GM Delivers 413,473 Vehicles in June, Highest Monthly Sales Of 2006
General Motors' dealers in the United States sold 413,473 new cars and trucks in June, the company's best sales performance year-to-date, up 15.2 percent, or about 68,000 units, compared with May.
"I am proud of our June sales results, especially since they reflect our highest sales month so far this year," said Mark LaNeve, General Motors North America vice president, Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "Our launch vehicles had their best sales results so far this year, as evidenced by the sales gains of our all-new full-size utilities. We also had strong sales of the Chevrolet Impala (30,716 vehicles), HHR (9,503), Buick Lucerne (10,690), Pontiac G6 (17,074) and Torrent (4,789)."
GM posted strong passenger car sales with Pontiac leading the way, up 28.7 percent over May and up 12.1 percent over June 2005 on the strength of G6 and G6 convertible hardtop sales. G6 set an all-time sales record and is up 39.9 percent for the first six months of the year. Solstice continues to be one of the hottest cars in the country, and the Torrent crossover also achieved an all-time sales record, up 35.8 percent over May. Other GM divisions posted solid results with Saturn sales up 49.1 percent over May levels. Chevrolet small cars posted robust sales with Cobalt up 21.9 percent, and Aveo up 23.5 percent, compared with May. Also, Impala sales were up 24.6 percent over May.
Citizen AllenM (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 11:10 am edit reply You know I had some fun poking around back in CR's archive and found last year's June vehicle sales posting:
Ford was down 28%- so when you add this years 11% drop to 145,153 you have significant cliff diving.
So in 2008 they sold roughly 163k vehicles,
but in 2007 they sold roughly 226k vehicles.
so the drop from 2007 is more like 35.8%
A mighty crash indeed.
Can Ford survive selling one third fewer vehicles?
Same problem with hotels.
I could not resist- i added a definition for Velvet Fist of Government to the glossary.
A small contribution to the meme of doom and gloom.
Does anyone know how many of the sales are due to replacement of cars that were totaled in accidents and fleet replacement? It seems like we might be approaching necessary replacement only sales numbers.
O H Chick (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 11:15 am
Does anyone know how many of the sales are due to replacement of cars that were totaled in accidents and fleet replacement? It seems like we might be approaching necessary replacement only sales numbers.
IIRC the vehicle fleet age is increasing ~9mo every year. Cars last longer. It will be many years before replacement of the 2002-2009 vintage vehicles becomes a factor.
With Chrysler repudiating tort liability on existing cars, I'd imagine that the rental companies would have to shed/replace Chrysler models soon. I can't imagine that Avis/Hertz/etc would assume all the liability themselves.
I just got the Citi incentivized minimum payment offer where if you pay at least the minimum you'll get 10% back on it up to 550 dollars over 8 months.
I like how they're trying to bribe people to pay now.
When I traveled in Beijing a few years ago they really liked cars like the Buick. Some cars that you would never think of as luxury here are definitely thought of as high end over there.
@O H Chick
Here in southern NH many cars are in the 03 to 08 range so they may have quite some years left before the bone yard, and those still on the road that belong in the bone yard, by the looks of the drivers couldn't afford a new car payment. IMO.
"With Chrysler repudiating tort liability on existing cars, I'd imagine that the rental companies would have to shed/replace Chrysler models soon. I can't imagine that they'd assume all the liability themselves."
They, the dealers and suppliers and their insurers must all race to BK. Incredible it hasn't happened yet. Even if tort liability is minimal, the competitive advantage to a corp that sheds it could be enough.
I rented a Kia Rio this week from Hertz. Handles like crap, not particularly gas-efficient even with no pick-up,
and it wasn't cheap.
No power locks or windows, the only way to open a locked back door is to reach back and locate the latch in a fit of contortion.
The design stupidity is rather shocking.
O H Chick (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 1:15 pm
Does anyone know how many of the sales are due to replacement of cars that were totaled in accidents and fleet replacement? It seems like we might be approaching necessary replacement only sales numbers.
The vehicle scrap rate is about 4%. See data from 2005. It may have dropped a little since then.
With about 240 million vehicles in the US fleet, this would give a replacement rate of about 9.6 million per year. So at current SAAR we are simply replacing the vehicles that are being decomissioned.
Not sure that the replacement rate will be quite that high - not all vehicles will be replaced - with job losses, etc. downsizing a vehicle is going to be an irresistable calculus for many...
Oh a recent trip to Germany I was "forced" to rent an Audi A6 (I declined the first two cars they offered me).
EDIT: ... and it had 17 km on the odometer!
Rented from Budget in Orlando three weeks ago. Went against the minivan, which came in at $500+ per week and went with a cheaper SUV (Explorer and like). They cut the weekly rate to $300 total to get us into a minivan, which wasn't great shakes (Chrysler T&C).
For the additional room, we paid and saved approx 42% off the i-net price of the previous week.
Got an '06 VW Jetta TDI
Sweet little car
70k miles on it so far and only thing I have had done was replace a faulty glowplug...don't even need them here
DSG transmission is cool, too.
45mpg avg
50+ on highway
Can make it from Charleston, SC to Atlanta, GA in 4 hours, doing 90mph, averaging 44mpg
Close, the other issue is demographics. Looking at births in 1988 to 1990 there are about 4 million people per year coming of car buying age. Current deaths are around 2.5 million, for a net gain of about 1.5 million new potential buyers per year.
As homedad mentions above, not all potential new driving age adults will get a new car. They may have to share with mom for a while. However it may sometime become a force to increase sales above the replacement rate.
For now, it seems that with the home ATM closed, the 16 million SAAR is history. A rate of about 11 million SAAR is reasonable.
If you were a two income family that has lost one job, especially for an extended period, one of the easiest ways to make a significant dent in monthly expenses is to lose a vehicle. Extended UE will have an impact on vehicles sales for quite some time IMO.
I don't know, I just still seem to have trouble accepting 'business news' stories like this:
(Forbes) Business News Bulletin
Jobs Report Boosts Street
Camilla Webster, 07.01.09, 11:22 AM EDT
Market Update: Midday Report.
"Investors embraced the latest hints at an economic recovery Wednesday, after a pair of readings on the U.S. labor market offered signs of improvement. A day after a weaker than anticipated consumer confidence reading had stocks reeling in New York, Automatic Data Processing's June report showed private sector payrolls shed 473,000 jobs, more than expected but an improvement on May's figure, which was revised to 485,000 from 532,000."
