a new one. :D
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