Commentary: Detroit Is Over A ($50) Barrel

went up 11 cents to $1.939 here.

but i will say that was an excellent article and very accurate when describing what us automakers are doing about the hybrid influx and the growing japanese share of the market here.

For the next couple of years, U.S. car execs can only cross their fingers, watch oil markets, and hope for the best.

i guess making a better car never crossed their minds. instead of doing something about it, they are sitting on their butts hoping for a miracle.

pathetic...

 

MO was my favorite state a year ago when I moved some furniture from CA to VT. Lowest gas price in the country, at least on my route It is a bit far to go to fill up on a regular basis though. Gas here currently $1.899 or higher.

 

Clearly the oil industry is willing to suck it up and absorb a few billion dollars in the short term to help re-elect the incumbent. They expect they'll have four more years to get a nice return on their investment.

 

it wouldnt surprise me to find out 20 years from now that bush was a paid consultant to the oil industry for the whole time he was in office.

 

Intelligent Vehicles

Remember the first turn signals in Detroit vehicles? They were thinner than a wire coat hanger, frequently hung up with the signal stuck on and often broke easily.

Japan came along and packed maximum information and knowledge in small spaces. They made turn signal arms substantial and packed in variable wipers, head lights, cruise control and other variables into the "turn signal" arm. Japanese vehicles have a higher density of knowledge and information and quality ergonomics (auditory, feel and visual feedback letting you know something is, or is not, working) built into each component.

The result was that Japanese vehicles were perceived to have a higher value for the price, because of a higher density of knowledge and information built into every component of every vehicle. Sales of Japanese vehicles took off and Consumer Reports and other independent laboratories confirmed the quality of Japanese vehicles through annual "Frequency of Repair" tables. Sales of the Toyota Camry took off and remain at a high level.

Hybrid and future efficient vehicles enable us to "model what we teach." Detroit models what it teaches: waste and ostentatious consumption.

 

i remember when japanese vehicles first started making a dent here. my dad bought a '67 Toyota Corona because it got decent gas mileage and it was cheap.

but after a while, he like many began to realize that this japanese product wasnt like the cheap electronic garbage that flooded the US market. this was a quality car, very cheap to drive and extremely reliable. he finally got rid of that Corona after it hit about 160,000 miles not because it was worn out, it was because we moved to Alaska and couldnt take it with us.

since then, he has owned at least one toyota ever since. now this is a man born and raised in Detroit who swore american for years. although he still likes Ford pickups, he has abandoned all american cars.

 

I predicted to a conservative friend of mine a few months ago that the price of gas would go down before the election. He didn't believe me. But sure enough it did, even though the price of crude hit record highs in the middle of the driving season.

I pointed it out to him the other day and he still doesn't believe me. He listens to so much Rush and Imus that he can't see what's going on right in front of his face.

 

half a million miles

I took HUMU to my dealer to have the fuel TSB parts installed. The lady who drives the shuttle van taking me to work, told me that there is a regular customer at this dealership who drives a 76 Toyota pickup with, get this, 549,000 miles on the original equipment. He does oil changes himself, but brings the car in to have other items checked.
This is the kind of bulletproof design and technology that has pretty much escaped the Big 3. The above comments from other posters about this article are well stated. Watching the Big 3 is like watching the later stages of the Roman Empire: greed, indifference and short term thinking eventually brought it down. So did lead water pipes, but I don't think that's what's ailing the big boys in Detroit.
Bob

 

Re: half a million miles

A recent theory notes that Rome collapsed along with the productivity of the grain fields of Northern Europe, which declined because of (wait for it) climate change. The parts about climate change and reduced food production are facts, the only uncertainty is how significantly they contributed to the Fall.