Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Even Deep Discounts Can't Move SUVs
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | May 8, 2005 | Michael Taylor

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 ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: autosales; suv
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 201-220221-240241-260 ... 421-430 next last
To: MississippiMasterpiece
Luba Ross picks up her brand new Prius at Berkeley Toyota.

Note that Luba's head doesn't even clear the seatback nor, I'd bet, the steering wheel.

So therefore, experience tells me her turn signal will be welded in the permanently-on position, and top speed (even downhill) will be 22mph.

Sigh.

221 posted on 05/09/2005 10:04:43 AM PDT by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: thoughtomator
No surprise to me. I would be willing to pay $6/gallon just to get rid of all the SUVs on the road.

Cool! More room on the road for my high speed cruiser!


222 posted on 05/09/2005 10:10:03 AM PDT by Major_Risktaker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Xenalyte
How much? Xena's Guy is looking to get me out of the Amazing Fiberglas Saturn, and that's gotta be right around the corner from us. ;)

Tanks for Sale

Here ya go. It's a bit more advanced than a katana though ;)

223 posted on 05/09/2005 10:11:55 AM PDT by Centurion2000 (The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 207 | View Replies]

To: ctlpdad

You still cling to hyperbole. You still imply things that aren't there?
Asking if I belong at the DU is the standard insult here when someone is incapable of engaging in an intelligent exchange.

I said the government does have power. I didn't say I favor expanding that power.

When it regards a natural resource, it's not only free market that comes into play here. Those who use greater quantites set the price and drive up the cost of transported goods. Since gasoline is not a luxury good, and people NEED it to go to work, there has to be more consideration than, if you can buy it, use it.

No go call someone more deserving of it a troll.


224 posted on 05/09/2005 10:16:56 AM PDT by brownsfan (Post No Bills)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 220 | View Replies]

To: mpreston
Some of those 60's wagons where pretty big.


225 posted on 05/09/2005 10:19:09 AM PDT by hedgie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies]

To: brownsfan

I should have read your "about" page before posting to you. Now it's easy to see whewre you are coming from. I should not have wasted my time.

Have a nice day. Unnngh!


226 posted on 05/09/2005 10:25:06 AM PDT by ctlpdad (There can be no triumph without loss, no victory without suffering and no freedom without sacrifice!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 224 | View Replies]

To: brownsfan
If this is true, that will be the next big thing, now that Hummers are becomming commonplace. :)

Actually, there is a company in West Texas making high priced street machines out of the new FMTV troop trucks the Army is using in Iraq. They are called the BAD BOY HEAVY MUSCLE TRUCK and run several hundred thousand bucks each, depending on options.

227 posted on 05/09/2005 10:29:02 AM PDT by JavaTheHutt ( Gun Control - The difference between Lexington Green and Tiennimen Square.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 178 | View Replies]

To: hedgie

LOL, growing up, we had a '76 ford LTD wagon (8 mpg!). The thing was a huge monster, but w/ 5 brothers & sisters, we needed it. All of us got our licenses with that car, too. We used to go camping, and raced motorcylces, and ATV's. Probably 1/3 of the miles on it were pulling some kind of trailer. I would love to see a Prius do that-NOT!

Driving a tractor trailer rig was a piece of cake after learning to drive w/ something that huge!


228 posted on 05/09/2005 10:29:02 AM PDT by ctlpdad (There can be no triumph without loss, no victory without suffering and no freedom without sacrifice!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 225 | View Replies]

To: Armedanddangerous

Yup, just bought one, great vehicle. They are hard to find, though. But, you can order one and wait a couple of months to get it.


229 posted on 05/09/2005 10:32:21 AM PDT by Mac94
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Armedanddangerous

Here's my opinion based upon your needs: The Escape Hybrid is just about the same size in and out as the regular Escape. I am 6'2" tall, 220 lb., and I fit comfortably in the driver's seat of the Escape, although I fit better in the Explorer, which is what I drive. Opt for the six cylinder engine. The four cyclinder will get you where you want to go, but you will notice the difference driving off road, accelerating quickly, and moving heavy loads. (In contrast, the six cylinder 4WD Explorer performs as well as the 8 cylinder AWD Explorer, except when towing real heavy stuff.) Do not expect the Escape Hybrid to save you a lot of gas if you're going to do mostly highway driving as opposed to urban driving. The hybrid engine kicks in when driving around 25 mph or less. Once you top that threshold speed, the engine is running on internal combustion, the same as the regular Escape.


