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Gold/Mining/Energy : Big Dog's Boom Boom Room -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (40159)	3/13/2005 10:01:44 PM
From: Think4Yourself	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206338

The UAW has changed somewhat. They aren't as obstructionist as they used to be. I do have to agree with you that they are still a problem. That's a large part of why manufacturing is leaving the country. GM and Ford CAN build high mileage cars quite easily. I have engineering friends who tell me it is no problem at all now that the fuels have the lower sulpher content (sulpher was a big problem). The problem is the majority of buyers don't want the vehicles unless they are big status symbols. Americans want trucks and SUV's which is why they have been the big sellers for years. How many insights and prius's have been sold? I might see one a year, and that's if I am lucky. Americans in general just aren't ready for the vehicles the rest of the world takes for granted. Que stated it very clearly. I don't care what it costs. I ain't about to drive no tin can while so many rednecks and soccer moms are driving tanks! My life is worth more than $3 gallon gas.

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (40159)	3/15/2005 8:10:00 PM
From: renovator	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206338

Detroit has had decades to make good competitive high-mileage cars and they have refused. Don't forget that GM and Ford have owned european automakers cranking out fuel efficient vehicles all along, and have never tried to bring those models over except for a couple of sporty types like Opal. GM could have brought over an entire model with tooling and equipment any time they wanted with no more cost than normal new model retooling done annually anyway. They stuck toes in with the Corvair(which was really cool, especially the Monza) and kept up appearances with the Ford Pinto but the Detroit mantra has always been Bigger Is Better, and more profitable. This pattern is clear as a bell since VW came in on through the onslaught of the Japanese automakers; Detroit has resolutely refused to change and because of artificially low gas prices they got away with years of SUV profits. Even the so called gas guzzlers of the old days with small block V-8's or slant 6 motors which could have been tweaked anytime to improve overall efficiency but were not. Of course; the big block 390, 392, 409, 426, 440 etc. were more fun than any of us had a right to have but no chance of fuel efficiency.