Posted on 05/09/2005 6:52:14 AM PDT by MississippiMasterpiece
It's a Saturday morning on San Leandro's Marina Boulevard auto row, and the big SUVs have been sitting on the lots, waiting for someone to come in and start that dealer dollar dance that ends up with the customer slightly bewildered but paying a lot less for that vehicle than he thought he was going to.
Once in a while, there are takers, although the dealer has to discount the SUV heavily just to get it moving.
Salvador Sotello, for example, recently paid F.H. Dailey Chevrolet in San Leandro $41,000 for a new Chevy Tahoe LT (yes, with leather) SUV that had a sticker price of $58,000. The sale was an anomaly in what is otherwise a pretty dismal selling season. "It's been pretty quiet," saleswoman Crystal Gonzalez said the other day. "Been pretty slow."
At Broadway Ford in Oakland, the grilles of the Mustangs, SUVs and the lone Thunderbird smile at the passing traffic, but the showroom is empty, it appears, of customers; several salesmen are in sight. Up at Albany Ford-Subaru, salesman Myers Howard, sitting a few feet away from a big Ford pickup truck, says things on the Ford side of the showroom "are slow." That might be the understatement of the day.
Just this past week, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. underwent the humiliation of seeing their credit ratings reduced by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services to the status of junk. The reasons are becoming clear -- the two big companies can't sell much of what they produce.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
This is highly unlikely unless there was a trade involved. As someone with more then a passing knowledge of the industry I can pretty safely say the dealer lost big bucks on this deal if indeed there was no trade. The average profit on a vehicle from MSRP to dealer invoice is in the area of 16%. Given an MSRP of $58,000 that puts dealer invoice at about $49,000. There is also a dealer hold back that can amount to about $1200.00 or a bit more on this vehicle which further reduces the actual indicated invoice (cost) price by that amount. This would mean that the mfg had instituted a $7000.00 rebate either to the dealer who gave it to the customer or to the customer who applied it to the price. Either way the dealer has made no money. Perhaps there was financing involved and the dealer made money there but absent that it looks like this deal is a dead loser for the dealer and this is not likely to happen.
LOS is affected by those vehicles too. However, if you'll notice, large vehicles such as these are relegated to the far right lanes in most cities (at least in the region where I live). I'm not advocating abolishing super-huge SUVs; I figure the monthly payments, insurance and gas prices relegate drivers of those vehicles to their own special hells. I'm simply pointing out why I do not like them and why I will never cut them any slack on the road. You bought the vehicles; it doesn't mean I have to like it.
Each according to his means and each according to his needs in my case.
Toyota and Nissan will shortly indroduce medium size hybred SUV's which will get 30mpg.
They actually outsourced the design of the Aztec to some french gal from Rrenult. Explains alot doesn't it.
Presonnaly, I think she did it as a joke, an insult to Americans. "Stewpid AmeriCANS, they'll buy this!"
It looks like a midsize from the pictures I found on the internet. As long as you don't have that heavy tinting on your windows, I don't have a problem with it.
So is cramming an entire family into a Tercel.
The Honda Element is constructed of recycled recycling bins.
I'm not a fan of Aztec particularly,but it ain't no more
ugly than a Prius,or Matrix, or Murano, Scion xB, Element,
Hummer, Hummer2, Avalanche.
Everytime I see the Murano, I think of a modern day
"sneaker"..Scion xB...touted as "inspired design"...man
what happened...it's a cracker box on wheels....wonder
why it has so MUCH space for a small car...duh....
Consumer reports didn't like at least one aspect of the
Aztec, its split rear window, which has a bar going across
it (which consumer reports says hampers visibility). But,
wait, Prius has a bar across it's rear window...but consumer
reports thinks the prius is a GREAT car (no mention of the
prius split window)...so go figure.
I think of the Aztec as GM's attempt to come up with some
type of new functionality in a vehicle. What they need
to do is work on reliability. Toyota is as big as it is
because everyone thinks the Toyota is reliable. GM needs
to be known as a reliable vehicle maker(2004 Buick Regal
was named most reliable by Consumer reports for that year)
I'm not a fan of Aztec particularly,but it ain't no more
ugly than a Prius,or Matrix, or Murano, Scion xB, Element,
Hummer, Hummer2, Avalanche.