230 posted on 05/09/2005 10:33:31 AM PDT by Labyrinthos
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 140 | View Replies]

To: stainlessbanner
Jeeps are the original SUV

I completely agree.
But the term has evolved into something else, now. I am not sure it meets the current iteration of the term. I tend to think of my Jeep as more of a street-legal ATV.

231 posted on 05/09/2005 10:43:57 AM PDT by tnlibertarian
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 147 | View Replies]

To: brownsfan
Those who use greater quantites set the price and drive up the cost of transported goods. Since gasoline is not a luxury good, and people NEED it to go to work, there has to be more consideration than, if you can buy it, use it.

Your logic still implies some kind of least-common denominator, which would mean a loss of choice. What if you and I bought heat our house with natural gas, but you had a 1000 sq ft. house, and I had a 3000 sq ft. house? If I purchased a smaller house, I'd use less natural gas, and reduce the demand. Is that really where you want to go with this argument?

You're on a very slippery slope toward a Communistic economy.

232 posted on 05/09/2005 10:51:23 AM PDT by Lou L
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 224 | View Replies]

To: ctlpdad

"I should not have wasted my time. "

Given your limited capacity, I would venture that most of your time is wasted.


233 posted on 05/09/2005 10:58:01 AM PDT by brownsfan (Post No Bills)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 226 | View Replies]

To: thoughtomator

"If that's all it was, there's be nary a complaint from me. But when so many people drive them under the philosophy of "if we get into an accident, it'll be you that dies, and I'll be perfectly safe", I find them just plain offensive."

You choose to drive a small car therefore you've choosen to accept the risks of that type car. You have no right to dictate to any other driver the types of risks that they should take.


234 posted on 05/09/2005 11:00:21 AM PDT by DugwayDuke
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Petronski

Nowadays, there is no such thing as giving gap -- at least in the big cities down here. Any gap bigger than a car length (and occasionally smaller) will immediately be filled with someone. I chalk it up to all the yankees who've never actually had to drive till they commuted south of the Mason-Dixon Line.


235 posted on 05/09/2005 11:00:50 AM PDT by Junior (“Even if you are one-in-a-million, there are still 6,000 others just like you.”)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 201 | View Replies]

To: brownsfan

Interesting. I may not be as practiced a debater as you, but your spurious little personal attack is without merit, lib.


236 posted on 05/09/2005 11:01:26 AM PDT by ctlpdad (There can be no triumph without loss, no victory without suffering and no freedom without sacrifice!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 233 | View Replies]

To: Lou L

"You're on a very slippery slope toward a Communistic economy."

Agreed. It's a tough one for me to reconcile.
There are situations where the stronger, economically, can keep the weaker down, even when the weaker is more capable. What's the answer? I don't know.
I don't endorse a communistic economy.
I think there are shades of gray though.
I guess one thing that irritates me, and it's not SUVs. There are many here who don't care, don't give 1 second's thought to anyone but themselves.
Call me communist, call me a DU escapee, call me a flaming liberal, but I was raised to actually think about others.


237 posted on 05/09/2005 11:06:52 AM PDT by brownsfan (Post No Bills)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 232 | View Replies]

To: jcb8199

links bump!


238 posted on 05/09/2005 11:07:39 AM PDT by Pagey (Hillary talking about Religion is as hypocritical as Bill carrying a bible out of church for 8 years)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: jcb8199

links bump!


239 posted on 05/09/2005 11:07:42 AM PDT by Pagey (Hillary talking about Religion is as hypocritical as Bill carrying a bible out of church for 8 years)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: timtoews5292004

"If I were running things, SUV's would at least have a minimum gas mileage requirement, at least the same as a pickup truck."

SUVs and pickups have the same mileage requirements, ie, light truck. A SUV is nothing more than a pickup truck with a different body shape on it.


240 posted on 05/09/2005 11:09:29 AM PDT by DugwayDuke
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 201-220221-240241-260 ... 421-430 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson