FORD WARNS VEHICLE PRICES WILL FALL

Financial Times.com ^ | 20 May 2003 | James Mackintosh

[mewzilla]

Do you know how much these guys make on the sale of a fully loaded SUV? Somehow, I think they'll manage.

[uglybiker]

Is that a 1950?

Close. It's a '51. (It gots the plastic nose.)

[Eva]

I guess my Dad's must have been a '52, then. It's hard to remember. My Dad liked unusual cars, his first car was a '27 Pierce Arrow and he also owned a '56 Packard, Clipper (All used when he bought them).

[cruiserman]

Corvettes get 30MPG?

[Moonman62]

Just like Bethlehem and Weirton Steel, auto industry is next... and every major manufacturing inudstry that hasn't gone through this pain will go through it. YOu can't support pensions when there are 5-10 pensioners per current employee!

I would think that would depend on a corporation's revenues and earnings rather than how many employees they have. They have less employees mostly because of productivity improvements. In the steel industry, companies like Nucor pay very high wages and they are quite profitable. The other problem is the pension plans are too lucrative because of past union extortion.

Ah Yes, free trade is such a great thing...

It is a great thing when investment and new companies create new markets and new jobs for people who've been freed up by productivity improvements. It's too bad our dear president chose to villify such activity along with the other politicians during the last election cycle.

[Billy_bob_bob]

"What happens next is anyones guess. My guess is confusion, competing currency devaluations and a subtle but definite trade war."

LOL! In other words, "free trade" only leads to good ol' fashioned trade wars fought with currencies instead of tariffs! Brilliant! I do believe you have hit that nail square on the head.

The ugly thing of it is, with the yuan being held down as low as it is, the only option for the rest of the world is to devalue their currencies in order to be able to compete. Such a great situation for everyone! Thanks, China!

[Capitalist Eric]

Corvettes get 30MPG?

Yep.

Think about it- state-of-art engine management systems, tall final gears (for high-speed capability), a small cross-section of frontal area with a very aerodynamic envelope...

As long as you are cruising in a mild manner, cruising at 65MPH on the highway puts you (in my last Vette) at 1400 RPM... 32 MPG, on average... With an automatic, BTW. ;)

FReegards,

[ninenot]

In the 1950's, cars cost about $1.00/lb. You could buy a 2-ton Pontiac sedan for $4,000.00. Now you buy a 1.5 ton Pontiac sedan for $15,000.

That's about 1,000% in 50 years.

[ninenot]

CORRECTION:::CORRECTION::CORRECTION 15,000 divided by 3,000 is 5. $5.00/pound is a 5,000% increase.

[ninenot]

companies like Nucor

...don't have the DB pension obligations of USSteel. Ain't been around long enough.

You can buy cigarettes made in America for $3.00/pack--companies who bought old RJR equipment and are cranking out like crazy, at BIG profits.

Of course, those new firms are NOT part of the settlement group, and ALSO don't have high DB pension obligations.

[Defender2]

#34 Yeah, I got good chuckles when I saw your reply!:-)

[lewislynn]

I had one like that (not that nice) I don't remember what model year it was but it had a little V8 and suicide doors.

[cruiserman]

I get 27MPG in my diesel Trooper turning 3000RPM at 65MPH :-).

[Aquinasfan]

I'll stick with my '89 Toyota pickup with 170k. Probably get another few years out of it. With the money I save, I can pay down our mortgage faster. Unless you're loaded, I don't understand paying a lot of money for a rapidly depreciating asset.

[Solson]

Found
On
Road
Dead

[JFC]

Never buy NEW!
Always but a Demo or a car that is about 1 or 2 years old. It will save you $7-10 thousand........

[Solson]

Because it's enjoyable! :) We've got an 03 Denali XL, an 02 Passat W8 and a 99 LandCruiser.

[smith288]

You preachin' to the choir or did you misread me?

[Aquinasfan]

Because it's enjoyable! :)

If you have the money, there's nothing wrong with that. One of these days I'm going to get a nice Tacoma, maybe the four-door.

But really, I don't have much more fun driving my wife's '99 Toyota Sienna than I have driving my '89 pickup, at least not $20k more worth of fun. Let's see, what else could I buy with $20k? A monster snowblower? A primo lawn mower? A plasma TV? And I'd still have $10k left over. Really, I don't get it.