Speaking of trucks and fuel mileage, the automakers are making an effort. The 2.7 liter Ecoboost seems to get decent mileage. GM has a turbo 4 cylinder they’re rolling out in the Silverado / Sierra. It has autostop and cylinder deactivation and a turbo… I’m not sure I’m ready to buy that just yet…sounds like a complicated little engine.
Send them to PA…they’ll stop moaning about gas prices real quick…
Edit: actually don’t, we don’t need any more Jersey tourist drivers clogging up our roads 
NJ is a Blue State, and as a result we have exceptionally good Consumer Protection regulations. As a result, ANYONE can buy gas at Costco/BJ’s/Sam’s Club, and ANYONE can utilize their low-cost pharmacies.
(Ergo–No membership is required for those purchases in NJ)
If your state doesn’t have this type of pro-consumer regulations, you need to elect state representatives who can give you this type of progressive legislation.
You’re right, none do, I was referring more to geometry, rather than construction…
… and we really don’t want any more people from Pennsyltucky on our roads because almost all of them drive in the left lane at ~10 mph below the speed limit.
10 below? They must be transplants, most of us go 10-15 over in the left lane!!
After delivering meals yesterday I filled up for $2.35 for regular. I rarely go over $20 since I fill up with half a tank left. Of course when I catch the car the wife drives, it can hit $25-30 depending on how much she has driven.
I got the US car sales stats, but they wanted $49 to see the world wide stats. I’m just not that interested to pay that kind of money for statistics, but I’ll believe you folks that have. Just looking out my window though at the neighborhood, I’ve got about 3 GM, 3 FCA, and I know there is one Honda or Toyota or something down the way. Then there is a truck (looks like a Ford) and a boat but can’t tell what it is without binocs and I’m not going to spy on the neighbors. Of course its cold here and some people have to work so they are either at work or in the garage. That boat though better hurry up and get inside storage for the winter or it’ll be wrecked. Don’t know what kind of engine it has but gotta be either a Merc, Evinrude, or Yamiha.
So much for random unbiased samples. Makes you wonder though if there are some occupations that lean more toward Asian cars? I know just from observation that the new folks that have moved in around here drive primarily Asian vans and sedans.
Edit: OK come to think of it, my sample might be a little biased because one guy has a Jeep and a Dodge truck in one place, and another guy has two GM trucks. Then I didn’t include my own 1 GM and 1 Asian (60% US).
No, I’m pretty sure that they are native Pennsyltuckians, because they all seem to have lost their natural teeth by the age of 35 or so.
You risk being flagged by the flag police with comments like that.
Including their trademark.
Its charade was pretending to be a car. I remember lots of little grounds maintenance vehicles at universities (etc.) made by them.
What are all those people going to do with their RATOs?
GM exists because Alfred Sloan invented the type M corporation by merging a number of smaller manufacturers, the only way to take on Ford back then. He wrote a famous book about it.
Elon Musk. Maybe he will eat their lunch.
$2.16 in Albuquerque today.
Anyone can buy prescription drugs from CostCo everywhere; it’s a federal law. Consumer Reports mentions it.
Steven Rattner’s thoughtful opinion:
More of a political piece than any analysis, but that’s to be expected. China is doing a good job now cheaper so that’s why they are going to Mexico? Does that really make any sense? Reducing the CAFE requirements is the reason the Cruz is being shut down because without a mandate people wont buy these little cars? With experts like this helping GM, who needs enemies?
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Yeah, +1.
About the only thing left is a gigantic flywheel on the axle or perhaps part time small rodent power…
Manufacturing is one component of cost, transportation is another, And it is a large part. Note too that the entire car isn’t manufactured in Mexico, it is assembled there, and some other operations occur there. Other operations during production take place in the USA. Taking advantage of lower labor costs while taking advantage of US production where it makes financial sense to do so is good business sense.
I read an article on the engine. I don’t remember for sure, but I think it said the engine could shut down cylinders to the point of running on 1 cylinder at times. Also, I think it said the cam could slide fore and aft, shifting for some sort of variable timing system they’ve got going on. Going off memory, so I could be mistaken or have misread it.
So turbocharged, cylinder deactivation, a sliding cam, and autostop. And I assume direct injection. As a DIY guy, I’d hate to try to diagnose a misfire or something. I’d be more lost than I normally am!
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Get the V8 to avoid the turbo, but pretty much everything else is common on all new cars.
An i-phone key pad built into the steering wheel air bag cushion for texting would be a great technical update. Who’ll be the first to offer it?
Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Kia all have to meet the same Cafe’ requirements and they don’t seem to have a problem.
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What it really is is that American companies don’t want to meet those standards, and SUV’s/light trucks aren’t held to the same requirements as cars.
They’re taking the easy way out. Again. Worked great for 'em last time, right?
I understand following market trends, so if they aren’t turning out SUVs right now they aren’t going to survive to the end of the SUV trend. But end it will, and when gas goes to 4 bucks a gallon in the midwest, and you have to take out a second mortgage to fill up that Navigator in California, suddenly people will be interested in fuel-efficient cars again, and that’s when the makers who have quietly continued to make the Civic, and the Camry, and the Accord will swoop in and snap up most of the market because the American companies decided to abandon them.
There’s a severe cancer in all of corporate America where companies tend to only chase the next quarter’s profits and therefore fail to position themselves for 10, 20+ years down the road. It killed Sears, it’s killing JC Penny, it would have killed GM if the taxpayers hadn’t bailed them out, and it’s gonna crater them again. Short term profits are only beneficial if you’re getting out of the business right after the windfall. Otherwise, they’re a really stupid thing to chase.
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Short term profits have really hurt corporate America. 70%+ of the Salary of Corporate executives in many companies in the US is through stock options because of the much lower tax rate. GM, Chryco and Ford all paid bonuses to VP’s and above in stock options. There have been many many instances of someone who’s receiving a bonus manipulates the division/section their in charge of to get increase the stock price so they can cash in on their stock options. Doesn’t matter if it’s extremely detrimental to the long term of the company. As long as they get theirs. I’ve worked for companies that have this bonus system and never will again. Unless you’re one of the few at the top…you’re screwed.
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Good luck on that quest. Every company I have ever worked for has short term (yearly) incentives for middle and upper management including stock options whether they were publicly traded or privately owned. I have a saying- metrics can drive undesirable behaviors. It doesn’t matter if it’s stock options or yearly bonus based on company performance, it has the same effect…do whatever is required to maximize that amount.
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