lil mike
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« Reply #30 on: March 08, 2011, 02:22:43 pm » |
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Beleive it or not, I'll be happy if the company succeeds (after every share of government ownership is excised of course). I think it's way to early to say since they are not really standing on their own yet. Chrysler was declared a success just for paying back it's original loan, but the problems that led Chrysler to financial collapse in the first place continued for years. Meanwhile the foreign auto makers took a larger and larger share of the US and world car market. These bailouts don't fix the problems, they help these companies avoid fixing the problem. That's the real problem!
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FooFa
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« Reply #31 on: March 08, 2011, 02:49:05 pm » |
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Do American made and foreign cars stand up under the scrutiny as far as the label. Off the top of my head local examples: BMW Plant 30 minutes away, Factories that make parts for Honda and other foreign(traditionally)cars support our American economy.
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lil mike
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« Reply #32 on: March 08, 2011, 02:55:56 pm » |
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Do American made and foreign cars stand up under the scrutiny as far as the label. Off the top of my head local examples: BMW Plant 30 minutes away, Factories that make parts for Honda and other foreign(traditionally)cars support our American economy.
The line is much more blurred than it used to be. According to trade rules, we call some cars American made, even if put together in Mexico, as long as a certain percentage of parts come from the US/
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Howey
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« Reply #33 on: March 08, 2011, 04:00:22 pm » |
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The line is much more blurred than it used to be. According to trade rules, we call some cars American made, even if put together in Mexico, as long as a certain percentage of parts come from the US/
My Subaru is considered American-made. In Indiana by *shudder* non-union workers (who happen to be paid union wages, duh).
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lil mike
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« Reply #34 on: March 27, 2011, 06:21:44 pm » |
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Interesting Forbes article on the Volt, savior of GM: http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/16/chevy-volt-ayn-rand-opinions-patrick-michaels.htmlChevy Volt: The Car From Atlas Shrugged Motors The Chevrolet Volt is beginning to look like it was manufactured by Atlas Shrugged Motors, where the government mandates everything politically correct, rewards its cronies and produces junk steel.
This is the car that subsidies built. General Motors lobbied for a $7,500 tax refund for all buyers, under the shaky (if not false) promise that it was producing the first all-electric mass-production vehicle.
least that's what we were once told. Sitting in a Volt that would not start at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, a GM engineer swore to me that the internal combustion engine in the machine only served as a generator, kicking in when the overnight-charged lithium-ion batteries began to run down. GM has continually revised downward its estimates of how far the machine would go before the gas engine fired, and now says 25 to 50 miles.
Virtually nothing that we have been told about this car is true. Somehow, I don't think this is going to save GM.
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Howey
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« Reply #35 on: March 27, 2011, 07:09:51 pm » |
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That's old news and untrue.
Try again.
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Howey
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« Reply #36 on: March 27, 2011, 07:12:59 pm » |
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Jeez...can't do anything right!
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lil mike
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« Reply #37 on: March 27, 2011, 08:35:37 pm » |
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Jeez...can't do anything right!
Hey, trying to keep it with the topic. Obviously we have different ideas on organization.
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Howey
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« Reply #38 on: March 28, 2011, 04:23:20 pm » |
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Interesting Forbes article on the Volt, savior of GM: http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/16/chevy-volt-ayn-rand-opinions-patrick-michaels.htmlChevy Volt: The Car From Atlas Shrugged Motors The Chevrolet Volt is beginning to look like it was manufactured by Atlas Shrugged Motors, where the government mandates everything politically correct, rewards its cronies and produces junk steel.
This is the car that subsidies built. General Motors lobbied for a $7,500 tax refund for all buyers, under the shaky (if not false) promise that it was producing the first all-electric mass-production vehicle.
least that's what we were once told. Sitting in a Volt that would not start at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, a GM engineer swore to me that the internal combustion engine in the machine only served as a generator, kicking in when the overnight-charged lithium-ion batteries began to run down. GM has continually revised downward its estimates of how far the machine would go before the gas engine fired, and now says 25 to 50 miles.
