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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (45191)	11/19/2008 11:46:48 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 149317

Oh this gets better and better....below is a photo of imported cars parked in LA ports with nowhere to go. The dealers don't want them. And it turns out that the American car companies have been overproducing cars for two years now and parking them in vacant lots around Detroit. Damn! A Sea of Unwanted Imports "For its part, Toyota says the higher-than-usual inventories at the Long Beach port are a result of shrinking demand, particularly in Southern California, which is one of its biggest markets. The company declined to say how many cars were at the port or how long they would be warehoused. Toyota has adjusted its output to reflect falling demand, said Sona Iliffe-Moon, a Toyota spokeswoman. Ms. Wasil said Nissan, whose cars arrive through the port of Los Angeles, sought a deal with Long Beach to park its overflow vehicles there. Mercedes struck a deal to use more acres just a few weeks ago, she said. Officials from Mercedes and Nissan did not return calls seeking comment. The mothballing of cars is nothing new for Detroit, where thousands of unwanted American-made cars have been parked over the last two years at Michigan’s state fairground and in lots at its airports." nytimes.com

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (45191)	11/20/2008 3:54:46 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 149317

MYTH: "GM cannot build cars that people want at a price people can afford. That is the bottom line." FACTS: GM outsold Toyota by about 1.2 million vehicles in the United States last year and holds a U.S. lead over Toyota of about 560,000 so far this year. Globally, GM in 2007 remained the world's largest automaker, selling 9,369,524 vehicles worldwide -- about 3,000 more than Toyota. Although total U.S. vehicle sales are down almost 15% so far this year (through October), a number of GM cars and crossovers have enjoyed significant sales increases: Chevy Malibu +39% Pontiac Vibe +36% Pontiac G6 + 4% Cadillac CTS +15% Saturn Aura +7% GMC Acadia +2% Buick Enclave +88% Some in Congress and some journalists say GM does not build cars people like today...Hmmm...maybe they should consider the brand new JD Power Customer Satisfaction Survey released this week...go to this link and see all the brands ranked at the very bottom... jdpower.com All of GM's brands are above average while many touted foreign brands are well below. This is a new survey released by a reputable research organization in the last 24 hours. Some in Congress talk about "green cars"...Toyota was the early mover and now GM and Ford have a number of Hybrids on the market...and it's clear more of these vehicles can and will be introduced (as long as the economy rebounds and if the automakers receive support from our government to retool). Yet, Congress hasn't provided proper incentives for Americans to buy cars with "Green technology" from any manufacturer -- we gotta get the volumes way up to really have an impact on the environment...The Toyota Prius sold like crazy in the run up to $4.00/gallon fuel. Then it stalled or flatlined in sales volume in july/august of 2008. And the total impact of the Prius nationwide was only 2% of the market. They had volume issues at first but they adjusted for it by early summer. The bottom line is that Americans talk a good line about wanting Hybrids but the reality is less than 2% of the cars sold in the USA last year were Prius Hybrids. And thats when gas was very expensive. I hope the Obama Administration motivates Congress to pass legislation that will provide big incentives for Americans to buy cars with Green technology (Hybrids, Plug in Hybrids, Flex Fuel Engines, etc.).