GM is in ICU... news at 11:00

got via email from someone...

 

All they'd need to do for that is make a hybrid that gets upwards of 60mpg and they'd be off to a great start. BUT, it would need to be reliable and couldn't just be an econobox. That's one thing I was afraid a hybrid would be and was quite pleased that it wasn't. They should design a car specifically for it's fuel efficiency.

 

When I went looking for a new car, my criteria was:
Good Gas Mileage
Reliability
Safety
True Cost to own/drive


As hard as I tried, I could not find one American car I wanted to buy. The closest thing was Focus & Ion, but price and relatively poor mileage for a cmpact did them in. Not to totally trash Detoit, I looked at a Suzuki Aerio(sp?). What's the deal with that compact 24/29 mpg.

My 5 choices were narrowed to Civic, Civic Hybrid, Prius, Corolla and Scion xb.

As gas prices rose, it harkened me back to the mid 70's, with Detroit pushing their full sized cars with the powerful engines. All the while, the Japanese cars were poppng up all over & eroding market share. WWII era men who thought they would 'never' buy a Japanese car, were won over. The arrogance of Detroit!

The last US car I bought was a 94 Saturn. It was a good car, at the time with some nice inovations, a (for US) radical philospophy for a car company/division... until the radical child made GM feel uncomfortable and they folded it back into the stifling GM structure....,Then, GM decided that they did need to invest anything else in the brand & it quickly let the Saturn slide into a relic of 90s technology & design.

I have a deposit on an 06 Prius, but the price increases (MSRP & Pkg) has maybe put it beyond my financial viability, but I would only go to the next car on the list, none of which is a US car.... sad to say.

 

Why not take delivery on an 05 Prius after the first? Get the tax deduction, plus stick with the lower cost.

 

Good article. The key phrases in that article: "clean slate" and "...their plants are modern."

I do industrial process control, and have had many opportunities to contrast the investment in plant here in North America compared to the EU and Asian countries. Overall, we appear to attach a sentimental value to old fashioned crap.

A good example is a petroleum refinery - no need to name names to avoid costly lawsuits - in Texas. The ethylene unit had some valving way older than I am, and the control room had air powered equipment. That's right, 5-15 psi "steam gauges" not even the old fashioned 4-20mA analog equipment.

They even had an original Bailey INFI 90 on INFInet. A fine system for its day, same as Honeywell TDC 3000, but that "day" was over 15 years ago. You just can't compare an old 4-20mA DCS to a modern FieldBus plant.

Despite recent record profits for oil companies, they seem loathe to invest in modern FieldBus technologies that will dramatically improve safety, reliability, and efficiency. This summer, the worlds largest Foundation FieldBus installation was completed by Emerson Process near Shanghai, China, for Shanghai SECCO Petrochemical Company.

This is a VERY large complex with the world's largest ethylene cracker. I'm sure we've heard all the stories from Hurricane Rita and Katrina about how the petroleum refineries took weeks or longer to reach in-spec from a cold start.

Get this: SECCO went from cold start to in-spec in 10 hours and 45 minutes. Ten HOURS compared to WEEKS for an ancient refinery cracking plant.

http://www.emersonprocess.com/home/news/pr/507_secco.html

Similar gains are held by Asian companies like Toyota and Honda because they invested in robotics and new plant. No sentimental attachment to ancient process streams with huge variations in control limit.

When GM enjoyed huge profits in the 90's from sales of SUV's and pickups, was that invested into plant? Or was it disbursed elsewhere?

As long as the Asians keep rolling their profits into new production techniques and new plant equipment, there is no way in hell we in North America can hope to compete. Not with ancient process and production crap.

 

No I am not trying to be mean. Besides Malorn as stubborn he might be and backwards in his thinking, doesn't get offended by jokes like that. Well, he keeps coming back...
Would he feel the same if he wasn't a Chevy dealer???

 

don't worry there is always a credit card for these unpredictable expenses

 

right, now you know it!

I bought my whole Prius with a credit card

 

How about that? Gaining customers already!

 

Just get a card with 0%

 

Not 'til late spring.