Virtually nothing that we have been told about this car is true. Somehow, I don't think this is going to save GM. From an automotive journalist: http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/first-drive-in-the-electric-chevrolet-volt-thats-right-not-a-hybridThe Volt, which will be on the market in three markets (Washington, D.C., Michigan and California) by the end of the year, uses its small gas engine not to drive the wheels, but to provide electricity for the onboard battery pack. You get 40 miles of battery cruising, then another 300 miles, courtesy of that gas engine acting as a generator. “The Volt is not a hybrid or plug-in hybrid,” said Jim Campbell, the U.S. marketing vice president at Chevrolet. "It is an extended-range electric vehicle.” As far as sales are concerned, it's as subjective as the gas/hybrid/electric thing: http://gm-volt.com/2011/02/02/as-volt-sales-outpace-the-leaf-gm-works-on-lowering-price/January sales figures for GM were announced yesterday, and the automaker continued to see positive gains with overall sales coming in 22% greater than a year ago.
Included in the total of 178,897 cars and truck sold, GM announced that it had sold 321 Chevy Volts. This is in addition to the 326 Volts sold in December, indicating 647 have so far reached customers. Nissan for its part only sold 87 Leafs , and only 19 in December for a total of 106 units sold, less than one sixth as many as Volts.
Demand for the Volt has been red hot, and sales figures would be much higher if GM wasn’t deliberately pacing themselves. “Right now we’re selling every one we can make,” GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said, “so as shipments rise we expect sales to rise as well.”
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lil mike
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« Reply #39 on: March 28, 2011, 06:15:35 pm » |
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For a company of that size, I wouldn't count 321 sales as "red hot." Does that include the fleet vehicles that GE bought? As gas prices soar, I would hope those sales figures increase. As far as what the Volt actually is, read carefully from GM's own FAQ: http://gm-volt.com/chevy-volt-faqs/The electric motor directly propels the car. The battery can power the car for the first 25 to 50 miles. After that, should one continue to need to drive, the on-board gasoline generator provide electricity for the motor and participate in driving the car.The Volt is a series vehicle meaning only the electric motor powers the car at all times, the gas engine is just a generator for making electricity once the battery is depleted. A little like the Prius, the engine does help spin the wheels after the battery is depleted. GM engineers chose to do this because it improved efficiency by 10 to 15 percent.
After that the gas engine will kick in and allow the car to be driven an additional 344 miles on a full tank (9.3 gallons) of gas.
? I dunno, maybe I should just learn to trust large companies more like you do, but it sounds as if GM leaving enough wiggle room in their FAQ to drive a hybrid through.
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Howey
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« Reply #40 on: March 28, 2011, 06:55:57 pm » |
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Do American made and foreign cars stand up under the scrutiny as far as the label. Off the top of my head local examples: BMW Plant 30 minutes away, Factories that make parts for Honda and other foreign(traditionally)cars support our American economy.
The line is much more blurred than it used to be. According to trade rules, we call some cars American made, even if put together in Mexico, as long as a certain percentage of parts come from the US/
Doods. Pay attention! http://popculturedoneright.smfforfree.com/index.php/topic,259.0.html
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Howey
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« Reply #41 on: March 28, 2011, 06:59:28 pm » |
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For a company of that size, I wouldn't count 321 sales as "red hot." Neither do I. Of course, in your usual fashion, you left off the remainder of the sentence: and sales figures would be much higher if GM wasn’t deliberately pacing themselves. “Right now we’re selling every one we can make
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lil mike
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« Reply #42 on: March 28, 2011, 09:55:03 pm » |
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Neither do I. Of course, in your usual fashion, you left off the remainder of the sentence:
You realize that including that part of the sentence makes it sound even stupider. It's sounds really phony to brag about selling every Volt your making when you've only sold 321. If that's all they're making, they better have a back up plan to save that company. The Volt ain't it.
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Howey
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« Reply #43 on: March 28, 2011, 10:52:48 pm » |
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You realize that including that part of the sentence makes it sound even stupider.
It's sounds really phony to brag about selling every Volt your making when you've only sold 321. If that's all they're making, they better have a back up plan to save that company. The Volt ain't it.
Correct. GM isn't planning on it to be the savior of the company. Ask the Cadillac CTS, Buick LaCrosse, Regal and the Chevy Cruze about that.
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betteroffhere
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« Reply #44 on: March 29, 2011, 04:30:43 am » |
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hmm...wonder what gm's estimated or projected earnings,sales etc are for their overseas market...like...china ?
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