Government Motors On Display

This is one of the reasons I’ve bought my last American-made car.

The Detroit auto show, which opens to the public Saturday, normally kicks off with a splashy press preview of a new car model surrounded by scantily dressed models and introduced by one of the Big Three CEOs. This year is a bit different. The show, officially named the North American International Auto Show, started with a speech by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. And rather than introduce a new car, LaHood applauded the car companies’ early efforts to meet new and tougher fuel-economy standards championed by the administration—35.5 miles per gallon overall in their fleets by 2016.

[...]

Domestic automakers “have to worry about what the government wants, and the government clearly wants these types of vehicles,” says John Wolkonowicz, automotive analyst for IHS Global Insight. “This is a different kind of show with a different kind of focus,” adds Gerald C. Meyers, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Stephen M. Ross School of Business. He says there is an indirect influence from both the government and Congress on auto designers and engineers to produce environmentally friendly cars. “Regulators are talking to companies, and companies are responding to regulators,” he says. And there is a faction in Congress that believes that since two of the companies are owned by taxpayers, they need to “behave in a way that’s favorable to the environmental movement,” Meyers says.

Sorry, but I want to buy from a company that is designing cars that their customers want - not what some bureaucrat in Washington wants.  Right now, nobody in Detroit appears to be interested in what Americans actually want to drive. 

1. what about a ford product?

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 16, 2010 at 2039 hrs




2. I have to vehemently disagree with the Newsweek subtitle about how they are finally building cars we want...

   I wouldn’t buy one of those little shit-boxes they have pictured…. ever!

   So much for that “baseball, apple-pie, and Chevrolet”

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 16, 2010 at 2227 hrs




3. I have never driven Ford and have disagreed with positions they have taken, but I applaud them for not kissing the goverments feet.

   It would have been better for the US if these companies scaled back rather then submit. Goverment policy appears to place people and companies in a submissive position.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 17, 2010 at 0946 hrs




4. ofr, don’t you mean Obama policy? And it is called socialism. Get used to it.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 17, 2010 at 1103 hrs




5. Tom speaks tea bag.

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCqQRflUWd4

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 17, 2010 at 1736 hrs




6. “4.ofr, don’t you mean Obama policy? And it is called socialism”

   Tom - I do not think we’re in disagreement but this started long before Obama. It was just ripe enough for Obama and his crowd.

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 17, 2010 at 1827 hrs




7. Unfair and Unbalanced: You lefties are always good for a chuckle. You’re the ones who think you are so open minded and righteous, yet never miss an opportunity to gay bash. OMG normal everyday people are rising up against gov’t heavy handedness and the best you can do is use a veiled obnoxious gay bashing name for them(us?) Must have you really woirried.  LOL

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 17, 2010 at 2037 hrs




8. Graspin’ for straws there Fair and Balanced Pat?

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 18, 2010 at 1448 hrs




9. Graspin’ for straws there Fair and Balanced Pat?

   Come on, you have to admit it’s a pretty funny cartoon.

   At least as funny as:
   Quote of the day= “It is not Ted Kennedy’s seat. If it were Ted Kennedy’s seat it would be upside-down and underwater.”
   http://www.bootsandsabers.com/index.php/weblog/permalin k/its_not_kennedys_seat/

   Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 18, 2010 at 1833 hrs