Auto industry will slow economy

[PD]

GDP was just reported at 1.6. However, the big inventory maintained by auto makers was calculated as a positive. When manufacturing slows, as it must, this will drive down GDP.

Coming soon: the big auto sell-off

[powayseller]

I already commented on this yesterday, in the thread titled “1.6% GDP”, noting GDP is really .9%. Now we have 3 threads on GDP…

[PD]

This thread is about the auto industry. The GDP issue is secondary. PS, did you read the link?

[JES]

Let’s start a fouth!

[powayseller]

Thanks PD, good article. I had not realized how much autos contribute to our economy.

[Anonymous]

When anyone sees substantial incentives on the Z06 Corvette, please give a heads up. My son and I NEED 500 HP.

Amazing: that Corvette gets better gas mileage (16/26) than my darn Subaru (16/24). I’ve got an ’04 WRX STi (300 HP straight from the factory), but the blocky shape and big tail and scoop sure do kill gas mileage.

[PerryChase]

jd, I’m trying to picture a highly educated, professional, middle age, conservative, Roman Catholic family man with “traditional” values, living in La Jolla, driving a WRX STi. Aren’t those supposed to be “rice racers” as they call them? I’m thinking more of the Asian SDSU student driving one of those small performance Japanese cars.

jg, you should be driving a Buick Lucerne.

(Just joking. Stereotypes aren’t always accurate)

[aztecnology]

A great quote from that article from our friends in Tennessee. People aren’t buying cars because their brains hurt from thinking about local politics. Good grief…

Grant Law of Newton Chevrolet in Chattanooga, Tenn., says showroom traffic has been a little slower than he would like. He thinks it might be related to the tight political race in the state between Rep. Harold Ford (news, bio, voting record) (D) and Republican Bob Corker, a former mayor of Chattanooga. “It’s consuming a lot of folks’ minds,” he says.

Edit: Roubini has an update from his post from yesterday.

“Tuesday Update: This morning data on consumer confidence, the Chicago PMI only reinforce my point that Q4 is headed to be much worse than Q3. And given the mismeasurement of motor vehicle contribution to GDP in Q3 the payback will come in Q4 as Ford and the other Big Three are slashing production. The housing and consumer durable recession is now becoming an auto recession and manufacturing recession too. And we are not even yet into a formal economy-wide recession that I do forecast to start in Q1 or Q2 of 2007″.

[Anonymous]

Yep, PC, it’s tough to drive fast with my cardigan and pipe, but I try (ha, ha).

I’m just practical, PC; I like quick and responsive, but have no use for labels, and my Subaru performs as well/nearly as well as a Porsche 911 or BMW M3, which cost much more and are much more expensive to maintain and repair. I know, because I had a BMW that I bought new back in ’92 and kept for 12 years, and every time something broke on that car, it was $600-1,000 to repair. Painful, and lesson learned.

[powayseller]

Shouldn’t this go in off-topic? This has nothing to do with the auto industry…

[sdcellar]

Stop with the thread policing already…

[Anonymous]

PS, did you read PD’s original link? The article speaks to discounts and rebates on autos. I followed up with a remark about discounts and rebates on a particular model, which I said was superior to my current car. PC made a comment about my current car. I responded to PC’s comment.

The comments naturally flow. If you don’t follow such, I’ll be happy to use symbolic logic to illustrate such.

[PerryChase]

jg, I really like the WRX, btw. You don’t read _Road and Track_ and _Car and Driver_, do you? They are French magazines!

On the subject of the American auto industry, the other day, in Santee, I saw a Nissan Titan 5.6 as a work truck (with the racks and tool box). Can you imagine a Franco-Japanese truck as the work truck of the good ol’ American man? What has this country come to?

About Ford, a friend of mine managed a fleet of Taurus cars for his company. They constantly had transmission and maintenance problems. Remember Wingcast, the Ford and Qualcomm failed Internet venture? That’s how Ford spent its money rather than invest on car design.

Put any American car (even a Jaguar owned by Ford) next to a Toyota and compare the fit and finish, the body stamping and the gaps in between panels.

It’ll take some hard years and many layoffs before the American auto industry can reform itself.

[Anonymous]

Car and Driver is my favorite magazine (great editorials supported by data, irreverent humor, early scoop on upcoming models). That you bring up that a French company owns it hurts!

[Author]

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