The 12 Most Important Cars of 2009

[jwight]

Maybe, maybe not....

The 12 Most Important Cars of 2009 - Yahoo! Finance

[mdfortwoguy]

Mmm... GLK.

My smart/Mercedes ealer has a demo right now that I parked by the other day when I was in getting an oil filter. I was intrigued by the photos, but after seeing it in person I am seriously jonesing for one to replace the VUE...

[forestacademy]

Insight under $20K

Prius around $22K

Ford trying to keep honda and toyota from owning the market will come in at $27K for the Fusion Hybrid

Not looking good for sales from Ford. You can buy a lot of gas with $7K

[mdfortwoguy]

I hate Fords with a firey passion.

That being said, I am intrigued by the latest comparison test in Car and Driver where the Fusion Hybrid beat out the Altima, Camry, and Malibu hybrids. From what I can see, Ford has done their homework with this car... and for someone wanting a more conventional hybrid (rather than the suppository shaped Insight/Prius separated at twin mongrels), it looks like a definite winner.

[jetfuel]

A MODERN PARABLE . .



A Japanese company ( Toyota ) and an American company (Ford) decided to have
a canoe race on the Missouri River.
Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before
the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the
reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior
management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering,
while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting
company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while
not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another
loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was totally
reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 area steering superintendents, and
1 assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 1 person
rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the 'Rowing
Team Quality First Program,' with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the
rower There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes, and other
equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rower for poor performance,
halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all
capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to
the Senior Executives as bonuses and the next year's racing team was
out-sourced to India.

Sadly, The End.

Here's something else to think about:
Ford has spent the last thirty years moving all its factories out of the US,
claiming they can't make money paying American wages.

TOYOTA has spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants
inside the US. The last quarter's results:

TOYOTA makes 4 billion in profits while Ford racked up 9 billion in losses.

Ford folks are still scratching their heads.

IF THIS WEREN'T TRUE, IT MIGHT BE FUNNY.


jet fuel

[chieftmc]

jetfuel

Was only funny the first time

[vwW12]

I'd say out of that list, the Ford F-150 will probably remain 2009's most important civilian vehicle —as such, it will likely generate the most jobs and most taxes out of any car out there.

The thing was #1 in the US in sales in 2008 and has been so since the eighties. What are the chances of that changing? 20 Ford F-series vehicles were sold in 2008 for each smart car sold.

Regarding niche products such as hybrids, these cars in 2008 were a mere 2.4% of vehicle sales, and sales of hybrids were lower than in 2007.

A lot of ink and hot air was surely spent on what is but a tiny corner of the market.

[jwight]

Sales of just about everything were lower in 2008 than in 2007 - recession or something like that.

I'm sure somebody pointed out the poor market share of color TVs when they were first offered for sale. Not very many products start out with a huge market share. Give it time.

[racer]

I find it interesting the a car that looses money (which is to say, a hybrid) can be that important!

Not sure who watches Top Gear but here were two interesting things with their biased Hybrid test:

1) The Nickel for the batteries is obtained through Strip Mining in Canada and/or Austrailia (mm that sounds environmentally friendly, doesn't it?) and

2) in their "road test" around a "race course" they had a new M3 (v8 powered, 400+ hp)) follow a Prius. The challange was for the Prius to drive as fast as possible.. the BMW would follow and at the end they would report the MPG.

Prius - 17mpg
M3 - 19mpg

As I said, a biased test but as a car nut who likes HP and dislikes the $$premuim that Hybrids command at purchase, I thought that was kind of funny

[Jordon]

Originally Posted by forestacademy

Insight under $20K

Prius around $22K

Ford trying to keep honda and toyota from owning the market will come in at $27K for the Fusion Hybrid

Not looking good for sales from Ford. You can buy a lot of gas with $7K

Have you ever seen a Fusion, not in the same class as the Insight or Prius. A better comparison would be a Camry Hybrid.