GM pulling out of joint venture with Toyota...It is the ominous calm before the tornado strikes.... I got my ducks in a row months ago, But I noticed that many of the union production workers are oblivious to what is happening, wait one more month and there will be a lot of these guys that have thier Harleys for sale
General Mills Inc., the maker of Cheerios and Hamburger Helper, increased its 2010 earnings forecast after fourth-quarter profit rose 94 percent, sending the shares up as much as 3.5 percent.
READ THIS VERY SLOW...MAKES ME SO PROUD TO BE REDUCED TO THIRD WORLD!!!!
The California governor's office says federal officials are threatening to seize six state parks if they are closed to help balance the state's budget.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed closing 220 state parks.
But the National Park Service warned in a letter to Schwarzenegger that six of those parks are on former federal land that could revert to the U.S. government if they are not kept open as parks.
Yeh, I learned that about Audi upon checking Consumers' Reports and Edmunds reviews.
But when it only has 17km on it, it's a damn fine ride (although rear visibiity sucks).
And it was my first experience with a "modern" GPS (although one reviewer thinks that one is behind the times!). It got me through jet lag and a rainstorm to our first hotel and I trusted it a lot after that. And she's such a patient voice, e.g. "Make a U-turn as soon as possible." cooed over and over.
I love cheerios!....but the other ( Hamburger helper), if my wife feed me that.....well lets just say I hope I am not cleaning my guns that day hahahaha!
Central banks seek rankings for financial products
I had a '00 Passat. In 6 years and 60k miles, the car had over $12k of repairs done to it. Once the extended warranty was over, I dumped it for a Honda... never to go back.
OT, article by Paul Jorian, Le Monde (translated from French by Leslie Thatcher of Truth Out), "Exceedingly Odd Reimbursements" on what he thinks is the real reason for the banks reimbursing TARP funds. He says he worked for CFC prior to the takeover by B of A, & says what happened then (way for upper level people to cash out) is what's happening again: " it's simply a matter of cleaning out the cash register before finally leaving the key under the door." t r u t h o u t | Exceedingly Odd Reimbursements
Thanks daddyo--CR did have some great older posts about this.
Also thanks for the link Comrade Dazed and Amused.
@picosec--Don't buy a Mercedes either. I have a 2002 that is already falling apart (It somehow falls apart even more when I take it to the dealer for service.)
WestSac_grrl (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 12:06 pm
reply ignore user
I bet this is a response to Arnold threatening to sell them. I wonder which 6 they are talking about?
Angel Island and Mount Diablo near San Francisco; Point Sur in Big Sur; and beaches at Fort Ord Dunes near Monterey, Point Mugu near Malibu; and Border Fields along the Mexican border.
Kia was only compact they said they had, and no one was cheaper. With insurance and all the fees it came to $750 for 2 weeks. If I hadn't beaten the house so bad last year, I could have spent the effort to get all the coupons and codes for a good discount, but of course I did do an on-line search.
Did have satellite radio, but no EZ-pass. They know that most people who rent are travelers with few options, with public transport so much less efficient than most of the world.
Ah, but the second derivative is BOUND to change as we approach the bottom, therefore: hope... therefore: wild stock optimism. Why, it's all just mathmatical certainty!
...they are nothingburgers outside of Mt. Diablo..
Point Mugu is a huge swath. Sold with development rights it could solve the budget for a few years. Just how much is 5 miles of beachfront in Malibu worth even in this market?
We need to starve the financial beast. Given how bad shape the economy is the DJIA should be at 6000 now but people keep bidding it up...anyway....
What are our demands? Here's part of the list:
* All the financial fraudsters are investigated, indicted, and prosecuted. This includes the con artists in CONgress who got "special deals" from Mozilo and his "Friends of Angelo" program (and who are blocking a subpoena to BofA as it would implicate them), it includes those past and current members of Government Sachs, and it includes all those other
financial "professionals" who deceived Americans and others with their sale of toxic exploding mortgage products along with the securities supposedly backed by them.
* Glass-Steagall is restored, in full, and all the firms that can't exist under it are broken up. Period.
ot-how is it that mississippi has fattest population yet is in top 5 for food stamps? I thought you had to purchase milk, bread, eggs etc under those programs...
"Looking at births in 1988 to 1990 there are about 4 million people per year coming of car buying age. Current deaths are around 2.5 million, for a net gain of about 1.5 million new potential buyers per year."
Shouldn't cars built now perform a little longer and be made slightly more efficiently (amortized design, manuf. and assembly improvements) than those from '88? That should take some slack.
@ criminal
When I was in college (early 90's) and working at a grocery store, all sorts of items would be purchased with "food stamps".
Family packs of Steaks, 5 lb. bags of shrimp, whole pork tenderloins.
Of course, the cases of beer and cartons of cigarettes were paid for with cash...
Still get a little mad thinking about it
creditcriminalslovetarp (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 12:20 pm
Rdawg-
I think it [Point Mugu land] would take many many years to get the permits.....No logging, water, or oil there. So the fed would be shackled with just land....
As Federal land it would be exempt from CEQA and local land use regulation.
A: Dude, I really need a loan
O: Sorry Dude I just don't have it
A: Damn, I guess I'll have to find something I can sell.
O: Do you have anything left?
A: Well I still have those properties you asked me to take of for you. I really regret having to do this as they were a gift from your heart but I really need the cash and I might as well make some money back after spending all the cash on upkeep
O: My love ferns? well if you aren't going to take care of them for and just liquidate, I want them back
A: But but you gave them to me
O: yes and if anyone is going to make a buck off them, it's me. Have you checked my polling numbers?
A: F-ing indian giver. I didn't vote for you anyways.
O: You let my love fern die and ps. I didn't vote for you either!
Shouldn't cars built now perform a little longer and be made slightly more efficiently (amortized design, manuf. and assembly improvements) than those from '88? That should take some slack
Yogi: my point was regarding the number of 18 to 20 year-olds that would be coming of age to purchase a vehicle.
To your point, yes vehicle designs have improved significantly since 1988. Median age of the vehicle fleet has gone from 7.9 years in 1996 to 9.2 years in 2007.
according to that article posted above on fat, Colorado is the skinny state.....Cheers to you!
Someone needs to put some mountains in the south....and eliminate cars, along with beer, ambrosia, pecan pies, JD, Barbaqued ribs, grits and dumplings..
rdawg-I see now...you ever go up there?some nice beaches just south..sycamore etc..
there's a right reef break off pt. mugu that goes off in big surf...hard to get waves when surrounded by pro's like Kelly Slater..
creditcriminalslovetarp (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 12:29 pm
rdawg-I see now...you ever go up there?some nice beaches just south..sycamore etc..
there's a right reef break off pt. mugu that goes off in big surf...hard to get waves when surrounded by pro's like Kelly Slater..
