Posted on 11/13/2024 7:57:49 AM PST by RomanSoldier19
Cars once represented a pillar of the American dream — mobility and independence. But they've become something of a luxury product, and customers and auto dealers are growing frustrated.
The average price for a car in the U.S. is nearly $50,000, an increase of close to 30% in the past five years, according to Kelley Blue Book. Monthly payments are also near an all-time high. A record number of owners are underwater — paying more than the vehicle is worth — according to Edmunds.
Despite record profits in 2023, automakers face challenges: the need to invest billions into software and electrification as well as a global landscape where Chinese and other foreign automakers can produce cars much cheaper.
Some Chinese startups that make EVs and plug-in hybrids have a 30% cost advantage over established global automakers, even without government support, according to research firm AlixPartners.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbclosangeles.com ...
I'm not sure when they started, but there are some strict standards for gas mileage that the automakers are supposed to meet. I think that trucks were exempted from this, as they were considered to be used for work purposes, though that idea has changed a lot.
The standards keep getting higher, and that's why all sedans look essentially the same. The jelly bean shape has been shown to be the most aerodynamic, thus the most fuel efficient. Cars with distinct character don't have the same wind profile, and even just a mile or two per gallon can make a difference on fuel economy. Also, the weight of the cars in the 50's and 60's was substantially higher. Now the sheet metal on cars are barely thicker than aluminum foil.
Yes but can’t they make the same configurations in thin metal?
Absolutely, that is the Spirit of ‘24 - let’s go!
Why didn’t the union set up retirement accounts (Which they couldn’t rob for political purposes!) for their members so they wouldn’t have to depend on new contracts to pay retirees?
Government regulations on safety and gas mileage continue to make the cares more expensive and are designed to eventually make ICE cars too expensive to buy or rent.
This is the tactic of the woketardian leftists.
That shouldn’t be the company’s problem.
Ding ding ding
Government regulations increase the price of everything, be it cars, housing, or food.
I’m not saying all regulations are bad, but there are too many.
you are partially correct.
required by law, off the top of my head.
airbags
seatbelts
obd2 systems
911 emergency services(which cost a lot for cell service)
backup cameras
tire pressure sensors
recently they mandated speed limiters based on local signs
emission equipment
This is by no stretch an entire list. Plenty more I missed.
All this required stuff, including crash standards, and engine emission requirements is driving cost of cars up.
Those agreements were made with the gun barrel of government against Automakers heads. Then GM and Dodge/Chrysler were propped up in 2008 by government when they should have bankrupted, modifying or voiding those terrible agreements. The unions pushed all of that and ended up owning part of GM.
Please don’t misunderstand, American automakers have made plenty of terrible decisions and jumped into bed with government themselves (hello EV’s) but the unions’ hands are not clean.
They need a wide enough margin so the UAW as well as “the right” politicians can get a generous cut.
You guys are missing the big stuff..
Just as an example, the pollution controls on an automotive paint shop in the USA exceeds a billion dollars to design, manufacture and install.
It’s a fraction of that price in Mexico.
THIS government interference is why auto companies are manufacturing in Mexico.
Union wages are a pittance compared to federal regulations.
Stop blaming the union and start blaming your congressman
I review cars and wouldn’t buy a new one. Far too much annoying and distracting tech and safety Nannies. I find myself cussing and/or yelling at them to leave me alone.
My wife has a 2013 Toyota RAV4 Limited and I have a 2005 Audi A4 Avant six speed manual, both fairly low mileage and in excellent shape. We’re going to drive them until they die (or we do!). I put a new audio head unit into the A4 this summer and it gives me all the tech stuff I want. And I never have to yell at either vehicle!
Your mileage may vary, of course.
I didn’t say it was. It should have been something the unions should have done instead of a being free money bank for leftist politicians. Medieval guilds (modern unions sort of!) actually set aside funds for old age to support its members. You would think that modern unions if they really cared about its members would do something similar!
BHO just made the standards onerous...raising them from 27.5 to 54.5 mpg.
They can easily build a great car for $25,000. Just take the plans from a 1976 BMW 2002 and start building.
How about an experiment - just say “You can make any kind of car you want regardless of fuel economy as long as it has a safety belt and you can pay whatever wages someone is willing to come to work for”...then keep the unions and regulators away.
Yep, they work for 25 years and at the end are making $30-40/hr and they continue getting that ending pay for the rest of their lives plus all benefits. If they got in the union young, retirement could be longer than 25 years.
It’s the cost equivalent of having made $100/hr for the 25 years.
The only way the car companies can afford it is to have other countries like Mexico make all the sub-components and the USA union workers mainly snap those together.
My 2005 Chevy truck has heater hose adapters. Pedro in Mexico inserts the plastic adapter into the end of the hose and puts a hose clamp on it. That way the US worker only has to shove it onto the heater core and it snaps in place.
I knew a retired auto worker and he was dumb as a box of rocks. He could tell you all about “wormy” sheet metal though.
Also to meet these bureaucratic standards, the cars are becoming increasingly difficult for an owner to repair himself. And even a slow speed collesion that causes any more than a bent windshield wiper often mean the car is considered as “totalled.”
Exactly!
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