Everytime I see the Murano, I think of a modern day
"sneaker"..Scion xB...touted as "inspired design"...man
what happened...it's a cracker box on wheels....wonder
why it has so MUCH space for a small car...duh....
Consumer reports didn't like at least one aspect of the
Aztec, its split rear window, which has a bar going across
it (which consumer reports says hampers visibility). But,
wait, Prius has a bar across it's rear window...but consumer
reports thinks the prius is a GREAT car (no mention of the
prius split window)...so go figure.
I think of the Aztec as GM's attempt to come up with some
type of new functionality in a vehicle. What they need
to do is work on reliability. Toyota is as big as it is
because everyone thinks the Toyota is reliable. GM needs
to be known as a reliable vehicle maker(2004 Buick Regal
was named most reliable by Consumer reports for that year)
Tinted Glass.
First, I like your sense of humor, even if we disagree.
Here's how I see it...
You have a right to think about others however you like. fine.
People make car decisions for reasons that have nothing to do with fuel economy or cost. If this were not so, we would all have the most fuel efficient car - or the least expensive. Since we don't all drive Yugos, I suspect there is more at work here. Using your thoughts, any other reason is not "thoughtful" and is "selfish". I am fine with people choosing automobiles for whatever reason they like. Any reason. I am fine with seeing the market sort it out - as it is right now with many consumers opting for the Toyota Prius. I do find fault with those who judge the choices of others only because they make a decision for a differing reason.
You also wrote that SUV gas consumption causes us to be more reliant on Saudi oil. I disagree. Sorry. If I or someone else wants to buy oil, and it is a legal commodity, and importing that commodity is legal, I see no problem with purchasing it. We are only "dependent" because we consider it a valid exchange of value for our money. I don't care where my oil comes from, as long as I can afford it and it works. When the day comes that I can no longer afford it, I will make other decisions. If the market forces lead to higher fuel costs, more people will opt for more fuel efficient vehicles. Simple.
I disagree with the argument inherent in your last question. I don't think Americans using fuel imperils the security of our country. In fact, it sounds silly to me. If our country's security was imperiled, and here you don't specify how it would be imperiled, we could find oil. No problem. If anything, I think a more valid argument could be made that environmentalist wackos are imperiling our security.
Until we find another fuel source, we will always be "dependent" on oil from outside our own country.
I would like to read comments about how using fuel imperils our country's security.
best to you, ampu
Yeah -- the guys who get the big bucks for "running" outfits like Ford and GM. Running them into the ground, that is.
Envious?
"What makes you think there is any abuse regarding driving an SUV and the right to drive an SUV could be removed?"
Ok, 2 questions: First, as I see it, public roads are meant for transportation. Recreation is merely a side benefit, not the intent. I also perceive that poor gas milage vehicles contribute to our reliance on foreign oil. I don't have actual stats, but, I'll assume numbers most of which should be low.
Assume 100 million vehicles on the road. Assume 1/2 are SUVs that are driven as single occupant non hauling. Assume the average driver goes 15 miles a day, (very low). If an SUV gets 12 mpg, and the alternative vehicle for these drivers gets 20 mpg. The savings of switching from the SUV to the alternative is 25 million gallons of gas per day.
The abuse? We buy oil from the very same people we are fighting. Not exclusively, but to a large degree. Also, oil is a non-renewable resource. The supply is larger than once thought, but, it will run out. What right do we have to use it all?
As for the right being revoked... the government has and will legislate what we can drive. No more full size cars as another poster pointed out.
My complaint is that it seems as though many of the drivers of SUVs thinking driving a larger, allegedly safer vehicle absolves them of the responsibility of not driving like an a@@hole.
Some, yes.
I just want to see one..try it out. I want to know what the highway mileage really is.. I want to know if it's big enough for me to comfortably drive (I'm a big man).
I want to know if it has the power to take the hills where I live. (should probably be a V-6 or a high output 4 cylinder that has plenty of power).
Basically, I need a 4 wheel drive that can take 4 people (4 doors)and is comfortable for me to get in and out of without bending myself like a pretzel.
Gas mileage needs to be at LEAST 25 mpg highway. I am plenty ready to embrace a hybrid SUV if it meets these criterion. I would even buy a hybrid car if it was AWD. I live on a mountain road in West Virginia and I cannot get to my house without a 4wd in january and february..
As you can guess, these are in short supply hereabouts.
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