Up there? I live 10 miles directly north so I go down there occasionally. Some nice kelp forests right off the beach good for diving if you are strong enough to fight the current.
"As Federal land it would be exempt from CEQA and local land use regulation. "
Which would add to its value, except that the Feds would probably insist on Section 8 housing.
That could be really nice property, but I doubt that it could be developed appropriately in the current political environment. There will probably never be another Malibu in this country - unless we see a radical change away from the direction that we have been going for the last 30 years.
I can actually sit here and say I like Ford, great American car company, do I think they are The savior of it all...no they are not...but if they stay small, and actually build a car people want to buy they may make it out of this " Depression " unscathed...
For the record I do not own a ford..never have...but I do own their stock....I support Buy American.
The Middle Class is the least perceptive. The Rich are somewhat isolated from retribution, have the time to get bored, to explore and to find the truth, The Poor have time but less vested interest in maintaining illusion. The Middle Class is the last to know the truth. The Middle Class is the last to see themselves as they truly are.
When calculating vehicle life expectancy also factor in the recent decreases in VMT/vehicle. A typical 12 yr car can last 14-15 years at 10% fewer annual miles.
First number is debt held by the public, second intragovernmental (social security, etc). Jumped over $196 billion from the 29th to 30th. Probably the way books are squared at quarter end or something. We're on our way to $12 T.
Dawg, a thread or two back: "A couple battery operated skilsaws could drop freeway signs across every lane in both directions with ease. Takes years of seething resentment against the system to come up with stuff like that."
I heard voices saying almost the exact same things about power lines in CA. Just quiet voices so far.
Read the above.......Good day to you all and I leave you with this thought...
You know that $13 trillion the government borrowed to give to Wall Street?
Guess who they are coming after to get the money.
All of these government policies that brought the nation to ruin were done without the consent of the people. Whether lying us all into wars of conquest, endless gifts to Israel, tax credits to encourage the export of high paying jobs, the repeal of Glass-Steagal, bailouts, etc. etc. etc. the fact is that these were all done against the wishes of the majority of Americans.
Therefore, the effort to raise taxes to pay for a government that is spending money like there is no tomorrow represents taxation without representation. Because representation does not mean simply voting people into Congress, it means that the people voted into Congress VOTE the will of the people.
Clearly, as illustrated during the TARP debate, Congress does not represent the will of the people; it represents the will of the bankers.
Now, in the school I went to in Massachusetts, taxation without representation was taught as a just cause for the removal of a government and creation of a new one. A lot of ancestors on my mother's side were killed in a war over that very issue.
I do not feel we should cast aside so lightly that for which they paid so dearly.....good day.
"Equilibrium" being a useless term, of course, as there are infinite but bounded equilibria at different distributions of resources.
Egypt was just much at equilibrium with a hundred thousand slaves building a monument to one man as the Soviets were at equilibrium deciding who gets anything by central committee.
Maybe people will leave extra cars open with the keys for anyone who needs to use one, like they do with the yellow bicycles in Portland, so that none rust before they wear out.
Just for the hell of it I did a search in Google news archives for "green shoots" + economy and found that the earliest reference to the "green shoots of recovery" was in February of 1991. There was also a nifty graphic at the top of the page showing that aside from 2009 the previous peak of green shoots references was 2002 thru 2004, which makes the phrase a sort of contrary indicator. Interesting....or not.
If you want to calculate an equilibrium car purchase rate, one way to arrive at it is to look just at total miles driven per year and then divide by lifetime miles per car.
Last time I looked at this, it was something like 3 x 10^12 miles per annum (USA) / 2 x 10^5 miles per car = 1.5 x 10^7 cars per year, or 15 million cars per year. This figure suggest we are quite a bit below equilibrium car buying rates, which at first glance seems bullish for manufacturers.
The fly in the ointment is that our spare inventory of driveable miles (in the form of cars not yet at the end of their life) is enormous. I did some back of the envelope calculations that suggested that we could maintain an annual purchase rate of 10-11 million for about three years, without really major shifts in car lifetime or miles driven per year (for example I just assumed we flatline after our recent 5% YoY drop). That would doom a lot of car manufacturers if they weren't doomed already...
A few days back there was a discussion about the Ford Fusion and whether it was a good/bad car.
Due to the never-ending gift of getting rear-ended by a high-risk driver insured by a podunk insurance outfit that is known for battling every claim I have had the pleasure of renting a Ford Fusion for 30 days and counting.
It's a pretty decent car build quality-wise. Decent inside, good sound-system. Decent engine and pickup on accelerating. I find the downsides are the following:
Big turn radius. Hard to see cars on the side when parking.
A big blind spot at the back when reversing out or looking over the shoulder.
Part of this may be due to the fact that our daily driver is a Toyota Rav4 but our last car was a Honda Accord and I don't remember the two points above being so serious.
Some minor quibbles.
Anything other than high-beams and the lights are absolutely useless.
On off-switch for the lights is a small knob on the side rather than on the steering wheel stalk like the Rav4.
I've had a few issues with the engine not turning over properly on startup.
This is probably helpd by the Impreza WRX and STi being really nice cars. Even the standard Impreza is very nice for the price point.
As a brand they do have some fanatically loyal fans
Volkswagen of America Inc. said Wednesday its June sales fell 18 percent despite a rise in sales of clean diesel-burning cars.
Total sales of 19,027 in June. Clean diesel cars had their best month ever, with 5,072 units sold, a 26 percent increase.
Sounds like people wanting the higher MPG. Bring the Golf GTd to the USA !
That's me. (: My rental Ford Fusion doesn't have a trailer hitch on it. But from the looks of it, it would work fine with either a rear bike rack via trailer hitch or top-side bike rack.
The trailer hitch is what almost got my RAV4 totalled by the way. The other car pushed the trailer hitch up into my car frame and twisted it to the side. Apparently very common on the Rav4 and Honda CRV. But the insurance company appears to believe that if you can't see the damage there's no need to fix it. Grr...
I disagree. First, there aren't an infinite # of stable states. Second, many of those states are excluded by previous conditions and culture. Third, the concept of "equilibrium" is useful in understanding how the system works to reassert certain situations. If something is displaced in one area, reaction much occur.
For instance, the use of measurement. The act of measuring changes behavior. I push HERE to force a 'better outcome" so people react by responding to the measurement, not to the end goal.
One of the more curious things about CR's blog is the fascination with tactical analysis to the exclusion of cultural or ethical analysis. I do believe the middle class is engaged in circular cycling of what they know at a hardware level so they can avoid thinking about the real causes. Sort of like slicing and dicing apart Dad's liquor and snifter collection while ignore WHY Dad needs a liquor cabinet.
Since there's a few of us here, Massachusetts came in just behind Colorado at #50 (of 51). Connecticut is #49, Rhode Island #48. We even beat those tofu and sprouts Vermonters (#46). Maine and NH could use some improvement, but they're still in the good half.
It's very interesting. The act of "furious analysis" becomes a tactic to avoid the problem while appearing to be consumed with the problem.
If you've spent a lot of time in corporate America this makes a lot of sense. Lots and lots of people being very busy working on the 'problem' ,'issues' or 'process', while not actually resolving or doing anything other than.. being busy. Being fully occupied in an unproductive endeavor is an end in itself !
Like the motto of a good consultant.. "If you're not part of the solution... there's good money to be made prolonging the problem"
nemo !
// And that was with a random refresh...
we'll need YoY numbers for Aston Martin, Bentley, and Bugatti if you have the chance...
Repeat after me: It's only a flesh wound.
Seriously, I wonder if there are deals available yet on the few desirable products that GM makes? (Caddy and Corvette)
So, the encouraging numbers from Ford came at the expense of GM and Chrysler. Hoocoodanode?
I wonder if GM will start getting market share back if they actually start advertising cars instead of themselves as a company.
Beware the Pig, She be a harsh mistress.
--bh
Calculated Risk is No. 1, by a wide margin. Congratulations.
EconDirectory | Gongol.com
"I wonder if GM will start getting market share back if they actually start advertising cars instead of themselves as a company. "
First they would need to have cars that people want. They only make a few.
Blast from the past:
GM Delivers 413,473 Vehicles in June, Highest Monthly Sales Of 2006
GM Delivers 413,473 Vehicles in June, Highest Monthly Sales Of 2006
General Motors' dealers in the United States sold 413,473 new cars and trucks in June, the company's best sales performance year-to-date, up 15.2 percent, or about 68,000 units, compared with May.
"I am proud of our June sales results, especially since they reflect our highest sales month so far this year," said Mark LaNeve, General Motors North America vice president, Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "Our launch vehicles had their best sales results so far this year, as evidenced by the sales gains of our all-new full-size utilities. We also had strong sales of the Chevrolet Impala (30,716 vehicles), HHR (9,503), Buick Lucerne (10,690), Pontiac G6 (17,074) and Torrent (4,789)."
GM posted strong passenger car sales with Pontiac leading the way, up 28.7 percent over May and up 12.1 percent over June 2005 on the strength of G6 and G6 convertible hardtop sales. G6 set an all-time sales record and is up 39.9 percent for the first six months of the year. Solstice continues to be one of the hottest cars in the country, and the Torrent crossover also achieved an all-time sales record, up 35.8 percent over May. Other GM divisions posted solid results with Saturn sales up 49.1 percent over May levels. Chevrolet small cars posted robust sales with Cobalt up 21.9 percent, and Aveo up 23.5 percent, compared with May. Also, Impala sales were up 24.6 percent over May.
413k to 176k.
Wasn't it last week or so that GM workers were called back to the assembly lines due to demand for SUV's?
Thanks RD. Never thought I'd read in print "strong sales of the Cheverolet Impala"...the horror.
--bh
What's in your garage?
Two Mercedes
One Chevy Pick up
One Pontiac
Finally sold the Classic car!
I won't buy a Fiat or Government Motors UAW car!
It had better be #1 CR has been putting in some work as of late! (Congrats CR)
Citizen AllenM (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 11:10 am edit reply You know I had some fun poking around back in CR's archive and found last year's June vehicle sales posting:
Ford was down 28%- so when you add this years 11% drop to 145,153 you have significant cliff diving.
So in 2008 they sold roughly 163k vehicles,
but in 2007 they sold roughly 226k vehicles.
so the drop from 2007 is more like 35.8%
A mighty crash indeed.
Can Ford survive selling one third fewer vehicles?
Same problem with hotels.
I could not resist- i added a definition for Velvet Fist of Government to the glossary.
A small contribution to the meme of doom and gloom.
Someday this war's gonna end...
General Motors China sales up 38 percent
The article requested is no longer available.
AllenM,
Three survivors on the island, with only enough food and water for one.
Each has a stick.
Chrysler's stick has no point.
GM's stick has one point.
Ford sharpened their stick on both sides.
--bh
Does anyone know how many of the sales are due to replacement of cars that were totaled in accidents and fleet replacement? It seems like we might be approaching necessary replacement only sales numbers.
/ / Chuckling.... (Just got this email)
Go Paperless and enter for a chance to win $10,000 ~Chase Credit Cards
Nades, thanks. Yeah - with all the technical problems last month, I was beginning to wonder what was going on. Mostly all OK now.
best to all
Free and Clear?
U.S. Targets Get-Rich-Quick Schemes - CBS News
Thanks CR and Ken- for the best damn economics blog on the web.
Maybe they should throw a new car into the 125% refi deal to get people to participate.
For those of you who care to look at the various June numbers by producer :
:::: Motor Intelligence :::: powered by autodata corporation
just click the vehicle sales link.
Ford sales slip 10.7 pct
Error - washingtonpost.com
O H Chick (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 11:15 am
Does anyone know how many of the sales are due to replacement of cars that were totaled in accidents and fleet replacement? It seems like we might be approaching necessary replacement only sales numbers.
IIRC the vehicle fleet age is increasing ~9mo every year. Cars last longer. It will be many years before replacement of the 2002-2009 vintage vehicles becomes a factor.
Well, one wonderful thing about the Velvet Fist of Government bankruptcy is that GM can make some great YoY comparisons next year.
Smaller, faster, cheaper.
The future.
Someday this war's gonna end...
I do question the accolade tho... The USA Today of the business / econ sites? What the.... Either way even with the google issue you made it...
Which is probably a good time to remind everyone to update their bookmarks to the new URL Calculated Risk
Cheers!
I think its safe to finally say GM in the USA is gone forever...
fleet replacement
With Chrysler repudiating tort liability on existing cars, I'd imagine that the rental companies would have to shed/replace Chrysler models soon. I can't imagine that Avis/Hertz/etc would assume all the liability themselves.
I just got the Citi incentivized minimum payment offer where if you pay at least the minimum you'll get 10% back on it up to 550 dollars over 8 months.
I like how they're trying to bribe people to pay now.
When I traveled in Beijing a few years ago they really liked cars like the Buick. Some cars that you would never think of as luxury here are definitely thought of as high end over there.
Subaru +3.4% YoY. Go Subi!
honda: -29.5
bmw: -20.3
green sprouts.... (too small for a shoot)
.........
I wish I had a Citi card...
Brown chutes. Poop chute.
@O H Chick
Here in southern NH many cars are in the 03 to 08 range so they may have quite some years left before the bone yard, and those still on the road that belong in the bone yard, by the looks of the drivers couldn't afford a new car payment. IMO.
"With Chrysler repudiating tort liability on existing cars, I'd imagine that the rental companies would have to shed/replace Chrysler models soon. I can't imagine that they'd assume all the liability themselves."
They, the dealers and suppliers and their insurers must all race to BK. Incredible it hasn't happened yet. Even if tort liability is minimal, the competitive advantage to a corp that sheds it could be enough.
Strategist: 'You'd Better Own Some Gold'
http://www.cnbc.com/id/31670922
"Any country where the central bank head is called 'Helicopter Ben,' you better own some gold," Tice said.
Is that this David Tice?
PrudentBear
HG: yes he is.
I think Tice is right. With interest rates as low as they are, there is almost no opportunity cost for owning glod.
I rented a Kia Rio this week from Hertz. Handles like crap, not particularly gas-efficient even with no pick-up,
and it wasn't cheap.
No power locks or windows, the only way to open a locked back door is to reach back and locate the latch in a fit of contortion.
The design stupidity is rather shocking.
O H Chick (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 1:15 pm
Does anyone know how many of the sales are due to replacement of cars that were totaled in accidents and fleet replacement? It seems like we might be approaching necessary replacement only sales numbers.
The vehicle scrap rate is about 4%. See data from 2005. It may have dropped a little since then.
Green Car Congress: US Vehicle Fleet Scrappage Rate Down, Age Up
With about 240 million vehicles in the US fleet, this would give a replacement rate of about 9.6 million per year. So at current SAAR we are simply replacing the vehicles that are being decomissioned.
"So at current SAAR we are simply replacing the vehicles that are being decomissioned. "
Isn't that called equilibrium?
just f'ing wow...
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With eldest approaching driving age, conversation yesterday went to additional vehicle.
My intent is to buy newer used and give to wife. I take her 84K mile Toyota and the kid takes my 83K Chevy Venture.
Even with all of the incentives, I see no way that we're going to buy into a new car with the monthly costs. We're not alone.
Perhaps in several years, with both of the two older vehicles pushing 125K plus, we'll pay cash for something.
The family buyer has largely left the building and yeah, you're looking at fleet replacement/government as the sole buyers.
What will the former Big Three do when all of their suppliers go bust?
"The design stupidity is rather shocking. "
I wonder if Hertz thinks they can force people to rent garbage like Kia cars.
Was the car your choice, or was it all they had available?
edit: remove dupe
BTW, nice thumbnail calcs Comrade D & A.
OT: Why has the 10-year stopped its cliff diving?
Almost forgot. Hummer has some pretty sweet financing deals as well
HUMMER | 2009 SUV Truck Models | 4x4 Trucks
0% for 5 years...
The 10 year has stopped but the dollar is looking fugly....ben must be jumping for joy.
Not sure that the replacement rate will be quite that high - not all vehicles will be replaced - with job losses, etc. downsizing a vehicle is going to be an irresistable calculus for many...
Oh a recent trip to Germany I was "forced" to rent an Audi A6 (I declined the first two cars they offered me).
EDIT: ... and it had 17 km on the odometer!
My current ride is an '99 Camry.
Maybe I WILL shop for a new car...
sm landlord:
Rented from Budget in Orlando three weeks ago. Went against the minivan, which came in at $500+ per week and went with a cheaper SUV (Explorer and like). They cut the weekly rate to $300 total to get us into a minivan, which wasn't great shakes (Chrysler T&C).
For the additional room, we paid and saved approx 42% off the i-net price of the previous week.
CR has some great posts on auto replacement rates. Search the archives for quite a few...
Fair Treatment for Precious Metals Investors Act
Fair Treatment for Precious Metals Investors Act
"Fair Treatment for Precious Metals Investors Act"
Interesting. Of course, it just makes me wonder why they don't skip the middleman to a fair treatment for capital gains act.
@picosec - an Audi is basically a VW and they are (can be) serious maintenance nightmares. I emphatically recommend staying away from them
Got an '06 VW Jetta TDI
Sweet little car
70k miles on it so far and only thing I have had done was replace a faulty glowplug...don't even need them here
DSG transmission is cool, too.
45mpg avg
50+ on highway
Can make it from Charleston, SC to Atlanta, GA in 4 hours, doing 90mph, averaging 44mpg
"Of course, it just makes me wonder why they don't skip the middleman to a fair treatment for capital gains act. "
Of course not. They have to have a cap gains tax to enhance revenues from phantom inflationary "gains".
Another Audi gotcha...they don't stockpile the parts in the US. Your part is ordered, then delivered, and it isn't next day.
-bh
Isn't that called equilibrium?
Close, the other issue is demographics. Looking at births in 1988 to 1990 there are about 4 million people per year coming of car buying age. Current deaths are around 2.5 million, for a net gain of about 1.5 million new potential buyers per year.
As homedad mentions above, not all potential new driving age adults will get a new car. They may have to share with mom for a while. However it may sometime become a force to increase sales above the replacement rate.
For now, it seems that with the home ATM closed, the 16 million SAAR is history. A rate of about 11 million SAAR is reasonable.
If you were a two income family that has lost one job, especially for an extended period, one of the easiest ways to make a significant dent in monthly expenses is to lose a vehicle. Extended UE will have an impact on vehicles sales for quite some time IMO.
I don't know, I just still seem to have trouble accepting 'business news' stories like this:
(Forbes) Business News Bulletin
Jobs Report Boosts Street
Camilla Webster, 07.01.09, 11:22 AM EDT
Market Update: Midday Report.
"Investors embraced the latest hints at an economic recovery Wednesday, after a pair of readings on the U.S. labor market offered signs of improvement. A day after a weaker than anticipated consumer confidence reading had stocks reeling in New York, Automatic Data Processing's June report showed private sector payrolls shed 473,000 jobs, more than expected but an improvement on May's figure, which was revised to 485,000 from 532,000."
GM pulling out of joint venture with Toyota...It is the ominous calm before the tornado strikes.... I got my ducks in a row months ago, But I noticed that many of the union production workers are oblivious to what is happening, wait one more month and there will be a lot of these guys that have thier Harleys for sale
General Mills Inc., the maker of Cheerios and Hamburger Helper, increased its 2010 earnings forecast after fourth-quarter profit rose 94 percent, sending the shares up as much as 3.5 percent.
READ THIS VERY SLOW...MAKES ME SO PROUD TO BE REDUCED TO THIRD WORLD!!!!
The California governor's office says federal officials are threatening to seize six state parks if they are closed to help balance the state's budget.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed closing 220 state parks.
But the National Park Service warned in a letter to Schwarzenegger that six of those parks are on former federal land that could revert to the U.S. government if they are not kept open as parks.
404 - Not Found - sacbee.com
Monthly sales again look to be below the 10M mark. Along with the disappointing consumer confidence survey, "green shoots" is in trouble.
west sac girl..
let them have all of them except mt diablo...the others are no biggies....
Samdog,
What do you expect them to report, "The markets are up today on more program trading manipulation between GS and JPM!" ?
shill, LOL
!
The kids and I could live on Honey Nut Cheerios! (The wife still insists on low-density-per-$ Special K; fortunately, she doesn't eat much ...).
@RockyR
Yeh, I learned that about Audi upon checking Consumers' Reports and Edmunds reviews.
But when it only has 17km on it, it's a damn fine ride (although rear visibiity sucks).
And it was my first experience with a "modern" GPS (although one reviewer thinks that one is behind the times!). It got me through jet lag and a rainstorm to our first hotel and I trusted it a lot after that. And she's such a patient voice, e.g. "Make a U-turn as soon as possible." cooed over and over.
I bet this is a response to Arnold threatening to sell them. I wonder which 6 they are talking about?
Chainsaw,
You've got a point: the worst criminals are the one's who deny guilt all the way to the death chamber.
I love cheerios!....but the other ( Hamburger helper), if my wife feed me that.....well lets just say I hope I am not cleaning my guns that day hahahaha!
Central banks seek rankings for financial products
The Daily Bell
Interesting read.
now THAT financial show would be worth watching!
"Got an '06 VW Jetta TDI
Sweet little car"
I had a '00 Passat. In 6 years and 60k miles, the car had over $12k of repairs done to it. Once the extended warranty was over, I dumped it for a Honda... never to go back.
OT, article by Paul Jorian, Le Monde (translated from French by Leslie Thatcher of Truth Out), "Exceedingly Odd Reimbursements" on what he thinks is the real reason for the banks reimbursing TARP funds. He says he worked for CFC prior to the takeover by B of A, & says what happened then (way for upper level people to cash out) is what's happening again: " it's simply a matter of cleaning out the cash register before finally leaving the key under the door." t r u t h o u t | Exceedingly Odd Reimbursements
Thanks daddyo--CR did have some great older posts about this.
Also thanks for the link Comrade Dazed and Amused.
@picosec--Don't buy a Mercedes either. I have a 2002 that is already falling apart (It somehow falls apart even more when I take it to the dealer for service.)
WestSac_grrl (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 12:06 pm
reply ignore user
I bet this is a response to Arnold threatening to sell them. I wonder which 6 they are talking about?
Angel Island and Mount Diablo near San Francisco; Point Sur in Big Sur; and beaches at Fort Ord Dunes near Monterey, Point Mugu near Malibu; and Border Fields along the Mexican border.
wsac-its in the article...they are nothingburgers outside of Mt. Diablo...nice Spring hike or in fall for the Tarantula mating season..
It’s tarantula time on Mount Diablo | Gary Bogue
"or was it all they had available? "
Kia was only compact they said they had, and no one was cheaper. With insurance and all the fees it came to $750 for 2 weeks. If I hadn't beaten the house so bad last year, I could have spent the effort to get all the coupons and codes for a good discount, but of course I did do an on-line search.
Did have satellite radio, but no EZ-pass. They know that most people who rent are travelers with few options, with public transport so much less efficient than most of the world.
Ah, but the second derivative is BOUND to change as we approach the bottom, therefore: hope... therefore: wild stock optimism. Why, it's all just mathmatical certainty!
...they are nothingburgers outside of Mt. Diablo..
Point Mugu is a huge swath. Sold with development rights it could solve the budget for a few years. Just how much is 5 miles of beachfront in Malibu worth even in this market?
From CSMonitor:
Franken as 60th Senate Democrat: How big a prize?
uuhhh ... really, really big booby prize?
So much for the 'give cars away and say we sold them' strategy. They can't even do that.
We need to starve the financial beast. Given how bad shape the economy is the DJIA should be at 6000 now but people keep bidding it up...anyway....
What are our demands? Here's part of the list:
* All the financial fraudsters are investigated, indicted, and prosecuted. This includes the con artists in CONgress who got "special deals" from Mozilo and his "Friends of Angelo" program (and who are blocking a subpoena to BofA as it would implicate them), it includes those past and current members of Government Sachs, and it includes all those other
financial "professionals" who deceived Americans and others with their sale of toxic exploding mortgage products along with the securities supposedly backed by them.
* Glass-Steagall is restored, in full, and all the firms that can't exist under it are broken up. Period.
good articles: Interesting Finance & Economic articles
stop the corruption...
Interesting Finance & Economic articles
ot-how is it that mississippi has fattest population yet is in top 5 for food stamps? I thought you had to purchase milk, bread, eggs etc under those programs...
Mississippi fattest, obesity rises in 23 states
Yahoo! 404 - Page Not Found
they should count the govt as a state, they would claim number 1 spot...
"Looking at births in 1988 to 1990 there are about 4 million people per year coming of car buying age. Current deaths are around 2.5 million, for a net gain of about 1.5 million new potential buyers per year."
Shouldn't cars built now perform a little longer and be made slightly more efficiently (amortized design, manuf. and assembly improvements) than those from '88? That should take some slack.
Fitch: Credit card write offs at 10.44% in June. New record.
"ot-how is it that mississippi has fattest population yet is in top 5 for food stamps?"
In our society, the poor people tend to be fat.
Eggs (with Yolks) are also a very rich food.
@ criminal
When I was in college (early 90's) and working at a grocery store, all sorts of items would be purchased with "food stamps".
Family packs of Steaks, 5 lb. bags of shrimp, whole pork tenderloins.
Of course, the cases of beer and cartons of cigarettes were paid for with cash...
Still get a little mad thinking about it
Hey, South Carolina is 5th on the obesity list!
creditcriminalslovetarp
Apparently they're buying an awful lot of Hamburger Helper in MS. See story upthread.
Rdawg-
I think it would take many many years to get the permits.....No logging, water, or oil there. So the fed would be shackled with just land....
OT, but econ related...
Medicare to cut fee by 21.5%
creditcriminalslovetarp (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 12:20 pm
Rdawg-
I think it [Point Mugu land] would take many many years to get the permits.....No logging, water, or oil there. So the fed would be shackled with just land....
As Federal land it would be exempt from CEQA and local land use regulation.
Hmmm interesting. I can just see it now
A: Dude, I really need a loan
O: Sorry Dude I just don't have it
A: Damn, I guess I'll have to find something I can sell.
O: Do you have anything left?
A: Well I still have those properties you asked me to take of for you. I really regret having to do this as they were a gift from your heart but I really need the cash and I might as well make some money back after spending all the cash on upkeep
O: My love ferns? well if you aren't going to take care of them for and just liquidate, I want them back
A: But but you gave them to me
O: yes and if anyone is going to make a buck off them, it's me. Have you checked my polling numbers?
A: F-ing indian giver. I didn't vote for you anyways.
O: You let my love fern die and ps. I didn't vote for you either!
Shouldn't cars built now perform a little longer and be made slightly more efficiently (amortized design, manuf. and assembly improvements) than those from '88? That should take some slack
Yogi: my point was regarding the number of 18 to 20 year-olds that would be coming of age to purchase a vehicle.
To your point, yes vehicle designs have improved significantly since 1988. Median age of the vehicle fleet has gone from 7.9 years in 1996 to 9.2 years in 2007.
according to that article posted above on fat, Colorado is the skinny state.....Cheers to you!
Someone needs to put some mountains in the south....and eliminate cars, along with beer, ambrosia, pecan pies, JD, Barbaqued ribs, grits and dumplings..
rdawg-I see now...you ever go up there?some nice beaches just south..sycamore etc..
there's a right reef break off pt. mugu that goes off in big surf...hard to get waves when surrounded by pro's like Kelly Slater..
I got your point, and my point addresses the issue. Fewer replacement cars are needed for so-called "equilibrium" if they last longer.
Fucking americans..let it slip this time.
Assholesseness de Meny.
creditcriminalslovetarp (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 12:29 pm
rdawg-I see now...you ever go up there?some nice beaches just south..sycamore etc..
there's a right reef break off pt. mugu that goes off in big surf...hard to get waves when surrounded by pro's like Kelly Slater..
Up there? I live 10 miles directly north so I go down there occasionally. Some nice kelp forests right off the beach good for diving if you are strong enough to fight the current.
"As Federal land it would be exempt from CEQA and local land use regulation. "
Which would add to its value, except that the Feds would probably insist on Section 8 housing.
That could be really nice property, but I doubt that it could be developed appropriately in the current political environment. There will probably never be another Malibu in this country - unless we see a radical change away from the direction that we have been going for the last 30 years.
I can actually sit here and say I like Ford, great American car company, do I think they are The savior of it all...no they are not...but if they stay small, and actually build a car people want to buy they may make it out of this " Depression " unscathed...
For the record I do not own a ford..never have...but I do own their stock....I support Buy American.
The Middle Class is the least perceptive. The Rich are somewhat isolated from retribution, have the time to get bored, to explore and to find the truth, The Poor have time but less vested interest in maintaining illusion. The Middle Class is the last to know the truth. The Middle Class is the last to see themselves as they truly are.
When calculating vehicle life expectancy also factor in the recent decreases in VMT/vehicle. A typical 12 yr car can last 14-15 years at 10% fewer annual miles.
Everyone getting positioned for tomorrow's Unenjoyment Report?
(That position being "grabbing the ankles").
Nope...i firmly believe tomm's report will be rendered yet another green shoot.
OT: Fed debt outstanding jumps almost $200 billion in one day.
06/26/2009 7,090,436,316,081.58 4,272,044,101,311.77 11,362,480,417,393.35
06/29/2009 7,090,563,287,093.66 4,267,837,844,037.80 11,358,401,131,131.46
06/30/2009 7,174,912,385,059.26 4,370,362,961,372.13 11,545,275,346,431.39
First number is debt held by the public, second intragovernmental (social security, etc). Jumped over $196 billion from the 29th to 30th. Probably the way books are squared at quarter end or something. We're on our way to $12 T.
"Everyone getting positioned for tomorrow's Unenjoyment Report?"
Now, now. That's what we're calling the "Redeployment Report" these days.
Dawg, a thread or two back: "A couple battery operated skilsaws could drop freeway signs across every lane in both directions with ease. Takes years of seething resentment against the system to come up with stuff like that."
I heard voices saying almost the exact same things about power lines in CA. Just quiet voices so far.
We'll Need to Raise Taxes Soon
We'll Need to Raise Taxes Soon - WSJ.com
Read the above.......Good day to you all and I leave you with this thought...
You know that $13 trillion the government borrowed to give to Wall Street?
Guess who they are coming after to get the money.
All of these government policies that brought the nation to ruin were done without the consent of the people. Whether lying us all into wars of conquest, endless gifts to Israel, tax credits to encourage the export of high paying jobs, the repeal of Glass-Steagal, bailouts, etc. etc. etc. the fact is that these were all done against the wishes of the majority of Americans.
Therefore, the effort to raise taxes to pay for a government that is spending money like there is no tomorrow represents taxation without representation. Because representation does not mean simply voting people into Congress, it means that the people voted into Congress VOTE the will of the people.
Clearly, as illustrated during the TARP debate, Congress does not represent the will of the people; it represents the will of the bankers.
Now, in the school I went to in Massachusetts, taxation without representation was taught as a just cause for the removal of a government and creation of a new one. A lot of ancestors on my mother's side were killed in a war over that very issue.
I do not feel we should cast aside so lightly that for which they paid so dearly.....good day.
Coinz:
that's noise from quarterly payments remitted to the IRS... still an upwardly trend though.
Nope...i firmly believe tomm's report will be rendered yet another green shoot.
Right... I agree.... which for the bears here, means "grab your ankles".
"We'll Need to Raise Taxes Soon"
No question in my mind that we will have a VAT in the USA soon.
that will do wonders for a consumer economy.
Eric,
That was long ago...now I'm hoping for negative ankle weights....
Agreed, VAT coming soon.
@Basel,
Makes sense. I knew they issued over $100 B last week and wondered why the balance was going down. It got a nice pop on the 30th.
That was long ago...now I'm hoping for negative ankle weights....
You mean gravity boots?
Used to have a pair in college, used for, um... "party enhancement".
aka "green chute"
schoolsout:"Can make it from Charleston, SC to Atlanta, GA in 4 hours, doing 90mph, averaging 44mpg"
You wouldn't happen to be governor sanford on his way to catch a flight to buenos aires, would you?
"Equilibrium" being a useless term, of course, as there are infinite but bounded equilibria at different distributions of resources.
Egypt was just much at equilibrium with a hundred thousand slaves building a monument to one man as the Soviets were at equilibrium deciding who gets anything by central committee.
Maybe people will leave extra cars open with the keys for anyone who needs to use one, like they do with the yellow bicycles in Portland, so that none rust before they wear out.
Just for the hell of it I did a search in Google news archives for "green shoots" + economy and found that the earliest reference to the "green shoots of recovery" was in February of 1991. There was also a nifty graphic at the top of the page showing that aside from 2009 the previous peak of green shoots references was 2002 thru 2004, which makes the phrase a sort of contrary indicator. Interesting....or not.
If you want to calculate an equilibrium car purchase rate, one way to arrive at it is to look just at total miles driven per year and then divide by lifetime miles per car.
Last time I looked at this, it was something like 3 x 10^12 miles per annum (USA) / 2 x 10^5 miles per car = 1.5 x 10^7 cars per year, or 15 million cars per year. This figure suggest we are quite a bit below equilibrium car buying rates, which at first glance seems bullish for manufacturers.
The fly in the ointment is that our spare inventory of driveable miles (in the form of cars not yet at the end of their life) is enormous. I did some back of the envelope calculations that suggested that we could maintain an annual purchase rate of 10-11 million for about three years, without really major shifts in car lifetime or miles driven per year (for example I just assumed we flatline after our recent 5% YoY drop). That would doom a lot of car manufacturers if they weren't doomed already...
A few days back there was a discussion about the Ford Fusion and whether it was a good/bad car.
Due to the never-ending gift of getting rear-ended by a high-risk driver insured by a podunk insurance outfit that is known for battling every claim I have had the pleasure of renting a Ford Fusion for 30 days and counting.
It's a pretty decent car build quality-wise. Decent inside, good sound-system. Decent engine and pickup on accelerating. I find the downsides are the following:
Big turn radius. Hard to see cars on the side when parking.
A big blind spot at the back when reversing out or looking over the shoulder.
Part of this may be due to the fact that our daily driver is a Toyota Rav4 but our last car was a Honda Accord and I don't remember the two points above being so serious.
Some minor quibbles.
Anything other than high-beams and the lights are absolutely useless.
On off-switch for the lights is a small knob on the side rather than on the steering wheel stalk like the Rav4.
I've had a few issues with the engine not turning over properly on startup.
Miles driven is quite elastic. Some people move closer to whatever job they can find if the cost per mile so dictates.
I would own a car and drive more miles if there was a reasonable greenhouse gas option..
Poic, are you the biker I was talking with a few nights ago (20% grade?)
If so, how is the Fusion for transporting your bike to the trailhead?
Subaru +3.4% YoY
This is probably helpd by the Impreza WRX and STi being really nice cars. Even the standard Impreza is very nice for the price point.
As a brand they do have some fanatically loyal fans
splat,
Yep.
Sure love my Outback ....
This I found interesting...
Volkswagen of America Inc. said Wednesday its June sales fell 18 percent despite a rise in sales of clean diesel-burning cars.
Total sales of 19,027 in June. Clean diesel cars had their best month ever, with 5,072 units sold, a 26 percent increase.
Sounds like people wanting the higher MPG. Bring the Golf GTd to the USA !
HomeGnome,
That's me. (: My rental Ford Fusion doesn't have a trailer hitch on it. But from the looks of it, it would work fine with either a rear bike rack via trailer hitch or top-side bike rack.
The trailer hitch is what almost got my RAV4 totalled by the way. The other car pushed the trailer hitch up into my car frame and twisted it to the side. Apparently very common on the Rav4 and Honda CRV. But the insurance company appears to believe that if you can't see the damage there's no need to fix it. Grr...
"Equilibrium" being a useless term, of course,
I disagree. First, there aren't an infinite # of stable states. Second, many of those states are excluded by previous conditions and culture. Third, the concept of "equilibrium" is useful in understanding how the system works to reassert certain situations. If something is displaced in one area, reaction much occur.
For instance, the use of measurement. The act of measuring changes behavior. I push HERE to force a 'better outcome" so people react by responding to the measurement, not to the end goal.
One of the more curious things about CR's blog is the fascination with tactical analysis to the exclusion of cultural or ethical analysis. I do believe the middle class is engaged in circular cycling of what they know at a hardware level so they can avoid thinking about the real causes. Sort of like slicing and dicing apart Dad's liquor and snifter collection while ignore WHY Dad needs a liquor cabinet.
A window of things to come? I can only hope!
"BOOM!" (More Obfuscation)
The Market Ticker
I had a VW Gulf diesel for a few years.
Fun little car that was way easy on the fuel consumption.
Broward,
Interesting point(s).
Since there's a few of us here, Massachusetts came in just behind Colorado at #50 (of 51). Connecticut is #49, Rhode Island #48. We even beat those tofu and sprouts Vermonters (#46). Maine and NH could use some improvement, but they're still in the good half.
the list
It's very interesting. The act of "furious analysis" becomes a tactic to avoid the problem while appearing to be consumed with the problem.
Scary.
It's very interesting. The act of "furious analysis" becomes a tactic to avoid the problem while appearing to be consumed with the problem.
If you've spent a lot of time in corporate America this makes a lot of sense. Lots and lots of people being very busy working on the 'problem' ,'issues' or 'process', while not actually resolving or doing anything other than.. being busy. Being fully occupied in an unproductive endeavor is an end in itself !
Like the motto of a good consultant.. "If you're not part of the solution... there's good money to be made prolonging the problem"
GM makes some nice cars; Camaro, Aveo, Cobalt, Malibu, Corvette.
The one that sticks like a sore thumb is the Impala.
This is probably helpd by the Impreza WRX and STi being really nice cars.
My 2009 WRX with K&N filter is really nice. STi is even better, but not a good ratio of USD/HP compared the regular WRX.
Ken, I vote for a ban of timmyone. I can ignore but unsuspecting first-timers might get the wrong impression of the site...
I notice Ford at 6.25 today. Last November, it was 1.01. Didn't rich jump in at around 1.25? Good show, rich!
Bloomberg.com:
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